I hope you have a lovely weekend ahead of you. Here in Louisville, I’m anticipating a break in the heat wave, some time on the water, and our first college football game of the season. (Go Cards!)
It’s also a day of remembrance. 9/11 has been constantly in my thoughts this year, in part, I imagine, because it’s constantly in my thoughts, and in part because this spring we visited Prague, which featured prominently in our 9/11 experience. Twenty-five years ago feels like, if not yesterday, then last week—but also like it happened in another life.
It took me years to write about my experience, but I did so here nearly a decade ago: When the planes hit the Towers on 9/11, I was over the Atlantic Ocean, in a plane bound for New York City. (Though were I to write it today, I would have plenty more to say.) My 9/11 experience seems insignificant in the big picture, yet continues to be hugely significant in my own life, because it happened to me. Today I’m thinking of what happened back then and since, and holding space for those doing the same today.
I hope you have something to look forward to these next few days, or perhaps a few somethings, that bring you peace and joy and ease and contentment.
Fall Book Preview is coming!
Our eighth annual Fall Book Preview is coming up fast on September 17. As a season, Fall 2026 is SPECTACULAR. Our Preview celebrates the abundance of fall titles on the horizon, but seeks to present them in a way that steers clear of overwhelm.
Our Preview is our carefully curated, lovingly tended, trustworthy take on the numerous books publishing between September 1 and December 1 this year. Many readers will find my 18-title-strong “a few of Anne’s 4- and 5-star fall reads” the biggest draw, but there is plenty more literary goodness in our 90-minute Unboxing and our digital PDF Preview lookbook: my most anticipated, team most anticipated, our team’s backlist picks that feel like fall, and coming series installments.
I believe wholeheartedly in what we do here and in this Preview, and that we can help you feel really good about how you choose to spend your precious reading minutes this season. Here’s the quick rundown:
- Visit our Fall Book Preview hub here. This page has more details about what’s in this year’s Preview and what’s included in the original Fall Book Preview experience, with ordering links, plus information on a new option to save a few bucks and bundle the original digital Fall Book Preview experience with a physical Preview delivered-by-snail-mail lookbook. We also answer FAQs here on a la carte access v receiving the preview as an included perk of MMD Book Club or WSIRN Patreon membership.
- About that physical lookbook: we’ve sent our order to the printer. Will Bogel ordered extra lookbooks above and beyond the preorder quantity, but supplies are limited. If you want a physical lookbook, please order now to guarantee you get a copy. (It’s possible Will will reorder, but the wait for those will be longer.)
- Want to hear—and see—more? Watch this video where I talk about Preview and show pages from my notebook and journal, plus some of our lookbook page drafts.
I hope you find this helpful. Thank you for making me and my team part of your reading lives. We’re so excited for the season to come, and to be reading with YOU in it.
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 Man Who Refused to Sit on the Sidelines. (The Atlantic gift link) “Twenty-five years after the attacks, ‘Never Forget’ is a T-shirt slogan. A third of the American public is too young to recall that day. Anniversaries have become rote rituals in which politicians describe scenes they did not witness and national unity that no longer exists. To get beyond the benumbed abstraction, it’s necessary to remember with specificity. September 11 was a lived event. One way to recall it meaningfully, then, is through a life.”
The Yankees’ Post-9/11 World Series Run. (New York Times gift link) An oral history compiled by Garrett M. Graff: “In the surreal fall of 2001, as ground zero continued to burn and the nation prepared to go to war, the New York Yankees embarked on what looked like a storybook run for the championship.”
The allure of novels set inside the high school classroom. (MMD) “These books are not just about what it’s like to do the work, but how the doing of the work shapes the protagonists. That shaping aspect was very much on display in the three recent teacher novels I loved.”
For Amy. (The Leap) “As we sat on the couch, it suddenly occurred to one of us that Amy, the same Amy for whom I’d babysat many a summer afternoon, was a flight attendant. Surely, she wasn’t working that day, though. And even if she was, there were hundreds of flights from Logan every day. What were the chances? Except she was working. And theoretical probabilities, as we all know, don’t actually matter when it comes to a single human life.” A touching 9/11 tribute.
Ordinary Abundance. “Edward Bellamy once imagined that music on demand would be ‘the limit of human felicity.’ A modern apartment is full of things that once drew the same kind of awe.” The wonder of light without fire, a museum on the wall, distance messaging—I’ve thought of this piece frequently since first perusing it last month.
This French Lentil Salad (New York Times Cooking gift link) was a surprise hit at my house this week. (“Surprise” in that I didn’t expect us to be fighting for the leftovers.) I didn’t have radicchio or several of the fresh herbs on hand and it was still delicious.
An Ode to the Ampersand. (Town & Country) “It creates a relationship that looks less like a forced union than a fond alliance. First made in haste, it transcends the merely additive. It almost always implies a happy informality of attachment, something warmer than contractual agreement.” I’m a fan!
My library card has saved me $1,330 — and I want more. (Salon) “Obviously, I had not literally saved $1,330.13. Without a library, I would not have purchased every cookbook, obscure DVD and book about secretive magicians that caught my eye. But the number was doing something more interesting than keeping track of imaginary thrift. It was giving a price to access.”
How Kudzu Was Supposed to Save the South. (JSTOR Daily) In a word: fascinating. There’s so much I didn’t know in this short piece. (I cannot think about kudzu without thinking of Joshilyn Jackson’s Gods in Alabama.)
Experience: I drive a bus for dogs. (The Guardian) This experienced bus driver now drives dogs whose owners can’t walk them anymore to a private park to play. “The dogs all love the bus, and they know the routine. As soon as we turn on to a particular road and cross over the cattle grid, they start barking. They can’t wait to get to the field.” What a delightful feature!
The Nonfiction Book Market is Collapsing. (Dear Head of Mine) “What has happened in the last ten years is that the overall industry has grown modestly, but fiction and nonfiction have basically flipped positions. In 2015, 6 of the top 25 bestselling hardcover books—this is a not-perfect but useful proxy for new books published—were fiction. In 2025, 18 of the top 25 hardcover books were fiction, meaning only 7 were nonfiction, almost an exact inversion of ten years ago.”
Neighborhood Potato Party. (Shay Mirk) “I’m trying to get to know all the neighbors, so this summer I organized the street’s first-ever block party. We live on Russet St., so I knew there could only be one appropriate party theme: potatoes!” This is such a fun idea! I’m mentally bookmarking the “seriously organized + very whimsical” formula.
Books that foster a sense of warmth and good conversation. (What Should I Read Next?) Stories that feel comforting, fun, and real.
Grab your Discmans out of storage. CDs are back, baby. (Washington Post gift link) “CDs are not just about ownership for me, it’s about addressing a fundamental need to interact. I love opening a CD case and thumbing through the booklet and liner notes, feeling the paper, reading the lyrics, seeing the artwork and photos the artist decided to use.” They are back in a big way in my house, with my teenagers leading the charge.
If you’re in or near Springfield, MO, I’ll be joining the Rosie Book Club on October 21 for an evening centered on reading, reflection and intentional living. Register for the event.
Don’t miss these posts:
8 wonderful books for Word Nerds. Let’s hear it for word nerdery!
20 coming-of-age novels for your fall reading. Exactly what I enjoy this time of year: coming-of-age stories feature young protagonists learning big life lessons and finding their place in the world.
31 mystery novels avid readers recommend again and again. Calling all mystery readers!
Have a great weekend!
