How’s your weekend shaping up? Mine is getting off to a sleepy start—Will and I were gifted last-minute concert tickets and stayed up way past our bedtime last night! But I’m looking forward to coffee, Fall Book Preview event prep, and getting the last chapters of This Motherless Land in (on my re-read) before our MMD Book Club chat with Nikki May this afternoon for our rare Friday event.
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.
Less than a week until Fall Book Preview is here!
We are counting down the days for our seventh annual Fall Book Preview! Join us for the live, 90ish minute Unboxing event on September 18 at 8:00 pm EDT. I’ll share 35 noteworthy titles publishing between the end of August and year’s end. Expect to hear about books I’ve read and LOVED, books I can’t wait to read, and books the industry is especially excited about this fall. Our accompanying 12-page digital PDF booklet lays out every title in our preview, with more features to help you make the most of your fall reading life. Plus, we’re again offering the printed booklet for anyone who wants to have a copy in hand.
Don’t miss out on our new merch while you’re at it! Check out our beautiful Ampersand Leuchtturm journals in four different colors (pictured above) and a pencil pack with some of our favorite sayings, like “I’d rather be reading.” We’ve also got great tees, stickers, signed books, and more: check out all our good stuff here.
My favorite finds from around the web:
I offer gift links for articles whenever possible (you may still need to create an account with the publication); if there’s no gift link and you’re not a subscriber, check to see if your library carries the publication or use a bookmarking service.
The National Book Award longlists are here! (National Book Foundation)
Discovering a Different Kind of Wellness at a Reading Retreat in the Catskills. (Condé Nast Traveler) I didn’t expect the reading aloud element! “As someone generally unaccustomed to group travel, I was surprised to find it not at all awkward. I attribute this sense of ease to the reading. Listening to people read aloud is like getting a look inside their brain.”
Desperation: my favorite quality in a friend. (Strahm Stories de Saudade) “When I say desperate, I mean eager, reverential, and clear in pursuit.”
Nostalgic Cravings at the Minnesota State Fair. (The New Yorker) This piece, which is largely a profile of Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar, had me grinning the whole way through. “Though each of the Sweet Martha’s stands resembles an average commercial bakery—big, sterile-feeling rooms lined with industrial-sized stand mixers and walk-in ovens—the business has the spirit of a two-week summer camp.”
New mission: to track down the two varieties of cranberry Spindrift in my town. Have you tried? (I wish they’d bring back Spiced Apple Cider for fall!)
49 Literary Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Fall. (Literary Hub) So many options!
The Dumbest Phone Is Parenting Genius. (The Atlantic gift link) I’m so jealous! “The peer pressure paid off. Now about 15 to 20 families in their South Portland neighborhood have installed a landline. They’ve created a retro bubble in which their children can easily call their friends without bugging a parent to borrow their phone—and in which the parents, for now, can live blissfully free of anxieties about the downsides of smartphones.”
Bound for Glory. (The World of Interiors) “One of Britain’s largest stocks of second-hand books ever amassed can be found in the unlikeliest of locations: a vast former youth hostel in a pretty corner of the Yorkshire Dales.”
I’ve shared this here before, and sharing again because it keeps being sooo good! This J.Crew Factory honey maple tee is my favorite inexpensive tee of the season: the color is fall perfection and looks good with just about everything. (XXS–3X)
9 recommended reads for those traveling to Mexico. (MMD) For anyone planning a trip to Mexico or looking for some armchair travel.
The One about the The 10 Best Styling Tricks I Learned in 15+ Years as a Stylist, Closet Whisperer, & Recovering Fashion Insider (that no one talks about on Instagram). (Jen Knows Best) “Great style has nothing to do with having the “perfect wardrobe” and everything to do with knowing your own damn life.”
School cell phone ban creates surge in JCPS library visits. (WAVE) In my local news: “Many students have told me that since they cannot be looking at their cell phones during lunch or any other part of the school day, they are checking out books to read instead.”
Zillow Is Just Gossip With A Floor Plan. (Bustle) “For many people, though, cruising Zillow allows one to indulge in human nature’s inherent nosiness. K. says they’re interested in it as a window into how people live: “I am zooming in on those bookshelves, seeing what they read.”
What the Anthropic Settlement Means for Authors. (Brooke Warner) “This is one of many lawsuits brought by authors against AI companies, but the first to be (nearly) settled. Anthropic has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to avoid worse or further damages, which is how we know that they know that what they did was incredibly wrong, and definitely illegal.”
Don’t miss these posts:
12 quiet novels for those seeking compelling character-driven reads. Novels that invite readers to savor the story.
How to create a cozy reading area. Here’s how to establish a dedicated reading area in your home.
20 Dark Academia novels for moody fall reading. Is Dark Academia a social media trend, aesthetic, literary genre? Yes, yes, and yes.
Have a great weekend!
8 comments
I love the article about Sweet Martha’s! I’m a Minnesotan who now lives in Wisconsin but when my family visits, I ask them to bring Sweet Martha’s frozen cookie dough. It’s sold at Aldi in Minnesota when the state fair isn’t happening. It’s not the same as getting the giant bucket of cookies at the fair but tastes the same 🙂
Yes, Sweet Martha’s Cookies! I’m a MN state fair lover and this article is great! On a related note, I just read a book written by the woman who carved the butter heads (Linda Christensen) for 50 years – so interesting! Check it out if you are a MN fair lover!
Very cool. I’ll have to check out this book!
Very encouraged by the Anthropic settlement. However it financially plays out in the end (what will the $3000 per title really look like for authors involved?), the fact that the piracy was acknowledged and considered to be theft is huge. Now to see the same conclusion reached in other AI-training piracy cases…
My daughter worked at Sweet Martha’s last summer. She felt like royalty wearing her uniform shirt as she walked through the fairgrounds. Everyone loves Sweet Martha’s. Working at the fair is a rite of passage for St. Paul kids.
Loved the link to JenKnowsBest Substack on styling tips. Especially #6 “If you wouldn’t pack it for a weekend away, you don’t need it in your closet. That includes “goal jeans.” Let them go. Or frame them. Your call.”
I’m so curious… what concert did yall go to last night? 🙂
The Lumineers!
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