Unputdownable, short-ish, not trashy books

[Europeanbanana]

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?

Anything by Donal Ryan. Just can not put them down

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

Came on to say this.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Agree with
The Correspondent
Remarkably Bright Creatures

In the Heart of Hidden Things by Kit Whitfield
Tennyson's Gift Lynne Truss
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry Rachel Joyce
The Colour of Heaven by James Runcie
Who Was Oswald Fish? by A N Wilson

Came on here to say this one. I think it's one of the most perfect books I've read. It really stays with you. The adaptation is also beautifully done.

I re-read The Lord of the Flies, after last reading it as a teenager, and was completely gripped, even though I knew the story.

This is not what you asked for because it’s 600 page, which would normally put me off, but I just raced through The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett in a week which is very unlike me.

Literally couldn’t stop reading it, I’d open my kindle app any time I got two minutes in the day and also had the audio book on the go for when I couldn’t look at a screen. I’m normally put off books that length but someone firmly recommended not to look past it.

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The Bee Sting is amazing, but doesn't fit your criteria as very long. I really recommend though!

This, loved it also “I who have never known men” couldn’t put that down and “The time Machine” which is still a brilliant book imo.

Anything by Clare Chambers.

Into Thin Air
Wuthering Heights
Lonesome Dove (but it's enormous so doesn't fit the size requirement)

Has a child got hold of your phone ?

Swimming Home by Deborah Levy

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Greengage Summer by Rumer Golden
The Bowl is Already Broken by Mary Kay Zuravleff

William Maxwell is a wonderful writer of relatively short novels. So long, See you tomorrow is my favourite.

They’re beautiful and literary without being over-written.

And I know you said no thrillers, but if you haven’t read Raymond Chandler he’s worth a go. They’re not like modern crime, and are just so good with description and plot.

Another vote for Clear by Carys Davies! I thought it was stunning.

I was completely gripped by Whistler by Ann Patchett - not a stereotypical page turner, but I was just so emotionally invested.

I also really enjoyed -

Nesting by Roisín O'Donnell
Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands
You be Mother by Meg Mason
The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr

@Ketryne I will check that out. That’s how I felt reading Yesteryear. I couldn’t wait to finish work to get back to it.

Also felt like that about All That Remains by Sue Black. It was fascinating.