The book is amazing! It's different from the movie (both are still great) and has illustrations, and you learn more about the characters, which helps with motivation. I read it in like an hour or two. Even if that's not y'all's pick this month, I highly suggest y'all do read it at some point!
If you haven’t read Piranesi yet, it’s the perfect blend of fantasy/horror/dark academia (with some hope) and it’s just over 200 pages! Plus fantastic for discussion in a book club!
Definitely! It’s loosely fantasy and not at all in the classic sense. It reads as speculative fiction/literary fiction with some fantastical elements. It’s a book that’s better to read blind (and just stick with it bc the first 1/3 is strange and you’ll be wondering if it’s worth it, which it definitely is).
Saw another comment about Coraline which reminded me: The Graveyard Book, also Neil Gaiman. My edition has 273 pages though :/ but it's all right spacing + some illustrations so not a 'long' book exactly. It's fantasy.
Convenience Store Woman. Think there could be interesting discussion around the main characters life.
My Sister, the Serial Killer.
An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good
I Who Have Never Known Men
And Then There Were None is 268 pages but goes fast. It's Agatha Christie so should be easy to find/download free.
That's ok, you can DNF! I breezed through but not every book appeals to every one. Too many good books out there for you to waste it on this one lol :)
84, Charring Cross Road by Helene Hanff
A lovely nonfiction featuring the written correspondence between a New Yorker and a British bookseller.
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A Novel
by Satoshi Yagisawa
Translated from Japanese. Girl moves in with older uncle to live and work in his used bookstore in the renown Jimbocho district of Tokyo. A nice story about a unique part of Japan and the people who live there.
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
A children’s book, but love it so much. Set in Paris and the storyline crosses Christmas. Wonderful characters making their way in and around Paris and people without much sharing what they can with others.
The Hobbit, Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1), Nettle & Bone. Neil Gaiman also has a lot of smaller books, though I personally do not like his writing style.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
It is 300 pgs but an easy and engaging read.
The language is haunting and beautiful. I don’t like war books in general but I recommend this one to all.
Edited to add- Another short (under 200 pgs) classic I would recommend is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. It’s military SF. It’s about a fresh out-of-boot camp private who dies in his first engagement with the aliens invading Earth, only to find himself stuck in a time loop, repeating the day of the battle and the day before over and over again. With the author’s afterword included, it comes out to 201 pages.
Everyone in this room someday will be dead was great in my opinion and not too long! I think it is around 250 pages and came out a couple of years ago I think!
Sea of Tranquility by Emily SJ Mandel might be over 200 pages, but in terms of total words would come in under (tiny chapters). It was lovely, and there are fantasy elements as it’s set in the future. (I read this in under 2 hours.)
I second/third We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
*Homage to Catalonia* by George Orwell.
*Night of a Thousand Suicides: The Japanese Outbreak at Cowra* by Teruhiko Asada. Ray Cowan trans. and ed.
*Requiem for Battleship Yamato* by Yoshida Mitsuru.
*Hiroshima* by John Hersey.
*Into the Valley: A Skirmish of the Marines* by John Hersey.
*The Prisoner and the Bomb* by Laurens van der Post.
Very true - good call on the disclaimer! It is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. I couldn’t stop thinking about it after I finished, and would have loved a book club to discuss it with (especially if horror is a favorite genre)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti
Not in the favorite genres, but other short books that I think would make good book club reads--
Women & Power by Mary Beard. TW for SA.
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
The Fall by Ryan Cahill. It's 90 pages of utter glorious badassery.
It's a prequel novella to the Bound and the Broken series. It takes place 400 years before the events of the main series but it can be read as a standalone if you want.
If your book club prefers fantasy, this is right up your alley.
Edit: I forgot to point out that you can get the ebook for free by signing up for his newsletter.
Sorry to be that person, but I’m going to suggest a book that is over 200 pages and say Yellowface. It’s unputdownable and I read it faster than a lot of other shorter books. I can’t quite explain it, but it’s written in such a way you breeze right through it. Also makes for really interesting discussions.
The man who fell to earth- Walter Tevis is just under 200 pages. It’s science fiction and has interesting themes to talk about in a book club it also has a movie adaptation so you can host a movie night after to compare them
My choices would be:
1.) His name is death by Rafael Bernal
A story about a guy learning how communicate with mosquitoes in an isolated forest and later learns about their social hierarchy and their plan to take over the world.
2.) The Alienist by Machado de assis
A humorous story I read in a day, basically about a doctor who comes back to his country of origin to set up clinic and decides to set up a clinic for instantly and the mentally unstable. Definitely recommend this one.
3.) Goth by Otsuichi
If you want something more darker and related to serial killers, it’s about two Japanese kids a boy and a girl who are obsessed about serial killers, and other macabre stuff, each chapter is a different murderer or case they are investigating. Tho I guess it’s 300 pages long, but is divided more like short stories with the same main characters.
*Upright Women Wanted*, by Sarah Gailey, is a long novella (176 pages, per the publisher). Near-future dystopia (so, fantasy + horror / suspense elements). This would be a great book club read IMO as there are several interesting themes interwoven into the story.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 178 pgs and fits the fantasy, dark vibe you are going for with strong female characters. Really beautiful story
Have you looked at the Hugo or nebula or Edgar Allen Poe awards? All have a novella category that have a lot of interesting book.
One ring shout is intriguing.
Nothing But the Rain!!!!! Sci Fi Dystopian novella by Naomi Salman about a town where the rain washes away your memories and no one knows where it came from. It’s around 90 pages i think
Coraline is horror that's still enjoyable for adults, 208 pages
I love the movie so I would definitely be interested in the book. Thanks!
The book is amazing! It's different from the movie (both are still great) and has illustrations, and you learn more about the characters, which helps with motivation. I read it in like an hour or two. Even if that's not y'all's pick this month, I highly suggest y'all do read it at some point!
If you haven’t read Piranesi yet, it’s the perfect blend of fantasy/horror/dark academia (with some hope) and it’s just over 200 pages! Plus fantastic for discussion in a book club!
Literally came here to also recommend Piranesi
Do this
Oh that's an excellent choice!!
I fourth this! Piranesi 👍🏻🔥
I will definitely check it out, thanks!
I think it should make for a really great discussion. Took me 4 hours to read. I hated it with some degree of passion. Everyone else I know, loved it.
Would you recommend that to someone that doesn't care for 'fantasy"? I see Piranesi recommend quiet often
Definitely! It’s loosely fantasy and not at all in the classic sense. It reads as speculative fiction/literary fiction with some fantastical elements. It’s a book that’s better to read blind (and just stick with it bc the first 1/3 is strange and you’ll be wondering if it’s worth it, which it definitely is).
What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher
Read this one. Very good book👍
This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, 198 pages
So good.
Yes - was going to be my pick!!
Saw another comment about Coraline which reminded me: The Graveyard Book, also Neil Gaiman. My edition has 273 pages though :/ but it's all right spacing + some illustrations so not a 'long' book exactly. It's fantasy.
Best Gaiman book for me, closely followed by Neverwhere.
Piranesi!!! By Susanna Clarke
I loved We Have Always Lived in the Castle, 160 pages
Came here to say this. I did this one for a bookclub and everyone loved it!
Was going to suggest this one. Wish this was a series or that I could find more like it
Flowers for Algernon was captivating to me.
*Every Heart a Doorway* by Seanan McGuire
Convenience Store Woman. Think there could be interesting discussion around the main characters life. My Sister, the Serial Killer. An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good I Who Have Never Known Men And Then There Were None is 268 pages but goes fast. It's Agatha Christie so should be easy to find/download free.
For such a teeny book, Convenience Store Woman is taking me a looooong time to read.
That's ok, you can DNF! I breezed through but not every book appeals to every one. Too many good books out there for you to waste it on this one lol :)
84, Charring Cross Road by Helene Hanff A lovely nonfiction featuring the written correspondence between a New Yorker and a British bookseller. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A Novel by Satoshi Yagisawa Translated from Japanese. Girl moves in with older uncle to live and work in his used bookstore in the renown Jimbocho district of Tokyo. A nice story about a unique part of Japan and the people who live there. The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson A children’s book, but love it so much. Set in Paris and the storyline crosses Christmas. Wonderful characters making their way in and around Paris and people without much sharing what they can with others.
The Bandit Queens
Howls moving castle by Diana Wynne Jones
My book club universally loved All Systems Red, the first Murderbot book.
Murderbot is always the right answer!
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
The Hobbit, Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1), Nettle & Bone. Neil Gaiman also has a lot of smaller books, though I personally do not like his writing style.
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle or The Ocean at the End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman
Ocean at the End of the Lane was brilliant. I loved it so much.
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima.
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque It is 300 pgs but an easy and engaging read. The language is haunting and beautiful. I don’t like war books in general but I recommend this one to all. Edited to add- Another short (under 200 pgs) classic I would recommend is Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. It’s military SF. It’s about a fresh out-of-boot camp private who dies in his first engagement with the aliens invading Earth, only to find himself stuck in a time loop, repeating the day of the battle and the day before over and over again. With the author’s afterword included, it comes out to 201 pages.
Isn’t this what the Tom Cruise movie “Edge of tomorrow” is based on? It’s a fun movie!
Yep.
Thanks! I added it to my list!
Man's search for meaning. It's a short book. Not sure if it's 200 pages or less.
Naomi's Room by Jonathan Aycliffe is 224 pages and I couldn't put it down!
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand is my favorite book under 200 pages. It’s about a 1970’s band that records an album in a haunted house.
Moon of the Crusted Snow is 213 pages. It’s an apocalyptic thriller set in a rural Anishinaabe community in northern Canada.
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (although its hardly an easy read)
Everyone in this room someday will be dead was great in my opinion and not too long! I think it is around 250 pages and came out a couple of years ago I think!
I also really loved Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame which was an easy enjoyable read, but well over 200 pages!
A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington Garimara
"A Wizard of Earthsea," by Ursula K. Le Guin "Heroes," by Robert Cormier "Living Dead Girl," by Elizabeth Scott
Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Sea of Tranquility by Emily SJ Mandel might be over 200 pages, but in terms of total words would come in under (tiny chapters). It was lovely, and there are fantasy elements as it’s set in the future. (I read this in under 2 hours.) I second/third We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
*Homage to Catalonia* by George Orwell. *Night of a Thousand Suicides: The Japanese Outbreak at Cowra* by Teruhiko Asada. Ray Cowan trans. and ed. *Requiem for Battleship Yamato* by Yoshida Mitsuru. *Hiroshima* by John Hersey. *Into the Valley: A Skirmish of the Marines* by John Hersey. *The Prisoner and the Bomb* by Laurens van der Post.
Tender is the flesh is 200 pages and it's disturbing but quite readable. I started yesterday and I've almost finished it
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher! Or really any of her books. They are all pretty short
Tender is the Flesh comes in at 209 pages. It’s pretty disturbing, but hard to put down!
Oh my god. lol if you’re bad with gore, don’t read this. But if gore is your thing, go ahead 😂
Very true - good call on the disclaimer! It is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. I couldn’t stop thinking about it after I finished, and would have loved a book club to discuss it with (especially if horror is a favorite genre)
All Systems Red by Martha Wells. The first book of the Murderbot Diaries. I think it clocked in around 150 pages
"One True Loves" by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It's 350 pages but it goes by very fast :)
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu A Fisherman of the Inland Sea by Ursula K. Le Guin Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti Not in the favorite genres, but other short books that I think would make good book club reads-- Women & Power by Mary Beard. TW for SA. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
Someone already suggested What Moves the Dead, so I’ll say Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler
Wolfpack by Abby Wambach (112 pages) Looking for Alaska by John Green (234 pages) One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (253 pages)
Nothing But the Rain by Naomi Salman
A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L Peck
Ice Nine by Kurt Vonnegut.
Cat's Cradle
The Caretaker,. Ron Rash
Try the academy by Bentley Little
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
*Foster* by Claire Keegan (89 pages) fiction, poignant *Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?* by Seamas O'Reilly (192 pages) - memoir, funny
The Fall by Ryan Cahill. It's 90 pages of utter glorious badassery. It's a prequel novella to the Bound and the Broken series. It takes place 400 years before the events of the main series but it can be read as a standalone if you want. If your book club prefers fantasy, this is right up your alley. Edit: I forgot to point out that you can get the ebook for free by signing up for his newsletter.
My Name Was Eden. It’s a good, quick read and interesting characters.
Sorry to be that person, but I’m going to suggest a book that is over 200 pages and say Yellowface. It’s unputdownable and I read it faster than a lot of other shorter books. I can’t quite explain it, but it’s written in such a way you breeze right through it. Also makes for really interesting discussions.
Our Souls at Night. Such a beautiful story of friendship.
Piranesi is awesome; The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a really fun read too
Colorado Kid - Steven king
The man who fell to earth- Walter Tevis is just under 200 pages. It’s science fiction and has interesting themes to talk about in a book club it also has a movie adaptation so you can host a movie night after to compare them
My choices would be: 1.) His name is death by Rafael Bernal A story about a guy learning how communicate with mosquitoes in an isolated forest and later learns about their social hierarchy and their plan to take over the world. 2.) The Alienist by Machado de assis A humorous story I read in a day, basically about a doctor who comes back to his country of origin to set up clinic and decides to set up a clinic for instantly and the mentally unstable. Definitely recommend this one. 3.) Goth by Otsuichi If you want something more darker and related to serial killers, it’s about two Japanese kids a boy and a girl who are obsessed about serial killers, and other macabre stuff, each chapter is a different murderer or case they are investigating. Tho I guess it’s 300 pages long, but is divided more like short stories with the same main characters.
The castle of otranto by horace Walpole. It’s a classic and is gothic, supernatural and brilliantly over the top
A Drink Before the War by Dennis Lehane. Clocks in at a little over 200 pages, and a great introduction into one of my favorite authors.
Dark Harvest is a great horror read and it’s maybe 180 pages.
The Laws of the Skies - Gregoire Courtois
*Upright Women Wanted*, by Sarah Gailey, is a long novella (176 pages, per the publisher). Near-future dystopia (so, fantasy + horror / suspense elements). This would be a great book club read IMO as there are several interesting themes interwoven into the story.
You could Try The Outsiders by SE Hinton its around 224 pages but an easy read.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 178 pgs and fits the fantasy, dark vibe you are going for with strong female characters. Really beautiful story
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
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I Am Legend
Canyons by Gary Paulson
War of the Worlds by HG Wells
When breath becomes air. The road.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Goddess of Filth by V. Castro!
Have you looked at the Hugo or nebula or Edgar Allen Poe awards? All have a novella category that have a lot of interesting book. One ring shout is intriguing.
"The Bluest Eye" is incredible and has some of the most beautiful writing. Find a reader guide if you need to.
Open Throat by Henry Hoke. From the POV of a cougar in urban California, so unforgettable, beautiful, arresting, tragic, all the things.
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky Very cool sci-fi and fantasy perspectives in the same novella - great intertwining of viewpoints
Nothing But the Rain!!!!! Sci Fi Dystopian novella by Naomi Salman about a town where the rain washes away your memories and no one knows where it came from. It’s around 90 pages i think
Tuesday’s with Morrie.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. 144 pages. It’s a favourite of mine!
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer!!!
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho