I must read five books in December to complete my Goodreads Challenge, so I’m turning to the list of books that can be read in one day. Here are some titles I’ve collected throughout 2020 because I knew I’d probably end up needing them when I turned the calendar page to December.
The books in the first section all weigh in at around 200 pages. The second section offers a list of articles you can consult if you need more selections to choose from.
Henry James: A Critical Biography by Rebecca West
Bright Lights, Big City by Jan McInery
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-Reader by Vivian Gornick
The Late Work of Margaret Kroftis by Mark Gluth
The Conversations by César Aira (translated by Katherine Silver)
The World I Live In by Helen Keller
Love by Hanne Ørstavik
This Thing We Call Literature by Arthur Krystal
Thrill Me: Essays on Fiction by Benjamin Percy
The Middleman and Other Stories by Bharati Mukherjee
My Life as a Villainess: Essays by Laura Lippman
20 OF THE BEST SHORT CLASSIC BOOKS
“I’ve defined ‘short’ here as ‘about 200 pages or less’ (readable in one sitting)” writes Namera Tanjeem, compiler of this list that can help you knock off both the sheer number game and the classic book genre.
READ HARDER 2020: A SCI-FI/FANTASY NOVELLA
This list was designed to fit a category in Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge 2020: “read a sci-fi or fantasy novella that’s under 120 pages.” But there’s no reason why you can’t repurpose these suggestions to fit your own needs.
6 SHORT NOVELS TO PULL YOU OUT OF A READING SLUMP
No specification of page length here, but Elliot Riley assures us: “The novels on this list are not only short, but highly engrossing.
The 14 Best Short Books to Binge-Read in One Day
No maximum page length given here, but the author asserts these are “14 quick reads that you can start with your morning coffee and finish with a midnight pint of ice cream.”
Unforgettable reads: Short books to read in a day
5 UNDER 5: AUDIOBOOKS UNDER 5 HOURS FOR ONE-DAY LISTENING
The 50 Best Contemporary Novels Under 200 Pages
5 Audiobook Story Collections Offering Quick Literary Escape
From June, the time of COVID-19 isolation, comes this list of short audiobooks to help readers escape from the overwhelming news crush. The longest of these is just over five and a half hours, and most are considerably shorter than that.
14 New Books to Read in One Sitting
“This selection of new short books all weigh in at roughly 300 pages or less.” For fans of romance novels, you can check out some of the best ones at https://m.anystories.app/blog/best-romance-novels.
15 Extraordinary Books You Can Read in One Sitting
Very Short Books You Can Read In A Day
32 Short, New Books to Help You CRUSH Your Reading Challenge
From Goodreads: “Every book here was both published this year and has fewer than 250 pages.” Includes both fiction and nonfiction.
© 2020 by Mary Daniels Brown
Now, this is a handy list! I attempted to read Gone with the Wind in one day when I was in high school. I finally gave it up at 4:00 AM. I was so close!
Liz, I can’t even imagine coming close to reading Gone with the Wind in a single day!
I don’t think I could do it now!
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