I saw this week Barnes & Noble is trying something new, and it made me very happy and terribly nostalgic. Happy, because offering a discount on pre-orders is a really great way to get people buying books. Nostalgic, because when I went to the website and saw the Coming Soon lists, broken out by weeks, I was immediately thrown back to my own bookstore experiences. I worked for a time at Waldenbooks, right before Randy and I moved to Tennessee. I swear I took the job partly so I could see when the new books by authors I loved were releasing. 

These were the days before pervasive internet: authors’ websites, social media, and email newsletters. The newsletters from authors were snail mailed in print, and the libraries and bookstores and review columns were the only way a layperson you could find out who had a book coming, and when.  It made me feel special to know well ahead of time that the new Diana Gabaldon would release on December 30, and to use the box of alphabet letters to spell that out on the board behind the register. Ah. I do sometimes miss my time working in a bookstore. Though I do not miss the pop-up holiday calendar kiosk in the mall, nor injuring my shoulder falling off the tall rolling ladder, which is what ultimatly ended my career there. If ya can’t haul boxes, ya can’t work in a bookstore.

I applaud Barnes for this new effort to get books into the hands of readers at a lower cost, and the format they’re using to do so. There’s a ton of bargains out there, from a ton of amazing authors. Pre-orders are incredibly vital to a book’s trajectory, so go grab some of these beauties. A few I’d recommend to get you started:

David Bell, Jennifer Hillier, John Grisham, Kellye Garrett, E. Lockhart, Karen M. McManus, Ruth Ware, John Sandford, Lisa Scottoline, Paige Crutcher, Emily Henry, Ashley Herring Blake, Sarah J Maas, Mark Greaney, Tracy Deonn.... Oh, my gosh, there are too many to count. I’ll stop now : )

And with books on our brains…onward!

Links 🔗

A helpful exercise: How to quiet your mind by doing a brain dump

Julia Cameron on the best ways to get creative indoors.

Reckoning With Joan Didion, the Archpriestess of Cool.

Cal Newport says it’s time to embrace slow productivity. I agree.

Ruth Reichl has a new substack, and I am so here for it.

Are you Wordle-addicted yet?

Reads 📚

A couple of big releases the past few weeks - THE OVERNIGHT GUEST by Heather Gudenkauf and ONE STEP TOO FAR by Lisa Gardner, for starters. Wowza! I finished WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART’S BLOOD, read half of BOX 88, jumped to END GAME. I’m all over the place...

Did you see the chilling new cover for THE COLD ROOM? I LOVE it!

What are you reading this weekend?