Weekend Reading 04.25
Indie bookstores, a coastal Maine home tour, exciting Jane Austen casting news, and more links for your weekend.
Hi friends. Did you know? Tomorrow is Independent Bookstore Day! If you have an indie near you, they’re almost certainly doing something to celebrate.
I have a deep love for local bookstores and think every community needs and deserves one. I try to buy as many real, physical books as I can from my favorite local indie, because it supports a small business, keeps tax dollars in the community, and, selfishly, because I want their author appearances to keep happening.
But since my favorite way to read is an ebook, and I’m also a big audiobook listener, I’ve made some changes to my shopping habits so I can support my local bookstore with those purchases too.
First, I should say that I get as much as I can through my library and the Libby app (long live Libby!), but sometimes I want or need to buy instead (those wait times can be brutal!). For audiobooks, I recently made the switch from Amazon-owned Audible to Libro.fm, which shares the profit from your purchase with an independent bookstore of your choosing.
For ebooks, I was thrilled when Bookshop.org, which also shares profits with your chosen bookstore, began offering ebooks as well. I downloaded their free app to my iPad and read the books there. I also signed up to get emails about their ebook sales and recently snagged an upcoming book club book for $2.99.
Now it’s your turn: What’s your preferred reading format? Do you have a favorite local bookstore? Are you reading anything good right now? I’d love to know!
Here’s what else I saved to share with you this week:
An 1890s coastal Maine cottage. (Can a 5000 square foot home be a cottage?) Anyway…dreamy!
10 old house features that deserve a comeback. I feel lucky that the original owners of our house included #2, and I would love to have #5.
There’s a new Pride and Prejudice adaptation coming to Netflix, and Olivia Colman(!) is playing Mrs. Bennet. The writer Dolly Alderson describes Pride and Prejudice as “the blueprint for romantic comedy”, which is such an interesting way to think about it. Good thing Olivia Colman is hilarious. If you haven’t seen the videos of her appearances on Graham Norton’s talk show, I recommend them!
I just finished reading The Sky Was Falling by Dr. Cornelia Griggs about her time as a pediatric surgeon in NYC during the early days of COVID. I’ll admit I was reluctant to pick this one up (did I really want to revisit that time?), but I found her perspective interesting and I appreciated her honesty. It’s a quick read, too.
Also, I am halfway through The Tell by Amy Griffin, and I’ll leave you with this text “review” between two friends and me:
Have a great weekend!
Thank you for letting us know about alternatives to Amazon. I’ve stopped buying from them as well, but I miss ebooks. Appreciate the info and your commitment to supporting Indie bookstores!