Happy Friday Links

3-22-24

Hi friends,

I am back from a great trip to Southern California. The weather was beautiful except for one day of rain. I did a lot of walking along the beach, eating at my favorite restaurants, and visiting with family, but there were many things I didn’t get a chance to do. The traffic is so bad that you have to keep the morning and evening commute in mind when deciding what activities to do during the day. The weekends are much worse as traffic is horrible all day long on almost any freeway you travel on.

If you commented on a newsletter or emailed me, I’m woefully behind in reading my emails from when I was in California. I’m catching up as fast as possible and making progress, but it’s slow going. I did go through the emails for links, and I found some really good ones for you this week, so let’s get started.

• Even though this is UK-based, it still makes me sad. It’s up to all of us to provide children with the books they want and need to read and not judge them for it. Children need to see their parents reading and enjoying it. It needs to be fun.

• Have you ever watched a TV show and wondered if the jobs portrayed are accurate? This Cup of Jo post, Do TV Jobs Seem Real?, is interesting and funny, and the comments shed light on the differences between the actual job and how it’s portrayed on TV.

• Sometimes, I see or read a story that makes me smile all over, and this one is one of the best in a long time.

• It never occurred to me to do this, but it makes so much sense after watching it and seeing the reasons why.

• Friday makes me happy because my inbox fills with newsletters with so many fun links, just like this one from

  S.L.H
  . Give it a subscribe, and you can have all the links every week, too!

• What a fun story from

  A Considerable Age
  about a library cop. Who knew there was such a thing?

• Amie Pearce
  from
  Beached
  teaches everyone something new that you never knew you wanted to learn about mothers and their sons.

• I like to read about authors taking control of their publishing careers, and this story about author Jeneva Rose shows how she did it.

• I originally shared about Mychal Threets in this issue of Happy Friday Links and was so sad when I read about his resignation. Why can’t people play nice?

• Bibliolifestyle has released the 2024 Spring Reading Guide. You can sign up for the guide here and stay signed up for a weekly newsletter filled with recommendations and bookish goodness.

• I found another great bookish podcast called Get Lit(erate), and I don’t know how I didn’t know about it before now. There is also a kid’s podcast called Kidlit Love Podcast that helps parents put great books in their child’s hands.

• I have always been a fan of Jodie Foster, and this article proves that she gets even better as she gets older. You go, girl!

• For those struggling to learn Libby’s features, this week’s podcast episode has the crew discussing their favorite features. If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for the weekly Libby Life Blog here.

Did you learn anything new from the links today? Did you recently learn something interesting you’d like to share with others? Tell everyone about it in the comments below.

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Bookish Fun Fact

If you are a Harry Potter fan, today is your day—Gryffindor Pride Day. Evidentially, today is also one of the seven days a true HP fan must celebrate. I haven’t read any of the HP books, so cut me some slack if I get any facts incorrect. It’s been twenty-five years since the first HP book was released—has it really been that long? Gryffindor is one of the many houses of the fictitious Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft, and people who have courage and determination find themselves in this one. It’s also Harry Potter’s house, which makes it even more special. It seems like I could go on and on about the founders of the Hogwarts School, their names, and the traits of each house, but if I did, I’d only show my ignorance even more than I already am. I’ll leave it here, as the real fans of HP don’t need me to tell them anything about Gryffindor. Happy Gryffindor Pride Day, HP fans!

I have often wished I was younger (teenager/young adult) or had a better imagination as an adult when the HP books came out, but I’ve tried a couple of times to read the first one, and I’ve not been successful yet. I guess there are some books I’ll never read. I hope you have some really great books to read this weekend. Happy reading!