Happy Friday, friends! What are you up to this weekend? There’s a lot happening around here—one kid starts school today, friends are visiting from across the ocean, and I have my hands full helping three more kids get off to college and back to school next week. Right now our family has long shopping lists and LOTS of big feelings. I asked for your best tips for sending kids off to college—whether you’re speaking as a student or parent—on Instagram last night. I’d love to hear your tips, either there or right here in the comments section!
A quick programming reminder: since the 15th falls on a Tuesday, I’ll be hosting Quick Lit on Monday, August 14. Every month I share short and sweet reviews of what I’ve been reading lately, and invite you to do the same. Get your posts ready!
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:
Historical fiction that isn’t set during World War II (MMD) By popular demand: 20 novels set in all sorts of times and places! (Don’t miss the comments section.)
The Common Thread in R. Eric Thomas’s Genre-Spanning Process. (The Atlantic newsletter) I loved this conversation from last year between R. Eric Thomas and Nicole Chung. For more Eric goodness, listen to WSIRN Episode 392: Insightful and entertaining memoirs.
There’s an order to designing a space. Designers share their 9 steps. (Washington Post gift link) Step 1: begin with something you love.
Whether or not you’ve noticed the Europeans Hate Water silliness (as covered in bon appétit): these collapsible water bottles were indispensable on our Europe trip.
The Gamification of Reading Is Changing How We Approach Books. (Shondaland) “There’s a desire stirring in our culture, both in reaction to the digitization of life and in line with the trendy factor that digital platforms foster, to be seen as someone who reads overshadowing the reading itself.”
An Oral History of ‘The Fugitive.’ (Rolling Stone) I can’t tell you what is most surprising here, there are just so many options to choose from!
Greta Gerwig’s 10 Favorite Books. (Vulture) We talked about the possibility of doing a Barbie-inspired book list in team meeting … but what would we include? (Tell us in comments!)
Nonalcoholic Dirty Lemon Tonic. (New York Times Cooking gift link) This was a hit! Though I thought this was way too much chopped preserved lemon, for reasons of texture (not flavor). Halve or even quarter it, or go the paste route.
The Big Five US Trade Book Publishers. (Almossawi) Bookmark this handy visual of all the divisions and imprints of the Big Five.
Favorite new makeup find: the Rare Beauty Always an Optimist Soft Radiance Setting Powder, in light medium. I ran out of powder ages ago and plain old forgot to replace it until recently. It’s a small thing but I’m enjoying using this so much!
We’re All Shopping Addicts Now. (The Cut) “Whether it’s impulse control, ‘filling a void,’ boredom, depression, s*** products, too many ads, the effects of influencers, or actual shopping addiction—most of us are buying more than we need and often more than we can possibly use.”
A Complete Guide to Alice Oseman’s Books, Including the “Heartstopper” Series. (POPSUGAR) The books and show are big in my house.
Legit good back to school deals: save a pile of money on a lifetime Microsoft Office subscription (this is so much cheaper than what I’m currently paying, sigh) and save big on a Costco membership (we are BIG Costco fans, because: family of six). The Costco deal is on Groupon; am I the only one who didn’t know they were still around?
Can houseplants purify the air in your home? (BBC) Short answer: not really. (Soil does more for air quality, what?) But the exploration is fascinating.
On What Should I Read Next:
Insightful and entertaining memoirs. R. Eric Thomas joins me on the podcast to talk about his new book Congratulations, the Best Is Over!, featured in our 2023 MMD Summer Reading Guide and destined for my Best of the Year list. We cover the stories behind his new stories, of course, plus chat about midlife and more memoirs we consider to be both insightful and entertaining—not the easiest combination to nail. It’s such a good episode; happy listening!
In our What Should I Read Next Patreon community: In today’s new bonus episode called Blame Tom Cruise for my book slump, team members Shannan and Donna join me to share—and laugh—about their summer reading slumps. It happens to all of us, sometimes: we discuss what to do when it does.
From our archives:
12 narrative nonfiction books to satisfy your sense of adventure. Anyone looking for unputdownable nonfiction?
School supplies for grown-ups. I get more excited about back-to-school shopping than my kids—and not for the reason you think.
22 atmospheric gothic novels for a darker reading mood. If you’re looking for a spooky-but-not-scary read, try a gothic novel!
Have a great weekend!
24 comments
Hi! Thanks for another great list, Anne. A heads up that the Europeans Hate Water link (which I am excited to check out!) goes to the water bottle product page.
Oh no! Thanks for the heads up; I just fixed it.
I loved the podcast episode with R. Eric Thomas, it was so meaningful! Here are some suggestions for Barbie books:
-Dress Code, Veronique Hyland
-If I Had Your Face, Frances Cha
-Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino
-Beautiful World, Where Are You, Sally Rooney (evoked the same questioning of what it means to be human, the peaceful existentialism we see at the end of the movie)
-Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo
-Meat Market, Juno Dawson (explores beauty standards and the fashion model industry)
-Men Explain Things To Me, Rebecca Solnit (a feminist classic that Ken should read!)
I also loved the way this bookstagrammer structured their Barbie-inspired recs: https://www.instagram.com/p/CvpS3lrrTd0/
Excited to see what’s next on the podcast <3
Barbie book list ideas! How fun.
Bunny, by Mona Awad. Young women trying to be perfect and have the perfect partner. Gets very weird and dark. Deeper than the cover makes it looks.
The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey. Creating the perfect woman using science, a cautionary tale and parable of abuse.
I definitely connected with the Goodreads story. I have become very disillusioned with all the bookish socials and Goodreads and whatnot, and miss the days when I would just pick up a book that looked interesting and reading it. This has me seriously considering getting rid of my bookstagram and Goodreads accounts and going back to the way it was done in the “olden days” before the internet!
This article struck a nerve for me, too. Last year I closed my Goodreads account–it was the only social media account I had–after I realized I had started reading books to reach a challenge goal and was reading things I really didn’t want to but felt pressured to because I had so many “friends and followers” waiting for my reviews.
Now I read what I want when I want, taking as long as it takes, and just keep using my reading tracker notebook with minimal stats (title, author, genre, and format listed under year read) and a lovely journal to record quotes and passages. My reading life has never been more enjoyable!
Maybe houseplants do not purify the air, but I will take a regular one over anything genetically modified ANY day!
I liked how the article highlighted some of the other benefits of houseplants, even if the clear air benefits are marginal at best.
The Microsoft offer link indicates it is expired.
Oh no! When I click through I’m not getting any kind of expiration message. I’ll see if I can figure out what’s up.
On sending kids off to college: I encourage you to lean into the excitement of the moment. Try hard to convey that you are excited for them to be off on an adventure and that you have confidence that they will succeed. To the extent possible, save feeling sad that they are leaving home until you after you’ve dropped them off.
Yes, absolutely this! I worked in a college for many years, and have witnessed thousands of drops-offs. The kids are so overwhelmed by all the feelings already – they don’t need to be dealing with their parents’ conflicted feelings too.
My other top piece of advice is to have a conversation about how and how often you’ll be in contact. If you’re expecting a phone call every day, but they think one text message a week is fine, then you’ll be stressed and they’ll be annoyed. Make sure they know it’s always fine for them to contact you anytime, but clarity on both sides about the minimum expectations is incredibly helpful for everyone.
I’m not sure the author of the Goodreads article fully supports her premise that ‘gamefication’ is degrading the reading experience broadly. Many of the activities she cites are common across a variety of media fandoms, and it’s not clear from the article that they represent the experience for people that are not the heavy users she references. However, it does have me considering my relationship with the platform again. Goodreads is really convenient for tracking my books read (something I know I could do in another medium), occaisionally winning free books, seeing what friends are reading and getting a feel for their reading tastes. On the other hand, I don’t engage with the platform much beyond imputing my reads and skimming the feed for the current reads of the handful of friends that update regularly. As noted it’s clunky and awkward to use, without much or any attempt at updating over the years. It’s also just sort of crap at recommending books, but the inertia will probablly keep me there for a while longer.
I agree with this 100% I , too, mainly continue to use it to track my books and see what friends are reading. The fact that it hasn’t been updated much is fine with me because I don’t use it for anything else.
I think Lessons in Chemistry would be a good Barbie book! Empowerment and fighting the patriarchy and all!
My best tip about sending a kid off to college: there will be a mix of sometimes surprising emotions in the days and months and years ahead. Acknowledge them all. When my second (and last) son went to school, I found I was so happy to have them both home for Thanksgiving, but honestly there was some culture shock, too. My home was suddenly loud again. It threw me for a loop because I wasn’t sure I liked it. Then there were the bittersweet moments realizing our lives together would never be the same — and I didn’t want them to be, if I truly thought about it. I wanted them to be their own people, but in the moment it could make me blue.
Feel and acknowledge those conflicting emotions. As hard as it can be to say goodbye, I know you’ll be proud and excited for your child (which will win the day). You’ve got this!
My biggest college tip came from a podcast I think called ask Lisa. When your student calls you and is upset about something (roommate issues, loneliness, trouble with course work) they will dump it all on you and you will feel the urge to rush to their aid. Wait 24 hours because most of the time they feel 100% better having off loaded their feelings and you are left holding them all. You will call the next day to check on them and they will say “what are you talking about, I’m fine”
Thoughts on kids going back to college from the Denver airport. Just deposited my Junior at Boulder, a couple of weeks after leaving my Senior at UKY. My pro tip: keep their bedroom doors CLOSED. It is just easier. Best wishes to your kids!!
I bought a Vapur bottle before we went to Italy in 2015. Eight years later, it’s still going strong.
Our library set up a mannequin to be Ken, mink and all, at his “Mojo Dojo Answer Desk” and he had some book suggestions including:
1. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
2. 48 Laws of Power by Robert Green
3. The Horse Dancer by Jojo Moyes
4. Not Here to be Liked by Michelle Quach
5. Other Men’s Horses by Elmer Kelton
Thank you so much for the Microsoft link, Anne! I’ve been holding off and waiting for the price to come down for years. Now it’s actually reasonable.
Anne–do you know anyone who has used the Microsoft link–I would hate to infect my computer with something that isn’t legit and is almost too good to be true. Love your Friday posts and really all your posts!
Anne–I Googled the Microsoft Partner offering the lifetime subscription for Microsoft. The partner, Nerdused.com has a medium to low trust ranking and I also found this about the selling of these too good to be true Microsoft products–
“Don’t be fooled by the wording. You are not buying a license for Office. Instead, you’re buying a product key that allows you to download the Office desktop software from Microsoft’s website. The software will probably activate and work just like a copy of Office purchased directly from Microsoft. But the seller is not authorized to distribute these product keys, which means Microsoft can revoke your activation anytime. And there are multiple credible reports from people who’ve been deactivated months after installing this software.”
I just saw the Barbie movie and I’ve been reading Lessons in Chemistry (just finished it actually) and I think that if you love the Barbie movie, you would love Lessons in Chemistry. Elizabeth is supposedly strikingly beautiful and she also lives in her own little world. But, it also has all the insane patriarchy themes that Barbie discovers after she goes to the Real World.