“There is only one way to read,” the novelist Doris Lessing once wrote: “picking up books that attract you, reading only those, dropping them when they bore you, skipping the parts that drag—and never, never reading anything because you feel you ought, or because it is part of a trend of a movement.” (Lessing felt that her masterpiece, “The Golden Notebook,” had been misunderstood by critics.) She was advising people to read their own way, “from one sympathy to another,” suggesting that you become attuned to your own sense of what you need.This week, we’ve launched What We’re Reading, a new books newsletter, which will deliver recommendations and commentary from our writers and editors every Wednesday. We’ll also bring you short reviews of recent releases, lists from our critics of essential books, interviews with authors whose writing appears in our pages, and more. We’re hoping to capture some of the spirit of Lessing’s advice—casting a wide net, featuring the best books across a vast array of subjects and genres, for you to pick up and drop, and pass along and discuss with fellow-readers, as you see fit. To get What We’re Reading in your inbox, sign up here.Also launching today is our annual list of great summer books, chosen by our writers and critics. This year, we asked for recommendations for works that are short enough to finish on a single Amtrak journey or in a lazy afternoon at the beach—pocket reads. The selections included novels about solitary dreamers wandering through surreal European cityscapes; stories of childhoods spent on the Greek island of Corfu and on the periphery of mid-century Hollywood; and the English writer Nancy Mitford’s caustic satire “Wigs on the Green,” which follows a bored heiress, inspired by Mitford’s Hitler-loving sisters, who devotes herself to organizing a fascist paramilitary group as silly as it is sinister. (“We will whack / And we will smack . . . All traitors to the Union Jack,” their anthem goes.) It sounds like perfect reading material for the Fourth of July.Read the list »Editor’s PickDid a Chatbot Write a Prize-Winning Story? Does It Matter?In May, three of the five winners of this year’s Commonwealth Short Story Prize were accused of using A.I. to write their stories, setting off a controversy in the literary world. But the public’s response may actually reveal more about human writing and taste than it does about machines, Katy Waldman argues. Read or listen to the story »More Top StoriesThe people of Switzerland will soon vote on whether their country will become the first to cap its population. If it does, it could upend the nation’s economy and rupture ties with the European Union.With his new show “Keep the Meter Running,” on YouTube, Kareem Rahma, a.k.a. the Subway Takes Guy, is trying to turn TikTok fodder into TV, Kyle Chayka writes.Wearing an unwashed lucky sock. Blessing an orange-and-blue challah. Listening to DMX. The artist Millie von Platen illustrates the odd rituals of Knicks superfans.The most-clicked item in yesterday’s newsletter was a review of Jill Biden’s new memoir.Our Culture PicksA docuseries: “Rafa,” on Netflix, shows viewers the heavy toll that Rafael Nadal’s dazzling achievements have taken on his body.A bite: At Ota, in Omaha, Nebraska, you’ll be served something you might be surprised to find in America’s most landlocked state: a world-class omakase.A one-man show: “Small” is a cleverly staged account of a man’s brief, blazing, and painful adolescent career as a jockey.Puzzles & GamesToday’s Crossword Puzzle: Like pancake batter and old mattresses—five letters.Catalogues: Can you sort the items into the correct order?Shuffalo: Can you make a longer word with each new letter?Laugh Lines: Test your knowledge of classic New Yorker cartoons.Daily CartoonCartoon by Bob EcksteinP.S. The trailer for “The Social Reckoning,” the sequel to 2010’s “The Social Network,” dropped online today, giving us the first look at Jeremy Strong’s eerie performance as Mark Zuckerberg. Read Michael Schulman’s Profile of Strong, in which he covered the actor’s intense process. 🎬Austin Elias-de Jesus contributed to today’s edition.