July 1, 2022 — We’re thinking that one fun and fitting way to celebrate the country’s 246th birthday weekend would be to visit your favorite independent bookseller, then go stretch out with some satisfying reads. On the chance you agree, below you’ll see we link to a list of Cardthartic partner bookstores, suggest a slew of Cardie-recommended titles, and invite you to post “Whatcha’ Reading?!”

It’s fun, every time I see the featured card above, I’m reminded of the charming email Cardie Judy Cortner sent us back in April of 2020. As the world was just starting to hunker down, this community’s self-described eccentric wrote:

when i planted my jonquil bed
many moons ago, i left a space
in the middle where i can
sit or lie down and be
surrounded by jonquils.
the aroma is thought-altering.

the jonquils are now beginning
to encroach on that space.
i had to tell them,
“whoa, don’t take liberties!”

on sunday I took a stack of
cardthartic cards, sat down in
the middle of my jonquil bed,
and enjoyed reading each one
again in order to select which
to send to each of 10 friends.

i left feeling gifted by the beauty
of both the jonquils and
the cardthartic cards.
a two-for-one experience! 👏

I guess it just feels sort of magical to me that many of those cards were authored by Judy’s Cardie compatriots throughout the land. Given that we all seem to share this Cardthartic sensibility, I look forward to reading the books you suggest today, as well as diving deeper into the list of Cardie-recommended books from years past. 🤩

Wishing everyone a safe and satisfying celebration of all there still is to love about this great nation, not the least of which is reading what we want when we want. A blessing indeed.

Jodee Stevens, Founder & Chief Creative

A Line to Kill – Anthony Horowitz
Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer
Caste and The Warmth of Other Suns – both by Isabel Wilkerson
Eli’s Promise – Ronald H. Balson
Kitchen Table Wisdom – Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
No Hiding in Boise – Kim Hooper
Plantation: A Lowcountry Tale – Dorothea Benton Frank
Rooftoppers – Katherine Rundell
The Alice Network – Kate Quinn
The Beatryce Prophecy – Kate Dicamillo
The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki
The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Robert Dugoni
The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina – Zoraida Córdova
The Kitchen Front – Jennifer Ryan
The Lincoln Highway – Amor Towles
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
The Paris Library – Janet Skeslien Charles
The Personal Librarian – Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
We Came, We Saw, We Left – Charles Wheelan
And anything written by Jeffrey Archer, Kristin Hannah, Sue Monk Kidd, Mary Alice Monroe, Louise Penny, Rosamunde Pilcher, and Willy Vlautin

July 1, 2022 — We’re thinking that one fun and fitting way to celebrate the country’s 246th birthday weekend would be to visit your favorite independent bookseller, then go stretch out with some satisfying reads. On the chance you agree, below you’ll see we link to a list of Cardthartic partner bookstores, suggest a slew of Cardie-recommended titles, and invite you to post “Whatcha’ Reading?!”

It’s fun, every time I see the featured card above, I’m reminded of the charming email Cardie Judy Cortner sent us back in April of 2020. As the world was just starting to hunker down, this community’s self-described eccentric wrote:

when i planted my jonquil bed
many moons ago, i left a space
in the middle where i can
sit or lie down and be
surrounded by jonquils.
the aroma is thought-altering.

the jonquils are now beginning
to encroach on that space.
i had to tell them,
“whoa, don’t take liberties!”

on sunday I took a stack of
cardthartic cards, sat down in
the middle of my jonquil bed,
and enjoyed reading each one
again in order to select which
to send to each of 10 friends.

i left feeling gifted by the beauty
of both the jonquils and
the cardthartic cards.
a two-for-one experience! 👏

I guess it just feels sort of magical to me that many of those cards were authored by Judy’s Cardie compatriots throughout the land. Given that we all seem to share this Cardthartic sensibility, I look forward to reading the books you suggest today, as well as diving deeper into the list of Cardie-recommended books from years past. 🤩

Wishing everyone a safe and satisfying celebration of all there still is to love about this great nation, not the least of which is reading what we want when we want. A blessing indeed.

Jodee Stevens, Founder & Chief Creative

A Line to Kill – Anthony Horowitz
Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Wall Kimmerer
Caste and The Warmth of Other Suns – both by Isabel Wilkerson
Eli’s Promise – Ronald H. Balson
Kitchen Table Wisdom – Rachel Naomi Remen, MD
No Hiding in Boise – Kim Hooper
Plantation: A Lowcountry Tale – Dorothea Benton Frank
Rooftoppers – Katherine Rundell
The Alice Network – Kate Quinn
The Beatryce Prophecy – Kate Dicamillo
The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki
The Devil in the White City – Erik Larson
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – Robert Dugoni
The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina – Zoraida Córdova
The Kitchen Front – Jennifer Ryan
The Lincoln Highway – Amor Towles
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
The Paris Library – Janet Skeslien Charles
The Personal Librarian – Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
We Came, We Saw, We Left – Charles Wheelan
And anything written by Jeffrey Archer, Kristin Hannah, Sue Monk Kidd, Mary Alice Monroe, Louise Penny, Rosamunde Pilcher, and Willy Vlautin