Hello Bookworms, when I was younger, my most effective way out of a reading slump would be diving into a short and entertaining comic. Something that, seemingly, we can all agree, is easy to read. I needed a sort of palate cleanser, something not too easy, but not nearly taking any energy I would need for my further book endeavours. This always worked, almost always. Either way, it felt close to a cheat code for averting the exhaustion and frustration I tended to feel when in a slump. Now, I don’t feel myself drawn towards the same comics, wanting something with more substance, but the same short, engaging nature to it.

This is how I have found my new answer to a slump, or any period of time in which I want to read, but don’t feel the desire to make a big, novel-sized commitment. This list is one that I particularly have been having to rely on recently, when I’m reading so many academic texts, even the shortest fiction gives me a headache. I do wish Goodreads would allow us to start logging our science papers _{(maybe my reading goal would have to expand to 2000 though)}. This list has many short stories and essays that I have read, and have yet to read. Please comment any of your favourites, as I am always on the lookout to expand mine!

• The Houseguest and Other Stories by Amparo Dávila
• Human Sacrifices by María Fernanda Ampuero
• Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung
• Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg
• The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enríquez
• The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
• After the quake by Haruki Murakami
• Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin
• Bliss Montage by Ling Ma
• The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier
• Homesick for Another World by Ottessa Moshfegh
• Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King
• Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado
• Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman
• Boys and Girls by Alice Munro
• A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman
• The Whore of Mensa by Woody Allen
• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
• Happy Endings by Margaret Atwood
• The Egg by Andy Weir
• A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert
• Smote, or When I Find I Cannot Kiss You in Front of a Print by Bridget Riley
• Saying Goodbye to Sally by Richard Yates
• Bullet in the Brain by Tobias Wolfe
• Cathedral by Raymond Carver
• Good Country People by Flannery O’Connor
• A Painful Case by James Joyce
• The Armpits of White Boys by Hurmat Kazmi
• The Last Question by Isaac Asimov
• Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson
• The Angel on the Roof by Russell Banks
• Master and Man by Leo Tolstoy
• The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
• Killer by Ken Kesey
• Fever by Raymond Carver
• A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flan O’Connor
• The Bridal Night by Frank O’Connor
• For Esme with Love and Squalor by Jerome David Salinger
• The Blue Hotel by Stephen Crane
• Big Two Hearted River by Ernest Hemingway
• Agafya by Anton Chekhov
• A Perfect Day for Banana Fish by J.D. Salinger.
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
• The Swimmer by John Cheever
• How To Be An Other Woman by Lorrie Moore.
• There will come soft rains by Ray Bradbury
• Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu
• A Room of One’s Own BY Virginia Woolf
• These Precious Days: Essays By Ann Patchett
• Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman by Lindy West
• Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed
• Old Babes in the Wood: Stories by Margaret Atwood
• Let Me Tell You What I Mean by Joan Didion
• The Best of Me by David Sedaris
• The White Album by Joan didion
• Someone Like You by Roald dahl
• Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
• Too Much Happiness: Stories By alice munro
• On Palestine by Noam chomsky
• The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

To those that didn’t have links, it’s very easy to find the full story with a simple search! Erin just got too lazy oops.

Thanks for reading!