I've been in a bit of a reading slump for a long while. I have a lot of mental health issues and just recently got medicated for my out of control ADHD. I'd really like to retrain my brain to be able to read (I used to read 52 books a year in spite of all my issues).
I think part of the problem is that I keep trying to tackle these behemoth novels when the truth is I haven't finished anything in months. I'm open on genre and content (I like dark and gory stuff too). The thing is I don't want to sound pretentious but I'm just picky on prose. I usually go for literary novels but I'm open to fiction or nonfiction – anything but self-help books.
Edit to add: by short here I mean approximately less than 200 pages
by itsbitterbitch
3 Comments
What’s like the specific length you’re looking for? Crying of Lot 49 by Pynchon is 183 pages. By Night in Chile by Bolano is 120. House of Asterion by Borges is 2.
Two that immediately came to mind are Foster and Small Things Like These, both by Claire Keegan. I would definitely put them in the literary category.
Other books under 200 pages that I’ve enjoyed:
Ring Shout – P Djeli Clark
When Among Crows – Veronica Roth
Open Throat – Henry Hoke
This is How You Lose the Time War – Max Gladstone & Amal El-Mohtar
A Psalm For the Wild-Built – Becky Chambers
Comfort Me with Apples – Catherynne M. Valente
Also, the Murderbot Series by Martha Wells, some are longer than others, but all under 300 pages, I believe.
Clear by Carys Davies
The English Understand Wool, Helen Dewitt
Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton
Foster, Claire Keegan
Assembly, Natasha Brown
Lie With Me, Philippe Besson