You’re Ready for Wedding Season

Are looking to understand conspiracy theories or love your dog

Hi friends,

Welcome to the last newsletter of April. Summer is around the corner. So, I’m planning our Second Annual What To Read If Summer Reading Bingo challenge.

If you’ve subscribed since last summer or need a reminder, at the beginning of the season, I’ll share a Bingo card with different reading prompts. If you get five in a row and submit your card, you’ll be entered into a raffle for a prize.

If you’re an author or bookish person interested in contributing a prize (a signed copy, a Zoom session with a book club, swag, whatever idea you have), please let me know! I’d love to work with you. The always-awesome Indiana Pizza Club has already agreed to donate a free e-book subscription to their lit mag (yes, that exists and yes, it’s amazing). If you have thoughts, reply to this email and we’ll talk.

And, now, what to read if…

You’re Preparing for Wedding Season

The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa

Nearly 2.5 million weddings will take place in the U.S. this year, the most since 1984. Whether you’re getting a bridesmaid’s dress altered, breaking out your dancing shoes or walking down the aisle this year, Mia Sosa’s The Worst Best Man is the book for you. It’s a rom-com that delivers on the comedy, with passages that made me laugh aloud.

In The Worst Best Man, Lina Santos, a type-A wedding planner, is forced to work with Max Hartley, a marketing expert, who just so happens to be her ex-fiancé’s brother. The pair attempt to put aside their differences — a big ask since Max encouraged his brother to leave Lina at the altar — to advance both their careers. As they work together, they realize their animosity towards each other might be masking something else.

There’s so much to love about The Worst Best Man. It’s hilarious and heartfelt, with a compelling couple at the center. It also features loveable side characters (who have been featured in the next book in the series) and fantastic descriptions of food that made me hungry.

Reminder rec: Dial A for Aunties is a laugh-out-loud read that captures — and satirizes — the sometimes mad-dash feeling at a wedding. 

You’re Trying to Make Sense of Flat Earth Theory

Off the Edge by Kelly Weill*

I’m fascinated by conspiracy theories — how they develop, why people believe them, how they spread. In Off the Edge, journalist Kelly Weill uses the rise of the flat Earth movement to illuminate how wild ideas catch on.

Off The Edge begins with an exploration of the early days of the flat Earth conspiracy. In the 1830s, a charlatan selling miracle cures, Samuel Birley Rowbotham, became convinced the Earth was a plane. Fast forward nearly 200 years, and flat Earthers are still running their own investigations, attempting to prove their belief is fact. The movement is now in the midst of a social-media-fueled boom, with its own influencers, conferences and more, and is increasingly becoming enmeshed with the Qanon conspiracy theory and neo-Nazism.

My favorite parts of Off the Edge were the profiles of conspiracists who explain exactly how they started to believe the Earth was flat. For almost all of them, it started with YouTube, as the video site suggested flat Earth clips after viewers watched content about geography or space. Weill writes with empathy and is careful not to depict her subjects as crazy. I particularly appreciated her willingness to consider if she had bolstered the movement by giving it attention as a reporter, ultimately concluding that reporting about flat Earth is critical for us to understand conspiracy thought.

You Love Your Furry Friend as Much as I Do

London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency by Kate MacDougall

I’ve had my dog Ellie (obligatory picture below) for ten months now, and it’s hard to find words for how much joy she brings me. Kate MacDougall though, does find the words in her charming coming-of-age memoir London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency, a love letter to dogs and their people.

Ellie is my editor

The book opens with MacDougall feeling stuck at her auction house job. After nearly destroying a priceless artwork, she impulsively quit her job and launched a dog-walking business. With little experience with dogs and no experience running a business, her friends and family thought she was nuts. Slowly though, MacDougall finds clients, builds a business and becomes a part of families across London. While the descriptions of the agency’s often-snooty clients are funny, the dogs are the stars of the show.

London’s Number One Dog-Walking Agency is a lovely memoir that’s as much about growing up as it is about dogs. MacDougall recounts how caring for dogs set her up to ultimately start and care for her own family. Like all dog books, it made me cry, but in a good way.

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Thanks friends! Please remember to reach out if you have ideas for Bingo!

This week, I have a guest recommendation from Nia Carnelio, who writes Non-Controversial, a newsletter that regularly includes fantastic book recs:

"Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is one of those books you could finish in a couple of days but one you'd want to take two weeks to savour. It paints a very honest picture of being human, but the best part is that it does it so effortlessly. Which, of course, is a testament to Lori Gottlieb's writing prowess.

I felt seen, heard, and understood throughout the book — so much so that I brought out my bookish tabs and have at least 20 or so pages marked for re-reading and further introspection. Definitely in the running for one of the best books I've ever read.”

*I received a free copy of Off the Edge from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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