May Literary Society selections, deep reading on Substack, and a spring sale
Plus I break my six-month no buy streak with a pair of red shoes
We are officially four weeks out from the release of my annual Paperback Summer Reading Guide. I am excitedly devouring books to see if I can find titles that best what’s already on the docket (a tough task indeed this year) and reading through new releases for the hyper curated handful of frontlist titles I’ll be including this year. A fun addition this year is that
, my This Month in Books cohost, and , my assistant over in the Literary Society, will both have edits in the guide. This means you’ll get even more variety of PSRG books from readers’ whose tastes both overlap and occasionally differ from my own.Another exciting change is that we are adding additional summer programming around the PSRG for both Patrons and paid newsletter subscribers. While you can still purchase the guide as a standalone, these benefits are designed to help you get more out of your summer reading, whether you’re looking to develop an individual deep reading practice or enhance your reading in community.
On Patreon, we’re making the Summer Reading Projects a Patreon exclusive addition to the guide and setting up corresponding Discord channels for each project. These Reading Projects will be additional books grouped by theme. (For example, last year we had an Arthurian Legends project and a Cowgirl Summer project.) Because the focus of the Literary Society is community, we’ll also be discussing one or two selections from the PSRG on Zoom over the summer so we can summer read together.
Here on Substack, we’ll be focusing on deep reading. I’ll be choosing several PSRG selections that I’ll explore in depth in essays throughout the summer. I’m calling these Margin Notes and they’ll operate as a special series within Reading in Public. In this series, I’ll write through my reading and thinking process for each selected book. I’ll share insights, observations, questions, and demonstrate how my reading becomes an ongoing conversation between me and the text. As the title suggests, these essays will include images of the margin notes I took as part of the reading process. I’ve wanted to try something like this for a long time, and pairing it with my Paperback Summer Reading Guide feels like a good way to make it fun and try it out with books you might also be excited to read.
While all other Reading in Public posts will remain free for all, Margin Notes will be an exclusive series for paid subscribers. For the next two weeks, I’ll be offering a sale on annual subscriptions so you can get the PSRG and all the additional goodies that come with it. If you’ve been considering upgrading, now’s the time!
If you’re wondering if either Patreon or Substack is right for you, you can find all the details about both communities here.
Speaking of upgrades, I also have a small change coming to these Sunday posts. End Notes is becoming The Weekly Digest. This is where I will share some behind the scenes details on work and life, what I’ve been enjoying outside of books, or links to articles with a little more commentary on why they were meaningful or important to me. You’ll now find a Link Roundup at the bottom of the Sunday newsletter. These will be quick links with no commentary to help you keep up with new releases, book lists, and literary news.
Making changes to things that have been consistently working can be hard, so I always appreciate you all sticking with me as I continue to adjust what I offer to fit both my passions and the things you value.
Last month on Substack.
I had the absolute pleasure of interview Annie Jones about her wonderful debut book Ordinary Time. This conversation is accessible whether you know Annie or not or whether you’ve read her book. She is a thoughtful, compassionate person with incredible taste in books…and who doesn’t love that?!
I went through a pretty brutal reading slump last month and shared some of my best advice for dealing with these inevitable literary setbacks.
One of my goals for this year is to learn more about craft and how fiction works, and this month I thought, read, and wrote a bit about point of view from a reader’s perspective.
This month I discovered that I love mysteries that are solved by doing research and shared a handful of those books I’ve enjoyed in the past. I also brought back “just trust me” recs and rounded up works of fiction that explore faith.
This week in books.
Now I’m reading…
It’s the final spree of Paperback Summer Reading Guide vetting but I’ve also started the May book for the FM Literary Society Book Club. It’s a modern classic that’s been on my TBR for ages, and I’m thrilled to have a reason to prioritize it.
New on my TBR…
All of the Richard III books. And I mean all of them. Philippa Gregory, dense histories1, The Bard’s legacy-defining play. After reading this mystery, I need to know everything there is to know about this controversial king.
May in the FM Literary Society.
This month in our Patreon Literary Society, we’re reading Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih as our main Book Club selection and Stag Dance by Torrey Peters as our Buzzy Book of the Month.
We’re also beginning a slow read of Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai that will take us through the summer until our August discussion.
The Weekly Digest.
I listened to this episode of Slate’s ICYMI and was really grateful for the hosts’ conversation about the Harry Potter reboot. JK Rowling has continued to disgust me with her proud display of hatred towards trans people. I think many former Harry Potter kids like myself have found ways to work through our feelings about the books and confront them in a way that feels appropriate to how we feel about the author. But a new HP series is coming to HBO Max and, as the podcast dives into, it’s going to create a big test for fans of the series. Some of this conversation didn’t resonate with me because I’m a fan but not part of the online fandom. I also felt like the hosts occasionally fell into the trap of validating their own way of continued engagement with the Wizarding World while labeling others who partakes in another way as wrong. Still, the Harry Potter conundrum is one of the biggest art/artist questions for me personally. A foundational decade of my life is inextricably linked to this series and yet supporting a living author who gives money to harm a vulnerable population is not okay with me. I think often about how I will broach this with my daughter one day, and so while I don’t thing their conversation was perfect, I do appreciate those willing to hash it out publicly.
A new publishing house called Conduit Books is aiming to make more space for male authors. Of course this conversation has been present for years, but I think we hit a tipping point when this viral Conduit Magazine thinkpiece2 finally said the quiet part out loud and admitted that the real grumbling has been that there are fewer young (born after 1984 is the arbitrary cutoff given in the piece), straight, white male authors. There have been some great Substack responses to this piece including this one about real vs. fake power and this one, whose title may be dismissive but thoughtfully explores the question, including the very important idea that men need to read books by women. I wrote about this same idea and how it impacts politics last year, and it’s something I feel extremely passionate about. I was glad to see The Guardian respond to the formation of Conduit Books and remind us that in publishing, “there are many ways to cut the pie.”
After six months of buying no new clothes, I shopped this week. One thing that taking a big break from consuming did for me was reveal what clothes I always reach for and what additions to my closet (if any) I actually need. I decided to get these jeans in a different wash because they are all I want to wear. I also replaced my falling apart white sneakers with something brighter and a bit bolder. I went with these because I like a lower profile, but still comfortable walking shoe and red goes with almost everything I wear.
Link Roundup.
24 books coming in May. (NYT, gift link)
The delightfully analog art of letter writing. (NPR)
10 great nonfiction books to read in May. (Lit Hub)
Universe-expanding children’s books coming out in May. (Lit Hub)
An archive of Black resistance, in dispatches from bookstores. (NYT, gift link)
6 books to read outdoors. (Atlantic, gift link)
5 new historical fiction novels that whisk you away to another century. (Wash Post, gift link)
That’s all for this week! I’m heading out of town for a girls’ trip on Monday so I won’t be back in your inboxes until Friday. I hope your week is full of exceptional books.
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Happy reading!
Sara
I think I bought the last copy of this from Bookshop, and I’m quite proud of that.
I literally only realized the publishing house and the magazine were connected when I wrote this paragraph. Now the whole thing gives me even more of the ick.
Love the changes you're making to this post and Margin Notes sounds interesting too! Very excited about your PSRG and Liz and Maddie's additions
I'm so excited for summer reading (not summer sweating but that's ok).