I hit my goal of 52 last year so this year I was ambitious and set 60, but at the moment I’m sitting at 47, so I need to read 13 books in the next two months. I can definitely do that, but I need to focus on short books. Any recommendations? I’m already reading Murderbot, but I’d love some additional recommendations.
by Mechashevet
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Murderbot Diaries!
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle
Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Penric and Desdemona series by Lois Macmaster Bujold.
{{A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck}}
{{The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz}}
If comics/graphic novels are ok, there’s {{Saga by Brian K. Vaughan}}
Passing by Nella Larsen. It’s about race and identity.
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson. A love story with beautiful writing.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Slightly unsettling gothic horror mystery
All under 200 pages
Any of the books in Earthsea series by Ursula le Guin
Just out of curiosity, why do you set a book goal rather than a page goal? I see lots of people doing that but don’t really understand it. But I don’t have to understand it to recommend some short books! Maybe you’ll like some of these:
* Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
* What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
* Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
* Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
* To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers
* Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin
* Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor
* The Bruising of Qilwa by Naseem Jamnia
* A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
* Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
* Synchronicity by Sharon Dodua Otoo
* The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa
* The Summer Book by Tove Jansson
What types of books do you like reading?
Why you read so much ?
Richard Bach’s **Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah**
a psalm for the wild built by becky chambers!! there’s also a sequel, both short and super fast reads
Claire Keegan has three amazing novellas, one just being released in the US and one perfect for Christmas, Small Things Like These. Each can be read in a single sitting.
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
All three are pretty short reads that I thought were quite good, though you might have already read them.
Animal Farm is another short one too that I thought was flawed but interesting.
My advice is if you don’t like one just drop it and move on, you’ll read a medium size book you like faster than a short book you hate!
*Galatea* is a very fast read at around 50 pages, written by the author who gave us the popular *Circe* and *Song Of Achilles.* This one also riffs on Greek fables.
*The Murders of Molly Southbourne* by Tade Thompson is an extremely fast read at 150 or so pages. The story is about a woman who wakes in a dungeon locked to a wall. A woman named Molly seems to have put her there and is cautiously taking care of them. It’s brutal, nasty, and scary all while making you want to peel the next page in order to figure out what the heck will happen next.
*Piranesi* is a quick read. About a man who lives in a mysterious house/castle. The house is just as much of a character as anyone, and has some mystery involving who the MC is and how he got there.
*To Be Taught, If Fortunate* by Becky Chambers is a beautiful sci-fi story. It’s a shorter novella, but allows for quality within that frame rather than hugely epic world building.
*Follow Me to Ground* by Sue Rainsford is a creepy but poetic novella. A bit disturbing, but in a medical sense. I loved this little book and couldn’t put it down.
*This Is How You Lose the Time War* by Amal El-Mohtar is written like a series of love letters. Very interesting and romantic while still having an edge as both the characters are on opposite sides of a war.
*The Past Is Red* is a dystopian tale where the world has been covered in water and people live on floating trash islands. It’s humorous, sweet, weird, clever, and a bit poignant when you least expect it. Fast and easy read that took me by surprise.
– Perla by Carolina De Robertis
– The Inhabited Woman by Gioconda Belli
– Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift
– The Four Corners of the Heart by Françoise Sagan
– Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
– Home by Toni Morrison
– The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
– Speedboat by Renata Adler
Short stories, they add up if you count them individually (see Tobias Wolff, Edgar Allan Poe, Flannery O’Connor, Edwidge Danticat). Toni Morrison books are usually very short (but emotionally heavy). Pop fiction like The Housemaid series. Plays can be fun quick reads too (Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman, Fences by August Wilson, ‘night Mother by Marsha Norman). Poetry collections (Billy Collins). Manga is pretty easy and very fast (Vampire Knight is the only one I’ve ever read). Self-help books.
Anything by Daniel Woodrell.
Try graphic novels. If you read it, it’s a book, right? I like Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? By Harold Schechter. Early kudos on reaching your goal!
Illusions by Richard Bach, pretty much any Thich Nhat Hanh book, the outsiders by S.E Hinton, a death in the family by James Agee, hunger by Knut Hamsun