We made it to another Friday, friends. What awaits you this weekend? I plan to make pizza, wrap gifts, and enjoy our Julie and Julia watch-a-long in the MMD Book Club on Saturday.
I hope your weekend is just what you need it to be, and I hope you enjoy these interesting reads and fun things to get you in that weekend mindset.
My favorite finds from around the web:
- The 89 Best Book Covers of 2020. Do you agree?
- ‘Wintering’ Is Painful, But Embracing The Cold Makes It Hurt Less. “Every time we winter, we develop a new knowledge about how to go back into the world.”
- My whole family is excited to put our new baking toy to good use.
- Just let Dolly Parton rule the world already. Fine by me!
- I had a great conversation with Blue Willow Bookshop: owner Valerie Koehler and me discuss holiday gifts, 2020 superlatives, and Don’t Overthink It. I always get wonderful book recs from their staff. Watch the event right here. (And please, support this wonderful indie by buying from their shop! I mailed them bookplates so they can send you signed copies of my books.)
- Which books make the best gifts? Authors weigh in. Great suggestions.
- Speaking of book gifts: my books I’d Rather Be Reading and Don’t Overthink It are excellent holiday gifts: buy from your independent bookstore of choice, get signed copies from my indie Carmichael’s Bookstore (order now as the holiday shipping deadline is December 15), Barnes and Noble, or Amazon. Happy reading!
- Mister Rogers wasn’t just nice: He wanted to take down consumerism. “It was a countercultural art project in a world of companies that exploited nostalgia for profit.”
- A dog was missing for weeks. Then it wandered into Walmart and found its owner working at the register. This is the content I need right now.
- When my daughter’s teacher told me I should get her The Best Art Markers Ever as a gift I couldn’t snatch them up fast enough! (Praise be to teachers who email with gift suggestions.)
- I had a fast and fun conversation with Admission author Julie Buxbaum about unconventional writing tips, the best advice I ever received, and hidden themes in books on Instagram Live. Worth the 13 minutes!
- Favorite Christmas and Hanukkah Romance Novels {plus my winter holiday romance TBR}. I’m so glad my friend Leigh succumbed to reader requests and put together this post.
- Building an antilibrary: the power of unread books. I have a feeling this will resonate with a lot of readers.
- This festive mug is beautiful!
- Oxford Announces ‘Words of an Unprecedented Year’ for 2020. If there’s ever been a year that cannot be boiled down to one word, it’s 2020.
Get our new Winter Book Preview right now!
Our Winter Book Preview digital magazine is here! We created this 42-page seasonal magazine as a perk for our members. Get instant access when you become a What Should I Read Next Patreon member.
(MMD Book Club members also get the preview, of course: click here for more about that community.)
Don’t miss these posts:
- My favorite books of 2019. 2020 favorites are coming up soon!
- A beginner’s guide to happy, healthy houseplants. Knowing that many of you would also like to raise your status from “plant killer” to “not-so-hopeless-after-all,” I shared some of the things I learned on my way to becoming a Plant Lady.
- My favorite gifts to give and receive. How’s your holiday shopping coming along?
Have a great weekend!
33 comments
I just finished Wintering by Katherine May and really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing the link to her interview!
2020 in one word: sucks
I love that Pen and Paint mug I shared above, but I almost chose this one instead, because I’m clinging to its sentiment as we approach year’s end: https://bit.ly/2ICDYDM
I saw this sign on a local vet’s office at the end of November: “Thank Goodness! Only 1 more year left in 2020!” 😄 So accurate.
I recently rediscovered this Dolly song and it has become my anthem as we round the corner to 2021: https://open.spotify.com/track/7yAvdPIfdi1G84E8hp8xy8?si=EyUwcipVS02E7hHLysIc5w
Enjoy your weekend coziness. 💗
Thanks for sharing this one! Sounds perfect for right now.
I love the book “Wintering” by Katherine May! What a powerful and phenomenal gift this is for me. I highly recommend this one. She tells us how to embrace winter and allow for healing in our lives. Excellent read!
Oh I really enjoyed the antilibrary article! One reason is because during the pandemic the one thing I have hoarded has been books. Don’t want to take a chance that shipping will be slow and I will be without my next read(s).
The second reason though is that it is true that the more I read, the more I realize I haven’t read. Also, the more I read and learn, the more humble that should make me as I realize how much I have to learn still. A good education should always lead to a place of humility.
Yes, me, too! I feel so much better about the huge amount of hoarded books I have, it’s been a hobby during the pandemic, when I could find places still open. I loved Eco’s reply when he said, “Oh, these are just the books I have to finish by the end of the month, the rest are in my office!”
I sent copies of “Don’t Overthink It” to my mom, sister, and daughter already! Should’ve waited until Christmas. Or maybe not? Maybe they needed it when I sent it? They did enjoy it! Or maybe if I had waited they’d have something to read Christmas night? Would that have been better? Gosh, I don’t know. There’s a chance my timing was off. But surely sending it early was ok….. I mean, there are other things I can get them for Christmas….. They needed the book asap…. I think… is it up to me to decide? What if they were offended because I pegged them as over thinkers? Did it cost too much?…. gracious….
jk- totally loved and applied so much of your helpful book and never questioned sending when I did! 😉 Just a little laugh for Friday!
This made me laugh this morning. Thank you!
Dolly Parton also just had a documentary debut on Wednesday via FB live stream called “The Library that Dolly Built” which is about the Imagination Library that she started in her home county in TN and has now expanded throughout the USA and into England. She truly is an amazing woman. I’m not sure when the documentary will be available elsewhere, but I thought it was very well done.
I’m looking for a few good Christmastime reads. Any suggestions?
Yes, we posted a long list earlier this week! https://modernmrsdarcy.com/reader-recommendations-for-festive-holiday-fiction/
is that the right link for the best art? it just linked to a set of markers…
oops reread the link/ it WAS supposed to be markers hahaha 😝
Ann Mah’s book made me crave boeuf bourguignon, so I’m shopping ingredients today. I envision listening to Taylor Swift’s new Evermore album on a steady loop as I chop, season, sear and braise. Seems like the perfect accompaniment to our Julie and Julia viewing. 😉
Sounds dreamy!
Happy weekend!
I was just given an Amazon gift card by one of my third graders yesterday….markers ordered! ✅
“Tsundoku (積ん読) is a beautiful Japanese word describing the habit of acquiring books but letting them pile up without reading them.”
Ha, trust the Japanese to have a word for it. I am so guilty of this. I recently commissioned a bibliochaise (it is amazing) and while I was filling it I realized just how many of the books I haven’t read. I am one of those people who needs deadlines. So I somehow work my way through teetering piles of library books, because other people are waiting. Meanwhile, my own books wait patiently, unread.
I thought I was the only person who did that! Part of my Obliger personality, I guess. 🙂
In spite of the pandemic and all the rest, I’m a home-loving introvert who got my lifelong wish to work from home. My word of 2020: Calm
I enjoy my Anti-Library! But I wanted to comment on the book covers. I guess I’m not avant-garde or something, but I pretty much hated about 98% of them in that article! I would have a hard time having some of those in my house! I didn’t mind the Joyce Carol Oates cover, or How Much of These Hills is Gold, or Shiner, or Nobody….My favorite covers might include: Perestroika in Paris, Sea Wife, The Jane Austen Society, The Giver of Stars, and although it’s not this year, I can stare at the cover of The Good House all day!!
Thank you for mentioning Fred Rogers, what an amazing man! Bonus, if you listen to the audio version of “Good Neighbor”, you’ll be treated to the marvelous voice of Lavar Burton!
I’m with Susie— I loved the Antilibrary article, hated the covers. In my opinion, the majority would be ideal for the 2021 Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge prompt of a book with an ugly cover.
I have an antilibrary. I teach high school history and people always seemed amazed at how many books I have. It’s great to be able to pull out a book for a student when they are writing a research paper. My collection at home gave me comfort when we were unable to check books out of the library in the spring.
Wanted to share this link I saw today. Actually living in NYC libraries in the past and what the empty spaces are like now.
Wanted to share this with Anne and thought this was the easiest way to do so.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/inside-the-new-york-public-librarys-last-secret-apartments?utm_source=morning_brew&fbclid=IwAR0cJHoyqPHfGlzIYJRfVvfhJW7SQ50CoPFlh2kVYvviuqGcTWWodDk6oKs
Take care everyone,
Thank you, Ruthanne, I had no idea! That was a fascinating article. I’m glad that they are renovating them for ANY use, but living in an apartment there would have been heaven! As the article says, New York real estate being what it is…how terrible for it to be abandoned and unused…!
I would love to know how the cookie press works out. I had one for years that worked beautifully but it eventually wore out. I bought a replacement one and it never did work right and I have given up making those cookies – and they were my favorite Christmas cookie!
Love the article about the antilibrary! I will definitely be sharing that! (First with my husband and children, who just don’t understand why I need more shelves for books I haven’t read!) Thank you for sharing!
I’m so excited for your new cookie press! These are a tradition dating back to my father’s 1950’s childhood in my family, my grandma made almond flavored green Christmas tree “spritz cookies” with an original aluminum cookie press for decades and now I make them in our family. It just isn’t the holiday without them! Our family favorite is the Mirro Christmas Tree Spritz Cookie recipe.
That’s what I used to have, but the screw mechanism wore out and all I got was blobs! I have yet to find a replacement press that works well. I miss those cookies at Christmas. (And they just aren’t the same if you just roll out the dough into balls.)