Short Books to Get You Through the Summer

Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!

It's been a while since I've done a good old book recommendations post, so that's what we're doing today! Specifically I'm going to be recommending you novellas and short stories that will help you wile away the summer days.

I don't know about you, but I kind of really hate summer. Of course if you've been here a while you would not be surprised by this. I live in Phoenix, Arizona, so summers are hot hot hot. Currently, at 5 pm as I'm writing this, it's 107 degrees Fahrenheit (that's 41 degrees Celsius for my non-American readers). If there's a single bright side to Arizona summers, it's that the humidity is next to nothing, almost always 25% or lower. I can't imagine what it's like to live in a place like Florida or Louisiana, where it can be 90% humidity. I think I would actually perish.

Until I can move away from the desert, I'm stuck hating summer with every fiber of my being. The heat makes me very sluggish and fatigued, and I often have trouble reading bigger books because it's a chore to stay in one place for very long. That's why I rely heavily on novellas and short story collections during the summertime. They don't take me long to finish, and I can take breaks in between reading them when I get too warm. And I figured that you might adhere to that logic, as well!

So without any further ado, here are 12 novellas and short stories that will make summer more tolerable.

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The Awakening by Kate Chopin

I wanted to recommend this novella specifically because it takes place in July, and you can really feel the summer vibes in the writing. The Awakening follows a young woman, Edna Pontellier, as she experiences her sexual awakening after years of marriage and children. First published in 1899, this book was banned for depicting female promiscuity and desire, but is now recognized as Kate Chopin's greatest literary work. I also highly recommend the audiobook!

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

If you're in the mood for something weird, then you should definitely check out The Salt Grows Heavy. A killer mermaid. A plague doctor. A religious cult sacrificing boys to some unknown evil. I mean, it can't get much weirder than that, am I right? The writing is also very good, ethereal and sharp like a beautiful woman with too many teeth.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

For a hopeful sci-fi, I highly recommend A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Becky Chambers is a master at hopeful sci-fi, and sometimes you just need a hug in book form. This novella series (there are two books out currently, and it's unclear if Chambers will be continuing in this world) follows Dex, a nonbinary tea monk as they travel around their moon, offering tea and advice to people who need a quiet moment. When Dex travels into the forest, they come across something unexpected--a robot named Mosscap who has a very important question: "What do people need?"

This is How You Lose the Time War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar

I'm sure you've all heard of this book, mostly because it's a BookTube darling and seems to be very popular in the "weird fiction" category. This sci-fi novella follows two people, Red and Blue, who are on opposite sides of a massive war spanning throughout time. These time agents begin leaving messages behind, taunting the other, until their letters become less antagonistic and more like yearning love confessions. I'm telling you, you've never read a love story quite like this one.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

I feel like people don't usually associate classics with quick reading, but there are exceptions to every rule and Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle is one of them. We follow a broken family of two sisters and an ailing uncle, after everyone else was killed by a poisoned sugar bowl. They live in their dilapidated house on the edges of society, no longer welcome in the town they knew their whole lives. When a distant relation shows up unannounced at their door, it sparks a chain of events that leads to what's left of their lives going up in flames.

Chess Story by Stefan Zweig
Translated from the German by Joel Rotenburg

Another classic, this time from Austria. This is one of the shortest works on this list, but don't let the page count fool you. This novella packs one hell of a punch. While on a transatlantic voyage to South America, our narrator learns that the world chess champion is on board and challenges him to a match. This action leads to him making the acquaintance of a rather odd man who has a master talent at the game. When we learn this man's story, however, it sheds light on some rather horrific history that means much more than winning a chess match.

 

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
Translated from the Arabic by Elisabeth Jaquette

This is my most recent read on this list, and probably the most devastating as well. Minor Detail is about a shocking crime told in two timelines: one, when the violent act took place, and two, a few decades later when a woman comes across the story of the crime and decides to investigate it herself. It's an incredible piece of fiction, and rather poignant in today's time as it takes place in Palestine during the early years of the occupation. I learned quite a lot from it, and it also sparked that morbid curiosity to learn more about this country. Of all of the books on this list, I think I would recommend this one the most as required reading.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

I could have put any of T. Kingfisher's novellas in this list, because they're all amazing, but I decided to go with Nettle & Bone because it was my first Kingfisher work. The author has an excellent talent for subverting fairy tales and I would say this novella is her best example of that. We follow Marra, the youngest daughter of a noble family who has taken it upon herself to kill her elder sister's husband, whoso also happens to be the prince of their kingdom. She enlists the help of a disgraced knight, a skeleton dog, a reluctant fairy godmother, and a demonic chicken to rid the kingdom of their only heir.

Galatea by Madeline Miller 

This is the shortest story on this list at a whopping 27 pages, but the contents are just as powerful as a full length novel. Galatea is a reimagining of the Greek myth of Pygmalion, a sculptor who falls so desperately in love with the statue he carved that the gods grant her life. But Galatea takes that myth and asks: what next? How does the statue feel about being alive? A little dark and incredibly thought-provoking, this tiny story that you can read in an hour will leave you with days of contemplation. 

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez

Now onto the short-story collections! First up is one of Mariana Enriquez's horror collections, Things We Have Lost in the Fire. She also has another horror collection, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, but I haven't yet read that. It's on my list, though! Mariana Enriquez's writing style is best described in these two words: creepy and unsettling. What might start out as a seemingly innocent and mundane story will turn into an acid-trip of a horror tale, making you wonder if the horror was real or just in your head all along. I would also highly recommend her novel, Our Share of Night, but as that's well over 500 pages, it doesn't really fit the bill here. I will also mention that Our Share of Night is translated from the Spanish, but her two short-story collections were originally published in English.

What We Fed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri

If you want to read stories about animals, then this is absolutely the collection for you. While these stories are told from the perspective of many different animals, including dogs, rhinos, and vultures, they explore very human themes such as environmentalism, capitalism, conservation, identity, and loss. Be prepared to be big sad reading these! We bounce across the world in each story, exploring places like Gaza and Delhi. Each of the nine stories has resounding heart and deep tenderness, and I guarantee you'll tear up at least once.

How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa

Last but certainly not least is Laotian Canadian author Souvankham Thammavongsa's debut collection How to Pronounce Knife, which explores the immigrant experience and the struggles of adapting to a new country. While the previous short-story collections were fantastical or paranormal in some way, How to Pronounce Knife hones in on the reality of living somewhere inherently foreign, with raw moments of exposure, dislocation, and messy feeling that transcend any language barrier dividing us as readers. While How to Pronounce Knife centers around the Laotian Canadian experience, anyone who has ever moved to a new country and learned a new language can relate to these snippets of life.

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And that's all I have for you today! I hope this post gave you some books to add to your TBR, and if not, I'd love some of your recommendations! What are you favorite novellas and short story collections? Let me know in the comments below, or DM me on Instagram (link in sidebar under the heading "More Media"). 

Until next time!