A Gasp-Worthy Backlist Beach Read, A Trusted Author Delivers, The Secret of Happiness, & LINKS you'll love
Plus a book podcast I'm obsessed with
Housekeeping
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Hello! Happy Sunday😊 I’m enjoying a weekend at the lake and I have to tell you, I’ve been giddy with excitement over the turn my reading has taken this week. You may remember me sharing in my May monthly reflections post that I had way too many average reads last month and that I was determined to spend June reading only books I love- a lofty goal I know:) But…that’s exactly what I’ve spent this first week of June doing and it has revitalized my reading life! Not only have I been sampling like crazy, I’ve also been laser focused on checking in with myself and asking “are you loving this” and if the answer is not really, I set it aside. And here’s the thing, those books I moved on from simply went back onto my tbr, they are not gone forever, they haven’t vaporized into the bookish ether, they just didn’t give me what I wanted right now, but they just might in the future.
This way of choosing and reading books has been so refreshing and given me that I can’t wait to get back to that story feeling that I was missing from most of my May reading. The result- I finished three books I absolutely loved and recommend this week (I’m sharing two below and the third I’ll share soon)
Something else I’ve been enjoying so much this week that it’s bordering on a bit of an obsession….listening to A Strong Sense of Place podcast! Every summer I get in a huge armchair travel reading mood and this podcast, hosted by
is so fun to listen to. They not only share books they love related to the place they’re talking about each episode, but they give interesting details, fun facts, and photos on their website. This week I listened to their episodes on NYC, France, Paris , and their Top 10 Books From Their First Five Seasons . I’ve heard of so many new to me books from these episodes that I’ve begun making a separate TBR just for the books from their show. Good stuff! And I’m super excited to have recently connected with them here on Substack - be sure to check out their newsletter for more great book content.