26. A short book (<210 pgs) by a new-to-you author

[Andrea]

I read Desert Hiking Tips: Expert Advice on Desert Hiking and Driving by Bruce Grubbs for this prompt. While focused more on the subject than the author, I would not hesitate to procure one of his other guides should the need ever arise. As a newbie desert hiker, I found this one to be very informative.

Stephen Fry, Sue Monk Kidd, Alan Moore, Donna Tartt, and Mark Z. Danielewski are authors that I have been meaning to read and hope to do so yet, but they are not known for writing short books :)

There are many short children's books that I have enjoyed in the past, but for older audiences I would suggest Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. or Candide by Voltaire.

[Lizzy]

Was walking by a Little Library the other evening and found Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It was meant to be... that one has been on my TBR for a while.

[Hannah]

1. What are you reading for this prompt?
I read Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire.

2. What authors have you been meaning to read for a while?
I had an awful lot of options for this prompt! I really want to read a couple of Japanese authors, after enjoying Convenience Store Woman earlier this year: Yōko Ogawa and Banana Yoshimoto are two especially high on my list, but I'm also curious about Yōko Tawada and Toshikazu Kawaguchi. I also watched the movie of Waiting for the Barbarians last year, which inspired me to want to read some J.M. Coetzee.

3. What short books do you recommend?
As aforementioned, I adored Convenience Store Woman, as well as My Sister, the Serial Killer, which felt weirdly similar to me (they are not similar at all in terms of plot and setting). I also recently read Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters for the book set on an island prompt and found it very clever and fun - recommended only for people who have a lot of patience for wordplay over plot, though! I keep recommending it in these threads, but I also have to mention Woman at Point Zero, which was very powerful for such a short book. And if I have to give one more, I'd say Sula, which is an excellent introduction to Toni Morrison if you've felt intimidated by her incredible body of work and don't know where to start.

[Elizabeth]

1. The Presence by Eve Bunting
2. Octavia E Butler and Riley Sager are probably the top two I want to read soon.
3. Convenience Store Woman

[Dana]

1. What are you reading for this prompt?
Listened to the audiobook Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time by Tony Schwartz. It doesn't have a page count but it's about 30 minutes, so surely it counts.

[Jenni]

What are you reading for this prompt?
For this prompt, I chose Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson.

What authors have you been meaning to read for a while?
So many...
N.K. Jemisen
Nnedi Okorafor
Naomi Novik
James Baldwin
Iris Chang
Neil Gaiman
Eowyn Ivey
Émile Zola
Hua Yueyue, 花月月
Virginia Woolf
...to name but few.


3. What short books do you recommend?
Mrs. Caliban by Rachel Ingalls
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
I also sometimes like to read children's books. I miss reading out loud to my kids (now grown) so reading children's books on occasion makes me happy.