These days it's hard to focus. Get back to reading with these serious but shorter books and story collections. Short stories are a great way to jump-start your reading.
Sections
2
Novels
Stories
Novels
Shorter novels, not necessarily easy reading, but that's not the point.
Everyone's recent fave comes in at just over 250 pages.
Heart the Lover
This book can be read in a single evening but it's not a small story. It spans an entire adult life and the changes one man witnesses in the world.
Train Dreams: A Novella
At only 160 pages, this first in series is packed with mystery and speculation.
On the Calculation of Volume (Book I): Shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize
Under 200 pages, this book is unusual in that it is upbeat and simultaneously heartbreaking.
The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Novel
A heartbreaking story of boys drawn together by the tragedies of their families.
So Long, See You Tomorrow: National Book Award Winner
Nella Larsen was an important writer in the Harlem Renaissance. But despite the time period and setting, it remains topical and feels current.
Quicksand
Space Opera and Dark Academia combine in a thought-provoking book under 150 pages.
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain
Author of the classic 'Little, Big' this book collects stories and essays and an interview.
Totalitopia
Feel like a classic but they're all too chonky? This one is only 176 pages.
Wide Sargasso Sea
It may be a long winter, but this book by a modern master, is not long, less than 180 pages.
A Long Winter
A Sci-Fi novel by two of the best writers working today.
This Is How You Lose the Time War
This book is somber but uplifting and takes up only 160 pages.
A Month in the Country
The book that spawned the popular TV show.
All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries
Small Things Like These is also a small book
Small Things Like These (Oprah's Book Club)
Another classic coming in under 250 pages
The Great Gatsby: The Only Authorized Edition
A lesser known (in America) classic at under 170 pages.
Pedro Páramo
A very short book long on emotion. This is story is a singular experience.
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers: A Novel
A Sci-Fi story from the past with resonance today
The Word for World Is Forest
Stories
Short stories are a great way to get your reading mojo back.
One of my favorite story collections
Wednesday's Child: Stories
Not exactly light reading, but stories allow you to read in small bites.
Exhalation
More Ted Chiang stories
Stories of Your Life and Others
If you liked Train Dreams, this book will let you explore more of Denis Johnson's work.
