A very nice, hopefully inspiring end of the year splurge. It has been several years since I have ordered the Short Story Advent Calendar. I love short stories, but I have been a lapsed short story reader in the last few years and I keep trying to get back to my old habit. I hope this helps and I am able to keep up with a short story a day through the individual stories that come in this boxed set.
Advent begins today and ends on Christmas Eve. The first story is by Caroline Kim, whose collection of short stories (The Prince of Mournful Thoughts) about the Korean Diaspora won the 2020 Drue Heinz Prize in Literature and was shortlisted for a few other prizes is called "Bread of Lifers". I am going to just pull the next story out each morning and read it during the day. Each will be a daily treat, so no peeking ahead of time.
I hope to check in occasionally and share something about my reading, but my first focus will be just to read each story and not fall behind. I will be thrilled to discover new to me voices and perhaps add more titles to my wishlist to explore next year. Mostly this will be a pleasant way to finish out the rest of the year while I tidy up my reading piles and prepare for the coming year.