Julia May Jonas recommends 6 captivating reads
The author suggests works from Sarah Moss, Claire Keegan, and more

When you make a purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission.
Julia May Jonas is the author of Vladimir, an acclaimed novel, now out in paperback, about an English professor who becomes obsessed with her young Russian-American colleague. Below, Jonas recommends six short books that deliver outsize rewards.
Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss (2018)
I am an evangelist for this beautiful and terrifying novel about a young girl in Britain who is brought along on an Iron Age reenactment expedition by her zealous father. The way the meaning reveals itself to the reader is riveting, and the ideas the story evokes about history and masculinity are unsettling and very deep. Buy it here.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sempre Susan by Sigrid Nunez (2011)
Several of Nunez's books are the kind you want to read in one sitting, but I am particularly partial to her very funny and honest account of the time she moved in with her boyfriend and his mother, who happened to be Susan Sontag. This memoir is about envy, admiration, and the literary world of the 1970s, written in Nunez's perfect prose, its observations both exact and expansive. Buy it here.
People Who Led to My Plays by Adrienne Kennedy (1987)
Not enough people outside of theater are Adrienne Kennedy obsessives. This book is the hugely influential playwright's autobiography, told entirely through brief recollections of people, objects, and events that shaped her as an artist and human. The cumulative effect is so powerful, it makes you wonder why anyone would write an autobiography any other way. Buy it here.
Sylvia by Leonard Michaels (1992)
A brutal and brutally recognizable story of a failed relationship — of two people whose suffering becomes a dangerous feedback loop. Originally written as a memoir and then turned into a novella, Sylvia is both insightful and shocking. Buy it here.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (2020)
Keegan's portrait of a young father who comes face-to-face with an uncomfortable reality is flawlessly constructed, written like a dream, and asks perhaps the most important question any of us can ask: How can I help? Buy it here.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
This dark, lyrical novella was inspired by the Chappaquiddick incident, a 1969 tragedy involving a U.S. senator and a party guest. While the book is deeply disturbing — it's written from the perspective of a drowning woman — it's also a luminous rumination on a kind of ambitious and vulnerable American femininity. It feels almost disorienting in its wisdom. Buy it here.
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
-
October 5 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailout
Talking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
-
Russia: already at war with Europe?
Talking Point As Kremlin begins ‘cranking up attacks’ on Ukraine’s European allies, questions about future action remain unanswered
-
Lou Berney’s 6 favorite books with powerful storytelling
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by Dorothy B. Hughes, James McBride, and more
-
Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficulties
Feature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imagination
Feature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is more
Feature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
-
Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious characters
Feature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War II
Feature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
-
Helen Schulman's 6 favorite collections of short stories
Feature The award-winning author recommends works by Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, and more
-
Beatriz Williams' 6 timeless books about history and human relationships
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Jane Austen, Zora Neale Hurston, and more