What’s in store for your weekend? It looks like the stars are aligning for me to finish my print book, audiobook, AND ebook before Monday morning rolls around, which is always strangely satisfying. I’m looking forward to watching Notting Hill with the MMD Book Club for our Saturday watch-a-long, and hope to get outside for some sunshine. The light in February is just so lovely.
A programming note: because Tuesday is What Should I Read Next day, this month’s Quick Lit will take place on Monday, February 14 instead of the typical 15th of the month.
I hope you enjoy this collection of good reads and fun things to put you in that weekend frame of mind.
My favorite finds from around the web:
- Rebecca Roanhorse’s New Novel Is A Wild West-Inspired Fantasy. This sounds promising!
- Book Banning Is About the Illusion of Parental Control. “It’s not surprising to me that after two years of pandemic uncertainty and chaos, we’re in a moment where some parents want to exert control over something, anything for their kids.”
- Related: Traci Thomas from The Stacks Podcast has been doing a daily series about banned books this past week. Here’s the first episode. (Traci is a WSIRN alum: she appeared on episodes 162: The best bad ending you’ll ever read and 212: Book gifts for your hardest-to-buy-for loved ones.)
- Firstleaf Wine Club brought back their killer deal for Valentine’s Day: get your first six award-winning wines personalized to your taste and delivered to your doorstep for $29.95 with code VDAY2022.
- 10 Underrated Rom-Coms (and Rom-Drams). A couple of these are new to me.
- This easy taco slaw was a hit with the whole family for enchilada night.
- 15 Books That Contain The Second Chance Romance Trope That You Should Absolutely Read. For anyone looking for Valentine’s Day reading.
- When the title of your favorite book is perfect for your doormat. (This is indeed my doormat.)
- 2022’s biggest book trend: women on the edge. Have you noticed?
- Grief Over Time. A striking interview with Sabryna Fulton, ten years after her son Trayvon Martin was killed.
- Reading for Joy. I love hearing what authors are reading; this list is from David Joy (and happens to include one of my current reads).
- This Michael Storrings puzzle has me dreaming of spring.
- Just Like Brandma Made. “Should it make any difference if the impetus for key lime pie was perhaps not local limes but a long-lasting milk product that required no refrigeration (but did require marketing to familiarize people with it)? After all, a good recipe is a good recipe.”
- One Good Thing: Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is funny, just like love. She makes a compelling case.
Don’t miss these posts:
- 18 backlist titles your book club will want to talk about. Wondering what your book club should read next? Try the backlist!
- Flourless chocolate cake. This has long been our go-to chocolate cake recipe.
- 12 great books that celebrate the power of female friendship. In the wise words of Leslie Knope, Valentine’s Day is about celebrating romance—but Galentine’s Day is about celebrating lady friends and so is this list.
Upcoming Events:
- February 12: Galentine’s Weekend Watch Party: Watch parties are so much fun! Buy, borrow, or rent the 1999 romantic comedy Notting Hill, then join us as we all press play at the same time. We’ll use the Zoom chat feature to share our thoughts as we watch together! (This is a Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club event.)
- February 24: Live chat with author Liz Moore: Time for our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club discussion of The Unseen World with author Liz Moore!
- March 9: Let’s Talk About Funny Books: A Conversation with Amy Poeppel: What books make us laugh? In this deep dive into the funny books genre, we’ll talk about what makes a book funny, how a story balances drama and humor, and how a writer injects serious moments of catastrophe and tragedy with humor. We’ll also be joined by Amy Poeppel, author of Musical Chairs. (This is a Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club event.)
You can find more upcoming events here.
Have a great weekend!
17 comments
Traci’s series this week on The Stacks has been terrific. It features a good cross-section of guests and perspectives, including teachers, librarians, booksellers, and authors. I’d highly recommend it.
It’s interesting to me that those “burned-out women” covers seem to be books about young childless women – I think I speak for most of moms that these last two years have made us burned out at levels we didn’t think possible.
We’re burned out, too. We’re all burned out.
Not quite sure if I agree with the book banning article. I feel parents should have some control over this and be able to discuss the book with their child. This made it sound like it’s all done in secrecy.
I agree – removing a book from curriculum is not the same as banning it – there are lots of book choices and parents should know what books are chosen for class study and have a way to object. My daughter read some very uncomfortable books in her AP English class – books that were not standard for AP English – turned out her teacher was a pedophile and fired for pursuing a relationship with several students including one of her friends. At the time I just thought the choices were from AP – didn’t give it the attention I should have
I read the article as well, but I didn’t get the same sense you did that something is being done in secret.
I agree with you that parents should be able to discuss all sorts of books with their child(ren). Books make such great conversation starters!
The trouble with book bans is that some parents or people end up deciding a book is “bad” for other people’s children. When it comes to children and access to library resources, the American Library Association’s policy is that “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and the responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources.”
Reasonable people may come to different conclusions about a book or certain content. It’s when we start to enforce our conclusions over and above the conclusions of others that we get into the much more murky and troubling area of censorship. I know this an emotional topic for many parents, and I appreciate the thoughtful and respectful discussion!
I think the point is that adolescents have always been reading sand watching things that their parents don’t know about and banning books doesn’t give the control that people think it does. In fact, remembering my teen years it would only make me want to read something that probably wasn’t even on my radar to begin with.
The cutest puzzle!! Also, that is definitely your doormat; Maggie O’Farrell would be pleased!!
I watch Leap Year w Amy Adams every year, physical humor & predictable romance, sigh!
That was a new one to me!
That is a cute movie! I watched it with the hubs and he liked it too. 🙂
I could not disagree more strongly with the author’s views of what she thinks kids have knowledge of or what she thinks is being taught in schools in the book banning article. As a parent I am so sick of irresponsible journalism.
It’s an opinion piece. It can’t be “irresponsible journalism” when it’s clearly labeled as the writer’s opinion.
Cute doormat. Though I have to comment on the book This Must Be The Place. You recommend it and talk about it so often that I finally decided to read it. I’m about 35% through it, and I’m just not hooked. I keep pushing through because I don’t know if it gets better or if it’s just not for me. I have no problem dropping a book I don’t like, but I also push through sometimes to see if it’s just slow starting – as some of my favorite reads have been in the past. I don’t mind non-consecutive timelines, but I’m having a difficult time keeping up with this one.
I have to agree with you about TMBTP…I was disappointed, maybe let down is a better phrase…but…I have loved other Maggie OFarrell titles especially Hamnet. Had Anne not mentioned her…I would never know her work! Don’t postpone joy ❣️
Just finished the audiobook of “The Night She Disappeared” by Lisa Jewell and want to thank the commenters here who recommended that. A great thriller read by Joanna Froggatt who played Anna on “Downton Abbey”. She did a great job on all the character narration!
The book banning and censorship issue has been a big part of my local library and life lately. I’m currently part of the group mentioned in this article. Needless to say, I have a LOT to say about this issue, but I think it’s really important to know that often the word “children’s section” or “available to minors” is subbed in for books that are actually in the young adults section. This is misleading. The terms “pornographic” or “sexually explicit” are also thrown around irresponsibly. Additionally, it’s important to know that the majority of the books targeted deal with LGBTQIA+ content or are written by people of color.
Anyway,here’s a link to where bookriot has been following my local library’s struggles. https://bookriot.com/craighead-county-library-update/