A very short story, a poem from a collection, a short chapter from a novel, a review of something you love, something small that will focus your eyes and invite your mind to wake, that you can then finish, put down, and move along.
when im in a reading slump i go for books that are a collection of short stories. the shorter length makes it easier to finish a story in one sitting so you can have that sense of accomplishment and also variety without a big commitment.
some of my faves are:
prayer for the living - ben okri ‼️‼️
life ceremony - sayaka murata
her body & other parties - carmen maria machado
the dangers of smoking in bed - mariana enriquez
There’s nothing better than finishing an 800 page novel that has no punctuation and immediately jumping straight into a multivolume epic. Actually it’s horrible. There’s no better way to rasa the tabula than reading a little snack sized story. The best ones (take for instance just about anything from the new collection EVIL FLOWERS by Gunnhild Øyehaug) will stay with you long after you’ve forgotten the name of all the characters in that novel.
