How is your weekend shaping up? Ours is getting off to a strange start—school is unexpectedly cancelled due to high winds and we’re still managing a child’s lingering concussion symptoms. Plus yesterday I finished all three of my current reads—print, ebook, and audio—so now I have lots of decisions to make about what to read next! (Any time-sensitive recs? You know I want to hear in comments!)
But—assuming the power holds—I hope to make numerous cups of coffee and tea and get started on Daisy Jones with Will. I’m also stopping to mark the third anniversary of Don’t Overthink It—can you believe it’s already been three years, because I sure can’t! If you haven’t yet read it, today is a wonderful day to grab a copy: Amazon (just under $10 at the moment), signed from my local indie (just specify “signed copy” in order comments), from your favorite independent bookstore, Target ($9.99 here), Kindle, Bookshop, wherever you like to buy your books. Thanks for supporting my work in this way, and for helping Don’t Overthink It find its readers despite its terrible early pandemic publication timing. I’m grateful.
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:
- Try the Bakewell tart, and other rules I’m learning to live by. From the MMD archives and perfect for today’s Don’t Overthink It anniversary: My husband Will and I traveled to Scotland in December 2018 for an amazing literary adventure. Our time there was magical, though I do have a handful of regrets. Some were beyond our control, but one was completely preventable.
- The Fleetwood Mac love saga that inspired ‘Daisy Jones and the Six.’ (Washington Post gift link) “The real-life relationship that gave rise to the book and now the series, which premieres Friday on Prime Video, was just as passionate and tumultuous.”
- What we’re listening to: team podcast recommendations. This week on MMD: Podcast recommendations by and for book lovers—but these aren’t all about the books.
- The Case for Hanging Out. (Slate) “Pushed further into isolation by the pandemic, we’re all losing the ability to engage in what I view as the pinnacle of human interaction: sitting around with friends and talking s***.”
- For National Craft Month, Craftsy is offering its lowest price ever: get a 1 year premium membership for just $0.79. This has proved popular with MMD readers not just for the cooking, crafting, photography, home decor, but the options found under “Writing”—journaling, handwriting, hand lettering, memoir writing, writing fiction, and more.
- This Is What It’s Like To Be A Grammys Seat Filler Sitting Next To Jennifer Lopez. (BuzzFeed News) Pure fun.
- The End of the English Major. (The New Yorker) This is a tough one.
- 12 Home Decor Tips for a Mental Health Boost (That Have Nothing to Do With Decluttering). (Real Simple) I’ve got #4—”add a healthy dose of nature”—covered.
- My teen girls have a thing for inexpensive rings. These seed bead rings from their friend’s Etsy shop are affordable and adorable. And aren’t these beaded hoop earrings perfect for spring?
- Why I Watch the Closing Credits of Every Movie I See. (New York Times gift link) “We forget that countless individuals, each a storyteller in their own right, make our viewing possible.” Great perspective.
- Judy Blume Goes All the Way. (The Atlantic) A wonderful in-depth profile of the author and her work.
- This Is the Germiest Place In Your Kitchen, According to Science. (Food & Wine) I never would have guessed!
- ‘It altered my entire worldview’: leading authors pick eight nonfiction books to change your mind. (The Guardian)
- 25 Most Beautiful Cities in the World. (Travel + Leisure) How many have you visited?
Right for right now, from the MMD archives:
- A whole stack of middle grade books you can read in one weekend. Perfect for Middle Grade March!
- 20 board games to beat the rainy day blues. When we tire of doing jigsaw puzzles, it’s time to pull out the board games.
Mark your calendars:
- March 7: What’s your reading personality?: We’re big believers in the power of reading, and the power of personality frameworks as a useful tool for self-awareness. This class combines the two with nine distinct reading personalities. We’ll discuss what each type looks like, exploring what they like to read, and why they like to read it. And of course we’ll offer book recommendations for each type’s reading life. Our hope is that understanding why you read will help you get more out of your reading life. (This is a Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club event.)
- March 18: Harvey Watch Party: Stream, buy, borrow, or rent Harvey, then join us as we all press play on this dramedy staring James Stewart, all together at the same time. We’ll use the Zoom chat feature to share our thoughts as we watch! (This is a Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club event.)
- March 23: Live discussion with Annie Hartnett: It’s time for our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club discussion of Unlikely Animals with Annie Hartnett! (Events are available as replays for members who cannot attend live.)
Have a great weekend!
15 comments
Hi Anne, I just finished Demon Copperhead and I cannot stop thinking about it. I listened to the audiobook and that narrator, Charlie Thurston, was so perfect! I loved loved loved the main character, Demon. Each of the characters have so many layers and are perfectly developed. What a great read (listen)!!
I am reading Joan by Katherine Chen, it’s riveting historical fiction. In this retelling, she’s basically a badass who’s stronger than any man she encounters. The why and how she got that way is the interesting and sad facet to this version of the story.
I have just finished Michael Lewis’s “The Premonition” about the pandemic. I’ve started Matti Friedman’s “Spies of No Nation: secret lives at the birth of Israel.” I gave up on “Demon Copperhead.”
Good morning Anne, and Happy 3rd to your book baby #3! I can’t believe it’s already been three years. I’m eager to read all of these articles in today’s email. Every week I think, “this is the best round up of Friday links ever!” But then the following week, I think THIS one is the best! 😄 Have you read Foster and/or Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan? Both short books, but powerful stories. Or This is Happiness by Irish author Niall Williams (pretty close to Scotland) 😉 Have a wonderful weekend and good luck with your power!
I just read ‘Foster’ based on a recommendation here. It was incredible!
Small Things Like These was amazing. I’ve recommended it for our book club this month.
I spent an hour on the podcast reca post AND the subsequent comments.
I really enjoyed The Circus Train by Anita Parikh. Historical fiction with likable characters to root for and mysterious family drama. I think that checks some of your boxes :-). Happy reading!
An option for your next read: I just finished Nicole Perlroth’s This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends: The Cyber-Weapons Arms Race, and holy cow it knocked my socks off. Not my usual read, but I highly, highly recommend to anyone who like propulsive non-fiction, and really good investigative journalism. It’s an incredibly complex subject matter, but Perlroth makes it accessible— more than accessible, really; I was completely invested. (As you’d guess from the title, it’s not light; people with severe anxiety should tread carefully.)
Thanks, this looks intriguing!
Thank you so much for this suggestion. It sounds incredibly interesting, right in my wheelhouse. I bought the kindle version and very much looking forward to a great read!
Anne, thank you for the New Yorker article. It’s just… wow! Lots of food for thought. Happy weekend.
Bummer 🙁 The Judy Blume article from The Atlantic can’t be read in its entirity unless you have a subcription/paid account.
Hi Anne,
I just started the audio version of poet laureate Ada Limon’s newest collection, The Hurting Kind. It’s a short one (2 hrs) and read by Ada herself. Lovely!
I also listened to an interview with her on On Being podcast recently- so funny and relatable.
I LOVED that book! It is definitely in the top 10 of my 2022 reads.