Play Book Tag discussion

I haven't committed to reading fat books in 2025, but I am sure I will at some point. But I have committed to reading more "short bites" in 2025. I sometimes call them coffee shop reads. I am going to try to read some poetry, and classic short stories, and whatever else shows up in my radar that is less than 150 pages. I also love cookbooks from places other than the US. If anyone has some suggestions for something to read while hanging out in your local coffee shop, send them my way!

Shelly wrote: "I haven't committed to reading fat books in 2025, but I am sure I will at some point. But I have committed to reading more "short bites" in 2025. I sometimes call them coffee shop reads. I am going..."

Lovely idea, Shelly! I like short story and essay collections - which really work best when read a bit at a time -- over a period of time.

One collection I read in 2023/2024 - just a few at a time - was Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes - and it ended up on my top 10 list.

I added a number of prompt suggestions for short story and essay collections. I have several sitting in my TBR, including the just acquired The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024: S.A. Cosby Edits the Newest Entry in the Renowned and Popular Story Series, Dive into the Year's Best in ... and Suspense. Cosby is one of my favorite contemporary mystery writers and I know editors have a lot of influence over the content of these collections.

Feel free to check out my short stories and essays shelf.

Also, Sue is a big fan of short story collections, read many last year. BookConcierge recently posted somewhere some books written in verse that fit the 'short' requirement -- I read and loved Out of the Dust.

I love short stories, and I enjoy reading them independently though I also enjoy a collection.

The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts - Shirley Jackson
The Monkey's Paw - W.W. Jacobs
Marigolds - Eugenia Collier
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - James Thurber
Almost all of Edgar Allan Poe
The Egg - Andy Weir
Something About Anxiety - Fredrik Backman Its a blog post he made.
The Answer Is No - Fredrik Backman
And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer - Fredrik Backman
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics - Carlo Rovelli
Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions - Valeria Luiselli
What is Man? - Mark Twain
Taming the Bicycle - Mark Twain

I also enjoy kids books.
Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy
Frankencrayon - Michael Hall

Highly recommend the very short Galatea by Madeline Miller. You will never view Pygmallion story the same way again.

if you like to listen to podcasts there is a podcast called 1001 Classic Short Stories and Tales. I like to listen while I walk and get a little extra short story reading in - without any "work" on my part to find them - they just magically appear in my podcast feed :-)

Shelly, I enjoy short stories and essays. Here are some good ones.

Short Stories:
Table for Two byAmor Towles
Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny
Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King
Five-Carat Soul by James McBride

Essays
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green

I rarely read short stories or novellas Shelly. However, as this year I am making an extended effort to read "off the TBR" and get out of my box this is something I may venture into.

These are all wonderful suggestions! Thank you!!
@Jason, I reread The Lottery very recently, I think for one of the Steeplechase hurdles. Excellent powerful story. Also really like the idea of adding some children's books.
@Holly, Anthropocene is a favorite, I may reread a some point.
@Rose, love the idea of a podcast, I will add this to my list for walking and listening.

I hope to get to many of all the wonderful stories and collections you have listed here! Especially the short stories by authors whose names I recognize. I may be drinking lots of coffee in 2025. Or walking lots of miles with my headphones.

Good short books

Small Things Like These
Foster, which reminds me of
Ellen Foster
Clear
Whale Fall
The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
My Name Is Lucy Barton
Out Stealing Horses
Letters of a Woman Homesteader
The Dog Who Wouldn't Be
The Travelling Cat Chronicles
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
(many current Japanese books are short)
Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Goose and sequels

I don't think these have been mentioned yet

Silk by Alessandro Baricco
Elevation by Stephen King
Big Panda & Tiny Dragon by James Norbury


And I absolutely adore the short stories by O. Henry and Edgar Allan Poe

Shelly wrote: "I haven't committed to reading fat books in 2025, but I am sure I will at some point. But I have committed to reading more "short bites" in 2025. I sometimes call them coffee shop reads. I am going..."

I’m really enjoying short books these days, I love the books that pack a lot of meaning into a slim package. It’s easier to try different types of stories, formats, or weird ideas, when it’s short.

A few of my favorite (mostly literary) novellas or stories under 160 pages:
Chess Story
Too Loud a Solitude
Small Things Like These
Train Dreams
Elena Knows by Kate Quinn
Evidence of the Affair
Convenience Store Woman

Science fiction novellas:
Binti and many other books by Nnedi Okorafor- Home, The Night Masquerade! Remote Control
All Systems Red by Martha Wells, Murderbot series
The Employees

Humorous sci-fi- John Scalzi has a lot of short books, including a holiday book I’m currently reading.

Short story collections - my shelf
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

From Tookie's list of short perfect novels:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Here are a few that I have enjoyed and not yet mentioned:
Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid
Assembly by Natasha Brown
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au

And a collection of short stories I loved:
What We Fed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri