What are your hopes and dreams for the weekend to come? As for me, I still haven’t kicked this respiratory weirdness: I can’t talk right now (for real), so it might be a quiet weekend around here. (If you have any tips for navigating life with no voice, PLEASE share them in comments!) I’m hoping to feel better soon … but meanwhile, my dream for the coming days is to finish three books before Sunday night like I did last weekend, when I likewise spent a ton of time on the couch. A small silver lining to all this prescribed rest?
I hope you have something to look forward to this weekend, and that this collection of interesting reads and favorite things helps ease you into that weekend frame of mind.
My favorite finds from around the web:
- The Romance Novelist Who Faked Her Own Death. (New York Times gift link) This story is WILD.
- Novel Problems. (Slate) “Pub day ought to be a time of joy, if slightly nervous joy: A thing you made, and care deeply about, is finally making its way into the world! But for me, and for a lot of other authors this winter, publication day is feeling a little bittersweet. That’s because we’re being published by HarperCollins.”
- You Don’t Know How Bad the Pizza Box Is. (The Atlantic) It’s true. I didn’t.
- The White Lotus is no vacation. (Vulture) A spoiler-free piece on the popular HBO show. Will and I are two seasons in, and I don’t know, friends. It’s pretty grim. (Did you like it?)
- 20 Gifts Any Bookworm Will Love. (theSkimm) Thrilled to see My Reading Life in theSkimm!
- When we need a quick and crowd-pleasing dinner, this Turmeric-Black Pepper Chicken With Asparagus stir-fry is usually the answer. (NYT Cooking gift link) One of the reasons we love it is it’s so adaptable: this week subbed bell peppers and carrots for the asparagus.
- Your stuff is actually worse now. (Vox) Anyone who’s experienced this (that’s most of us) will feel validated by this explainer.
- I signed lots of books at my local indie Carmichael’s Bookstore this week. Order your signed copies here! (Specify “signed copy” in comments in case they sell out the current batch right away: if you want a signed book, we want to make sure you get a signed book!)
- 11 Books Becoming TV Shows in 2023. (POPSUGAR) Will you be tuning in to any of these?
- 30 Easy Soup Recipes to Slurp All Winter Long. (Food52) I love soup season.
- The Conservatives Who Attacked School Boards in 2022 Are Now Going After Libraries. (The New Republic) This is deeply concerning.
- I’m still under the weather so I’ve been living my best cozy life, mostly in my beloved American Giant leggings. Some colors of their cotton stretch leggings are 30-50% off right now; get ’em while they’re hot! American Giant is a longtime podcast sponsor: use the code DARCY for 20% off your first order.
- What Your Coffee’s Bubbles Are Trying To Tell You. (Mashed) It’s something you may never have considered, but the bubbles in your coffee are actually a very important indicator of the quality of your drink.”
- The Most Anticipated Crime Fiction of 2023. (CrimeReads)
Good for right now:
- 17 fiction books that feature fresh starts and new beginnings. Anyone else love new beginnings?
- 16 jigsaw puzzles to brighten up your winter days. We are very pro-puzzles around here.
- 65 recommended reads for those traveling to England (or who want to!). For when you need armchair literary tourism.
Have a great weekend!
57 comments
I have never thought of asking the weekend question that way and I love it! As an introvert I have always disliked the “what are your plans for the weekend?” because most weekends I don’t leave my house to go do something so I feel bad not having a good response. So to answer your question. My hopes and dreams for the weekend is to finish a few good books, work on my giant 5D diamond art project, exercise, and find a good movie to watch. Hope you have a great weekend!
That sounds like the PERFECT weekend!
Funny thing, I often ask my kids about ANY upcoming plans in this way. We all laugh about it. Enjoy your weekend—your hopes and dreams sound amazing!
I recommend a free app called Speak4me that allows you to type and it’ll say in an automated voice anything you’ve typed so people can hear you as if you’ve said it. Yes there’s more of a delay to communicating but it allows you to hold your phone up to people to indicate you want to speak, open the app then type. I found it when I had a period of a number of months of throat pain that resulted in losing my voice regularly for periods of time – (turned out to be silent acid reflux).
It’s a lot more convenient than passing paper back and forth.
Hope you feel better soon Anne and that you get your lovely voice back soon!
Thank you, Mia!
I woke up with laryngitis today, Anne. I have no idea why. But, I’ll take it! I’m going to follow your lead and rest and read! Happy Weekend.
Oh no! I hope you’re over it soon. In the meantime, enjoy those books!
Working on a “Shakespeare’s Britain” jigsaw puzzle.
Such fun!
I was without a voice for three days this winter after a bout of bronchitis and was told that whispering should be avoided. The only thing to do is completely rest your voice while your vocal cords heal. So – I wrote notes, gestured wildly and mostly just waited it out!
Thanks for the tip! I’m glad it sounds like you have your voice again.
Good morning, Anne!
I broke my jaw last year after a terrible hiking fall. I used a whiteboard to communicate for awhile. I found it helpful!
Feel better soon!
Annie McCloskey
I’m so sorry to hear this and hope you’ve healed up nicely by now. Thanks for the well wishes, Annie!
So many good links this weekend, Anne. I hope you’re feeling better soon!
The Moms for Libraries article was very disturbing. I am forwarding it to my library director and my book club. Thanks for posting.
I agree with you. I found that article chilling.
I am in Southeast PA and our public library is currently under attack. Two of our local communities just voted to reduce funding to the library. In the county next to us we have a rich lawyer who uses his money for a group called Defund the Libraries. We are trying to fight back but it is truly appalling what they are doing.
My husband and I watched three episodes of the first season of White Lotus and couldn’t figure out why it was so acclaimed. It started string but went downhill after that. No likable characters. I asked our son (age 32) ‘why were we supposed to like this??’ And he said he had no clue (after watching 5 or 6 episodes) and asked his friends who had recommended it highly to him the same thing ‘exactly why am I supposed to like this?’ Like books, not all shows/movies appeal to all people.
Sorry ‘strong’ not ‘string’
OMG. Jennifer Coolidge Y’all! She is hilarious!!!
The show is just very well done. Sicily is a character all on its own.
Currently reading Graham Norton’s first novel Holding and must say, I like it! I had hit a terrible slump after family came home from abroad. One did study abroad in Scotland. Second was traveling between jobs (she visited 13 countries fr Sept to Dec!) and thirdly my 3 grandsons visited fr Germany (ages 1 to 10). This Mom/Grandma obviously had no room for reading. Lots of pancakes and parks! So happy to get back to my reading routine. Hoping I dodged a Covid bullet. Went to a 2 year old great great niece’s bd & thought she seemed awfully quiet. Sure enough she tested positive day after & so did her Dad. I am following CDC exposure calculator & will test tomorrow even though no symptoms so far. Great links Anne. Get well fast!!!!
I totally agree with you!
Just to put forward the other case; my husband and I loved The White Lotus. It’s so rare to find a show which is hard to predict and doesn’t follow a conventional narrative (and the inversion of expectation – letting the viewer try to figure out who is going to die). The characters felt authentic, if heightened, and it was fun having a peek into both holiday settings. In the first one I loved gentle messaging; for instance, the irony of the teenage girls, and others, being so ‘woke’ about colonialism but leaving a trial of destruction for the locals. And it’s funnY and fresh! Anyway, of course, not every show is for everyone, but I wanted to give it a shout out.
Hope you feel better soon!
I lost my voice completely for a week this year and I also got the advice of no talking at all and especially no whispering. Lots of hydration and tea with honey and slowly it came back. It was extremely frustrating at first but I sort of ended up liking the quiet and listening more. Feel better soon… wishing you a restful weekend!
These are my sentiments exactly. You stated this well. Censorship should happen at the personal level only.
I appreciate your comment! I was trying to figure out how to put my unease into words. Our library started removing books and whole shelves. And buying computers for gaming and… I look to my library to have all the books i can’t buy or can’t keep in my home. Not to be a political force.
Gosh, I’m sorry you are still sick. Starbucks has this off the menu thing called ‘medicine ball’ and it is so helpful for soothing your voice. Hope you get better soon. A short course of Prednisone if your doc can prescribe it– it helps the inflammation go down. That is what helped me 😉 stuff you probably already know.
Perfectly said – thank you.
Yes, I agree. Censorship should be personal, and you should HAVE The choice to read what YOU want to. If you don’t like a particular viewpoint or slant, don’t read it, but also don’t tell others they cannot. Censorship can be used by any group with an agenda. I have family members who are librarians and they are deeply concerned.
Absolutely agree. Well said!
Anne, I was once told by a speech pathologist that the worst thing you can do when you’ve lost your voice is to whisper. She said if you must speak, try to speak aloud even though all you feel like you can do is whisper. Apparently whispering puts more strain on your vocal chords. Sounds counterintuitive, and I’m no professional, but thought I’d mention it.
The Vox article on why your things really are worse was very interesting! Ironic, though, that it was littered with ads for Shein, the fast-fashion juggernaut they reference in the article!
So ironic!
That recipe and your modifications came at the perfect time, because we just got peppers and carrots in my farm box yesterday and I thought: what can I do with those?
Also, we loooove tumeric and black pepper. Boom, it’s what’s for dinner tonight.
I hope you love it!
Professional singer and voice teacher here 🙋🏻♀️ I’m sorry you’re dealing with laryngitis. There are great tips on this thread already. Here are a mine:
– rest (vocal and sleep)
– hydration
– steam/nebulizer
– run a humidifier, especially at night
– gently stretch and massage neck/shoulders/face and body to relieve unnecessary tension
– local honey, ginger, herbal/low caffeine tea
– lymphatic drainage massage
– boogie board is a great tablet for communicating while on vocal rest
– it’s also important to get to the root of what’s causing the laryngitis and to deal with that – coughing, post nasal drip, reflux, overuse, etc.
Hope this helps! Get well soon!!
Thank you, Gina!
Do you have examples of books that have been removed from public libraries for any reason other than that there are newer editions of the same book or that nobody has checked them out in years and the library wants to make space for books that people want?
Hi Debbie! I don’t have a list of removed titles but here is my observation regarding my local downtown library, which is the largest branch of our library. This branch used to house all the fiction books on the first floor, and all the nonfiction books were on the second floor. I don’t remember where all the DVD’s were located but it wasn’t on the first floor… Today, after years of “weeding out books” the first floor now houses all the fiction, nonfiction, and DVD’s with plenty of open space remaining for chairs and tables. I would estimate that ~2/3 of the physical books have been removed. Granted there are many, many digital versions of books and audiobooks which are available through the library, but the amount of physical books has been drastically reduced.
What’s the story on the pizza boxes? I don’t subscribe to Atlantic, so I couldn’t read the article. I am left hanging!
Agreed – we eat a lot of pizza! If it’s just an ad for the pizza oven mentioned in the first paragraph, I don’t need to know. 😉
Thanks, Anne, for the link to The New Republic article on censorship. It’s timely. I’m a middle school teacher with a huge, carefully-curated classroom library who worries about book challenges. So do my colleagues and our school librarian. The American Library Association reports that in most years challenges range from 300-500, but in 2021 they jumped to over 700. Most of the challenged books were about characters who were Black or LGBTQ. As bookish readers it’s an issue we should all care about.
Just to put forward the other case; my husband and I loved The White Lotus. It’s so rare to find a show which is hard to predict and doesn’t follow a conventional narrative (and the inversion of expectation – letting the viewer try to figure out who is going to die). The characters felt authentic, if heightened, and it was fun having a peek into both holiday settings. In the first one I loved gentle messaging; for instance, the irony of the teenage girls, and others, being so ‘woke’ about colonialism but leaving a trial of destruction for the locals. And it’s funny and fresh! Anyway, of course, not every show is for everyone, but I wanted to give it a shout out.
I agree Alana! My husband and I also really love The White Lotus. On the surface it seems frivolous, but there’s a subtext that gives it a depth we appreciate.
Anne, feel better soon! Whatever is going around seems to be hanging on for too long. Give yourself plenty of grace and rest. You’ve gotten some helpful suggestions.
Two shows that I don’t understand people raving about, The White Lotus and Succession. Both are filled with whiny, selfish, irritating characters. And extravagance. Maybe that’s the draw. Succession is people treating each other beyond horrible. On repeat. We really disliked both shows.
My sister, my daughter and I recently watched Bad Sisters and we loved it! Just a little dark humor about normal girls helping their sister kill her horrible husband 🙂
Yikes!
I lost my voice once for 2 weeks due to a vocal nerve problem. I don’t have any great advice for you, but I wonder if your family is doing what mine did. The quieter I was, the quieter they got. They all started whispering too! It was kind of funny.
Regarding the link to books being made into shows:
I think Daisy Jones and The Six and all of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books will work well on the screen.
I’m hopeful about Tiny Beautiful Things. I haven’t read the book but used to read the column, and the set up sounds intriguing.
I’m nervous about All The Light We Cannot See. I love the book for the mood and the way it made me think with all my senses, and I am worried about what making it visual will do to it. The story itself is interesting, but without the writing it could become just another WWII era love story. I’ll wait for the reviews before I watch it because I don’t want the show to ruin my relationship with the book.
Regarding the book banning link, I have two thoughts. First, I’m a book lover, a conservative, and someone who truly wants to welcome and understand others. There’s no part of me that wants to categorize people or push them out to the fringe, but this headline right away just doesn’t make me feel very welcome here. I’m trying to imagine a similar headline for a cause on the progressive side, and it just feels so wrong! “Lesbians who demanded such and such once again…” “Black lives matters activists that tried to force us to defund police now assert…” Those would be terrible, reductive things to say! This feels the same to me. Second, I do think this article was sensationalist, and it just seems as though if we want to thoughtfully consider these issues, we should consider the very best of the arguments from the people advocating for the removal of the books, not cheap shots from the people who fear and despise the movement. That said, I respect that this is your platform and you have a right to make it any kind of space you want. I value the work that you do and appreciate what you’ve built so much. So thank you for that!
Hi Nicole,
Thanks for writing this–I agree with your comment here. Headlines can really say a lot and I think that article could have done a better job of helping readers to consider the issues. The categorizing going on in the current climate is not always helpful–and that shows in many articles. I was a school librarian for several years before going into curriculum development so am very aware of this topic of book banning. I’m also right there with you–I appreciate the space here and all the bookish goodness!
The recipe looks amazing! Might be trying that tonight! And I completely agree with the article on things are not manufactured to last like they used to. Reminds me it’s good to buy my clothes from The Real Real and ThreadUp. Vintage is usually better quality! Doesn’t help with bras though!
Sometime, in one of the most recent January columns, Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow was praised. A reader said they had read the book as a group over a period of weeks, reading a few chapters at a time. I was curious about the approach of segmenting a book and hoped to hear more about how this worked. I can no longer find the reference. It was probably a comment. It might be appealing as reading smaller bits and inviting discussion, in person or on line.
I’m baffled by where this Jayber reference may be lurking! If you find it, please let us know.
Finally tried the Turmeric-Black Pepper Chicken with Asparagus. I only had a 1/2 lb of chicken so I added cashews liberally. This dinner was FANTASTIC. So grateful for this recipe!!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!