What’s happening this weekend? Will and I are easing into the weekend by resuming our Friday planning coffee after a long summer break. Over the next few days I’m planning on doing lots of driving with our child who just got her permit, saying goodbye to a friend who’s moving away (sniff), and hoping to finish my current print and audiobook reads. We don’t have firm plans to hit up the movies but I sure wouldn’t mind! (Are you going?)
It’s been a fun and full week around here: we kicked off the week on the blog with a heavily travel-influenced Quick Lit on Monday and I shared about my abiding love for a little backyard thingamabob on Wednesday. Will joined me on What Should I Read Next to talk about the literary side (and a little more, besides) of our European adventure. After an inadvertent month-long break, I shared lots of photos to accompany that episode on Instagram. And today on Patreon I’m answering reader questions in a new episode of Dear Book Therapist.
I hope you have something to look forward to these next few days, 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:
How an untested, cash-strapped TV show about books became an American classic. (Los Angeles Times) Great behind the scenes on Reading Rainbow.
An ode to an unattractive $9 piece of plastic that brings me oodles of quotidian joy. (MMD) New this week!
Wherever You Go, There You Are: On Setting and Society in Pride and Prejudice. (Literary Hub) “To be seen in society is to be seen by society, and accordingly read and fixed into one’s rightful (social) place. But social bodies are never still.”
It is HOT here so I’m living in this perfect, inexpensive summer tank.
Chaos: Here for It, #302. (R. Eric Thomas Substack) I read this at the onset of last week’s massive jet lag: perfect timing.
13 Things To Do With Friends (That Aren’t Dinner). (Cup of Jo) One of my favorites is to catch up while walking six miles of hills.
Was last night’s Spanish tortilla dinner inspired by our recent trip to Spain? Yes and absolutely.
The Art of Translation. (New York Times gift link) Translator Sophie Hughes goes line by line through some of her work. This made me even more eager to speak with translator Tina Kover about her work and The Postcard with MMD Book Club next week!
After more than a year, my favorite pens are back in stock!
Forget Jam—Pickle Your Fruit This Summer. (TASTE) We love pickling vegetables in my family. Trying it with fruit just makes sense!
My long-backordered Colette cropped wide-leg pants finally arrived and they were worth the wait. (Does this pink pair make anyone else think of the new Barbie movie?)
Minimalism Is Neat, but Clutter Makes a Home. (The Atlantic) “The line between ‘just enough’ and ‘too much’ can fluctuate, even if I’m the one drawing it.”
The Rise of Tech Worker Fiction. (Esquire) Have you noticed this trend?
What Are Waterfall Bangs? A Pro Stylist Explains The ’70s Hair Trend. (Bustle) Help me, because I’m thinking of cutting mine again!
From our archives:
12 recommended reads for those traveling to Maine (or who want to). If you’re looking for a book with a strong sense of place, try one of these books set in Maine!
A Rom-Com Syllabus. This is the kind of resolution we can all keep!
15 backlist books to enjoy while you wait for this summer’s buzziest new releases. Summer is the perfect time to turn to your favorite author’s backlist.
Have a great weekend!
17 comments
Thanks Anne! I always love these Friday links — so much interesting stuff (and it’s fun to see some of the same articles I’ve read and loved make it on this list!).
I’ve read the Reading Rainbow article three times already and still love it each time (as a devotee of the show, brings back so much my nostalgia).
I was also delighted to see the P&P article by C.K. Chau! Have you read her P&P retelling which came out earlier this month? I finished it a few weeks ago and loved it (this coming from someone who doesn’t usually like to read P&P retellings).
Anyway, keep up the great work, Anne and MMD team! 🙂
I haven’t read the new C. K. Chau yet; thanks for reminding me. And thanks for the kind words, Lee, and thanks for reading!
I look forward to the Friday Favs also! I’m in a self imposed “no buy July” but I’m tempted by the J Crew tanks! I have one and gifted one. It’s very hard to find a neckline like like that and a nicely cut fit. I joke that I am dressed by blog posts and IG these days. I also love reading articles I wouldn’t necessarily see and of course BOOKS! Most of the time I like my books with more of an edge to them and steer more into mysteries but I love the way you write so lusciously about books!
My four siblings and I are all meeting up in Portland, OR in a few weeks for our mother’s 90th birthday… I cannot wait! I think it has been 10 years since all five siblings have been together, which makes this reunion a really big deal, and therefore we decided to hire a professional photographer to take pictures of the six of us together. So, this week I have been busy looking at outdoor family portraits online to get some ideas and also trying to find a photographer. Separately, I’m trying to talk my husband into taking me to see the Oppenheimer movie this weekend, but I found out the movie is 3 hours long. That’s a long time to sit in a theater seat. Has anyone seen the movie yet?
Movies are truly getting longer, and I’m not into this trend! If you go I hope you find it worth the time.
Your reunion sounds wonderful and I imagine you’ll treasure those photos forever; I hope you find the right person! (We had photos taken by an actual photographer on our recent trip, something we’ve never done while traveling before! I felt a little uncertain about spending precious travel time getting photos taken, but I’m so happy with how they turned out and glad we made the time.)
Anne – I saw one of your photos on Instagram… it is lovely!! That photo is a treasure!
I regretted cutting bangs about 3 seconds after I had them done. They were finally meeting up with my chin-length bob and I got a wild whim to cut them. Don’t do it!
Not to seem bossy…
Haha! I had them for ten years before growing them out starting in 2019. I figure I’ll go back to bangs one day … but just not yet. At least, probably not yet. 😂
The waterfall bangs is apparently what I have…..I love the look of the waves framing my face but not getting in my eyes. I second the “don’t do it” comment above for any bangs that end up above your eye brows. You have to constantly trim them where “waterfall” is a once every 2 months trim!
I love the article 13 Things to Do with Friends. My friends and I have started a monthly library adventure. We got a library passport and we are on a quest to visit all 100 branches in Toronto. Some of my other favourite outings with friends this year include ice skating, walks in the park, and visiting an art gallery. And of course book club meetings!
I always look forward to the Links I Love on Friday mornings. So many fun tid-bits! Speaking of bangs, I had my hair cut yesterday (on my birthday!) and TRIED to work up my nerve to ask for bangs again. I went halfway instead and got something very similar to waterfall bangs. My hair is thin and I think they add a bit of volume, and they frame my face better. Except for falling in my eyes constantly, I am happy I went with them! (Also went with a new color. Woo hoo!)
I clicked on this an hour ago and have only just come back after following all the highways and byways of your links.Left a comment in women writers and their blacklists.Love that you bring to our attention ideas we might otherwise miss!Thank you.
Hey Anne, how did your Tortilla Espanol turn out. It is one of my favorite foods and I have tried for years to unsuccessfully to reproduce it.
Will’s the one who made it but it turned out great!
I spent a good chunk of my Saturday trying to decide which j crew shirts to buy too many cute colors. Thanks for the suggestion!
As for things to do with friends, I’ve met up a few times with a group I found on Instagram called Chicago Girls Walk. They meet up twice a week to walk in different neighborhoods in the city!
Chicago Girls Walk sounds exactly my speed! So glad you found such a fun gathering.
Readers interested in “Art of Translation” demonstration by Sophie Hughes in NY TIMES link may also like
https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2008/septemberoctober/feature/one-master-many-cervantes
Ilan Stavans (who grew up speaking four languages) also comments on various translations of favorite book he’s read over 30 times in lively, insightul Modern Scholar series title THE NOVEL THAT INVENTED MODERNITY: DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA, 8 short lectures under 5 hours long total, available on CD & audio e-book from some libraries. Good introduction that’s brief compared to semester-long study of QUIXOTE he teaches at Amherst College.
Prefer to avoid translations? Amusing & helpful book BREAKING OUT OF BEGINNER’S SPANISH by Joseph Keenan cites good reasons to be bilingual in Preface to 20th edition. Brain health is one; also practical benefits of knowing language ‘with the second-highest number of native speakers on the planet.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers
Related topic? Irritates me that young author on recent MMD List passes as authority on cultural setting of her characters, although early online amateur interview I can’t find now (tho my July 2021 review of her book posted on LAPL catalog mentions it) quotes her as saying she doesn’t speak the language, never lived in area her characters are from, and did comparatively little research on world of her story. Yet someone who’s in fact expert “en la materia”, fluent in 3 languages, and made project on same theme–pre-dating by years one that Young Author cites as inspiration–is virtually unknown by YA’s target audience.
See also LAPL reader review for novel L.A. Weather. Name of highly regarded script consultant (recommended for novelist to improve her storytelling) was misspelled, it’s HAUGE–the other Michael is noted picture book illustrator.
Anne mentioned (I think) she studied German & read Grimm’s fairy tales in original language. Wonder if she’s also read Margot Benary-Isbert, whose work was based on her life in Germany as someone not supportive of Nazi regime, creatively presented as a fantasy in WICKED ENCHANTMENT, book I believe was read by J.K. Rowling.