Weekend Reading 06.27

A solo bookish outing, a milestone birthday gift idea, Taylor Jenkins Reid on writing easy to read books, and more links for your weekend.

Hi friends, and happy Friday. I hope you have something fun on tap for the weekend. Here are some dispatches from my bookish week..

• We celebrated Grant’s 30th with balsamic bruschetta chicken (similar recipe here) and his favorite red velvet cake (from McClain’s this time). Tom and I got him birthday pages from the New York Times store, which were the 30 front pages of the June 22 NYT, from the year he was born, 1995, until last year. Really fun!

• I took myself on a solo date to Lawrence, KS, to see this documentary. I looked and looked for the trailer to share with you because I’m sure I saw one, but maybe not. If you’re interested, they still have some East Coast screenings coming up, and I think it will be on PBS next year.

• I always love an excuse to go to Lawrence, where I (and Tom, and our kids, and a bunch of other family and friends) went to school. This time, I took the chance to stop by Raven Book Store. Not only did they let me redeem a gift certificate from 2021, but they let me hang onto it as a keepsake, too.

• On the way to Lawrence, I blasted my playlist of liked songs on Spotify, because as much as I like having words in my ears (books, podcasts, news), I’ve been choosing music lately and it’s been…great. This new-to-me (it’s actually from 1989) k.d. lang song always makes me smile when it pops up.

• In books this week, I finished Murderland (so many complicated feelings about this one), and I plan to dive into El Dorado Drive tonight. I’m also still slowly making my way through The Covenant of Water for book club.

• Speaking of book club, we met yesterday to discuss The Thursday Murder Club, and overall, we were underwhelmed. (I found it cute, but not especially memorable.) So while we’re not feeling compelled to pick up other books in the series, some of us are still looking forward to the upcoming Netflix movie.

And here’s what I saved to share with you this week…

How Taylor Jenkins Reid became a publishing powerhouse. Writing a book that’s easy to read, Reid contends, is extremely difficult. She has to think about the reader’s experience on every page. “I’m chasing a feeling,” she says. “Maybe it doesn’t matter if I’m fancy. Maybe I’m just fun.”

Do you know about Melani and her We Do Not Care club? Lindsey told me about her, then I shared one of her videos with some friends, and then another friend sent our book club this NYT article about her. I think there’s a lot of this kind of sharing going on (plus the algorithm is doing its thing) because she has blown up on social media in just the last six weeks.

Ina’s on Substack. Everyone be cool.

Bookshop.org’s 100 bestselling books of 2025 (so far).

When actor Steve Hodgetts couldn’t go to his friend’s wedding, he made a hilarious and heartwarming video instead. What a gift!

Do you feel the pressure to have the right kind of summer? The remedy is a Hitchcock summer. This makes me want to re-watch Rear Window.

My friend Janelle was carrying this crossbody bag this week, and everyone wanted the link for their summer travels.

Here’s what we talked about in the paid version of the newsletter this week.

What Gives a House Soul?

Have a wonderful weekend!