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100 Short New Books to Supercharge Your 2024 Reading Challenge
The annual Goodreads Reading Challenge is going strong once again this year, with more than 8.9 million (!) participants globally and 351 million (!) books pledged.
For the uninitiated, the Reading Challenge is just that: Goodreads members pledge to read a certain number of books in the calendar year, then endeavor to do so with the support and encouragement of the Goodreads community at large.
With the holiday stretch coming up, this is a good time to check your progress. If you find you’re a few books off your ideal pace, well, we're here to help.
We’ve assembled here several dozen Very Short Books for your perusal, the reading of which can do wonders for your overall progress. These are all new and recent-ish short books, divided into fiction under 200 pages; fiction between 200 and 250 pages; and nonfiction under 250 pages. We’ve included options across various genres, as well as a few novels and novellas that gleefully defy genre entirely.
Keep in mind, of course, that the Reading Challenge is really a casual affair. Don’t stress yourself out! It's always OK to downshift your goal. Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we are of the mind that reading should always be a fun activity first and foremost.
Click on the book cover images for more details, and you can sequence out your reading strategy on your Want to Read shelf.
Fiction Under 200 Pages
Fiction Between 200 and 250 Pages
Nonfiction Under 250 Pages
How are you doing on your 2024 Reading Challenge goals? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments Showing 1-50 of 89 (89 new)
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Fiore
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Oct 23, 2024 12:49AM
Alhamdulillah doing superb only 2.5 books to go to complete my reading challenge
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Infinite Country, Minor Feelings, Red at the Bone, and The Secret Lives of Church ladies are amazing! I would also recommend My Monticello, Transcendent Kingdom, Migrations, and Between the World and Me.
I really enjoyed The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday by Saad Z. Hossain (127 pages, published 2019). Recommended to anyone who fancies genre-bending fun featuring djinn and AI in a futuristic Kathmandu.You can't go too far wrong with Clare Keegan's novellas Small Things Like These and Foster (adapted to film as "The Quiet Girl").
And in classic horror, Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House are under 200 pages and the Kindle editions are going super-cheap on Amazon (both .com and .co.uk).
Red At the Bone, Friday Black, and How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water are three of my all time favorites!
what a cute idea...some good ones on the list. the under 200 novel is becoming more and more popular. if they manage to compact a strong message and still offer a great experience, i'm up for it.
some new favs from this year:
some perennial favs:
Amber wrote: "FYI - South is listed twice"Since it has exactly 200 pages, they clearly had no choice but to list is as both under 200 pages and between 200 and 250 pages.
christina wrote: "some other great ones:This Is How You Lose the Time War
Piranesi
Untethered Sky
Spear"
christina wrote: "some other great ones:
This Is How You Lose the Time War
Piranesi
Untethered Sky
Spear"
This Is How You Lose The Time War is on the list...
I completed my goal to read 100 books a couple weeks ago. Next year I should probably make my goal more challenging. Here are some of my highly rated books with less than 250 pages:Recent Favorites:
Half a Soul (239 pages)
Salt to the Sea (221 pages)
Spooky/Gothic Vibes:
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (146 pages)
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (176 pages) (much better and creepier than the movie)
Frankenstein (216 pages)
Non-fiction:
Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (224 pages)
From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death (248 pages)
Spicy Romance:
Mating the Huntress (Halloween Novella) (135 pages)
The Mistletoe Motive (Christmas Novella) (185 pages)
Merry Inkmas (Christmas Novella) (190 pages)
You might consider adding Teatime with Mrs. Grammar Person byBarbara Venkataraman. It is well worth your time and entertaining as well.
Amber wrote: "FYI - South is listed twice" SO ANNOYING! Glad I'm not the only person annoyed by lack of proofreading.
Marc *Dark Reader with a Thousand Young! Iä!* wrote: "Amber wrote: "FYI - South is listed twice"Since it has exactly 200 pages, they clearly had no choice but to list is as both under 200 pages and between 200 and 250 pages."
The editor should have picked one slot and offered the 100th book instead.
I've read Tender is the Flesh and It's amazing. I have Annie Bot on my TBR.
Laura wrote: "Amber wrote: "FYI - South is listed twice" SO ANNOYING! Glad I'm not the only person annoyed by lack of proofreading."You're right! I'm annoyed at myself! I've removed one instance of South and replaced it with Fiona's excellent suggestion of The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday.
The Fiction between 200 and 250 pages section looks intriguing. Can you recommend me a book to read from this list?
Y’all are forgetting that poetry collections are almost exclusively short.
“Tender Is The Flesh”“Ring Shout”
“When Breath Becomes Air” are all excellent reads.
Looking forward to “Minor Detail”
“The Night Guest”
“Heart Berries”
and “Small Things Like These”!
Yessssssss at the love for Minor Detail and You Dreamed of Empires 🙏🏻🤌🏻
Minor Detail looks absolutely devastating. Thanks for putting it on my radar.
Wintering by May is an astonishing book, especially for this time of the year - I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Loved “The Harmony of Thirds” by Amber Nala. A short love story set in Manchester, England.
Five more books for me to complete my 24’ reading challenge. Thanks for the great list; can’t wait to find my next read.
I'm in the middle of a 1299 page book of Raymond Chandler stories. I didn't realize it was a door stopper until I picked it up at the library. But, I'm determined to finish it. So, my reading goal may not be met this year and I'm trying to accept that. Congratulations to everyone who has met, or will meet, their goal!
for anyone who loves lesbian romance, When You Least Expect It by Haley Cass is great and only 248 pages!
Goodreads nailed this list! I’ve read a lot and will totally second these:- I Who Have Never Known Man
- Infinite Country
- How Not To Drown In A Glass of Water
- When Breathe Becomes Air
Anything from the Murderbot series belongs on here!
Tor has these short stories online for free. I always squeeze a couple in and reach my goal. They’re wonderful!
Kirby wrote: "I completed my goal to read 100 books a couple weeks ago. Next year I should probably make my goal more challenging. Here are some of my highly rated books with less than 250 pages:Recent Favorit..."
Salt to the Sea wrecked me. So well written, so harrowing.
Doing oké. I have 12 books to go for hitting my 60 challenge. But already starting to get ready for next year.
With 9 weeks to go and some good audio and some physical books on the go I hope I will make it.
And if not 80 is going to be the next challenge for 2025.
I'm also doing the "1001 Books You Must Read Before you Die" challenge and I listed the books in page number order. Here are some that are less than 200 pages: The Hour of the Star – Clarice Lispector 96 pages
Wittgenstein’s Nephew – Thomas Bernhard 99 pages
Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton 103 pages
Jealousy – Alain Robbe-Grillet 103 pages
The Deadbeats – Ward Ruyslinck 104 pages
Strait is the Gate – André Gide 104 pages
Woman at Point Zero – Nawal El Saadawai 108 pages
Monica – Saunders Lewis 108 pages
The Life of a Good-for-Nothing – Joseph von Eichendorff 109 pages
Memoirs of a Peasant Boy - Xose Neira Vilas 111 pages
The Lover – Marguerite Duras 117 pages
The Immoralist – André Gide 123 pages
Dusklands – J.M. Coetzee 125 pages
Couples, Passerby – Botho Strauss 126 pages
Almost Transparent Blue – Ryu Murakami 126 pages
Forever a Stranger – Hella Haasse 127 pages
The Atrocity Exhibition – J.G. Ballard 127 pages
The Devil in the Flesh – Raymond Radiguet 127 pages
On the Heights of Despair – Emil Cioran 128 pages
The Judge and His Hangman – Friedrich Dürrenmatt 128 pages
The Poor Mouth – Flann O’Brien 128 pages
Reasons to Live – Amy Hempel 129 pages
Pippi Longstocking – Astrid Lindgren 132 pages
Hebdomeros – Giorgio de Chirico 133 pages
Queer – William Burroughs 134 pages
Pierre and Jean - De Maupassant 134 pages
Hunger – Knut Hamsun 134 pages
The Unfortunate Traveller – Thomas Nashe 194 pages
What Does It Feel Like? was a beautiful novella--we have dealt with multiple diagnoses of glioblastoma in our extended family over the last 2 years and this book was surprisingly hopeful. I wish Sophie Kinsella all the best, her books have brought me so much joy over the last 20+ years of my life since I have been reading her work.
I have 4 books left to meet my goal. I’m sure I’ll read more than 52.
15 books to go to get to my goal of 72. These short books should help. I'm also ready for another audiobook.
I have just finished my 2024 challenge but would recommend "Said the Crow" by Ellen Taylor as a short, spooky, gothic read perfect for this time of year and short enough to help with your challenge
Julie wrote: "Anything from the Murderbot series belongs on here!"I was going to mention the Murderbot series! Definitely all under 200 pages!
I would add Tinkers by Paul Harding (under 200), and 84, Charing Cross Rd by Helene Hanff (under 200), and Redhead by the Side of the Road (under 200) by Anne Tyler. Plus in the non-fiction category, 2 memoirs by Nora Ephron, I Feel Bad About My Neck (140) and I Remember Nothing (also 140), and 2 from Elizabeth McCracken, The Hero of This Book (177), and An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination (184). All these are favorites on my shelves. I'd also like to say that an awful lot of books published today could benefit from being condensed (Reader's Digest was onto something!)---because so many have long parts that Drag, that could be LEFT OUT, and move that book right along! Thus shortening the page count. But that's ALL RIGHT, see "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption"----super story, complete and perfect plot, memorable characters, and yet it's only a NOVELLA. 128 pages!! More of this, please!
I always panic in December when I'm behind on my annual reading challenge (24 books in 2024; 25 next year in 2025 and so on) So this is a timely and welcome list, I will no doubt soon be plundering. I'm on track so far but as the years go by I'm going to have to retire just to keep up (or at least that's my excuse.)
I've read about 10 of these with varying success, something for everyone in amongst them. Quite a good list. I usually aim for about 75 books a year but often read over 100.
I like to keep my reading challenge achievable.
