Bookish Wishes: A Midsommar's Night Read

Welcome to another TTT! This week’s topic is Bookish Wishes … Here’s my midsommor dream list top 10 books I’d love to own, along with a link to my wishlist. After posting, I’ll be hopping around the Linky to grant a wish or two myself! Its always fun to see what people wish they had!

My Top 10 Bookish Wishes

1. three six five: prompts, acts, divinations (an inexhaustible compendium for writing) by Lucy Ives & Nick Mauss

A review of this made it sound goofy and challenging and it’s inspired by Yoko Ono’s Grapefruit, so, that seems interesting. I find prompts and exercises helpful when stuck in writing.

2. Page One to Done: Finish Your Novel in 30 Days with the Fast Drafting Method by Jessica Brody

People in the book biz have been a buzz about this. Another craft book? Yes please add it to the pile.

3. Joyride: A Memoir by Susan Orlean

I saw Susan Orlean talk at a literary festival recently and was moved how she talked about how fascinating what we think of “ordinary” really can be, and that’s been a driving force in her writing. This is the woman that wrote my favorite profile opening of all time (below), so color me intrigrued.

If Colin Duffy and I were to get married we would have matching superhero notebooks. We would wear shorts, big sneakers, and long baggy Tshirts depicting famous athletes every single day, even in the winter. We would sleep in our clothes. We would both be good at Nintendo Street Fighter II but Colin would be better than me. We would have some homework but it would not be too hard and we would always have just finished it. We would eat pizza and candy for all of our meals. We wouldn’t have sex but we would have crushes on each other and, magically, babies would appear in our home. We would win the lottery and then buy land in Wyoming where we would have one of every kind of cute animal…. For fun, we would load a slingshot with dog food and shoot it at my butt. We would have a very good life. — from The American Male at Age Ten by Susan Orlean

4. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

My cousin and her girl group are obsessed with Kristen Hannah and I def read some around a pool in Orlando. She’s not my usual bag, but I have massive respect for her epic ‘flawed but good woman caught in historical sweep’ ouvre, The Women was great, and so I’d like to read this of hers set in the Dust Bowl next. (And then give it to my cousin who hasn’t read it yet!) It also made the list of Time Magazine’s 25 Books That Capture This American Moment list along with some other really heavy hitters, which is a pretty strong rec.

5. The Talisman of Happiness: The Most Iconic Italian Cookbook Ever Written by Ada Boni, Lidia Bastianich

I am still as obsessed with this as I was when it first made my end of last year wish list. The who dun it, can they find someone to authorize it backstory is gold. Its the only cookbook Marcella Hazan brought with her to the US. Its the basis of the other epic Italian cookbook of my life, The Silver Spoon.

6. Spain My Way: Eat, Drink, and Cook Like a Spaniard by José Andrés & Sam Chapple-Sokol

José Andrés has many cookbooks and is known for his many adventures, most importantly World Central Kitchen. But I always, always want to read the book that is the chef at home explaining his home food and cooking to the world. Hometown boy makes good kind of story. Because home is where the origins of the chef begin and you know the foundation makes everything else possible.

7. Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook by Sohla El-Waylly & Samin Nosrat

Cooking is an art, but all art requires knowing something about the materials you’re working with. — Nathan Myhrvold

8. The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life by Sophia Rosenfeld

I’m intrigued as a person who’s stared disgustedly at a whole aisle’s worth of shampoo and wondered why we need so many choices, and as a person who becomes exhausted by too many choices every day, and as a person who wonders why we decided collectively at some point that having lots of choices was something we as a society should optimize for.

9. Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

I love this book. I tell so many people to read this book. There are so many good quotes. But i only have the digital version and this one deserves graduating to real copy in my home.

Most radically of all, what additional satisfaction could you take in your life, what fun could you have, once you glimpse a truth that must have come intuitively to premodern people, which is that since life is so inherently confusing and precarious, then joy, if it’s ever to be found at all, is going to have to be found now, in the midst of the confusion and precariousness?

10. Loudermilk: Or, The Real Poet; Or, The Origin of the World by Lucy Ives

I always need a little witty snark. I read about this after hearing about Lucy’s craft book mentioned above. It sounds like a bit of fun.

📚 My full wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3TID4VIFCKZW4?ref_=wl_share

Happy wishing and getting!