Short Books

The average novel is around three-hundred pages long. That length is nothing for a seasoned reader like myself with ample free time on my hands, but some people simply have neither the attention span nor the time to dedicate to reading. Sure, doomscrolling takes away from reading, but we often forget that parents, for instance, are on the clock 24 / 7. And when they're juggling late-night work calls, one kid's soccer practice, the other's piano recital, and making food so that everyone can survive, even five pages a day would take sixty days to complete an average book – a daunting figure for someone wanting to squeeze in reading. Why even bother at that point?

I was browsing through the library stacks when I came across several thin-spined works. Despite their brevity, they are still classified as novels. And even if they aren't, is anyone really gonna dispute your claim that you read a book simply because it's classified as a novella? Some of the world's most famous works fall under novella length: A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens), The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway) and Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck) all fit the bill. Which is to say that even a short book is a book nonetheless.

My advice for anyone intimidated by the task of reading three-hundred pages is to start with a shorter length work. These books often have smaller page sizes, making one page easier to read and digest. Five pages a day would lead to one-hundred pages in twenty days – enough to finish at least half, if not more, of shorter length works. Now this seems like a much easier pill to swallow.

Next time you're deterring yourself from getting back into reading, find a quick but impactful read to get you started. Set a simple target, like three to five pages a day. Commit to getting it done at a specific time, like right before bed. Best of all, once you're finished, remember to open up a Google doc and record the fact that you read it!

A few of my recommendations are below.

• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka: 70 pages

• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: 112 pages

• Animal Farm by George Orwell: 144 pages

• Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata: 176 pages

Happy reading!