Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s challenge was to list the 10 longest books I’ve ever read, but as a preteen/teen, I went through a phase where I just read long as hell adult fantasy classics, and I don’t remember most of them, so… this list wouldn’t be accurate, anyways.
I DIGRESS! Instead, I decided to go in the opposite direction: the 10 shortest books on my TBR! I narrowed it down to the TBR books I already own, because maybe it will motivate me to knock a few of them out soon! I’m only including standalone works, but no short stories that spin off from other series.
1. Throttle — Joe Hill & Stephen King
pg. count: 47
A horror/thriller about a trucker dueling a band of motorcyclists? I have no idea, I just wanted to read something co-written by these two and it was $1. ?
2. We Should All Be Feminists — Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
pg. count: 52
I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about Adichie’s novellas about feminism, and I’m here for it.
3. Mara — Richard Denney
pg. count: 56
A thriller novella about a high school girl who starts hearing voices. This one came highly recommended by a horror booktuber I like!
4. Sour Candy — Kealan Patrick Burke
pg. count: 67
I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet. I love horror novellas, I love creepy kids, and I LOVE this cover.
5. Knee Deep in Little Devils — Karen Yun-Lutz
pg. count: 81
This is an indie horror anthology I found on Netgalley, and requested it, because it was, like, 4am and I was sleep deprived. I’m not sure that I would have requested it if I’d been coherent, but maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised!
6. Bingo Love — Tee Franklin
pg. count: 88
A graphic novel about two adorable black women who fall in love as young women, are separated, and then meet again as elderly women and pick up where they left off. YES. PLEASE. This cuteness… I can’t deal with it.
7. I Am Not Your Final Girl — Claire C. Holland
pg. count: 92
I love poetry and I love horror, but I’ve never read horror poetry, AND it’s feminist! I’m actually hoping to read this in October.
8. Don’t Call Us Dead — Danez Smith
pg. count: 96
This is a poetry collection inspired by the author’s experiences as a gay HIV+ black man in the United States. It sounds so good, and the only reason I haven’t read it yet is because it’s going to be so heavy.
9. Mapping the Interior — Stephen Graham Jones
pg. count: 112
If you’re not familiar with SGJ, he’s a Native author who specializes in horror and speculative fiction, and the little bit of his writing I’ve gotten to read so far, I’ve loved, so I’m really excited to read this novella about a teen boy coping with his father’s death, his family leaving the reservation, ghost sightings, and bizarre events in his new home.
10. Fence, Vol. 1 — C. S. Pacat
pg. count: 112
I have been dying to read this graphic novel series! I adore C. S. Pacat after how much I loved the Captive Prince series, and I know I’m going to love this, too. The only reason I didn’t read this the day it released is because I know I’ll then have to wait for the next volume, and I don’t want to have to wait so long. ?
Do you prefer short books, or long books (or both)?
49 Comments
How fun! 🙂 It’s great to look at the short books instead. I prefer books that are between 300-400 pages as I have limited reading time.
Thank you! I feel you, I think the 300-400ish range is my favorite, too, though I am also a big sucker for novellas like these!
I haven’t read any of these, but my hubby is a big Stephen King fan. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading, Cheryl! 🙂
Ooh I like how you did this- I love a good short read! Throttle sounds pretty amazing actually 🙂
Thank you! It really does sound cool, definitely a unique plot 🙂
Ooo, Throttle! I need that! I looked for it on Amazon, and i found “Road Rage”. It seems to be a graphic novel. Is it the same?
Mara sounds good! I heard about it not so long ago on a podcast i think.
I had to double-check just now, but I believe Throttle is only available in the kindle store? It’s saying “kindle single” in the Amazon listing, so I’m not sure if it’s available any other way if you want just that story. BUT! I found a description of Road Rage that says it’s a graphic novel of Throttle as well as Duel, the story that inspired Throttle!
Do you listen to the Books in the Freezer podcast? I’ve only just started following one of the hosts’ booktube and just subbed to their podcast, but her novella recommendation video is where I heard about it, and I think she said she’d recommended it on the podcast before!
Oh, yes, books in the freezer! That was it!
You are right, i found a review on Road Rage that said the same. It seems in the UK kindle store Throttle is not available for now :/
I really need to start listening to their podcast. I like the fact that it seems like they highlight a lot of lesser known stuff!
Oh no. 🙁 Boo! I guess there’s the graphic novel, if you want to read it badly enough. I’m sorry!
The shortest book on my shelf is a little children’s book my Mom got me on about Sadako Sasaki. I read it, or something like it, in the fourth grade. Then I think next in line is just a few chapter books from when I was a tween. lol. Good list! I’ll have to check some of these out sometime!
Haha, aw, nice! I hold on to some of my childhood books as well, it’s nice to keep the memories! Thank you! 🙂
Bingo Love is great! Be ready for love and tears.
I read the first issue of Fence and I think I might need to pick up the full volume. I’ve been liking more and more sports manga lately. Maybe I just needed to find the right sports for me? Huh, who knew?
Oooh, nobody warned me that Bingo Love would make me cry, so thanks for that! ? Now I know to save it for when I’m alone! Hahaha, I hate for anyone to see me cry.
That could be it! 😀 I just love Pacat’s writing so much. I’m super excited to read it!
I love your twist! I have a few really short things on my TBR too but I haven’t heard of any of these.
Thank you! I feel like people don’t talk about novellas nearly enough!
I’m a big fan of a perfectly formed novella.
Me, too!
The only one of these I’ve read is We Should All Be Feminists and I loved it!
Awesome, that’s one I’m really looking forward to!
I like my books 200-400 pages haha. I’m intimidated by long books because I always think about how many shorter books I could read in the same time.
These sound perfect for boosting your Goodreads challenge.
Cora | http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk
Haha I do the same thing!! Like, there are so many books on my TBR that sound so good but are 800+ pages and I always think, “I might be able to read 3 other books in that time!”
All of these short stories and novellas sound very interesting. Thank you for the recommendations.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
Thank you! 🙂 I’ll have to check your list out this week, too!
I didn’t even know that Stephen King could write short books! LOL
I might have to keep your list in mind for November. I’ll be writing 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo (I was going to say try, but darn it, I’m winning this year!), so after writing 1,666 words a day, I’ll want to read something short.
Haha, right! His books tend to run soooo long most of the time! I’m reading IT right now and was ranting to another blogger last night about how I’ve been listening to it for 9 hours already and I’ve barely made a dent. ?
Good thinking! And good luck! 😀 You’ve got this.
I think we all needed this post after all of the long books one.
Haha, that was exactly what I was hoping to hear! 🙂 thank you!
Ahh please read We Should All Be Feminists, Destiny, it’s amazing! I actually chose it as my first ever book to review on my blog, just because it’s so important, and impressive. And I absolutely adore Fence, I hope you can get to it soon, it’s such a wonderful graphic novel! <3
I totally will, Lily! Aw, I LOVE that it’s the first thing you reviewed, that’s amazing. That makes me kind of wish my first blog post ever had been a meaningful one like that! ? I think my first review on this blog was Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A. S. King, and I didn’t even like it that much… oops. Lol! And I think I might read Fence this weekend! I’m in a graphic novel mood right now. I have a few from the library and have gotten a few as early birthday gifts, plus I have some on Netgalley. Maybe I’ll just binge read as many of them as I can this weekend. 😛
Aw that’s a book I see around so much, but I’m glad it seems I didn’t miss out on much by not having read it. ?
Ahh I hope you love(d) it?? It’s so well-drawn and I adore the storyline—I still have one release left to read.
I hope your birthday was absolutely wonderful, Destiny! ??
Yeah, it’s honestly nothing special to me! I know the author is so widely loved, but… eh, I think their writing just doesn’t do much for me. :/
Thank you! <3 It was!
ooh i looove a short book! long books scare me, and then sometimes bore me or put me in a slump once i’m reading them, but short books??? the best. We Should All Be Feminists is great!!
WORD. I’m always putting off long books for these reasons. Shhh don’t tell anyone but I think one of my 2019 reading goals might be to read one 500+pg book a month. ? I have too many on my shelves that I haven’t touched tbh
[…] recommending Scribd without discussing the bad aspects to it. And on that same day, I saw Destiny @ Howling Libraries (go check out her blog, she’s amazing!) update on Twitter that she is also annoyed at Scribd […]
Nice twist on this week’s TTT theme!
Here’s a link to my TTT post this week: http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2018/10/top-ten-tuesday-longest-books-ive-ever.html
I hope you like these! We Should All Be Feminists and Don’t Call Us Dead are on my TBR, too. I definitely prefer short books!
Thank you, I hope you enjoy them, too! I think those are both going to be really important reads. <3
Maybe we should create a short-a-thon to read the shortest books on our TBR’s?
Like.. Too compensate for reading IT and all that.. xD
… I LOVE THIS IDEA SO. FUCKING. MUCH. Can we do this?! What if we did it at the end of December, like a holiday break readathon? I know a lot of people struggle to find reading time then!
THAT is definitely an option! And a good time as well. [Even more so since I plan on taking some time off work between Christmas and New Year’s, haha]
YAY! I’m writing this in my planner right now. 😀
You’ll have to remind me again and again and again – just saying. [Or maybe you won’t. If I remember to do [and actually DO] blog stuff tonight, I’ll write it on my blogging schedule!]
I definitely prefer books on the shorter side-I can read them faster!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/top-ten-tuesday-180/
Oh wow, these books are short! Shorter than I expected. I like a mix of long books and short books, because sometimes, I can get really bogged down with long books, especially since a lot of them tend to lag towards the middle and ugh. I saw Knee Deep in Little Devils, too, but I don’t generally read a ton of horror and have to really be in the mood for it, so I didn’t request it. xD The cover’s awfully pretty, though!
Oh yes, super short! 😀 Same, I can get bogged down if I read too many long books in a short period of time. I think it’s part of what has had me reading a bit slowly lately, is I’ve been trying to catch up on the Throne of Glass series and Cassandra Clare’s books at the same time, and I’ve reached the point where each book is in the 600-700 page range, and it’s getting a little exhausting—the CC books more than TOG, for some reason. I was thinking just earlier today that I definitely will finish catching up on TOG, since I’m starting Tower of Dawn tomorrow and then I’ll be ready for the release of the finale next week, but I miiiight slow down on the Cassandra Clare books and just risk being spoiled for the new book when it comes out. ?
Oof, that’s always hard! I know I have series I want to start but then I’m like … yeah, but all these books are 700+ and there’s, like, five of them, so … xD I totally hear you on that one. Hope you don’t get too many spoilers. D:
[…] Shortest Books On My “Owned” TBR […]
[…] and longest books on my TBR. A couple of months after that, Destiny @ Howling Libraries posted her shortest books on the TBR and it got both of us thinking. What about a read-a-thon focusing solely on the shortest books we […]