Chaos Reading discussion

I was asked by a friend to recommend short novels (under 200 pages). She likes to read but doesn't have much time. Most of the books I came up with were mid-20th century British authors.

I enjoy long novels for the immersive experience, but sometimes the slim volume that you finish in an afternoon can be appealing too. Can you recommend any great short novels?

The Killer's Tears by Anne-Laure Bondoux Translation from French, set at the edge of the world in Chile - haunting.
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson. Quirky.
The Book of Everything by Guus Kuijer. From Dutch, Thomas is decided - when he grows up he will be happy.
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
The Final Solution by Michael Chabon
Red Dog by Louis de Bernières

Ice by Anna Kavan
Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal
Night by Elie Wiesel
My Fake War by Andersen Prunty
The Changeling Sea by Patricia A. McKillip
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
Waiting for the Barbarians by J.M. Coetzee
Incantation by Alice Hoffman
Collages by Anaïs Nin
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The Contortionist's Handbook by Craig Clevenger
In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan

I'm not sure all of these are 'great' exactly, but I think I rated most of them 4 or 5 stars, or maybe 3 for some, and I do think they're all worth reading, especially given the short length. It looks like I've got a pretty good mix of genres here, too, which is good I guess since you didn't mention any specific ones--I hope at least one of these suggestions works!

I had a few suggestions, then I found this GR list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

which has all the ones I thought of in its top 100. This may be the best GR list I've seen, I tend to avoid them in general. There are some more original choices in Donna and Caracal-eyes' lists, i.e. ones not found in the GR list.

Thanks - most of these I haven't read (some I hadn't even heard of!) - it's great to get new suggestions.

The GR list is interesting - there are many on there which I would call short novels rather than novellas, and one or two (eg A Christmas Carol) which I would have called a long short story.

The only thing that immediately came to my mind was Melville House's "Art of the Novella" series, which I've posted about here before. Well worth trawling their collection of classic otherwise-likely-to-be-out-of-print novellas, although the only one I can personally recommend is The Alienist. They're really lovely editions with lots of online extras too.
http://www.mhpbooks.com/series/the-ar...

BTW - Caracal-Eyes - I had a dream about a caracal the other night. I blame you.

These are a few of the mid-20th century British authors I came up with(I was mainly thinking of authors but I've included one book by each)

Elizabeth Taylor A Wreath of Roses
Graham Greene The Third Man
Patrick Hamilton The West Pier
Olivia Manning The Danger Tree
Muriel Spark The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

I wondered if there was a tendency to shorter novels in Britain during and after war due to cost of paper and/or rationing?

Kate wrote: "These are a few of the mid-20th century British authors I came up with(I was mainly thinking of authors but I've included one book by each)

Elizabeth Taylor A Wreath of Roses
Graham..."

That may have been the case Kate, yet it would be true also for each nation impacted by WW11 - and the countless other conflicts.

Good Morning, Midnight 0- possibly better if you have read Ulysseys but damn this is amazing

The Ocean at the End of the Lane - just stunning, despicably good

Richard wrote: "Good Morning, Midnight "

Will have to try - I've read (and loved) Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys but not any of her others.

The 13 Clocks, even though it's listed as a kid's book
Patricia A. McKillip's The Changeling Sea
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
The General Danced at Dawn by George MacDonald Fraser
A Book Dragon by Donn Kushner
Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett
Skellig by David Almond
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
Ice Crown by Andre Norton
Dread Companion by Andre Norton
Catseye by Andre Norton
A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson
Quick Service by P.G. Wodehouse
Beauty by Robin McKinley

You may notice that these tend toward the YA or the old. (Or both.) this is because modern trends in publishing make it very hard to publish a short novel for adults nowadays.

Have you guys heard of Nouvella books? They publish novellas, i read one of their books called How to Shake the Other Man by Derek Palacio. There is another book called Understudies by Ravi Mangla from Outpost19. The author of the novel Edan Lepucki, i probably spelt her name wrong, her novel, California, is suppose to be coming out over the summer. I think she has a novella published by Nouvella too.

How to Shake the Other Man by Derek Palacio

Understudies by Ravi Mangla

If You're Not Yet Like Me by Edan Lepucki

She also wrote
California by Edan Lepucki

Hey Lixian. Can you please add the names of books & authors as links? Just hit the "add book/author" link above the comment box. It makes it easier for people to see the books you're talking about, and links this discussion to the book page. Thanks!

I don't think I've ever considered making a list by page count, but there's some great selections above. My two cents...
- The Sibyl or Barabbas by Pär Lagerkvist
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
- Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (slightly over 200 pgs)
- The Shawl by Cynthia Ozick
- Marcovaldo by Italo Calvino
- Badenheim 1939 by Aharon Appelfeld
- The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Thanks, everyone. Some great suggestions - both for my friend and for me!

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson