So, it comes as no surprise that I love to read. From Seventeen to AARP, this girl has always had piles of magazines almost as high as her towers of To Be Read books. I’ve been trying to curb my magazine buying because 1.) who has time to read them all and 2.) they’re getting ridiculously expensive. I’ve finally weened myself off the most expensive craft and British women’s magazines, often $15USD a pop!
So, here are the magazines I’ve deemed worthy of my hard earned dollars, in no particular order:
Magnolia
I never really got into the whole Gaines empire but I do love the magazine. Every quarter, there’s a different theme, like Delight or Mindfulness, with corresponding articles and photos. Flipping through Magnolia is like taking myself to a spa—it’s soothing and positive and relaxing. Sometimes I just need a break from social media, news… ya know, real life… Magnolia gives me a restful place to go. Usually with a cat on my lap…
Writer’s Forum
This is a British writer’s magazine that I really enjoy and get a lot out of. I subscribe to it on my Kindle. Don’t hate me but I like this magazine better than the American writer’s magazines. I think there are more articles in WF that speak from writer’s to writer’s, if that makes sense. A lot of first-person accounts of how they write and sell as opposed to interviews and how to articles without a personal point of view. It just feels like someone’s having a chat on paper, not trying to tell me how to do it their way. It just seems friendlier and I’m just more open to it. Or maybe it’s just the accent – haha!
Real Simple
I love Real Simple because it’s made up mostly of little snack sized bites of information. It’s probably all psychological—it’s still packed with words and photos–they just use the white space to create reader friendly pages for those times I just don’t want to read “big” stories. Just let me sit and read a passel of little ideas that are nuggets of inspiration or validation. And their actual articles are often relatable and easy reads.
Closer
I had The Husband get me a subscription to Closer for Christmas this year. Filled with short snippets and longer articles about celebrities from the 40’s to the present, this is just a fun, no brainer quick read. A lot of the articles are on people from the tv shows I watched when I was younger—recently featured were Loretta Swit, Valerie Bertinelli and Ricky Nelson, my first crush. Each issue has pages devoted to travel, health and a celebrity house. It’s just fun!
AARP, The Magazine
No magazine list from Gray Mare would be complete without the AARP publication. Besides the celebrity interview, it’s full of health, finance and other current, useful information. But there’s also film and book reviews and lots of human interest stories about our older generation. It takes me a few hours to get through an issue because there’s so much of interest to me. Honestly, I keep my AARP membership up mostly just for the magazine, which at around $16 a year is a bargain.
You’ve heard about the magazines I love. Let’s hear about yours in the comments!
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