A short story
Last Sunday morning, I read a great short story from new-to-me writer Camille Bordas as I drank a coffee (with chocolate and redcurrant notes, allegedly) and ate some butter-soaked toasted apple and sultana bread (shop bought, always shop bought). The story ‘Chicago on the Seine’ is about ghosts and VHS tapes. I loved it. I finished it and felt at peace. Shout out to Barra. I’m off to read all Bordas’ other stories over other hot beverages and sweet treats.
Prefer audio? You can listen to Bordas read the story instead.
A weekend romance
If you are looking for a gently-paced romance that you’ll read in a weekend, I recommend You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian. It’s sent in 1960s New York. A baseball player who the media hates and is having a bad run starts hanging out with a magazine writer who is mourning his lover’s death from over a year ago.
A heads up, there’s a lot of discussion around being closeted, openly queer, trying to have a relationship in a disapproving society. That’s the problem with historical romances, they’re often set in tough landscapes.
What I loved about this book was how it depicted kindness and self-forgiveness. There are so many little moments that broke and then mended my heart. The writer character is coming out of a dark tunnel of a time and trying to live with a grief which won’t ever leave him. He’s also decided he’s had enough of hiding. I don’t know, it’s just a sweet and quiet book.
A last line to make you weep
I was looking through some documents in a messy Drive folder and was reminded of this gorgeous piece of writing from Robert Krulwich, famed for his science and economics reportage, on the Lord Howe stick insect. That finale. Woah.
P.S. I have a story ‘Minor Complications’ published in the latest Banshee, buy the journal here.