Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Novellas are short books or long short stories. They can often be read in one sitting. I am not asking for a strict word count (10,000 - 50,000 ish ) words or a strict page count (100 ish pages). If you have novellas that you love, please list five novellas that you would recommend to others.. Perhaps you loved it, laughed, or hated it. Sometimes the thing you hated is something you can still appreciate for its societal value or lovely language.

As with our other topics there are an abundance of titles that could go here. These are the ones that came to mind after I whittled down my list. This list was a little harder because I did need to look up page counts. There were so many short books that were just 20 or 50 pages too long for a novella.

Babette’s Feast by Isak Dinesen
A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Lady Susan by Jane Austen

The first two are novellas I read because of our group. I am sure I would not have been aware of them without our nominations process. The other three are old favorites I knew of even before joining Goodreads.

It turns out I did have a copy of A Simple Heart in a collection that had been on my shelf for a couple of decades. It was called A Simple Soul. I had DNF'd it years ago, but this new translation really brought it to life. It is one of the best texts I have read in the last few years, in my opinion. I read this version:

A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert translated by Arthur McDowell.

I don’t know how that happened but I only have four 5-star reads:

1) The Death of Ivan Ilych
2) Chess Story
3) Exercises in Style (160 pages is very strange. This version must have a lengthy foreword. Mine has about 100 pages, each about ½ page text). I should nominate it someday.
4) "Los Alamos From Below" in "Surely You're Joking". This story is probably the most famous of Feynman's stories, where he is a young graduate student without a degree who starts working at theoretical physics at the Manhattan Project and later with some of the worlds first computers.

You can here him tell most of the story here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY-u1...

ok so I'm going to be naughty and list 10!

5 Better Known:
A Month In The Country Carr, J. L. 1980
Heart Of Darkness Conrad, Joseph 1899
The Time Machine Wells, H. G. 1895
Death In Venice Mann, Thomas 1912
The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie Spark, Muriel 1961

5 Lesser Known:
Wittgenstein's Nephew Bernhard, Thomas 1982
Moscow Stations Erofeev, Venedikt 1969
The Unconquered Country Ryman, Geoff 1986
Pig Tales Darrieussecq, Marie 1996
The Mezzanine Baker, Nicholson 1988

Naughty is fine Darren. I keep hearing about A Month in the Country. It might be time to look into that one.

I may have to add all your lesser knowns to my TBR, Darren. Your top five are all great reads. I love to have shorter works to put between the longer ones, so this is going to be a thread that will be a boon for me.


They Came Like Swallows by William Maxwell
The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
Portrait of Jennie by Robert Nathan
Coventry by Helen Humphreys
Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton
The Melodeon by Glendon Swarthout

Two short novellas that I enjoyed are
Agostino by Alberto Moravia, and:
In Youth is Pleasure by Denton Welch

Darren wrote: "ok so I'm going to be naughty and list 10!

Moscow Stations..."

I remember it as quite good, but somehow only gave it 3 stars.

A strange little book. I read it because it is on the 1001-list of books you should read. It is quite funny at places, but also horrifying in its cruel sense of humour. I read it right after reading All Quiet on the Western Front and I kept thinking, how can you throw away your life like that?

I think I missed a lot by not having read Gogol’s Dead Souls first.

This is such a great idea--more books for us to add! I especially love hearing about the lesser-known ones.

I'm going to be kind of naughty, because even though I know the page count is what is accepted as novellas, I have my own. 100-200 pages just feels like a novella to me--less than that is a short story and more, a novel.

So these extra three aren't in the range above:
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (142 pgs)
The Aspern Papers by Henry James (180 pgs)
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (165 pgs)

But here are five that are in the range (though the first three I think of as short stories):
The Dead by James Joyce (64 pgs)
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville (64 pgs)
The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers (96 pgs)
Summer by Edith Wharton (127 pgs)
Light by Eva Figes (121 pgs)

The last is my contribution for the lesser-known group. It's a lovely bit of historical fiction about a day in the life of Claude Monet--as impressionistic as the painter. Highly recommended!

I would've had Summer instead of Time Machine in my main 5, cos it does "feel" like a novella, although my edition is 160 pages

I love Christmas Carol, but that feels like a "long short-story"

I also left out a couple of my faves that fit the page count but felt too much like "short novels"

Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton
How the Poor Die by George Orwell
Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi
Herland: A Lost Feminist Utopian Novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Passing by Nella Larsen

Novellas, short novels and/or longish short stories I have given 5- stars:

- The Old Maid: The 'Fifties by Edith Wharton (96 pgs.)
- Babette’s Feast by Isak Dinesen (54 pgs.)
- Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville (64 pgs.)
- Hunger by Knut Hamsun (134 pgs.)
- Journey into the Past by Stefan Zweig (136 pgs.)

Cheating and adding some 4-star ones I liked that could be of interest:

- The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf (108 pgs. - classic Halloween read)
- Chess Story by Stefan Zweig (104 pgs.)
- Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (64 pgs.)
- My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather (112 pgs.)

If people are interested in reading some short books I would recommend "Short Books" by Kenneth C Davis.
He recommends 50 novellas for a short read - I am gradually working through these

I too have some favourites in the 150-200 page range that I thought would be novellas (perhaps that can be a topic in a later month: short novels), but I'll try here to restrict myself to the requested page count:

- Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (I'm referring here to the 100-page novella "Kitchen", inside this 160-page book that also contains the excellent short story "Moonlight Shadow")
- Music of a Life by Andreï Makine (a very reliable author for me)
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (always feels like a worthwhile read to me)
- The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame (this one feels more like a short story to me, but it's wonderful)
- The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle (perhaps my favourite Sherlock Holmes)

Novellas, novelettes, short novels, short stories...it's all so confusing! Where do we draw the line! I've always thought the distinction between these categories is arbitrary at best, but often meaningless when it comes to enjoyment or even literary merit.

Some that I really enjoyed and didn't see listed above:

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. (cinephiles will recognize this story as the basis for "The Thing From Another World" and, later, John Carpenter's "The Thing")
At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
The Fall by Albert Camus
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Disclaimer: I have no idea if those are all exactly "novellas" and I'm not even going to bother to try to measure them. I'm just going to leave that list right there and hope you all find some enjoyment in it.

Also please keep adding more! These have been some wonderful recommendations so far.

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Novellas, novelettes, short novels, short stories...it's all so confusing! Where do we draw the line! I've always thought the distinction between these categories is arbitrary at best, but often me..."

I totally agree that the division between categories is arbitrary. But I did use the division so we could have two months of discussion...

Lynn wrote: "RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I totally agree that the division between categories is arbitrary. But I did use the division so we could have two months of discussion..."

And a terrific discussion it has been. :)

Thank you RJ!

I am going to "cheat" by adding a sixth novella. I just read 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (1970). No one has mentioned this one yet. I loved it - 5*! It was the Short Story/Novella read for Nov 2020. I am only now getting to it. It is my favorite book so far this year.

I have a few favourites that haven't been mentioned above.

1. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
2. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
3. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
4. The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Books mentioned by others that are my favourites too:

1. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
2. Summer by Edith Wharton
3. Lady Susan by Jane Austen

Brian E wrote: "Novellas, short novels and/or longish short stories I have given 5- stars:

- The Old Maid: The 'Fifties by Edith Wharton (96 pgs.)
- Babette’s Feast by [a..."


"Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street" and "Hunger" are two of my favorites also. For the latter I think reading a good translation is critical, and I recommend Sverre Lyngstad and to avoid George Egerton (aka Mary Chavelita Dunne).

I haven't read "The Old Maid" but I saw the movie with Bette Davis and really loved it.

Wobbley wrote: "I too have some favourites in the 150-200 page range that I thought would be novellas (perhaps that can be a topic in a later month: short novels), but I'll try here to restrict myself to the reque..."

Thanks Wobbley for the recommendation of Kitchen. I haven't read anything by Banana Yoshimoto yet, so I just purchased this one.

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Fall by Albert Camus
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy are absolutely recommended. :)

Lynn wrote: "Thanks Wobbley for the recommendation of Kitchen. I haven't read anything by Banana Yoshimoto yet, so I just purchased this one."

Great! I really like both Kitchen and Moonlight Shadow (which are usually packaged together). Oddly, I've tried quite a few of her other books, and I've not found the same feeling with them. But of course each reader's experience is different. I really hope you enjoy it!

Passing by Nella Larsen
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Tale of the Unknown Island by José Saramago
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon
The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells
The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty
Woman Hollering Creek & The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Babette’s Feast by Isak Dinesen
The Martian Chronicles

Just read two excellent novellas by William Trevor:
My House in Umbria
Reading Turgenev

Sara wrote: "Just read two excellent novellas by William Trevor:
My House in Umbria
Reading Turgenev"

Thanks for mentioning these. I have never read William Trevor