It’s that time of year when the heat and humidity make me despair fall will ever arrive … but it sure helps to have autumnal events to look forward to. They remind me cooler temperatures and fall leaves are on their way, along with other means of seasonal delight.
And we have so many delightful things in store for you these next few months! I hope you’ll mark your calendars, prep your To Be Read lists, and join us for any or all of the following festivities.
The Fall Book Preview: coming September 14!
Join us for our fifth annual Fall Book Preview, where I’ll share a curated selection of the season’s hottest new titles, plus the info you need to decide which belong on your TBR.
This year’s Fall Book Preview is set for September 14 at 8:30 pm EDT. In this 90+ minute live event, I’ll share 42 titles including books I’ve read and loved, anticipated titles I’m most looking forward to reading, and noteworthy fall titles the industry is buzzing about, all publishing between August 29 and year’s end. (This event is very much in the style of our Summer Reading Guide Unboxing party.)
Our Fall Book Preview event is an included perk for members of our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club community and What Should I Read Next Patreon “Book Lover” supporters. Our communities will also receive a short, printable PDF booklet (about 12 pages long) that lists every title included in our preview—perfect for printing off and tucking into your journal or taking to the library and bookstore.
How to join us for Fall Book Preview
By popular demand, we offered a la carte access to the Summer Reading Guide for the first time ever this year, and we heard you LOUD AND CLEAR when you said that was a big help and you’d love us to do it again! Because of your feedback, we’re offering a la carte tickets for Fall Book Preview. You can also join either of our member communities, because this event is an included perk for both, as are the following events.
CLICK HERE FOR A LA CARTE ACCESS.
Ask Us Anything on Patreon
We’re prepping for Ask Us Anything with our What Should I Read Next Patreon community! We’ll share more details soon but patrons will want to reserve October 26 at 8:30 pm EDT. (Though this event, along with all our Patreon live events, will be recorded so members can watch anytime.) Join Patreon today so you don’t miss out on this bookish good time.
This Fall in Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club
We’re reading books perfect for fall (along with accompanying flight picks) that will provide ample fodder for discussion, insight, and readerly growth. We’ll also talk with authors Sara Nović and Wiley Cash about their books, their research and writing experiences, and what they love to read.
September
Main pick: True Biz by Sara Nović
Flight picks: The Sign for Home by Blair Fell (Click here for an explanation of our flight pick terminology.)
October
Main pick: When Ghosts Come Home by Wiley Cash
Flight pick: Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke
November and December titles will be announced mid-September!
Make Me an Expert
Part of the fun of reading in community is learning together: we enjoy classes that help us build our reading skills, making us more insightful readers and better bookish conversationalists, as well as classes that support our reading lifestyle, like learning how to book journal or up our #bookstagram game. (We record all classes so they’re ready and waiting for you whenever your schedule allows.)
This fall we’re running a new series of classes called Make Me An Expert. Readers are interested in more than just the actual books, they want to know about the writing, the genre differentiations, the marketing—all the nerdy details that impact their reading lives. That’s why this fall in MMD Book Club we’re talking to experts that can let us in on those insider secrets. Our series topics are Dark Academia, ghostwriting, and book marketing. We can’t wait to learn more about these fascinating topics!
Please note: we like to think of MMD Book Club as a buffet. You don’t have to participate in every offering to benefit from your MMD Book Club experience! Pick and choose what you most want to enjoy right now, knowing that your membership includes lots of options.
What’s the difference between Book Club and Patreon?
Great question! If you’d like to listen to MMD community manager Ginger Horton and I talk about the difference, we made this patreon bonus episode publicly available to all: By popular request: Anne and Ginger talk Patreon vs Book Club. It’s a fun and information conversation.
Our communities have different scope and emphases: we think of our Patreon offerings as being bite-sized, while MMD Book Club is more like a buffet. We encourage you to choose the one that best works for you and your reading life. (20% of our readers are members of both communities.)
Our WSIRN Patreon community is an extension of the What Should I Read Next podcast, and offers Friday bonus episodes (e.g., One Great Book, Mini Matchmaking, Industry Insights), peeks behind the scenes, and additional curated book recommendations to our readers in that space. Patreon is audio-first, which means you can mostly participate when it’s convenient for you. We host two events each semester in Patreon: one seasonal preview (like Summer Reading Guide Unboxing) and one additional event like Ask Us Anything, Live Mini Matchmaking, or Trivia Night. Our patrons also influence the show by offering input on future episode themes and guests and voting on our episode titles.
Our slate of MMD Book Club offerings is more robust, which is why we call it a buffet: we seek to offer lots of great literary content in this space, and don’t expect you to put everything on your plate! We host many live events in this space, including monthly book and author discussions, regular classes on literature and the reading life, and community events like our Readers’ Weekend, Best Book of Summer, Reading Life Rehab, Readalongs, Join Us for Journaling, and more. Our live events are video-driven, but you don’t need to attend live to participate: we record our events so you can watch on your schedule. Our custom-built member site also sets Book Club apart: our 24/7 forums makes it easy to enjoy all the book talk your heart desires, and connect with other readers who love books as much as you do.
Prefer a la carte access? Get your ticket right here.
I can’t wait to read with you this season. Happy reading, friends!
Anne
6 comments
Thank you‼️, Thank you‼️, Thank you‼️ for the A la carte option. So greatly appreciated❣️
Good news all around! I especially like the plan for the Make Me an Expert series. As a MMD member, I always find classes useful and interesting, and a wonderful complement to the rest of the club content.
Thank you, Clara, I’m happy to hear it!
For anyone considering if or how they might dive deeper into the MMD community, might i suggest for your consideration…going ALL in!!! Essentially for the price of a new book a month you can support the amazing, reading-life-transformative work of the MMD team. As a member of both the MMD Online Bookclub AND WSIRN Patreon community I can honestly say, both are TOTALLY worth it!!! The value of the classes and author chats and online discussions with other book lovers in book club is an integral part of my reading life. The weekly bonus episodes alone for the Patreon community are worth the membership fee. Honestly, my reading life has truly been transformed in such amazing ways since i joined book club in 2020. I’ve been introduced to SO MANY more titles, authors, genres than i could have ever imagined thanks to my memberships with MMD & WSIRN. Thanks to the MMD team whose work is literally a part of my everyday life! Membership fees are a simple way to choose to support what they do and the truly wonderful place on the internet they create. ❤️
If I’m already a Patreon supporter would I need to pay the additional cost for the book club? Or does the book club fee include Patreon offerings?
Good question! Each membership community stands alone, but for the rare jointly-hosted event like Fall Book Preview. We hope to one day offer a combined membership, but right now the technology doesn’t allow us to do so.
If it’s helpful to see a side-by-side comparison of what happens in each community, there’s a comparison chart on this page: https://modernmrsdarcy.com/fbp