Short Books for Busy People

All of us experience seasons of life in which everything is moving too fast and we feel more than a little overwhelmed by life in general, let alone the towering pile of our TBR. When you feel this way, it can feel hard to make time for reading, especially if you’re trying to knock out a door-stopper of a book. Fear not! Especially in more recent years, writers have been releasing short, snappy books to fit into every groove of your readerly heart, no matter how busy your schedule. Though slim, these texts still offer enormously entertaining and enlightening moments. No matter what your mood or genre preference, there is a short little book that will be easy to slide into your day.

Here’s a book if you’re in the mood for…

A memoir/essay collection: You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar (207 pages)

Somehow horrifying, heart wrenching, and hilarious all at the same time, these sisters recount wild stories of racism that happened right here in the Midwest. These anecdotes are laugh-out-loud funny while also demonstrating how incredulity is part of the web of racism. By not believing Black people about instances of racism, you contribute to that act of aggression. This book calls out a specifically midwestern brand of racism while also making this roast a howlingly funny occasion. Throughout the book, Ruffin calls out how she knows how readers will be reacting (like thinking “this can’t possibly be true” and then she will say “You’re thinking ‘this can’t be true’ but it is”) with alarming accuracy. Ultimately, it is an utter delight of a call-out.

A hopeful book: A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (160 pages)

This is the book to make you feel like the world is good and hope has a place in your heart. In this cozy fantasy, the reader follows a burnt-out tea monk named Dex who upon a robot named Mosscap–the first robot seen by a human in centuries. Now, the robots who had sequestered themselves for centuries want to know what they can do to help humanity. Mosscap and Dex work together to get to a distant hermitage, and both learn more about the world, and what it means to be.  In this book, Chambers crafts a kinder, gentler world. Reading it feels like falling into the warmest hug and drinking the perfect cup of hot chocolate and seeing your favorite person all at the same time.

A mystery read: Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket (158 page)

Fast paced, philosophical and fun–the mystery begins with a scrap of paper that reads “You had poison for breakfast” and spirals out of control from there.  Snicket, who has solved so many mysteries and does not relish the task of unweaving this one, but finds that he must. Reading this will make you anxious, but in a good way, the “I will stay up past my bedtime to finish this” kind of way. But since it clocks in well under 200 pages, you will be able to get to the satisfying “oh!” of the ending without losing any sleep. This book is kind of quirky, a little odd and for anyone who does not enjoy “slow and steady stories”.

An odd one: Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson (192 pages)

Named one of the best books of 2022 by Obama, this peculiar little story is one I haven’t stopped thinking about since I first read it in January. The story begins with our narrator in an airport where he runs into an old college classmate, Jeff Cook. While catching up, Jeff tells him about a galvanizing moment that changed his life forever–saving a man from drowning. Upon finding out the man, Francis, survived, Jeff feels compelled to find out more about this man with whom he now believes his fate is twined. The book spools out from there, asking questions of if we control our lives or are pawns of fate. Propulsive and strange, this one is hard to stop from finishing in one sitting.

A fantasy read: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow (128 pages)

How Harrow managed to build such a rich world with a totally believable way of parallel-universe travel in such a short amount of space, I will never know. This book follows chronically ill Zinnia Grey as she celebrates her 21st  (and likely last) birthday. Her party goes awry when suddenly she finds herself thrust into the world of…Sleeping Beauty? Both women are desperate to escape their fates–one from the certain death of her terminal illness and the other from a cruel, loveless marriage. A subversive, delightful reimagining of  a classic fairy tale, this novella is an enormously fun romp. Harrow shows that fate and destiny are nothing compared to the power of spite, stubbornness, sisterhood, and knowing how fairy tales function. I devoured this in one sitting.

A nature book: The Hummingbirds’ Gift by Sy Montgomery (96 pages)

The booksellers here at Dog-Eared love Sy Montgomery for her tender thoughtfulness and empathetic delight. Hummingbirds are miraculous creatures–they can flap their wings more than 60 times a second, dive more than 61 miles per hour, and can hover and fly backwards. But for all of their extraordinary talents, they are incredibly fragile. Montgomery follows Brenda Sherburn as she nurses abandoned hummingbirds back to health, and by showing us the compassion and gentleness Brenda provides these birds, Montgomery is able to reveal how amazing these peanut-sized patients are. This attentive book helps us cherish the gift of hummingbirds. An excellent read for bird people, wildlife lovers, or anyone who likes to celebrate nature with quiet benediction.

A beautiful book: The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo (121 pages)

This is a book for anyone who loves elegant storytelling about compelling women. The Singing Hills Clerics are the keepers of memory. Cleric Chih has been sent to Thriving Fortune to index the posthumous life in exile of Empress In-yo. Rabbit, now an old woman, spent her life in servitude to the empress. As the cleric works to catalog the items in the old palace, Rabbit tells In-yo’s story. This is a tale of cruelty, loss, strategy, and revenge. Set in an Asian-inspired alternate world, this is a story told in the edges. With striking prose and unforgettable moments, this book is an elegant gut punch.

A spiritual book: How to Sit by Thich Nhat Hahn (117 pages)

The first in a series titled “Mindfulness Essentials”, famed spiritualist and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh introduces newbies and reminds seasoned meditation experts of the basics of mindfulness. Including clear, concise directions on the particulars of posture and breathing, these secular guided meditations help bring some distance between our minds and the crazy world around us, returning to our breath and body, and helping us spend a little time in the present. This simple, comprehensive guide will help you cultivate your own mindfulness practice no matter how hectic your busy life can be. Thich Nhat Hahn wrote prodigiously and this book is a great stepping stone into his thoughtful, restorative works.

A book about social justice: Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon (64 pages)

Perfect to give to someone (or yourself) to begin learning about gender as a constructed identity. In Beyond the Gender Binary, part of a larger series called Pocket Change Collective, Vaid-Menon offers the world a chance to see gender not as black and white, but as full technicolor. Drawing from their own experiences as a gender non-conforming artist, they demonstrate how gender is a fluid and generative means of self-expression. This adorable little volume helps deconstruct, decode, and reimagine the gender binary and gives folks everywhere the feeling that anything at all is possible within themselves. Affirming and thoughtful, this book is geared toward beginners, yet still has some gems for those well-versed on the subject. This whole series is a delight to spend a little time with.

A horror read: Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales by Yoko Ogawa, Translated by Stephen Snyder (176 pages)

Have you ever played the game where you sit in a public place and imagine stories for all the different people who walk by? This collection is the horrifying version of that. Dark and meticulous, these narratives follow different people– a writer finds her landlady killed her husband, a surgeon’s lover who will kill him if he doesn’t leave his wife, a cabaret singer with her heart literally outside her chest. People from all walks of life and different levels of morality converge. Each of these narratives is a gem, loosely threaded together by the tiniest of moments. Not rooted in time or place, instead the stories seem as though they are suspended between wires, leaving you feeling unsettled and adrift. 

These are all just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to bite-size books. More and more recently, novellas, short story collections, and other short-form writing are having a bit of a renaissance. Cutting down recommendations for this list was hard, and I definitely left out some of my darlings. If there’s a genre or mood we missed that you’d like a recommendation for, please comment them below!