Links I love – Modern Mrs Darcy

What’s in store for you this weekend? I’m looking forward to warm spring temps and sunshine as my town enjoys a taste of false spring. Daisy is loving it! One of my college kids is home this weekend, so I’m thankful for family time in advance of her heading back to school on Sunday. And I have an hour to go in an audiobook I’m very much enjoying.

I hope YOU have something to look forward to these next few days, and that this collection of interesting reads and favorite things helps ease you into that weekend frame of mind.

Our 2026 Reader Survey is happening now!

Our 2026 Reader Survey is live! If you haven’t yet, would you pop over here to take it? I hear it takes 3-10 minutes, depending on how decisive you’re feeling. Thank you so much for your help!

My favorite finds from around the web:

I offer gift links for articles whenever possible (you may still need to create an account with the publication); if there’s no gift link and you’re not a subscriber, check to see if your library carries the publication or use a bookmarking service.

The 2026 Tournament of Books is underway. (Tournament of Books) “But it’s not really a contest. We’re not even sure it’s a “tournament.” What the ToB has been and will be, as long as we’re putting it on, is a month-long conversation about novels and reading and writing and art that takes place on weekdays in March.”

The yoghurt delivery women combatting loneliness in Japan. (BBC) “The suited woman is a Yakult Lady – one of tens of thousands across Japan who deliver the eponymous probiotic drinks directly to people’s homes. On paper they’re delivery workers, but in practice they’re part of the country’s informal social safety net.”

Go on an adventure with these 10 novels set at museums. (MMD) If you can’t visit a museum in real life, visit one via the pages of these novels.

50 Ways to Meet Your Neighbor. (One Million Experiments) “To jump-start neighborly relations, try one of our (mostly untried) ways to meet your neighbors. As Paul Simon sang, ‘The answer is easy if you take it logically. I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free. There must be fifty ways to…’ meet your neighbor.”

Madewell’s beautiful woven shoulder bags are on sale now—I just picked up the green to carry me from spring through fall (and maybe the rest of the year, too). The color is gorgeous! I’ve had their Signature Woven Tote in the coffee bean for several years and love it. Their Organic Cotton Bandanas are also adorable. And I’m trying their Perfect Vintage Wide-Leg Jean during the sale; I’ve heard great things and will report back. (Madewell’s “standard” sizing for this style runs 23–33, with an array of short, petite, and plus options also available.)

Time and Light and All That Sits In Between. (Wallflower Chats) In honor of Daylight Savings and her hard-won sophomore novel, Thao Thai shares 8 favorite books about time travel.

I Hired a Lab to Counterfeit-Test a Dozen Suspicious Beauty Products I Bought Online. Every Single One Had a Problem. (Wirecutter) “I’ve now spent months entrenched in the super-shady, ridiculously confusing, and astonishingly pervasive cesspool of counterfeit beauty products sold online. And I’m here to tell you that, at least in certain corners of the internet, your chances of buying an item that isn’t what you think it is are unfortunately and shockingly high.”

Introducing: Free Time. (McSweeney’s) “Want lower blood pressure? Less work anxiety? Fewer violent urges? Free Time delivers all of those according to groundbreaking research at the Johns Hopkins School of Leisure.”

What Should I Read Next episode 517: Seeking contemporary novels to complement Jane Austen classics. Are you an Austen completist? This week’s guest is gearing up to finish the last two books on her list, and is in search of contemporary novels to go with them.

Dani Guindo’s Dramatic Aerial Photos Reveal the Ghostly Outline of an Icelandic Glacier. (Colossal) STUNNING photos. “His latest series, Terminus, captures a glacier’s many rivulets amid a rocky landscape, along with a ghostly, rounded outline revealing evidence of the glacier’s earlier phases.”

Should Nonfiction Books Just be Podcasts? (Dear Head of Mine) “It behooves writers, editors, and publishers to realize what they can offer these listeners in book form that they can’t get in podcast form: more substance, more focused arguments and narratives, and something that doesn’t get lost in an archive but that you could also, if you wanted to, hold in your hand.”

The 25 Essential American Cheeses to Try Right Now. (Food & Wine) An interesting look at what’s happening with American cheese right now, with lots of enticing-looking options to try.

Aspen Institute Announces Shortlist for the 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize. (Aspen Institute) I’ve read and loved three of the five.

National Craft Month is here—and to celebrate Craftsy is offering a full year membership for just $0.75 (Regularly $123.) (Wait a few seconds on the page and the price drops to $0.49.) This has proved popular with MMD readers for the options found under “writing” like journaling, hand lettering, and fiction and memoir writing, plus the more usual crafting suspects like sewing, knitting, quiling, photography, home decor, and more.

One of America’s Great Traditions Is Dying. I’ll Never Let It. Not Now That I Have Proof I Was Right All Along. (Slate) On the declining popularity of bar soap: “I wanted to know if I was as obsolete as my favorite bath product. What I found is that our prejudices about what we keep in the shower—about what keeps us clean—go far deeper than the skin we scrub.”

Why Jane Austen Adaptations Just Keep Coming—And We Keep Watching. (Literary Hub) “In Austen’s novels, the main female characters always get to have their cake and eat it, too: love without security is simply not good enough.”