Happy Thanksgiving! We are nearing the end of 2020, can you believe it? I thought this year would never end.
For those pining to meet their reading goals, here are a few relatively short books that I’ve enjoyed that you can plow through! The ones that might be a little over 200 pages are ones that although a bit longer than the others, I got through especially quick.
Non-fiction
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (52 pages): An essential (if basic) introduction to feminism from a Nigerian writer.
Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris (96 pages): In response to his first book, the author comes out with additional arguments against Christianity in the United States in the context of abortion, terrorism, science, politics and more.
Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty (256 pages): Internet-famous mortician Caitlin Doughty answers blunt questions about death from children with equally blunt (and whimsical) answers.
Fantasy and science fiction
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (181 pages): Following a suicide in their small Sussex town, strange, inter-dimensional things start happening to a young boy and he seeks out the help of the mysterious family at the end of the lane.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (193 pages): Earthman Arthur Dent accompanies his long time friend and incognito extraterrestrial Ford on an extraordinary journey through space, learning lessons and meeting new beings to put in the new volume of the massively popular Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (216 pages): Although there’s no review on this blog, I’ve read it in the last few years and liked it! Some also consider it a (modern) classic.
Classics
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (182 pages): Young Santiago treks through the desert to the pyramids based on a fortune that he will find a great treasure there. In an oasis, he falls in love and meets an alchemist that helps him find his true treasure.
The Lord of the Flies by Willian Golding (182 pages): School boys get stranded on an island and must figure out survival and order to live to see their rescue.
Animal Farm by George Orwell (141 pages): Once the overworked animals reclaim the farm from the lording humans, they try to make their own way as their own rulers.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (104 pages): I also haven’t read this book, but I will this month! I had no idea it was so short.
Thriller
I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid (241 pages): “[A] man and his girlfriend are on their way to a secluded farm. When the two take an unexpected detour, she is left stranded in a deserted high school, wondering if there is any escape at all. What follows is a twisted unraveling that will haunt you long after the last page is turned.”
If It Bleeds or Different Seasons by Stephen King: These are both a collection of short stories, most famously Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption in Different Seasons. I have been able to borrow some of these stories separately, being about 100 pages each.
Children and young adult
Anything Roald Dahl: Although GoodReads clocks a lot of his children’s books at around 200 pages, the illustrations and ease of reading make them readable in no time. I have read Matilda, The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach and they all have given me great joy.
Holes by Louis Sachar (233 pages): When Stanley is wrongly convicted of a crime and sent to dig holes at Camp Greenlake, he makes friends that help him uncover the truth about the area’s past and his connection to it. This is my favorite YA book that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed as an adult reading it for the first time.
Your favorite YA/children’s book: This might be a bit of a cop-out, but whatever. Experience some nostalgia and re-read your favorite book from elementary, middle or high school. I know I’ll personally be revisiting Hoot in the very near future.
What are your favorite shorter books?
Photo by Alisa Anton.
