Reading in the summertime!

What even IS summer reading?

I’ve never been completely satisfied with the idea that you should spend the warmer months only reading books that demand nothing of your brain. Sure the heat and humidity can sometimes make everything feel a bit lethargic and soggy, but lying by the beach for hours is some of the best un-interrupted reading time you’ll get all year. Why not branch out a little and try something a bit different?

Short Stories for Long Days

Laura Brading from WellRead

Whether you have a chaotic social calendar this summer or just a chaotic mind (thanks 'ever-evolving' pandemic), we reckon short stories are the ideal reading material for these times. Here are five of our favourite collections from 2021 for you to dip in and out of this summer:

1. Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So
   This collection about Cambodian-American life is full of youth and life and laughs. Books get called electric all the time but this is the real deal. 

2. Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz
   Sultry, sticky, sensual, all 11 stories are set in Florida and all focus on the transformative experiences of women. Emotionally challenging, but guaranteed immersive reading. 

3. Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King
   Any reader who was obsessed with Writers & Lovers will adore King's first short story collection. Exploring desire and heartache, loss and discovery, moments of jolting violence and the inexorable tug toward love at all costs, each story feels as though you have read a novel.

4. Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories by Hilma Wolitzer
   Come for the relatable title, stay for the wit and wisdom shone on love and marriage. PS. She's Meg Wolitzer's mum!

5. Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans

   If Roxane Gay calls someone the finest short story writer working today, we listen. And she's not wrong. This is essential, stunning writing on race, grief, apology, and American history.

Honourable Mentions: Hold Your Fire Book by Chloe Wilson, Born Into This Book by Adam Thompson, Daddy by Emma Cline, Permafrost S.J. Norman and She is Haunted by Paige Clark.

This issue of our paid newsletter is brought to you by WellRead, an expertly curated book subscription service that will send you a handpicked book every month, or every second month, accompanied by considered thought-starter notes. You can head to their site now to pick up the Short Stories for Long Days book bundle!