You've got two of my favourite short books in your stack - The Testament of Mary, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Recently, I liked Laser Quit Smoking Massage by Cole Nowicki, a short book of short essays. Very funny and very Canadian!
In the newsletter after this one, Claire writes about Brightly Shining. I read it this weekend and when I recommended to a friend I said that it sits in my mental bookshelf next to Clair Keegan's Small Things like These.
This post sold me on the short book. I also read The Uncommon Reader on the recommendation in these comments and enjoyed it. Maybe next year I'll pick a short book a day for the time between Christmas and New Years and just graze on small books.
I will check out Brightly Shining and The Uncommon Reader, thank you! So much to read. If only we could put life on hold, read everything, catch up and then resume life, that much richer of mind and heart. That’s why short reads are good too I suppose!
Hi Claire! I can't help but comment on this post. I also love short books (although, I love books of all length) and I loved Orbital. It also happens to be November, and if you're a book blogger like me, you know that means it's time to celebrate novellas. We call it Novellas in November or #NovNov and if you google it you can find lots of blog posts with great suggestions for short books. A few recommendations from me (all Canadian) are: Yom Kippur in a Gym by Nora Gold, Kiss the Undertow by Marie-Helene Larochelle, The Dirty Milkman by Jerrod Edson, Lightness by Fanie Demeule's, Manam by Rima Elkouri, The Red Chesterfield by Wayne Arthurson, Wendy McGrath's trilogy, The Man Who Remembered the Moon by David Hull, The Glace Bay Miner's Museum by Sheldon Currie, In Every Wave by Charles Quimper, and The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Theriault. Happy Reading!
I’m loving this conversation. I just finished Orbital and adored it. I’d like to suggest Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au, an Australian author - it’s a gentle, poignant reflection on a mother/daughter trip to Japan. Loved it.
I am on the very last pages of Of Mice and Men, which I haven't read since I was about 12 or 13. My oldest is reading it for school so I thought I'd revisit it. It's so menacing and bleak, but also...great? I loved East of Eden a few years ago and now I recall why. Steinbeck, he's good! I started it last night and read most it this morning. Love a little gulp of a novel!
A note, a reader has recommended The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett -- hits the sweet spot at 128 pages
Came here to suggest that one, too. Love the premise and the droll humour.
That's a good one, too!
You've got two of my favourite short books in your stack - The Testament of Mary, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Recently, I liked Laser Quit Smoking Massage by Cole Nowicki, a short book of short essays. Very funny and very Canadian!
Thank you for the recommendation
Claire Keegan “Small Things Like These”
My favourite of the last few years, yes, exactly!
In the newsletter after this one, Claire writes about Brightly Shining. I read it this weekend and when I recommended to a friend I said that it sits in my mental bookshelf next to Clair Keegan's Small Things like These.
This post sold me on the short book. I also read The Uncommon Reader on the recommendation in these comments and enjoyed it. Maybe next year I'll pick a short book a day for the time between Christmas and New Years and just graze on small books.
I read The Uncommon Reader after the suggestion, too! It was perfect.
I will check out Brightly Shining and The Uncommon Reader, thank you! So much to read. If only we could put life on hold, read everything, catch up and then resume life, that much richer of mind and heart. That’s why short reads are good too I suppose!
A short book I loved recently was LOVED AND MISSED, by Susie Boyt
Oooh thank you!
Hi Claire! I can't help but comment on this post. I also love short books (although, I love books of all length) and I loved Orbital. It also happens to be November, and if you're a book blogger like me, you know that means it's time to celebrate novellas. We call it Novellas in November or #NovNov and if you google it you can find lots of blog posts with great suggestions for short books. A few recommendations from me (all Canadian) are: Yom Kippur in a Gym by Nora Gold, Kiss the Undertow by Marie-Helene Larochelle, The Dirty Milkman by Jerrod Edson, Lightness by Fanie Demeule's, Manam by Rima Elkouri, The Red Chesterfield by Wayne Arthurson, Wendy McGrath's trilogy, The Man Who Remembered the Moon by David Hull, The Glace Bay Miner's Museum by Sheldon Currie, In Every Wave by Charles Quimper, and The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Theriault. Happy Reading!
I had no idea #NovNov is a thing. Such a great list, thank you! And I see you are in NS. I bet we have a love of Mary Jean Muir in common.
I don't know of Mary Jean Muir!
I’m late to this conversation but I’d like to add ‘Fup’ by Jim Dodge and ‘A Whole Life’ by Robert Seethaler to the list
If you haven’t read The Dept. Of Speculafion by Jenny Offill I highly recommend it
Anything Ernaux writes
I love assembly 🙏🏿
I've heard she has a new book coming in March, hooray
I’m loving this conversation. I just finished Orbital and adored it. I’d like to suggest Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au, an Australian author - it’s a gentle, poignant reflection on a mother/daughter trip to Japan. Loved it.
I haven't heard of this book, thank you. I'll have to compile a big list of all these suggestions.
The Death of Napoleon, Simon Leys.
Nearly perfect ... and 130 pages.
I love an alternative past , thank you
"This is at the heart of why I love short books: As a reader, I can stay inside a book this length without coming up for air. I submerge." ( ^ w ^ )-b
A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt was so beautiful. The Employees by Olga Ravn, felt like nothing I'd ever read before.
I am on the very last pages of Of Mice and Men, which I haven't read since I was about 12 or 13. My oldest is reading it for school so I thought I'd revisit it. It's so menacing and bleak, but also...great? I loved East of Eden a few years ago and now I recall why. Steinbeck, he's good! I started it last night and read most it this morning. Love a little gulp of a novel!
I love revisiting and often find I read a different book
PS this is Edan Lepucki--on my accountability group Substack by mistake. HA!
Short books forever. A recent fave is Kate Black’s Big Mall: Shopping for Meaning.
Hot tip, thank you
I spent a blissfully louchel Sunday reading Mrs Caliban, and thought about it for weeks. Great post
It's so weird and perfect