Good morning from Thomasville, Georgia, and happy Independent Bookstore Day weekend! We had a wonderful time at The Bookshelf last night with owner Annie B. Jones and her bookstore staff. (A special hello to those of you there!) Today I’m heading over to Tallahassee for Word of South festival of literature and music. It’s my first time at this renowned event and I can’t wait to experience it for myself—and meet you there! My events are on Sunday, April 27: I’m recording a live What Should I Read Next? episode with my special guests and interviewing Lauren Groff for her keynote appearance. (What should I ask her?)
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.
A quick update:
We want you to know how things work around here, and to that end: we’ve enabled comment moderation for all comments on MMD, which is a change from our previous settings. We want you to know what to expect, and thank you for your patience while my team and I manually approve comments, which we do regularly during our business hours.
There wasn’t any specific event that precipitated this. I’ve been contemplating making this change for actual years. Because of both the increasingly sneaky AI comments and the (very small) number of human comments that we would not choose to approve for our site, I began to notice my anxiety zooming whenever I sat down to review comments—even though I knew 99.9% of them would be kind, compassionate, intelligent, even thoughtfully and respectfully critical. We welcome all these kinds of comments, but the remaining .1% contains words we don’t want to host here. This has been a rough season for me, I am not my best and most resilient self, and putting boundaries around this very small thing helps.
Thanks for reading, thanks for understanding, and thank you truly for your comments in this space. Your words are one of my very favorite things about blogging. I’m grateful for them—and for you.
My favorite finds from around the web:
Why Does Every Famous Woman Have a Book Club Now? (The Cut) “Though Preiss seems likely to be doing much of the legwork here, the whole enterprise has had the effect of making Roberts seem like more of a serious actress and less like Julia Roberts’s niece.”
The most epic Met Gala dresses of all time. (UK Glamour) I love a good red carpet round-up!
In Which We Buy a Bookstore. (The Courage to Live It Substack) Exciting news from Shawn Smucker! I look forward to visiting Nooks in Lancaster, PA someday.
When our team member Brigid shared the link I could not hit “buy” fast enough on this Old Navy book club tee!
Quinta Brunson Can Do ‘Any Type of Television.’ With Her Platform, She’s Planning to Try. (ELLE) I love everything about this.
15 audiobooks I’ve enjoyed lately: literary fiction and love stories. (MMD) An assortment of great audiobook listens.
Welcome to Scam World. (New York Times gift link) “Should you click the link? Pick up that call? Pursue that job opportunity? Is the person who texted you ‘hey’ just now from a number you don’t recognize someone you actually know? Welcome to Scam World, the seedy layer just beneath the world we live in every day.”
Contemporary Literary Novels Are Haunted by the Absence of Money. (Literary Hub) “In Jane Austen’s day, the size of a man’s income was a source of open discussion—this is no longer the case.”
This Washable Stretch Silk Tiered Maxi Dress from Quince (with pockets!) has been a real wardrobe hero this season. (I’m 5’9″ and the medium fits great.)
How to Pack the Ultimate Carry-On Bag of Airplane Snacks. (Food52) This is impressive. Although fellow passengers may appreciate if you eat a couple of the suggestions before you get on the plane.
Eight Cookbooks Worth Reading Cover to Cover. (The Atlantic) I’ve read and loved half of these.
9 Things You Might Regret Tossing Out the Next Time You Tidy Up. (Martha Stewart) Gulp.
On that note: Lean into spring cleaning with these favorite home organization tools. (MMD) Just a few of my tried-and-true (and blessedly inexpensive) favorites.
My Relentless Journey to Find the Perfect White Tee. (The Strategist) Taking notes. I just reordered some of these favorite American Giant slub tees myself. (It looks like the code DARCY still works for 20% off your first order.)
Don’t miss these posts:
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.
Every bookstore has its own personality. Spreading the love for Independent Bookstore Day.
Give your reading life a quick boost with these 21 short and satisfying novels. When your attention span is short or your reading life feels lackluster, try a novella! It might just be the pick-me-up your reading life needs.
Have a great weekend!
17 comments
Oh good morning, Anne! I am sorry that between AI and snaky peeps you have to handle this. As much as I love the connections I have made online and through Instagram, etc. there are days I want to just go back to a zero digital life!
Have a great time in Thomasville. Annie’s store and staff (and Annie!) are my favorites!
Maydan is a cookbook to add to your list! After eating at a family-style Lebanese restaurant while visiting Houston (Aladdin’s), I came home and instantly starting looking for some Lebanese recipes. I quickly found and ordered the cookbook, Maydan, which is gorgeous. My summer plans include making every recipe in the book.
God bless you, Anne. I love this community. Thank you for your thoughtful decision around protecting the space.
It is quite a treat to spend time in Thomasville! Time and money are not infinite but I find myself wanting to return again and again! But it’s a real trek from CO.
Anne, I am often disgusted by folx online behavior. I’m am sorry that your work so often puts you in the line of fire. I appreciate the community you have built.
This is my favorite post on the internet! I love the links you all find. Now I’m inspired to find the perfect white T, albeit one that’s not cropped. One tip for product manuals (Martha Stewart’s link) is to find the PDF online and saving it to dropbox or Books on an iPad by googling “Instant Pot PDF” or “ PDF” – saves so much space!
Love the article on regret for tossing certain items. My sister and I have always teased our parents for saving everything….until they came upon the original sales receipt for my grandmas ‘57 Chevy Bel Air! So cool, and my Dad still drives the car.
Bummer my sister is their polar opposite, I almost cried when she told me she had tossed her old high school yearbooks! Ughhhh!
I also would not keep a high school yearbook if I had one:) I like getting rid of things but I keep all my notebooks!
I carefully cut out the title pages of my yearbooks(I had college ones, too!) and all the pages I was on and saved only those.
Hi Anne,
You & your team are the best! Thank you for all you & your team do!
Here are other cookbooks I have read cover to cover and loved:
My Kitchen Year, 136 Recipes that Saved My Life by Ruth Reichle. I love a cookbook memoir combo.
All three cookbooks by Alex Guarnaschelli. Her pictures and memories with the recipes enrich these cookbooks. Old-School Comfort Food, Cook with Me, The Home Cook, Recipes to Know by Heart.
I hate that even .1% writes snarky, mean messages. One of my favorite things about the whole MMD is the peace I know I can have when reading the comments. No other blogger or site I visit is as polite and thoughtful and respectful. It is a joy. I’m sorry that you have to weed out this read some. I appreciate all you and your team do to brighten our reading world.
Your chalkboard, your chalk! I’m just glad to have your site as a go to resource for books and reading!
Moderate away!
Another cookbook to add to your collection is Mel’s Kitchen Café Cookbook! It’s hot off the presses!
https://melskitchencafeshop.com/
Kudos to you for deciding to moderate comments and care for your mental health. We love and support you, Anne!
I clicked on basically every link this week. Great stuff! Four of my book club ladies have already ordered that Old Navy tee due to your recommendation haha. Thank you!
Thanks for being open and honest!! Totally understand and respect the need to add another level of protection. Came here today to see what my next read should be. Thanks for what you do!
It was wonderful to meet you in Thomasville! I overheard some ladies, as they were leaving, saying “that was fun” and it was! Annie and her staff have the greatest little book shop and I love to visit whenever I can. Have fun at Word of South!
I’d add all the Smitten Kitchen cookbooks to the list! Every single one I’ve curled up to read like a novel, delighting in the gorgeous pictures and the wonderful anecdotes.