Hello, and welcome to the longer days and shorter nights, where there's never enough time to read until you carve out a little bit of space for yourself. Do it. You are worth it. 

And now, here are some shiny titles that would be thrilled to join you in your little reading nook. 
 

We might have swooned a little bit over this cover for John Grishma's Sparring Partners. One, it doesn't look like everything else on the table right now, which is always lovely. Two, Sparring Partners is a collection of novellas, and knowing that, suddenly the cover makes more sense, doesn't it? Now, we know that decoding book covers is where we go deep into the weeds, but come on, when a design really sings, it really sings. 

Anyway, Grisham's doing a Stephen King thing here with throwing a couple of novellas into a collection, which we can get behind. The days are long, but they're not that long, and it's nice to wrap up a story before, you know, mid-summer. 

And speaking of design that makes our tingly bits tingle, the lovely folks at Herb Lester Associates are back with a few more of their idiosyncratic and delightful maps. 
 

First up is Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A Map of Folk Horror. A companion to the recent documentary of the same name by Kier-la Janisse, this fold-out map showcases the spread of folk horror from a trio of films in the early '70s (Witchfinder General, Blood on Satan's Claw, and The Wicker Man) to the recent resurgence in the genre over the last few years. As the marketing speak says: "These are places where the pull of the old ways can still be felt." Plan your vacations accordingly. 
 

And speaking of vacations, if you are, by chance, planning on motoring around the British Isles, a map showcasing fifty-one locations from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction is a handy travel guide to pack along. Currated by Martin Edwards and illustrated by Ryan Boose, This Deadly Isle: A Golden Age Mystery Map is a marvelous romp through the history of crime fiction in England. (Okay, fine. Let's make that "if you are thinking about motoring around the British Isles. . . ")
 

Oh, drat. Martin Edwards' The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators isn't out until mid-August. Ah well, you can always pre-order a copy! We like pre-orders. 
 

And speaking of the out-of-doors, Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World, Barry Lopez's final collection of naturalist essays, is out this week. Lopez, who eschewed recognition for his exploratory efforts in lieu of being a witness to the majesty and power of the natural world, wrote passionately about the world, our place in it, and how our mutual relationship was changing each of us. Intimate and powerful, Embrace Fearlessly the Burning World, is a lasting reminder of what Lopez found important: paying attention. 
 

And somewhat counter to our theme this week of books you can curl up with in a comfortable spot near the window but totally in series with the previous book is Grant Golliher's Think Like a Horse: Lessons in Life, Leadership, and Empathy from an Unconventional Cowboy. 

Look. It's all about setting boundaries, living with kindness, and being on your best behavior. And it doesn't apply to just your horse. Sometimes these things are metaphors and sometimes they are simply articulated life lessons. Not everything needs to be overthought. 
 

However, if you want to get with the thinky, how about a primer on Chaos Magick? Peter Carroll's classic Liber Null & Psychonaut has been reissued in a revised and expanded edition. Carroll is one of those VERY creative thinkers who is actively testing the boundaries of what we know and what we think we know and what we definitely aren't capable of knowing. Liber Null & Psychonaut are landmark texts that shaped (and continue to shape) the course of modern esoteric thought (and practice). 

If case all that thinky made you drift off, here's something that will help. Beth Wyatt's The Calm & Cozy Sleep Kit: The Ultimate Guide on How to Fall Asleep Effortlessly and Naturally. This kit includes a 64-page sleep guide, a 32-page sleep journal, a gold satin sleep mask, and ten incense cones to help guide you to the restful slumber that this wild-eyed, mohawked, assless-chaps-wearing decade is steadfastly denying you. 
 

Right. Back to curling up in our nook and going places without putting socks on. Here is Famous Robberies, a fabulous book by Soledad Romero and Julio Antonio Blasco about a dozen or so of the most notorious robberies. These stories are presented with an eye toward graphic design and infographic formats, which makes them pithy and a treat to read through. 
 

And speaking of traveling without socks, here is A Haunted Road Atlas, a delightful destination guide to places where bad things happened and spooky visitations occurred. Written by Christine Schiefer and Em Schulz, who are the hosts of the comedy podcast And That's Why We Drink, A Haunted Road Atlas is a perfect companion to the podcast. Now you can go visit the places you've heard about! 
 

And speaking of listening to the voice of the people, here is Nathaniel Philbrick's Travels with George, a travel memoir of Philbrick's efforts to retrace George Washington's tour of the ex-colonies in the early days of this nation. Philbrick, who's a master of historical narrative, doesn't just cover the historical record of Washington's tour, he also recounts what he finds in these locations today. Travels with George offers up a portrait of a young nation quarreling with itself as it attempts to figure out what it wants to become, and, yes, there are many parallels to where we are today. A fantastic and thoughtful read. 
 

And finally, here is Maria Adelmann's How to Be Eaten, which is the story of six women, their trauma, and how the old stories about them—fairy tales, each and every one—have gotten it wrong. Revisiting fairy tales is nothing new these days, but Adelmann brings a poignant vibrancy to these stories, and the result is something that sharply reflects our hunger for wolves and witches and larger-than-life narratives. Recommended.