What Caught My Eye Online #50

BookTok, Taylor Swift poetry, cookbooks, and more

Photo by Sarah Vombrack on Unsplash

Welcome to this week’s roundup! I can’t believe this is number 50. I’m so glad you enjoy these posts every week since I love to curate things. I’m thankful for my faithful readers, including recent paid subscribers. Substack has been such a supportive community, which is a gift.

Here’s what I’ve been loving this week:

• Breathing through my nose. I’ve had a cold for the past few days, and I was reminded that you don’t really appreciate breathing through your nose until you cannot breathe through your nose. I’m all about celebrating the little things!

• Hot cocoa. Even though I can drink hot cocoa whenever I want, there’s something special about it during the holiday season. I like mine extra chocolatey with a hint of peppermint. I usually make my own (I think the recipe is on the Hershey’s cocoa container), but when I buy the packets, I opt for the ones from Starbucks.

• Reading magazines on my iPad. I used to subscribe to many different magazines but stopped paying as much attention to them in recent years. Thankfully, my library offers free magazine issues on Libby. They look beautiful on an iPad screen and are easier to read than you might think. It’s been fun to rediscover magazines this year. I’ve been enjoying Magnolia, The New Yorker, and Bon Appetit, just to name a few.

And now for the links!

• The iconic poet Nikki Giovanni just passed away. Here’s a beautiful look at her life through pictures.

• Prolific author Jacqueline Woodson talks with Brittany Allen from Lit Hub about book bans and staying resilient in 2025.

• Book Riot wonders if BookTok is past its peak.

• There’s a new poetry collection in which contemporary poets respond to Taylor Swift. Read some of the poems here. I need this book ASAP.

• I enjoy using NetGalley to get advanced copies of books to review. Check out their most popular books and audiobooks of 2024.

• Book Marks (part of Lit Hub) shares the best-reviewed fiction and nonfiction of 2024.

• Electric Lit recommends 13 books by South Asian authors.

• Get ready for some literary eye candy. Lit Hub has rounded up the 167 best book covers of 2024. There are so many good ones! I really like The God of the Woods cover.

• If you’re looking for a good holiday book to enjoy this season, She Reads suggests a few.

• Traci Thomas of The Stacks shares her 41 most anticipated reads of 2025. I added several of these to my TBR.

• Anne Bogel of Modern Mrs. Darcy shares her 2024 favorites.

• NPR recommends 11 cookbooks.

• Here’s how to write the story you’re afraid to write.

• My friend Mary shared a beautiful poem and some musings from James Crews, whose work I’ve admired for a long time. You can follow James here.

• I’ve been thinking about how I want to set up my 2025 reading journal. I like looking for inspiration on YouTube, and I’ve been watching helpful videos from JashiiCorrin. She makes a lot of in-depth journaling videos, like this one where she sets up her new reading journal and this one with 100+ ideas for what to include in a reading journal. She also has a lot of bullet journaling content, if that’s more your thing.

• In addition to reading and journaling (and several other things!), makeup is one of my hobbies. My absolute favorite reviewer, Emily Noel, is in the middle of her year-end award series. The videos she has up so far include her favorite face and eye products. In each video, she includes a high-end pick and a drugstore pick. Emily never does sponsored content, so I trust her opinion and have watched her for years. She’s a great resource when it comes to beauty.

• Over the weekend, I felt the baking urge, so I made these delicious pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. They’re perfectly spiced and not too sweet. I love them.

• I haven’t been in the mood for much Christmas music this year, but I’ll always make time to listen to Over the Rhine’s Christmas albums, The Darkest Night of the Year, Snow Angels, and Blood Oranges in the Snow. Check them out if you appreciate folksy tunes and original, moody holiday music.

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Thank you for being here! I’d love to hear about what you’ve been loving lately.