Must-Read
Best Short Books to Read in One Sitting
Under 300 pages, finishable in a long Sunday, none of them treat the short page count as an excuse to do less. Six books our editors recommend when a friend says they have not finished a book in a year and need to break the seal.
6 books on this list.
Jamesby Percival Everett
5.0“James by Percival Everett 2024 review. A retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved man Jim, in his own voice. The most important American novel of 2024 and the right Everett entry point.”
Normal Peopleby Sally Rooney
5.0“Normal People by Sally Rooney 2018 review. Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small Sligo town, attend Trinity College Dublin together, and orbit each other across four years of intermittent intimacy. The literary-fiction novel that defined the Rooney moment.”
The Midnight Libraryby Matt Haig
4.0“A gorgeous concept executed with warmth and wit. The Midnight Library will make you think differently about the choices you have made - and the ones still ahead.”
Never Let Me Goby Kazuo Ishiguro
5.0“Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 2005 review. Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, a special English boarding school. As adults, they begin to understand what Hailsham was for. The novel that defined the contemporary literary-SF register.”
No Country for Old Menby Cormac McCarthy
5.0“No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy 2005 review. A Texas welder finds a satchel of cash at a drug-deal massacre, and the man who comes for it does not stop. Late McCarthy in his cleanest thriller mode.”
Children of Blood and Boneby Tomi Adeyemi
5.0“Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi 2018 review. In a West-African-inspired fantasy kingdom, a young woman fights to restore magic to her people after the king has it eradicated. The YA fantasy debut that defined the late-2010s book-club moment.”