What are your weekend plans? We’re buried under ice and snow here, so soup, games, and good books are on our agenda for the next few days.
I hope you these good reads and interesting things ease you into that weekend state of mind.
My favorite finds from around the web:
- 9 Thoughtful Ways to Support Black-Owned Bookstores This Month (and Every Month). Great tips, including from WSIRN alum Traci Thomas of The Stacks Podcast. (You can hear her on episodes 162: The best bad ending you’ll ever read and 212: Book gifts for your hardest-to-buy-for loved ones.)
- What Jane Austen can teach us about resilience. “The key to Austen for me is that she simultaneously comforts and challenges us, embracing the dark and lonely aspects of life but with a lightness of touch and humour much-needed in difficult times.”
- It thrills me to see I’d Rather Be Reading on “Single … and FINE WITH IT” or “In a relationship … with my TBR pile” reading lists, like this one from Book People.
- 9 Long-Distance Relationship Habits That Totally Apply to Staying Close With Friends, Too. I think we could all use this advice.
- 50 years later, ‘The Monster at the End of This Book’ is still selling — and inspiring authors. Do you remember reading this when you were growing up?
- Our Spring MMD Book Club boxes are now available for ordering through The Novel Neighbor!
- 31 Black-Authored Cookbooks Everyone Needs In Their Kitchen. So far I’ve particularly enjoyed Jubilee and Vegetable Kingdom.
- A Pandemic Is Hard Enough. For Some, Being Single Has Made It Harder. “’The first few months I thought: ‘This is OK, I can work on myself…But then it just dragged on. One day I realized it had been three months since I had touched a human being.’”
- LeVar Burton is our inaugural PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion. And he absolutely deserves it.
- This beautiful wreath makes me smile every time.
- Fat Tuesday is February 16: New Orleans’ King Cake Tradition and the Meaning Behind It. Such a delicious tradition.
- Inverness bookshop discovers 110-year-old Jane Austen book set in storage. Can you even imagine?!
- Q&A With Anne Bogel. I enjoyed talking with ReadMoreCO!
Coming soon:
It’s almost time for our next livestream for our What Should I Read Next patreon community! Next week, WSIRN producer Brenna and I are hosting a virtual chat in our Patreon community. We’ll hang out, answer your questions, and (of course) share a bunch of book recommendations.
To get a feel for what these events are like, check out this clip from our last live WSIRN event (and get a great book recommendation or two while you’re at it).
To support our show and get weekly bonus episodes, access to our upcoming livestream, and a peek behind the scenes, click here to join our Patreon community.
Don’t miss these posts:
- 10 giftable books to share with friends on Galentine’s Day. One of the best days of the year!
- Happily ever after is complicated. When two people get married, they have no idea what they’re beginning together.
- 43 favorite fictional couples. This was such a fun list!
Have a great weekend!
12 comments
I got my copy of The Monster at the End of This Book in a Happy Meal. It was the first book my kids searched for when we’d visit my parents house.
Really?! I’m surprised and delighted that was included. I loved reading my Little Golden Book version with my dad, but I always assumed that copy came from the bookstore. 🙂
The Monster at the End of This Book is one of my earliest childhood book memories! I also loved a book about another Sesame Street character, Oscar’s Book. It begins “Listen, I’m a grouch, and this is my book, and I don’t want you to read it.” It’s hilarious. I think I’ll dig up my old, battered copy this weekend. Thank you for the happy memories!
I loved reading about Madeleine L’Engle’s relationship with Ahmad Rahman! I narrated twelve of her non-fiction titles for Brilliance Audio and was surprised, then, to find out how much non-fiction she wrote, and how deep her thoughts were on life- in general and in specifics! Hope your readers will listen to some of her books. She goes far, far deeper than A Wrinkle in Time and was truly a fascinating woman. I would have loved to have shared a cup of tea with her and listened to her for hours! Some of my favorites of her audiobooks are Summer of the Great Grandmother, A Stone for a Pillow, and Irrational Season. https://www.audible.com/search?keywords=&title=&author_author=&narrator=Pamela+Almand&publisher=
I got an interactive digital copy of The Monster At The End of this book as a Starbucks’ promotion. It has been on all of my various electronic devices has been enjoyed by my decades of grandchildren.
I had that interactive book as an app on my iPad. My grand-nephew loved it! I’m going to check to see if I can still download it to my newest iPad. I have a couple of grand-nieces who would be at the right age for it now. Hopefully, I can see extended family again soon…
Yes! “The Monster at the End of the Book” was my FAVORITE book as a child. Perhaps I was introduced to it as an older child, because I remember thinking even back then how clever it is! I still have my original copy (though it’s seen better days…).
It’s gratifying & comforting to see some of the activities we’ve done in MMD bookclub this past year listed in the “Staying Close with Friends” article. Thanks to you and the MMD team for planning ways to keep us engaged while stuck at home!
I really enjoyed the article on Jane Austen. Thank you for calling attention to it!
I try to buy all of my books at independent bookstores. Independent coffee shops are one of my pleasures too. I never considered the owner’s color. How does a person learn the color of the owner?
I still read The Monster at the End of This Book at my library storytime, and kids still find it delightful.
I’m so happy about Levar Burton, it is much deserved recognition. I enjoy the Levar Burton Reads Podcast although I prefer novels to short stories. I wish he had a “book club” because I think the novels he would chose would be very interesting.