Recs #98: Book cover trends, beach reads, and posting ennui

Happy Friday, LOTS to chat about this week!

This is the Friday recs post at Downtime, a weekly roundup of culture, books, delights, and things on my radar for my paying readers. You should subscribe, if you haven’t already! Today’s email is long and will cut off; see the full version on the web.

Hello!

First, if you’re one of the hundreds of new paid subscribers who upgraded this week, thank you. I love these comments two kind readers left (yes, I save screenshots of your messages and squirrel them away into a “happy folder.”)

There’s just a few more days of the anniversary sale, in case you’d like to hop on.

📚 ICYMI: Our summer reading comments section is still going strong at 100+ recs. Check it out if you’re in search of a good read. Congrats to readers Barbara R., Sami, Tess, Natalya, and Lauren S. for winning a copy of The Art of Vanishing!

What’s below the paywall today?: 3 quick fun recs, a brief life catch-up and reflection, what I’m reading, and 20 (ish) more recs and links for your perusal. Also: a crowd-pleasing book giveaway featuring the latest from Jo Piazza! Today’s post is total of 2,600+ words of beautiful slash useless distractions, according to Substack.

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3 Feel-Good Recs

• To watch: If your soul needs a soft landing after a long day, My Oxford Year on Netflix is ready to oblige. (ETA: I’m now realizing this is out in August, and what I streamed was via preview access, but my rec still holds! Bookmark for future watching?) Adapted from the novel by audiobook whisperer Julia Whelan, it was exactly the kind of low-stakes emotional sustenance I’ve come to file under “ambient watch.” An American student moves to Oxford, discovers her poetry professor is totally hot, and—shocker—things get complicated. I didn’t expect to be surprised, but a late-game twist actually caught me off guard. Watch if you enjoyed One Day.

• Anti-Amazon deals: Shop the Bookshop Anti-Prime Day Sale! Free shipping on all orders, and it ends today. I have the just-released Culpability by Bruce Holsinger in my cart, a novel that deals with the thorny issues of the ethics of AI in a domestic setting. (h/t

  Sara Hildreth
  for the rec!) Barnes & Noble is also having a 25% off pre-orders sale.

• Listen: Ina Garten’s “Mini Cooper Ride” playlist. Windows down, volume up. The queen has blessed us with summer vibes.

• Pretty Doen finds: Doen is having a warehouse sale - worth mentioning as I’ve never seen their prices slashed like this before. My picks: A pretty pointelle tank, a smocked gingham dress and a pretty quilted pouch that makes me want to carry around loose stamps and handwritten love letters (or, more realistically, stickers and granola bars…).

  

Continued below the paywall: 20+ more recs, something I’m thinking about re: social media and fatigue, and what’s on my bookshelf now…

A life catch-up / what I’m thinking about this week