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Original poster

Short book recommendations please

38 replies

Happydaze2 · 11/11/2025 14:17

For our little book club - we will only have a couple of weeks to read so as to squeeze in an extra meetup pre-Christmas, so needs to be short and sweet! 😊 Ideally a light, easy read but any genre. TIA

OP posts:
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Dappy777 · 19/11/2025 22:50

OneBookTooMany · 19/11/2025 17:45

A Painted Veil by Somerset Maughan. What a book!

Yes, good choice.

Dappy777 · 19/11/2025 22:50

Hermann Hesse: Siddartha
George Orwell: Coming up for Air
Dickens: A Christmas Carol
Virginia Woolf: Flush
Aldous Huxley: Chrome Yellow
Evelyn Waugh: Decline and Fall
Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
Patrick Fermor: A Time of Silence

IdaGlossop · 19/11/2025 17:51

Mothering Sunday, Graham Swift - great depth and insight with not a word wasted
Animal Farm, George Orwell - great for discussion
Flush, Virginia Woolf - writen from the point of view of a dog

OneBookTooMany · 19/11/2025 17:45

A Painted Veil by Somerset Maughan. What a book!

ChessieFL · 12/11/2025 12:41

I was also going to suggest A Christmas Carol but if you find others have already read that Dickens has written several Christmas books that aren’t too long so you could try one of those instead. A Christmas Carol is definitely the best of his Christmas books though!

ChessieFL · 12/11/2025 12:39

The Great Gatsby is not very long but it is not wintery/Christmassy!

Original poster
Happydaze2 · 12/11/2025 12:30

Amazing response - thanks to you all! A few of the titles I have already read and I’d prefer something that’s new to me. I actually love the idea of A Christmas Carol which I’ve never read and would be spot on timing wise. I’ve also noted several other titles that we might read later. We are only a little group of 5 and have only been meeting a few months but loving it 😊

OP posts:
CuriousKangaroo · 12/11/2025 07:33

Diary of a Provincial Lady is a short book which is both very funny, and can also give rise to an interesting discussion regarding the parallels between then and now societally and re: marriage and being a mother.

If you want something more weighty, then short stories might be the way to go. Hands down the best collection of short stories I have ever read is The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Beautiful writing and she says so much with so little.

Myoldbear · 12/11/2025 07:28

Ha ha re Virginia Woolf!
It was my suggestion to our book group for next month and was voted in (just!)

I remember reading To the Lighthouse years ago and was quite intrigued by the 'stream of consciousness' technique.

Hmm..... I wonder what everyone will say about it at our meeting ...

SconehengeRevenge · 11/11/2025 22:36

Myoldbear · 11/11/2025 19:58

My book group is about to read Mrs. Dalloway:
Virginia Woolf.

Clicked to say Claire Keegan

Not read that one, but pity anyone reading Virginia Woolf

Eta Mn merged my two posts together 🤬

ElizabethVonArnim · 11/11/2025 22:36

Just had a look at all the slim books on my shelf and would recommend these, but they’re not that wintry/Christmassy:
Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner
Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim
84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
Up at the Villa by W Somerset Maugham

SconehengeRevenge · 11/11/2025 22:34

strictlynopolitics · 11/11/2025 18:05

Small things like these, Claire Keegan, perfect coming up to Christmas. Around 100 pages I think.

I have recently read Clear by Carys Davies which also comes in at less than 200 pages.

Sorry, edited to add: Not very light

Edited

Clicked to say Claire Keegan

SwimBikeRunBake · 11/11/2025 20:41

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagidawa and Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi are both short reads.

drspouse · 11/11/2025 20:29

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - lovely book, though thought provoking, and Christmas themed.

SleafordSods · 11/11/2025 20:28

HeadNorth · 11/11/2025 19:51

What about reading A Christmas Carol? So many films, so many festive tropes - but how many of you have actually read the book? It is short & powerful despite the familiarity of the story.

Was going to say the same!

Ddakji · 11/11/2025 20:26

I would also recommend Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 which is a short Korean book. Very good, worth reading, but not a fun read!

Myoldbear · 11/11/2025 19:58

My book group is about to read Mrs. Dalloway:
Virginia Woolf.

arcticpandas · 11/11/2025 19:56

Why don't you have a look at the Newyorker where short stories by known authors are published?

HeadNorth · 11/11/2025 19:51

What about reading A Christmas Carol? So many films, so many festive tropes - but how many of you have actually read the book? It is short & powerful despite the familiarity of the story.

Arlanymor · 11/11/2025 19:47

Ddakji · 11/11/2025 15:39

Convenience Store Woman.

Totally agree with this.

seashaken · 11/11/2025 19:44

Thought of another one! Mrs Bridge by Evan S Connell.

Not really a novel, more a series of short vignettes.

TemporarilyCantDoMyself · 11/11/2025 19:32

Mary Costello, Academy Street.
Robert Seethaler, A Whole Life.

The latter more upbeat/less sad than the former. Both beautifully written.

Or William Maxwell, They Came Like Swallows. If you're prepared to weep buckets.

All under 200 pp.

Username65 · 11/11/2025 19:26

Prime of Miss Jean Brodie? Less than 150 pages - not a word wasted and very different in tone to the film.

StewkeyBlue · 11/11/2025 19:26

The Party , Tessa Hadley

CutFlowers · 11/11/2025 19:13

Meet me at the Museum by Anne Youngson