i'm in a big reading mood these days but i have adhd and even when i want to, i cannot always commit to finishing a book. i didn't finish a single book this entire year until like.. yesterday. and i wanna change that.
so i'm trying to build my reading stamina by starting with shorter books. the genre can be creepy, mystery, whimsical, anything that sorta blows one's mind basically.
if you have any similar recommendations, please drop them below.
ps. i'm currently reading 'your house is on fire, your children all gone' by stefan kiesbye.
edit: have got to love the reddit community. the recommendations came in FAST!
by vinteurs
23 Comments
A Psalm for the Wild Built!
Foster by Clare Keegan. Money back guarantee.
the shapeless unease by samantha harvey
I read Days at The Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa last year and now it’s one of my favourite books ! It’s 160 pages long in the English translation
Not sure if you’d be into classics but Call of the Wild by Jack London is probably in my top 3 and happens to be one of the shortest books I’ve ever read.
Pan by Knut Hamsun, First Love by Samuel Beckett and The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker
Just read Raymond Carver’s “What we talk about when we talk about love” short story collection. Took me maybe 3 days of reading at night before bed. I’m super ADHD and dyslexic so that’s saying something. The stories don’t always make sense and a lot is left up for interpretation. But the prose are clear and the stories are captivating.
I also loved Stoner by John Williams and read it in about 3-4 days while recovering from surgery.
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar is 105 pages and it’s beautiful!
Ghost forest by pik shuen fung, the deep by rivers Solomon, what moves the dead by t kingfisher, the house on mango street by Sandra Cisneros, open throat by Henry hoke
The Divine Farce by Michael Graziano
The Little Prince
The Sense of an Ending and The Only Story both by Julian Barnes
Books less than 300 pages that I’ve given 5 stars:
-“The Collector” by John Fowles (283 pages)
-“The Eyes are the Best Part” by Monika Kim (278 pages)
-“Piranesi” by Susanna Clarke (272 pages)
-“The Remains of the Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro (258 pages)
-“Earthlings” by Sayaka Murata (247 pages)
-“The Lathe of Heaven” by Ursula K. Le Guin (176 pages)
-“Grief is the Thing with Feathers” by Max Porter (114 pages)
I haven’t listed any here but it might be a good idea to check out short story collections as well, the smaller bites might help keep your attention a little better!
And everyday the way home gets longer and longer.
The 100 year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared.
Don’t be misled by the long titles, both are short books and both brilliant in a completely different way. The first one is a punch in the heart and the second one was a light and funny read. Both finished within a day for me!
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke starts out quite slow, but if you can stick with it and get into the mood, it is a GORGEOUS book.
The Parade by Dave Eggers is under 200 pages, I read it in 3 hours and thought about it all night. Go into it blind if you can!
Alan Bennett
The Clothes They Stood Up In
How about a short story collection? I loved “Exhalation” by Ted Chiang
The Restaurant of Lost Recipes by Kashiwai Hisashi
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Plague by Albert Camus
A Short Stay in Hell-Steven L. Peck
A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck is right around 100 pages. It definitely blew my mind, I thought of it for weeks afterward.
A Short Stay In Hell was a great little page turner
The last 2 books I finished were Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin and The Stranger by Albert Camus. I’d recommend both of them, but did vibe with Giovanni’s Room more.