Unputdownable, short-ish, not trashy books

I didn't really like Eleanor Oliphant is not ok. Was an uncomfortable read.

I was thrilled to read this! Thanks for replying.

Oooh another Epsom library fan here.. greetings. 👋

Perhaps you would also enjoy Giovannis Room by James Baldwin if you’ve not read it already. It’s written about a gay lover affair between 2 men in Paris. Very controversial for the 1950’s US.

Lie with Me by Philippe Besson is about an author who due to a return to his French home town is prompted into reminiscing about his first gay love affair as a teenager. Very poignant and maybe 200 pages long so I read it in 2 days having got it out from Epsom Library. Shades of Call Me By Your Name.

The translation is done by Molly Ringwold of Breakfast Club fame.

Oh yes @TonTonMacoute it’s great isn’t it?

Some people on here have got quite different ideas to me as to what is a short book. For eg The Woman in White is 500 pages

Anyway, I recommend Muriel Spark especially The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Girls of Slender Means, The Driver’s Seat

Good Morning Midnight - Jean Rhys
The Lonely Londoners - Sam Selvon
Pereira Maintains - Antonio Tabucchi
The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes

Graham Greene - The Third Man
The Fallen Idol
Brighton Rock
Stamboul Train
Travels With My Aunt

Evelyn Waugh - Decline and Fall
plus many more Evelyn Waugh

Thanks OP for this thread, just what I needed as it’s bulked out my want-to-read list considerably!

Three quarters of the way through this because of your recommendation and really enjoying it. The language and descriptions of Alaska are so immersive. Will try some of her others after this.

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Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel (dystopia)

www.amazon.co.uk/Station-Eleven-Emily-John-Mandel/dp/0804172447

seconding "remarkably bright creatures"!

nghi vo is known for novellas

u could also check if ur fav writers hv a short story or two in their bibliography, sometimes bigger names will lend themselves to collections to help out newcomers

wild card: u said no thrillers or intentional page-turners but "the sacrifice" by rin chupeco is more of a comedy

Flowers for Algernon.

Hello! Bookseller here. Most perfect novel I read this year was The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. A gem. Surprisingly absorbing for an epistolary novel.
All the rest of my suggestions are recent, British, medium/lightweight literary fiction, all but one now out in paperback.
Both Albion and Expectation by Anna Hope are really excellent, well observed novels, Expectation pretty much nails what it is to be a woman in 21st century Britain.
A Family Matter by Claire Lynch is short and I loved her punchy writing style about family secrets. Similar to this (British, set in two timelines) Slags by Emma Jane Unsworth is fast paced, the characters hook you in and very funny too. Mercy Seat by Marcia Hutchinson was gritty and interesting.
I second the Girls by John Bowen.
Unsettled Ground by Clare Fuller from a few years back is brilliant. Her new one Hunger and Thirst is dynamite but it IS a horror (literary of course!)
2 short, fast paced, hilarious novels: a sociopaths guide to a successful marriage by M K Oliver - kinda a thriller but super clever and razor sharp funny. Natural disaster by Lisa owens- 24 hours in the life of a mum of a toddler and a baby trying to have a perfect day before returning to work.. Everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. Brilliantly observed, so real!

What We Can Know - Ian McEwan is 320 pages and quite page turn-y.

Beloved will never leave me, it is devastating, beautiful, unforgettable.
i first read when I was 22, and at 55 I have re-read it at my lowest moments, it always grounds me and brings perspective

Kindered by Octavia Butler.

Giovanni’s Room

Amazing beautiful book.

I’m just reading Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. Absorbing and quirky. It’s aimed at young adults but I’m enjoying it!

Any of the Mma Ramotswe series by Alexander McCall Smith. Easy read, fun, meandering opinions on modern world masquerading as fiction.

Opposite of social media world.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I plan to re-read

I've enjoyed Carole Matthews books that are a bit frivolous, if thats what trashy is, but sometimes you need it. Not usually my style.

Michael Macintyre biography was fun.

Call the Midwife books are great social history.

Anything by Clare Chambers, Mavis Cheek or Deborah Moggach!
Been reading Liane Moriarty this summer too. They are definitely unputdownable but a bit long. Though I've still whizzed through them!
😊

I loved this book to start with but the number of dramatic incidents at the end seemed highly unlikely; I lost all belief. But the first half of the book was excellent, a slow build of tension. I can't really understand it; like two different authors!

The full moon coffee shop by Mai Mochizuki.

The Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer books are great (apart from the first Bosch book, although you probably need to start there) and there are lots of them.

'Any Human Heart', 'Gabriel's Moon' and 'Our Man in Africa' by William Boyd

Consider yourself kissed by Jessica stanley
small things like these by Claire keegan (or any by her)