May 16, 2025, 2:40pm
Though we in the Western Hemisphere have slightly more than a month till summer starts, most of us at Lit Hub are getting a spiritual jump on the season.
McKayla Coyle is calibrating their summer playlist. Emily Firetog is finding the thunderstorm channel relaxing. Because, in addition to making good mental prep for summer storms, turns out hours and hours of uninterrupted rain is “a great working from home/editing companion.” Especially for those with Gothic sympathies.
In the spirit of summer adventures, James Folta is getting his jollies from the art of picking plane reads. (“I’m going out of town for a wedding this weekend to celebrate love and see how much I currently enjoy dancing, and I’d forgotten how much I love curating a lil’ stack of vacation books.”) Real ones will remember that my fellow blogger has a time-tested strategy when it comes to carry-on companions. As does Kaitlin Phillips, who recently made a case for beach reads < plane reads, in her witty newsletter, “Gift Guide.”
James is currently in the throes of difficult decision-making, torn between a bunch of short novels, galleys, and a few new Library of America collections—including a 60s crime novel compendium and a compilation tape of Dawn Powell’s early years.
As I’m told he is still taking suggestions, I can recommend the reissue of a short, new Powell book coming out this June from Belt Publishing. She Walks in Beauty is a pre-war coming-of-age novel, set in a small-town boarding house in Ohio. It’s a character chamber piece featuring Powell’s characteristic wickedness. (And FYI, if this Olympic-level satirist isn’t already on your radar, you should really check out her work.)
Some of us are getting hyped for an extra-literary summer. Drew Broussard has joined a new digital writing group. The gang’s first meet-up involved a two-hour joint writing session, which proved “marvelously productive” for your friendly neighborhood podcasts editor.
And I, Brittany Allen, write to you from Portugal this week(!), where I’m spending my evenings doing a cultural-exchange program with several amazing Portugese writers. Among many other things, this trip is rekindling a real thirst to get back into my language learning practice.
With all respect to Duolingo, the people’s language app, I’ve been enjoying Babbel for its emphasis on practical conversation and learning by ear. A year long subscription feels well worth it so far. Now my head’s buzzing with dreams of crash-coursing all the romance languages before the leaves turn. But o que será será.
Wishing you a weekend of soothing sonics, friendly new faces, and work on exclusively soul-filling projects.
