Short Books To Read in a Day

Maud may seem like a gentle older woman — but she’s a lot tougher than her 88 years suggests. After having lived her whole life in her rent-free apartment, Maud would do anything to keep it in her possession — even if it means killing her celebrity neighbor whose keen interest in trading apartments turns deadly. But this isn’t the first person that Maud has killed. After many decades of adventures, Maud has managed to get away with “taking care” of quite a few people, especially under the guise of being a frail old woman — but this high-profile murder might be the one that gets Maud locked up for the rest of her life.

Page count: 184

Now a successful photography curator vacationing in Paris, Berie Carr reflects on her unglamorous upbringing. At 15 years old, Berie and Silsby were inseparable. In Horsehearts, New York, they worked at an amusement park, smoked cigarettes, drank, and partied. But when Silsby’s interests become even more extreme, the unbreakable bond between the two snaps. After Silsby lands in a difficult situation that forces Berie to steal $500 from the cash register at the amusement park, the consequences mean that Berie is sent to boarding school. Though she leaves Silsby — and her girlhood — behind, she finds a way to take Silsby’s essence along with her.

Page count: 160

Despite her comfortable home life, 19-year-old Yayoi just can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong — or that she’s forgotten a significant event from her childhood. When she begins seeing inexplicable things at home, she decides to stay at her aunt Yukino’s house. But her aunt — a music teacher who thrives in the mundanity of life and seeks comfort in the Friday the 13th films — is unable to hide what Yayoi suspects she’s forgotten — including who she really is. From a backyard full of memories, to powerful premonitions, Yayoi’s whole life will turn upside down once she puts the missing pieces together.

Page count: 144

Getting trapped in an elevator would have been fine for Sadie if she weren’t stuck in it with the man who broke her heart just a few weeks earlier. In two timelines, watch this disaster of a reunion unfold while also rewinding to a time when Sadie and Erik looked like a perfect match. Despite their seemingly fated meet-cute, once Sadie finds out that Erik’s firm has betrayed her much smaller firm, her first instinct is to ghost him. But are things really as they seem or will their time in the elevator reveal the truth behind Erik’s choices — and give them both a second chance.

Page count: 112

For 30 years, Alice has swum laps at her local public pool, but when an unexplained crack appears in it, the entire foundation of Alice’s routine has cracked along with it. With the pool’s shut down inching closer, Alice’s daily life is changing just as quickly. After being diagnosed with dementia, Alice is moved out of her house and into a nursing home. Written in third and second person, experience what it’s like to get to the point that Alice is at and see the adjustments she’s forced to make as she forgets the people and places that have made her who she is.

Page count: 192

In the 1950s, David — an American expat — awaits his girlfriend Hella’s response to his proposal. While she deliberates in Spain, David stays in Paris, where he’s lived for the last two years. But right when his funds run low and he needs a new place to stay, he meets bartender and Italian immigrant, Giovanni. Though he knows the consequences, David begins a sexual relationship with him anyway, spending his nights in Giovanni’s room, away from prying eyes. But when Hella accepts David’s proposal and heads to Paris, David’s determination to stifle his desires for Giovanni is only the beginning of Giovanni’s end.

Page count: 192

Growing up together in the Bottom — a Black community in early 1900s Ohio — brings tragedy to both Nel Wright and Sula Peace’s lives. After the same difficult childhood, Sula leaves the Bottom while Nel decides to stay and build her family there. But when Sula returns to town despite the nasty rumors about her, her and Nel’s friendship is tested when Sula makes herself a little too at home with Nel’s family. But as years go by and Nel reflects on the life she lived with Sula, the lines between good and evil may not be as clear-cut as she once believed.

Page count: 192

When McGlue wakes up in the hold of a ship, he’s perplexed — not only by the reason for his detainment, but also by the hole in his head. In mid-19th century Salem, Massachusetts, McGlue’s heavy drinking and gruff manner make him less than likable — especially to the cabin crew, who keep a confused McGlue imprisoned for the crime he can’t remember committing. With his hallucinations to keep him company, follow McGlue through his haze of memories as he tries to recall how or why he killed his shipmate. With both a physical struggle from his unbearable injuries and an internal struggle with his morals and memory, McGlue might not need a trial to determine his own sentence.

Page count: 160

Vivek Shraya is afraid of men. But more than that, she’s afraid of the aspects of the patriarchy that keep her looking over her shoulder at night or wiping her makeup off before walking home. As a South-Asian trans woman, Shraya has had to work to stay alive, which often means hiding her identity from the world. As Shraya discusses the men — and women — she’s afraid of, she reveals the restrictions brought on by toxic masculinity, not just for women and gender non-conforming people, but for cis men as well. Speed through the quick pages of Shraya’s gripping prose and watch her endure the lifetime that she has fought to have.

Page count: 96