Achieve Your Reading Goal - Great Reads Under 250 Pages

Whether it was your goal to read 5 or 50 books this year, find some quick reads on this list to get you across the finish line.

Updated November 8, 2023
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All grown up
Attenberg, Jami
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Middlesteins comes a wickedly funny novel about a thirty-nine-year-old single, childfree woman who defies convention as she seeks connection.​ Who is Andrea Bern? When...
Red at the bone
Woodson, Jacqueline
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR "A spectacular novel that only this legend can pull off." -Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of  HOW TO BE AN...
Delphi : a novel
Pollard, Clare
A Guardian Best Book of 2022 * "Clever and surprising." --BuzzFeed * "Brilliantly funny." --San Francisco Chronicle * "Ingenious."--The Millions * "Powerful." --Harper's Bazaar A captivating debut novel...
Piranesi
Clarke, Susanna
New York Times Bestseller Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction World Fantasy Awards Finalist From the New York Times bestselling author of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, an intoxicating, hypnotic new novel set in a...
The end we start from
Hunter, Megan 1984-
NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING JODIE COMER "Engrossing, compelling." -- Naomi Alderman, author of The Power "I was moved, terrified, uplifted - sometimes all three at once." -- Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl With a Pearl...
Follow me to ground : a novel
Rainsford, Sue 1988-
One of Literary Hub's Favorite Books of the Year A haunted, surreal debut novel about an otherworldly young woman, her father, and her lover that culminates in a shocking moment of betrayal--one that upends our understanding of power, predation, and agency. ...
The friend
Nunez, Sigrid
When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the dog he has left behind. While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the...
The house on Mango Street
Cisneros, Sandra
A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A coming-of-age classic about a young girl growing up in Chicago * Acclaimed by critics, beloved by readers of all ages, taught in schools and universities alike, and translated around the world-...
Infinite country : a novel
Engel, Patricia
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK AND INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE 2021 NEW AMERICAN VOICES AWARD, LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL, A 2022 DAYTON LITERARY PEACE PRIZE FINALIST, AND A NATIONAL...
A Christmas carol
Dickens, Charles 1812-1870
In this luminous picture book adaptation of Charles Dickens' immortal classic, the story of Ebenezer Scrooge leaps off the page to warm the soul of one and all. Be swept away in an unforgettable Christmas Eve, from Scrooge's first "Bah, humbug!" to the arrival of the Ghost of...
Luster
Leilani, Raven
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A New York Times Notable Book of the Year WINNER of the NBCC John Leonard Prize, the Kirkus Prize, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award...
The monster of Elendhaven
Giesbrecht, Jennifer
Debut author Jennifer Giesbrecht paints a darkly compelling fantasy of revenge in The Monster of Elendhaven, a dark fantasy about murder, a monster, and the magician who loves both. Set against the backdrop of the plague-ridden city of Elendhaven, clinging to the edge...
Nightbitch : a novel
Yoder, Rachel 1978-
In this blazingly smart and voracious debut novel, an artist turned stay-at-home mom becomes convinced she's turning into a dog. * "A must-read for anyone who can't get enough of the ever-blurring line between the psychological and supernatural that Yellowjackets exemplifies." --...
No one is talking about this
Lockwood, Patricia
FINALIST FOR THE 2021 BOOKER PRIZE & A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF 2021 WINNER OF THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE    "A book that reads like a prose poem, at once sublime, profane, intimate, philosophical, witty and, eventually, deeply moving." --New York Times Book...
The ocean at the end of the lane
Gaiman, Neil
A brilliantly imaginative and poignant fairy tale from the modern master of wonder and terror, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is Neil Gaiman’s first new novel for adults since his #1 New York Times bestseller Anansi Boys. This bewitching and harrowing tale of mystery and survival,...
The passion
Winterson, Jeanette 1959-
"Winterson is a master of her material, a writer in whom great talent deeply abides." -- Vanity Fair First published to great acclaim in 1987, this arresting, elegant novel from Jeanette Winterson uses Napolean's Europe as the setting for a...
Ring shout : or, Hunting Ku Kluxes in the end times
Clark, P. Djčlí
Nebula, Locus, and Alex Award-winner P. Djèlí Clark returns with Ring Shout, a dark fantasy historical novella that gives a supernatural twist to the Ku Klux Klan's reign of terror "A fantastical, brutal and thrilling triumph of the imagination...Clark's combination of...
Sula Toni Morrison
Morrison, Toni.
Sula and Nel are born in the Bottom--a small town at the top of a hill. Sula is wild, and daring; she does what she wants, while Nel is well-mannered, a mamma's girl with a questioning heart. Growing up they forge a bond stronger than anything, stronger even than the dark secret they have to bear...
Every heart a doorway
McGuire, Seanan
Winner: 2022 Hugo Award for Best Series Winner: 2017 Hugo Award Winner: 2017 Alex Award Winner: 2017 Locus Award Winner: 2016 Nebula Award Nominated: 2017 World Fantasy Award ...
The swimmers
Otsuka, Julie 1962-
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE WINNER * From the award-winning author of The Buddha in the Attic and When the Emperor Was Divine comes a novel that "starts as a catalogue of spoken and unspoken rules for swimmers at an aquatic center but unfolds into a powerful...
Their eyes were watching God
Hurston, Zora Neale.
Fair and long-legged, independent and articulate, Janie Crawford sets out to be her own person -- no mean feat for a black woman in the '30s. Janie's quest for identity takes her through three marriages and into a journey back to her roots.
Weather : a novel
Offill, Jenny 1968-
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER  From the beloved author of the nationwide best seller Dept. of Speculation--one of the New York Times Book Review's Ten Best Books of the Year--a "darkly funny and urgent" (NPR) tour de force...
Wide Sargasso Sea
Rhys, Jean.
Jean Rhys's reputation was made upon the publication of this passionate and heartbreaking novel, in which she brings into the light one of fiction's most mysterious characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Set in the Caribbean, its heroine is Antoinette Cosway, a...

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