Quick Lit July 2026 Archives

The Animators

by Kayla Rae Whitaker

I quickly got swept up in this story, as narrated by Alex McKenna. Mel and Sharon are two friends with rough childhoods in common (poverty, addiction, neglect), who escaped through their art and then found creative success. They meet in art school and form a personally and professionally beneficial partnership, making two groundbreaking films together. But their individual lives and working relationship are ever fraught, marked by unaddressed trauma and substance abuse. This novel was terribly painful at times, but I so appreciated its treatment of the central friendship, the business of art, and the struggles of sublimating a painful past into creative work. But what I LOVED was its unabashed praise of my hometown of Louisville, KY, where a big chunk of the book takes place. Kentucky is an easy punching bag in fiction, and seeing Mel fall in love with it on the page and lay out its charms and quirks in detail was the counterpoint I didn't know I was longing to read.

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

by Patrick Radden Keefe

Investigative journalism at its finest, this examines the IRA’s abduction of Jean McConville, a mother of ten, from her Belfast home in 1972 during The Troubles. Her family never saw her again. A little more than thirty years later, human bones are found on a beach and later identified as McConville. The case serves as an example of the violence, fear, and paranoia during that time, as well as a jumping off point to explore the IRA’s goal for a united Ireland, the repercussions of guerrilla warfare, and whether their ends ever justified the means. A riveting and heartbreaking read, this was recently adapted into a TV miniseries on FX.

Prague Spring

by Simon Mawer

From the publisher: "In the summer of 1968—a year of love and hate, of Prague Spring and Cold War winter—Oxford students James Borthwick and Eleanor Pike set out to hitchhike across Europe, complicating a budding friendship that could be something more. Having reached southern Germany, they decide on a whim to visit Czechoslovakia, where Alexander Dubček's 'socialism with a human face' is smiling on the world. Meanwhile, Sam Wareham, First Secretary at the British embassy in Prague, is observing developments in the country with both a diplomat's cynicism and a young man's passion. In the company of Czech student Lenka Konečková, he finds a way into the world of Czechoslovak youth, its hopes and its ideas. For the first time, nothing seems off limits behind the Iron Curtain. Yet the wheels of politics are grinding in the background. The Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev is making demands of Dubček, and the Red Army is amassed on the borders. How will the looming disaster affect those fragile lives caught up in the invasion? With this shrewd, engrossing, and sensual novel, Simon Mawer cements his status as one of the most talented writers of historical spy fiction today."

The Magnificent Ruins

by Nayantara Roy

From the publisher: "It is the summer of 2015, and Lila De is on the verge of a breakthrough in her career at a prestigious New York publishing house. But when she gets a call from her mother in India, informing her that she's inherited her family’s sprawling estate, she must confront the legacy of an extended family that she thought she left behind sixteen years ago.  Returning to Kolkata reunites Lila with her mother after a decade of estrangement, and then there are her grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of whom still live in the house, all of whom resent her sudden inheritance. To make matters more complicated, her first boyfriend seeks her out when she arrives, and her star author—and occasional lover—is suddenly determined to make things serious. As Lila tries to come to terms with both past and present, long-suppressed secrets from her family emerge, culminating in an act of shocking violence, and she must finally reckon with her inherited custom of keeping everything under the surface. "

13 Ways of Looking at the Novel

by Jane Smiley

From the publisher: "From classics such as the thousand-year-old Tale of Genji to fiction by Zadie Smith, Jane Smiley explores the power of the form, looking at its history and variety, its cultural impact, and just how it works its magic. She invites us behind the scenes of novel-writing, sharing her own habits and spilling the secrets of her craft, and offering priceless advice to aspiring authors. Every page infects us anew with the passion for reading that is the governing spirit of this gift to book lovers everywhere."

Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant

by Anne Tyler

Anissa Davis raved about Anne Tyler on episode 38 of WSIRN, having read everything Tyler has written, saying that her books are entertaining, but also with a layer of depth. She envelopes what daily life is like - with all the joys, ups and downs, and humor - and is very good at bringing her characters to life.

Quick Lit July 2026

The Animators

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland

Prague Spring

The Magnificent Ruins

13 Ways of Looking at the Novel

Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant

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