What Caught My Eye Online #55
Audiobooks, short books, journaling, and more
Welcome to this week’s roundup!
Here’s what I’ve been loving so far:
Hot Americanos. I drink iced coffee most of the time, but lately, I’ve been enjoying hot coffee, specifically Americanos. Where I live, mornings have been well below freezing, so starting my day with something delicious and warm has been lovely.
My morning Substack routine. Speaking of mornings, I’ve been starting my days reading the various Substacks I follow. This routine is so much better than mindlessly scrolling social media and being bombarded by news and opinions when I’m still just waking up.
And now for this week’s links!
John Green talks about audiobooks for five minutes, and it’s a delight.
I love short books! If you do too, check out these recommendations from Book Riot. (I shared my own recs here.)
Lit Hub shares a fascinating excerpt from a new book called There Is a Deep Brooding in Arkansas: The Rape Trials That Sustained Jim Crow, and the People Who Fought It, from Thurgood Marshall to Maya Angelou by Scott W. Stern. In this section, Stern writes about how “Black and white America reacted to Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
In sad but not surprising news, “The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has announced that it is rescinding all past guidance issued against the removal of books and will no longer employ a coordinator to investigate instances of unlawful book removals.”
Here’s a great post about where we put our attention, including ideas on how to balance online vs. in-person life.
This post about how to start journaling is packed full of great resources and ideas.
Imani Perry’s new book, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People, sounds incredible. Perry talks with NPR about the book here.
This is the best headline I’ve seen in a while: “It’s official: Research has found that libraries make everything better.”
Elle asks, “Can Influencers Predict the Next Big Thing in Books?”
Bookshop.org now has e-books. You can now support indie bookstores with your e-book purchases.
This is a fun look at the process of designing a book cover.
Barnes and Noble has some beautiful new bookish home decor items. Do I need snail bookends? No. Do I want them anyway? Desperately.
Demand has soared for the book written by the bishop who confronted Donald Trump, Mariann Edgar Budde.
This piece from The Paris Review looks at the period James Baldwin lived in Istanbul on and off between 1961 and 1971. Check out the gorgeous photos of Baldwin.
I made these simple cookies over the weekend and loved them. They’re perfectly soft and chewy. I’ve made them before with the M&Ms, but this time, I used chocolate chips, which I liked even more.
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What have you been loving this week? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for being here!
As soon as my paw heals, I’m making those cookies!
I haven’t gotten too far into your list of links yet, but felt compelled to comment about short books. I think they can be hit or miss, as any length book can be. When I read “The Most” last year, I thought it was the right length, probably because I didn’t enjoy the book enough to read more of it (and it’s under 200pgs). However, I heard an interview with the author of “Rosarita” (on NRP’s book of the day podcast) and thought the premise of the book sounded too complex to be a short book! I’ll read it soon and figure out if the author (Anita Desai) is succinct enough to pull off the story with brevity.