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Original poster

Unputdownable, short-ish, not trashy books

184 replies

Europeanbanana · 16/09/2026 14:37

I need books that will grip me so much I won't look at my phone. I don't want anything trashy or too long. Let's under under 350 pages. Any suggestions for really wonderful books that fit the bill?

OP posts:
Sgtmajormummy · 16/09/2026 21:46

The English Understand Wool by Helen De Witt.
About 300 pages IIRC. You’ll finish it and go right back to the beginning to pick up what you missed. So call it 600 pages.

cariadlet · 16/09/2026 21:43

I'm looking at my bookshelves for books that look thin. These were enjoyable and short, sometimes only about 200 pages:

Zoe Heller - Everything you know
Susan Hill - I'm the king of the castle
Keith Waterhouse - Billy Liar
Kazuo Ishiguro - An artist of the floating world
Lloyd Jones - Mister Pip
Richard Hughes - A high wind in Jamaica
Jeanette Winterson - Oranges are not the only fruit

HereComesTheNight · 16/09/2026 21:14

Holes by Louis Sacher. YA book but short, unusual and satisfyingly neat.

NorthFaceofthelaundrypile · 16/09/2026 21:13

I’ve just read Rebecca for the first time and couldn’t put it down.

SevenKingsMustDie · 16/09/2026 21:11

drspouse · 16/09/2026 21:07

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Lovely little book.

I see lots of people have suggested this - it’s great!

Alsp, I Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline Hartman. Short, but devastatingly powerful - I think about it often.

drspouse · 16/09/2026 21:07

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Lovely little book.

dreamingofgoodhair · 16/09/2026 21:05

purplecorkheart · 16/09/2026 18:48

The Girls - John Bowen. I picked it up on a trip 90% because it was a small book that would fit into my bag. Finished it in two days. It would normally be a book I wouldn't even like at but really really enjoyed it.

Came on to say this.

TonTonMacoute · 16/09/2026 21:05

Non-fiction book I'm reading atm, and am gripped by, Free by Lea Ypi.

Its her account of growing up in Albania at about the time when their leader died. A fascinating insight into living in a dictatorship.

She is an academic at the LSE now, so there's quite a bit more interesting story to come. Real page turner

Whereland · 16/09/2026 20:55

Anything by Donal Ryan. Just can not put them down

DreamingOfGeneHunt · 16/09/2026 20:44

The Darling Buds of May and the others in the series by H. E. Bates
Up The Junction, Nell Dunn
Wifey, Judy Blume

cariadlet · 16/09/2026 18:59

ShhhYouDontKnowMe · 16/09/2026 18:46

This was going to be my suggestion too!

Show quote history

And mine! I opened the thread to post the suggestion but 2 of you have already beaten me to it.

Very well written, lots to think about but short enough to read in a couple of hours. More of a novella than a novel.

You could also try short stories eg Grahame Greene or Somerset Maugham.

Btw, I don't get the love for Eleanor Oliphant. I thought it was dire.

MagpiePi · 16/09/2026 18:59

Mamamia35 · 16/09/2026 18:19

Clear by Carys Davies. Very short and easy read.
The Names by Florence Knapp.
Remarkably bright creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent.

I found Strange Sally Diamond very, very disturbing.

purplecorkheart · 16/09/2026 18:48

The Girls - John Bowen. I picked it up on a trip 90% because it was a small book that would fit into my bag. Finished it in two days. It would normally be a book I wouldn't even like at but really really enjoyed it.

ShhhYouDontKnowMe · 16/09/2026 18:46

SuperGinger · 16/09/2026 18:14

Small Things Like These by Clsire Keegan is just wonderful

This was going to be my suggestion too!

Thewalrusandthecarpenter · 16/09/2026 18:45

To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys

DanglingMod · 16/09/2026 18:44

Pet by Catherine Chidgey
The Fate of Mary Rose by caroline Blackwood

Changeisstillpossible · 16/09/2026 18:42

Freezing Point by Anders Bodelsen

Changeisstillpossible · 16/09/2026 18:40

Anything by Claire Keegan or Carys Davies

The Madwomen's Ball by Victoria Maas

Mamamia35 · 16/09/2026 18:35

I have a few more then.
The Correspondent.
The Soul of a Woman by Isabel Allende.
Yesteryear. Thicker than you want but that was a page turner.
Road to Tender Hearts.
Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.
Wintering by Katherine May.

RealFlawless · 16/09/2026 18:33

A Month in the Country

reallyalurker · 16/09/2026 18:29

My suggestions are Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf; The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett; Lab Girl by Hope Jahren (non-fiction, may just tip over 300 pages), Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.

EmptyInTheValley · 16/09/2026 18:26

Anything by Kristin Hannah. Not sure of number of pages as I read them on my Kindle. But they don't feel long as I race through them.
My favourite so far is The Great Alone: A troubled Vietnam war veteran takes his family from Seattle to the wilds of Alaska in the 1970s.
Actually unputdownable! Beautiful descriptions of the landscape and a riveting story about the relationships of the people who live there.
Trigger warning though: Some fairly graphic depictions of domestic violence in parts.

Kensingtonbuns · 16/09/2026 18:24

Clear is great.
How about Claire Chambers Shy Creatures?

waltzingparrot · 16/09/2026 18:23

Short but gritty.
Liza of Lambeth by W Somerset Maugham.

Original poster
Europeanbanana · 16/09/2026 18:22

Mamamia35 · 16/09/2026 18:19

Clear by Carys Davies. Very short and easy read.
The Names by Florence Knapp.
Remarkably bright creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.
Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent.

This is exactly the kind of thing. I've read the last 3 but not heard about Clear so I'll add that to my TBR. Thank you.

OP posts: