Quick Lit September 2026 Archives

Seascraper

by Benjamin Wood

This Booker longlisted novel has a lot in common with Ben Shattuck's The History of Sound, which was one of my favorites of 2025. The protagonist is twenty-year-old Thomas, who lives a quiet life with his mother on England's northern coast, making his living from the sea. Then a stranger comes to town—and, despite Thomas's initial skepticism about what the stranger has to offer, everything will soon be changed. I really enjoyed this, and strongly recommend the audiobook version, as read by the author. Thomas's private desire to write folk songs features prominently in this story, and the book ends with a dazzling performance.

Company: Stories

by Shannon Sanders

I re-read 2026 Minimalist Summer Reading Guide pick The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders, this time on audio as narrated by Keylor Leigh, in preparation to talk to Shannon in Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club. Then, during our conversation when Shannon mentioned that her debut short story collection features characters from the same family as in The Great Wherever, I knew I had to read it next. The book's first pages contain a family tree showing who's who; then, in each of thirteen stories, we read about a different family member receiving a visitor. In other words, having company. I LOVED this collection: these were independent stories, but the sense of continuity provided by the characters in common propelled me through in a way I don't often experience with short stories.

The Outsiders

by SE Hinton

I blew through this slim 1967 classic, spurred by the touring Broadway musical coming through town. The West Side Story-esque tale is set in 1960s Tulsa, Oklahoma, where two groups of teens—the haves and the have-nots—are more or less at war. Over the course of a few short autumn weeks, the conflict dramatically escalates—culminating in the "rumble" you've perhaps heard about—and the lives of these teens and their families are changed forever. Over the years I've learned so much <em>about</em> this book (and the 1983 film adaptation) and have heard it quoted numerous times ("stay gold, Ponyboy"): I'm so glad I finally read it for myself.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

by Joan Didion

Didion’s first work of nonfiction, this essay collection published in 1968, remains a classic. She writes about figures like John Wayne and Howard Hughes, her experience growing up in California, and the birth of the 1960s counterculture movement in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. Didion drew her title from the W.B. Yeats poem “The Second Coming” (“things fall apart; the centre cannot hold”) and wrestles throughout with the disruption and unease she sees at work in the culture around her.

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books

by Hwang Bo-reum

I welcomed this into my reading life because I'd heard good things, because I needed a change of pace, because I love books about books. In 53 short essays (one for each week of a year, plus a bonus), international bestselling author Bo-Reum (author of the hit Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop) explores a broad variety of approaches and experiments to take in your reading life. I was tickled by the way many of these ideas directly conflicted with each other: read short, read long. Read old, read new. Read at whim, plan your reading. I was charmed—and look forward to discussing this book and its discussion-generators with my reading pals. Translated from the Korean by Shanna Tan. (This is the December 2026 pick for Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club. )

Quick Lit September 2026

Seascraper

Company: Stories

The Outsiders

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books

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