What’s happening this weekend? We’re hanging out with out-of-town family, going to a fun show, and catching up on a whole lot of laundry after a busy week. I also plan to spend some time taking more photos and writing copy for the 2023 MMD Summer Reading Guide. More on that below!
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.
The Summer Reading Guide is coming May 18!
I recorded a short video (actually short this time: it’s just four minutes!) about what’s in the 2023 MMD Summer Reading Guide: 50 new-for-2023 featured selections, sorted into 7 categories, 42 titles in our genre-driven Backlist Bonanza feature, Awesome on Audio, What’s Your Summer Reading Style?, and more.
The Guide drops at 8:00am on Thursday, May 18. Preorder your Summer Reading Guide and Unboxing access now, or get it as a free perk of one of our member communities. (We talk more about how to choose the one that’s right for you on that page.) Your membership gets you all sorts of bookish goodness—and sustains our work for the long haul.
My favorite finds from around the web:
‘Frog and Toad’ by Late Jewish Author Arnold Lobel Will Finally Be an Animated Show. (Kveller) Love this! I hope the show captures the magic of the books, the first ones I remember reading to my firstborn when he was tiny.
The 12 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2023. (Eater) Any of these on your radar?
Libro.fm is hosting a terrific sale for Independent Bookstore Day: shop the collection of audiobooks available for $5 or less here.
Every bookstore has its own personality. (MMD) For Independent Bookstore Day (tomorrow!), I asked you to tell us about your favorite indie. The comments section is fantastic!
These 15 Women Are Changing The Way We Travel. (Afar) Such innovators!
Nutrition Science’s Most Preposterous Result. (The Atlantic) I’m not mad about it.
Whatever the Problem, It’s Probably Solved by Walking. (The New York Times gift link) I’m awfully fond of walking, friends. “Walking buoys the spirits in a way that feels real and earned. It feels owned. And walking, like a generous partner, meets us more than halfway.”
I’m a huge fan of the Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Primer, but golly it’s expensive. A friend recently turned me onto the comparable e.l.f. Power Grip Primer, just $10 at Target.
Melba’s Contains Multitudes. (Bitter Southerner) This is my kind of literary program. New Orleans is lucky.
It’s almost Derby Week in Louisville: perhaps you need this evergreen recipe for our signature pie? (Barefoot Contessa)
The Junkification of Amazon. (New York Magazine) “Why does it feel like Amazon is making itself worse? Maybe it’s slipping, showing its age, and settling into complacency. Or maybe — hear me out — everything is going according to plan.”
The Container Store is having a huge BOGO 50% off sale right now: included items include their fabulous rolling book cart in a variety of colors (they don’t specify it’s for books, but it sure is great for that purpose) and their Solid Wood Stackable Folding Bookshelf. (I have a “double” in my office behind my desk. You can see it directly behind me in today’s video.)
ALA Releases Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022. (Publishers Weekly)
From the MMD archives:
Books I’m glad I came back to. Some books are worth revisiting.
15 literary novels that will have you compulsively turning the pages. This is one of my favorite (and completely made-up) sub-genres: compulsively readable literary fiction.
8 calming nonfiction books to read when you’re stressed. These titles will help you slow down, breathe deep, and take a well-deserved reading break.
Have a great weekend!
19 comments
Just curious — The summer reading guide has always been free -I just had to wait a week to get it via email. But everything I see this year says that I have to purchase? Can you help me understand why I have to pay for this this year?
I wonder how much revenue MMD is making of charging for the (previously free) guide vs followers who are less than enamored? I was a patreon member until the last guide … which recommended spare … before reviewing. I don’t need someone to recommend a book that has more print copies than ever published and is in every bookstore window. I terminated my patreon subscription at the end of the month.
Hi Colleen, I’m sorry patreon wasn’t a good fit for you. I hope I can shed some light on what our seasonal book previews are all about. Those “previews” (not “guides”) for fall and spring feature books I’ve read and loved, books I can’t wait to read, and books that are big a big deal in the industry for the season to come. (Our Summer Guide is different in that we feature titles I’ve read every word of, along with a splashy PDF magazine.) In our fall and spring previews we talk a little more about WHY I loved the titles I loved, and why publishers are prioritizing certain titles. We try to highlight what is interesting about some of those highly promoted titles, and help readers cut through the marketing noise to decide whether or not those books belong on their TBR or not. I’m not recommending those titles; like I said at our event, I hadn’t read Spare at the time and still haven’t read it. But I can see what’s interesting about its publication.
You’re so right in saying that an astonishing number of copies of Spare were printed—and that’s interesting! Why so many copies, and what does that mean for the current literary landscape? How does that affect you as a reader, and how does it affect marketing efforts for other winter and spring titles? We’ll talk about those factors in our fall and spring previews when it comes to those major seasonal releases. For Spare, we also discussed the strict embargo and how it was broken, and the significance of the chosen ghost writer. (For books I’ve read and loved, I’ll tell you all that plus why *I* loved it.)
I hope that’s helpful information to you and other readers.
You did not address the question of why you are charging for the previously free Summer Reading Guide. I am not included to purchase something that I have gotten for free in the past.
Sorry, Colleen, but I have no idea what you’re even saying. (From another Colleen)
https://modernmrsdarcy.com/the-2023-summer-reading-guide-is-coming/
Hi Corrie, I share the details and the thought process behind that decision in this recent blog post: https://modernmrsdarcy.com/the-2023-summer-reading-guide-is-coming/
Thank you for sharing — This may be the first time I do not participate in the summer reading guide. I generally read a fair share of the books – but I am not inclined to pay for something that has been free. I understand the changing business environment – I own and run my own business. I hope you get the results you are hoping for with this change, but for the first time in 12 years, I will not be participating.
I am a member of MMD and very excited for the guide and will be attending the 8:30pm unboxing. Books about Books sounds great!! Your video sparked my curiousity though and I have to ask…is there still a section for Family Drama Stories(or a similar heading) and a Romance section? My personal favorites.
Yes, we have categories for family dramas and love stories! I really love both (as you probably know) and the literary offerings are so good this year for both!
Last year I signed up for your email list in exchange for the summer reading guide. I was good with that, & I have enjoyed the emails with links to your blog. I’m very disappointed that there is no way to get the summer reading guide without joining a monthly subscription or paying for what was once a gift to blog subscribers. I went ahead, and unsubscribed because I wont we able to stand hearing about the guide & not having access to it. Thanks for a great year from your blog.
Hi Danelle, I understand you may not be interested, but if you’d like to hear more about the thought process behind the decision, I talk about it at length in this post. https://modernmrsdarcy.com/the-2023-summer-reading-guide-is-coming/
There, I talk about the evolution of the guide over the years, as well as why I chose to go this direction instead of creating a free version that was less taxing on my and my team’s time, energy, and resources. Maybe you’ll find it helpful.
The comments about the change to this year’s guide are disappointing so I wanted to add an opposing viewpoint. I’ve been a MMD blog/podcast fan since it started and am thrilled to pay the $5 Patreon fee to access the beloved summer reading guide this year. I find the resistance to this change especially perplexing given the outpouring of support I just read in the post on fave indie bookstores. I support MMD monetarily for the same reasons I support indies – fantastic recommendations, a bookish community, and the opportunity to support independent creators like podcasters who are essential to providing me so much personal joy. Thank you, Anne, to you and your team for many years of bookish delight. I am happy to pay this small fee to support your efforts and expect your many dedicated fans will feel the same. xo
Andrea, thank you for your kind words, and your fascinating comment about context.
I discovered What Should I Read Next in 2018. I was floundering in my reading life. I couldn’t consistently find books I enjoyed. Not only did the podcast and blog solve that problem for me, it also was my “gateway drug” into other book podcasts.
I am a Patreon supporter and bookclub member so I really have no dog in the discussion about the Summer Reading Guide. But having become accustomed to getting an awful lot of content for free it’s easy to see why that isn’t sustainable as a business model. I became a Patreon member because I was so grateful to MMD for reinvigorating my reading. I would continue to support y’all via Patreon out of loyalty, I guess, even if there wasn’t so much additional Patreon content.
I’m looking forward to May 18!
Dusty, thank you for your kind words. I’m happy and grateful to hear MMD did good things for your reading life! Thanks for everything you bring to this space.
I also want to voice support for your choice to change up your summer reading guide. I am not (yet) a paying member but I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate all of the wonderful content you provide through the podcast, your emails and this blog at no charge! When I got a copy of an earlier summer reading guide I couldn’t believe how robust it was. I think people do not understand how much work goes into producing something like that, not to mention all of your other content that is still free to all of us. Just want to be sure you know you are appreciated!
Over the years the Summer Reading Guide (SRG) has introduced me to so many wonderful books and new-to-me authors. I greatly appreciate that Anne has read every book in the guide, and based on her descriptions and commentary on each book I can confidently select which books from the guide I want to read. Rarely have I picked a book from the guide and ended up not enjoying or not finishing it. While the guide may list 50-ish books, I know she has read many more than that to get to the final curated list. While Anne has generously provided us all with the SRG for free in the past I certainly understand that the time and effort required to select and read the books and create the guide is extensive. Simply put, to me the SRG is easily worth the price of a Patreon or Book Club subscription or a one-time purchase. Just my two cents.
I found the Junkification of Amazon article fascinating, and it answered some questions I’d been having, like those weird brand names that aren’t even real words. Thanks for the free link to the article!