What to Read Next

Hello and happy Tuesday! In today’s newsletter, I’m sharing some thoughts on patriotic reading, the Anderberg family’s favorite reads of June, and, as always, some great links to peruse this holiday week.

Happy Friday, readers! Last week’s news about OceanGate’s Titan submersible had me digging through my mental archives for the Titanic books that have stayed with me. For a good chunk of my childhood, I was obsessed with the ship and read everything I could get my hands on, regardless of genre or intended audience.

Few authors are as easily recommendable as Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling. With most of what I read, I can think of subsets of people who would or wouldn’t like it; with both of MHH’s books, the readability net is cast far and wide. Even if you tend to stick to fiction, I can almost guarantee you’ll enjoy his narrative-first explorations of bears + politics (A Libertarians Walks Into a Bear) and fringe medicine (If It Sounds Like a Quack…).

Howdy, readers! Going all the way back to elementary and middle school, I’ve had a fascination with the Titanic. In those school-aged years, I read all the books I could find and once had a near-encyclopedic knowledge of the ship (as much as possible for a 10-year-old kid, at least). So I’ve been following this week’s news about the Titan submersible somewhat obsessively. Yesterday’s announcement confirmed another tragic chapter in the doomed ship’s story.

Hello and happy Tuesday! In today’s newsletter I’m sharing an article I’ve revisited a number of times in the last few months, a few multigenerational epics to fill your long summer days, and as always, some great links to peruse. Let’s get right to it! A few months back I stumbled on a great New York Times article from 2012 about learning tennis later in life.

Happy Friday, readers! The literary world said goodbye to the legendary Cormac McCarthy this week. Though I’ve only read a few of his dozen novels, No Country for Old Men and The Road were incredible, inimitable, unforgettable reading experiences that have stayed with me through the years. From The Road, in particular, I think of the dad’s admonition to “carry the fire” on a weekly basis. RIP, Cormac.

Hello and happy Tuesday! In today’s newsletter I have some tips for reading long books, my favorite reads over 1,000 pages, and as always, some great links to peruse. Let’s get right to it! As The Big Read started in on The Count of Monte Cristo this week, I got to thinking about how much I enjoy long books. The TikTok-ification of our culture means that reading a long book is a rebellious act of attentional immersion.

Happy Friday, readers! Colorado continues to shock us with unseasonably cool, wet, and gloomy weather. We’ll take it, to be sure, but it’s leading to a bit more inside time than we’re used to this time of year. And you know what more inside time means: more reading. I continue to lean hard into my summer of crime and have recently finished two great books centered on murders in America’s heartland. First, though, I have something a little more lighthearted.

Happy Friday, readers! I’m deep into summer thriller season, with four of my last five reads being in that category. Today, I’m sharing a couple of those titles — one of them is in the old-school procedural mold of the early ‘90s and the other is a newer title that broke a couple conventions of the genre. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t recommend one of my favorite summer noir books: The Great Gatsby.

Quick note: Today’s edition of This & That is 100% free for all readers.