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Very Short Books to Finish Your Reading Challenge Strong
This year’s Goodreads Reading Challenge is going strong, with more than 7 million (!) participants globally and 300 million (!) books pledged. Autumn is always a good time to check in on your progress, before the stretch run of the holidays. If you find you’re a few books off your ideal pace, well, we have a cunning plan.…
We’ve assembled here several dozen Very Short Books for your perusal, the reading of which can do wonders for your overall progress. All the selections here clock in at fewer than 200 pages, and we’ve made sure to include options from every genre.
To switch things up a bit this year, we’ve dug deep into the archives and selected some famous and popular backlist titles. Now’s your chance to consume that nutritional literature you’ve been meaning to get to since high school—like Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Morrison.
There really are some incredible books on this list, especially in the realm of speculative fiction. We don’t play favorites, of course. Except sometimes we do. Click on the cover images for more details, and you can sort out your sequencing via your Want to Read shelf.
Books with fewer than 200 pages
Which books will you be reading before the end of the year (and to complete your 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge)? Share your picks with us in the comments below!
Comments Showing 151-200 of 245 (245 new)
message 151:
by
Susan
(new)
Nov 05, 2023 11:59AM
Anybody recommend any of these in particular? I've already read Infinite Country, Conv. Store Woman, All Systems Red, Animal Farm, Great Gatsby, House on Mango St, Of Mice and Men, The Alchemist, Passing and Interpreter of Maladies. Infinite Country was pretty good. Interpreter of Maladies were good short stories. But I can't say I really liked any of the rest of them!
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🐺🐴Missy🦄💕 wrote: "What do I do? I don’t know what is happening! Can someone please help me out?!"You should change your name first...then in Jan set yourself a goal of how many books you want to read in a year. It's just for fun.
Just started a 750 page bio on the Irish Poet Patrick Kavanagh and have no idea what the book count is at the moment.Are my bragging rights revoked? Well there is always 2024.
Bon soir.
Convenience Store Woman and Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 are both excellent books and worth reading whether your looking to finish a challenge or not
🐺🐴Missy🦄💕 wrote: "Hi guys, I am new to Goodreads. Can someone help me out with what to do. I don’t fully understand."What do you need help with exactly?
Janet wrote: "You can also add 84 Charing Cross Road to this list. I think it's under 100pgs."One of my all time favourite books
Naomi wrote: "The very first book listed is second in a series, don't do this to me."I felt the same.
The books here are either not available in my language or are four times as long as described here. I've already completed my reading challenge, but for people who are still a few books away from their goal, the whole article is very misleading and useless.
Sherry wrote: "🐺🐴Missy🦄💕 wrote: "Hi guys, I am new to Goodreads. Can someone help me out with what to do. I don’t fully understand."Aurelie wrote: "🐺🐴Missy🦄💕 wrote: "What do I do? I don’t know what is happening..."
Oh okay.
Kelly L Hobbins wrote: "🐺🐴Missy🦄💕 wrote: "Hi guys, I am new to Goodreads. Can someone help me out with what to do. I don’t fully understand."Do you have Facebook at all? If so, there is a way to add your friends to see ..."
No, I am using my school iPad on this.
Ignacia wrote: "🐺🐴Missy🦄💕 wrote: "What do I do? I don’t know what is happening! Can someone please help me out?!"You should change your name first...then in Jan set yourself a goal of how many books you want to ..."
What do you mean, change my name?
Wow, you guys are all really helpful. I didn’t really expect to be helped.
"Dickens and Prince" by Nick Hornby was a fun, quick read.Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius
Niche wrote: "Would you rather have too little of a good thing or too much of a bad thing?I'm more likely to take an adventurous shot on something short because a 50 page book I loathe feels longer than a 900 ..."
Been there, done that, got THE (bleeping) t-shirt about a 50 page book one loathes feeling longer than a 900 page book you enjoyed.
Jen wrote: "The Deep and Ring Shout are both very good novellas about generational trauma, they're a little difficult for different reasons but so good."When I tried to read Ring Shout, I found it to be so incomprehensible that I was "Hansel-and-Gretel-lost-in-the woods-with -only-breadcrumbs" dazed and confused. Was there REALLY a plot to that novella?
Jasmine wrote: "Matthew wrote: "I wish I could choose a reading challenge by word count so I don't feel like I'm killing my reading challenge by reading some epic fantasy novels."A reading challenge by page coun..."
ONLY if the edition listed is NOT the same edition as YOUR copy. When that happens to me, I just write a note about the page count difference when I post that I've finished a book.
Mary wrote: "I’m reading a collection of all the Sherlock Holmes book by Doyle so it that considered one book or several (it’s over 1000 pages ) 😂😂😂"Since it's an omnibus edition, it counts as one book.
Jasmine wrote: "Jess wrote: "I’ve never understand the need to bash people for their reading preferences, whether it’s a short book, a novel. Even comics, even audiobooks. Reading it meant to be fun, a way to expa..."Ditto. Re: People who think you shouldn't read just for pleasure. They are (probably) as dull to be around as a piece of Civil War era hardtack.
Duncan wrote: "Cheating."Not if I found one that was already on my list.
The point of a reading challenge is savouring reading as an activity, rather than ticking numbers off your list. This list is great but I wish it were better segmented based on genres or plotlines?
J. David wrote: "Can you think of a worse reason to choose a book?! “This one has under 200 pages, and I need to hit my GoodReads challenger!” 🤣 Maybe the challenge should be based on words read for the year, no ho..."What's actually being said is, "If you're looking for a short book to help you achieve the challenge that you set yourself, here are some highly rated books that lots of people enjoyed." These books aren't just short, they're also well-loved!
Naomi wrote: "The very first book listed is second in a series, don't do this to me."You can read the books in either order.
Jessica wrote: "Hey, what about... Read whatever you want to read for the sheer joy of it? Lol"yes, yes, yes!
🐺🐴Missy🦄💕 wrote: "Hi guys, I am new to Goodreads. Can someone help me out with what to do. I don’t fully understand."Go to the Reading Challenge page. Post the number of books you intend to read this year (next year soon). Every time you read another book, post to the main page, on the top left of the page, under "Currently Reading".
https://www.goodreads.com/.
Or you can just update your progress there.
I hope this helps.
Kazuo Ishiguro's A Pale View of Hills comes in at 183 pages and is beautiful. Although over 200 pages, his Remains of the Day is also moving and a quick read. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
I have to read some Children's books for work and yes, I do include them---as I am reading them
Duncan wrote: "Cheating."Duncan straight up sucks.
I've already read 8 of the books on the list. It's nice to see I'm not the only one, who, due to unexpected circumstances like baby sitting an infant granddaughter 60 or 70 hours a week, is having a hard time hitting the goal.
I didn’t sign up for the challenge this year. I guess they’re assuming I want to read as many as last year. Not.
Meredith wrote: "I add an extra 12 books to my challenge and try to go back to some of my childhood favorites (one for each month).They’re often on the shorter side, and it’s quite interesting to see how the thin..."
I do the same thing with the old children's books--though, some of them are books I never read as a child, but were apparently really popular. This year included "The Phantom Tollbooth," "Jacob Have I Loved," and "The Black Stallion." Last year, included "Little House on the Prairie"--that book did not age well.
many comments on this thread seem to disparage the idea of reading short novels for upping the count of books read, as if the count is the most important thing. Well, it isn't. Love of what you're reading is the most important thing. Having said that, many of these short works suggested are dense, thought-provoking and extremely rewarding and challenging reads. I appreciate an author's talent to pack power in short works. Many books so popular on goodreads are to me excessively long, with extraneous verbiage and padding. As if the longer the book, the better. Wrong! So yes, this list is wonderfully refreshing.
Honestly who cares, I read what I read, I participate in the reading challenge only to keep track of what I read in a year, but it's not as if I felt a pressure. I always start the year with a goal of ONE book,
This year I'm only at 36 books for a total of about 19100 pages, probably will end up around 40 books, which is WAY less than last year where I had read 90 books for a total of 42,442 pages. We can conclude from that that I had a better social life this year than the previous, maybe :)
Anyways I'm not gonna read short works just to up my count of books, I'm trying to finish the rereading of The Wheel of Time before the end of the year (I've got 6 more in the series to read,
which is probably one too many to complete before january 1st :)
The Animal Farm by George Orwell is timeless!I must admit that The Alchemist is not exciting.
message 187:
by
Rosenblue(promoting non-biased,honest reviews & a dislike button on GR)
(new)
Haha so many people are here "triggered" over Duncan's comment.All he posted was "cheating"
Relax guys.
message 188:
by
Rosenblue(promoting non-biased,honest reviews & a dislike button on GR)
(new)
@JimFor real.
There are people who obsess over these reading challenges particularly the ones who can't seem to read anything more than a 100 pages.
message 189:
by
Rosenblue(promoting non-biased,honest reviews & a dislike button on GR)
(new)
Mrs.Chardonnay
No is saying novellas aren't worth reading.
You are clearly projecting your own insecurities about the amount of pages you can read.
Your comment and Jacee's whining is giving me second hand embarrassment. Hahaha
message 190:
by
Rosenblue(promoting non-biased,honest reviews & a dislike button on GR)
(new)
Mrs.Chardonnay
What is the point of dragging authors (you probably never read from) into your rants?
Geez if you are THAT insecure about the amount pages you read then maybe you shouldn't be involved in this reading challenge.
message 191:
by
Rosenblue(promoting non-biased,honest reviews & a dislike button on GR)
(new)
It's great that the book Coraline and Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis" was added to this list but what about S.E. Hilton's "The Outsiders" or Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D book 1?
If you have an Amazon Prime account, the Prime Original Stories are good, quick reads as well. There's loads of them now, and they're usually released in batches under certain themes and written by different authors.
Duncan wrote: "Cheating."How is it cheating? These books are age-appropriate for most adult readers and you're still reading a book. I would get it if you counted something like a cookbook or a picture book, but these are adult novellas. Just because it's short doesn't mean you didn't read a book.
Janine wrote: "While The Poet X has a longer page count, it's pretty short on audio, under 4 hours."oooh, that would be a great post! They should do audiobooks 4 hours and under!
Another short novel and classic is Saint-Exupery's first book, 'Southern Mail'. A beautiful elegy to the desert and to lost love.
Duncan wrote: "Cheating."I would feel like I was cheating if I picked out short books just to add to my number. That's just me. After see this, I check my stats and see that for 2023 my average book is 332 pages. I have likely read some short ones but didn't count them if too short.
Jason wrote: "Is this cheating Duncan? If I read 100 100 page books in a year vs. 10 1000 page books?"If you buy 100 books just get your number high, I bet the book sellers love you! haha. But seriously, whatever works! Reading is reading!
Fortune_012 (promoting honest,non bias reviews & a dislike button on GR reviews) wrote: "Mrs.Chardonnay
What is the point of dragging authors (you probably never read from) into your rants?
Geez if you are THAT insecure about the amount pages you read then maybe you shouldn't be invol..."
Hi, Duncan.
For short mysteries that are "classics" you can't beat AGATHA CHRISTIE. They may be called "cozies" by today's standards of action and gore, for all I know. Also author ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH are only about 200 pages hardcover and are no doubt called "cozies" too.
These authors are good to read for a break from violence and gore.
This is a great article on short books!I write children's books and I think you’d like my series, The Cereal Series. A 12-year-old sets out to dismantle Trix after being expelled by his mother. With the help of a friend and a deity, he uncovers hidden truths and faces the threat of Robo-werewolves. However, interference from a former friend leads to chaos!
You can get The Cereal Series on BN.com and the first two books are being released as a podcast on Spotify.
Thanks and happy reading!
Samaadi Scott
