It’s that time of year: the 2023 Summer Reading Guide is almost here: our TWELFTH annual guide is coming Thursday, May 18. I am so excited about this year’s guide: it’s going to be fifty books strong, chock-full of summer reading goodness , made with love and experience and responsibility and (sometimes) eyes that are tired from all the reading. But this year marks a departure from previous years, and I want to update you on what is changing and walk you through the thought process behind those changes.
I’ve made this casual video so you can hear me talk about our history, our evolution, our options, and what’s changing for 2023. I hope you’ll watch so you can hear me share more about these updates in my own voice.
I love our Summer Reading Guide tradition, but just as the guide has evolved dramatically over the years, we need to make some changes to reflect the current landscape of our business and the reality of what it takes to make this guide. Good things take time and they’re costly to make, and only getting more so—costly in terms of attention, energy, resources, and cash. What that means is that this year, for the first time, our guide is not free.
I talk about all this in the video, and we’ll have all kinds of guide and unboxing info for you soon. For now, we’re sharing the headlines in writing below:
2023 Summer Reading Guide and Unboxing Party
The guide is coming on May 18 and is an included perk for our community members in the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club and What Should I Read Next Patreon, along with Unboxing access. We will deliver the guide to all members and our a la carte readers the morning of May 18 (Eastern time), and will host two Unboxing Parties on May 18 at 1:00pm and 8:30pm Eastern time. We look forward to our “Unboxing” event every year: in a 90+ minute live session, I share every title in the guide and why I chose it. Our conversation is casual and unscripted, filled with real talk about great books, in the presence of people who love books and reading.
There are three ways to get the 2023 MMD Summer Reading Guide:
- Purchase the guide and Unboxing access to the map.
- Support the What Should I Read Next Patreon
- Join the Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club
We hope you’ll choose the option that’s right for you. We frequently get questions about the difference between MMD Book Club and Patreon and we will share a THOROUGH explainer in the coming weeks answering those FAQs and sharing exactly what’s in store for summer in each community, along with specific information on how to place your a la map preorder for the guide and Unboxing access.
If you’re not able or do not wish to join one of our member communities or purchase the guide separately, please know that we’ll keep with our longstanding tradition of sharing our Minimalist Summer Reading Guide on the blog, and I’ll share many summer reading titles here and on What Should I Read Next all summer long.
Thanks so much for your support over the years. I can’t wait to share our 2023 guide and to hear how it shapes your reading life this summer. I’m so looking forward to the reading season to come, and I hope you are, too.
Thanks for reading, and most of all, for allowing me to be a part of your summer reading.
Anna