Drumroll please … doors open on Wednesday, November 8 for the winter season of the MMD Book Club.
Reading is a solitary act, but there’s so much to be gained by reading together. Our one-of-a-kind online community makes it easy to connect with fellow bookish kindred spirits for fun, for encouragement, and for a more fulfilling reading experience.
This fall, we started announcing our Book Club picks in seasons—so you can know what’s coming, plan ahead, source your books, maybe get on the library request list. And know exactly what we’ll be reading for the three-month interval. We’ve heard nothing but good things about this change, and we’re thrilled it’s helping you better plan your reading life.
Each month in Book Club we read one core title together, plus complementary, optional selections that create a “book flight.”
Today I’m happy to announce our winter picks!
DECEMBER:
We’ll read Leif Enger’s modern classic Peace Like a River, a great discussable novel if ever there was one. I put off reading this one for a long time because the description just didn’t appeal to me, but now I get what the fuss is about. Part tragedy, part romance, part coming-of-age story, set against the backdrop of a deep North Dakota winter. We’ll pair this with Eowyn Ivey’s magical Pulitzer-nominated novel The Snow Child.
JANUARY:
We’ll kick off the new year with Cal Newport’s inspiring and timely Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, a book that takes a hard look at what modern technology is doing to our brains, and what we should do about it. We’re pairing this with Mason Currey’s excellent and evergreen collection Daily Rituals: How Artists Work. You’ll want both these books for your personal library—or, in the case of Currey’s lovely hardcover, perhaps your coffee table.
FEBRUARY:
We’ll read Maggie O’Farrell’s satisfying 2016 family saga This Must Be the Place, one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time. This is the story of an unlikely but successful marriage between a floundering American professor and a British film star who hated the limelight so much she faked her own death and disappeared … until an unexpected bit of news, twenty years old but newly discovered, threatens to unravel everything. Family stories are commonplace in fiction, but I love this one for its intricate plotting, nuanced characters, true-to-life feel, and ultimate hopefulness.
Flight pick: To Be Determined, which basically means Anne can’t decide but is determined to bring you something amazing that does justice to O’Farrell’s novel.
NOVEMBER CLASS:
Another class is coming your way! On November 13, at 8pm Eastern, I’m teaching a new class, One Hour to a Better Bookstagram. I’ll share details of what Regardless of what we call it, we’re diving in to how to create a beautiful bookstagram feed. (Bookstagram= books + instagram, and for a look at what I’m talking about, I share ten of my favorite bookstagram accounts right here.) We’ll focus on how to take beautiful and inspiring bookish photos for the fun of it, for the love of books and reading, and to get more out of your reading life.
Class access is included with your membership. More details will be on the blog this Wednesday.
Our fall season runs from November 13 to February 28. Enrollment is open from Wednesday November 8 to Wednesday November 15. (We’ll open again for a short window around New Year’s.)
Membership in the MMD Book Club costs $10 per month and registration is quick, easy, and secure. Click here to learn more and get an email reminder when the doors officially re-open on Wednesday.
I hope you’ll join us this winter. Happy reading, everyone!
5 comments
My library did not have This Must Be the Place, but I picked up a copy via bookfinder.com for less than $6/shipped.
Do you not like Litsy? Its a great mixture between Instagram and Goodreads. My favorite!
Ahhhh, your December picks are two of my favorites. Excellent choices!
I feel like this week has been pretty much exclusively ads or promotional posts. ThredUp, your book instagram class, and the book club. I understand that this is a source of income, but it would be nice to have one bookish post per week, not just promotional posts. I really enjoy your book lists and motivational/thoughtful posts; I hope we get to see more of them next week.