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After nearly a decade, I got back into reading just a few years ago, and it took me a few tries to fully dive back in. I couldn’t sit and read for very long, and it took me so long to get through a book that I usually quit before finishing – hardly able to recall the plot. I was thinking about what might have helped me start reading sooner and decided to make a list that might help others looking to get into reading. The books below are all either: under 200 pages, short story collections, or both. They’re also some of my favorite books in recent memory, so I hope you enjoy!
1. The Six Deaths of the Saint by Alix E. Harrow (2022)
Genre: Fantasy – short story
Length: 30 pages
My rating: 4.5 stars
This short story follows a young girl who’s saved by the Saint of War. She becomes the Prince’s favored knight, the greatest warrior the kingdom has ever seen. The Prince gains power. Bards sing her name. All her enemies fear her. But no matter how hard she fights, how much of herself she gives – it’s never enough. Will she ever be able to rest?
This short read is broken into several sections. If you only have a few minutes here or there to pick up a book, this is a great option. You can read little bits when you have the time and still finish the story quickly enough to track the story – a problem I had when I first started reading again.
2. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (2002)
Genre: Science fiction – 8 short stories
Length: 320 pages
My rating: 5 stars
There are eight short stories in this collection, including the story that inspired the movie Arrival. It also includes stories answering the questions, what if:
The tower of Babylon succeeded in reaching Heaven? A hormone intended to heal damaged neurons didn’t stop there and led to ever-increasing intelligence? A mathematician discovered a new proof – one that negated everything we know about mathematics? We encountered aliens, and their language changed our perception of time (Arrival)? The science of naming could bring inanimate objects to life? Metahumans evolved and made human science obsolete? People were pulled into Hell unless they found true devotion? A brain implant could turn off physical attraction and end lookism?
Every short story in this collection was brilliant. They are of varying lengths and fully independent from each other, so you can pick one based on how much time you have and finish it in one go if you’d like. Having a book like this around made it easier to choose a book over scrolling because, again, they’re short enough that I could easily remember the plot and having such varied topics is great for choosing something that fits your mood.
3. So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men by Claire Keegan (2023)
Genre: Contemporary fiction – 3 short stories
Length: 119 pages
My rating: 4 stars
So Late in the Day: Stories of Women and Men includes three short stories. Each story focuses a specific, short period in the protagonist’s life. They largely focus on gender dynamics and explore themes of love, betrayal, and misogyny. The first story follows a man ruminating over a lost love. The second follows a writer and the academic that won’t let them alone. The final is about a married woman planning to indulge in an affair.
These stories are short and incredibly readable. Claire Keegan does an excellent job developing characters and relationships in so few pages. I’d recommend this to people interested in thinking about how relationships develop and change over time.
4. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (1972)
Genre: Horror/mystery
Length: 123 pages
My rating: 4 stars
Joanna and Walter move their family to the idyllic Stepford. At first, it seems like a dream come true, but Joanna struggles to settle in to their new life. As time passes, tension builds. Something is wrong in Stepford, and it’s only a matter of time before the truth comes out.
I doubt I have to say much about this one. This book inspired the 2004 movie of the same name. If you don’t know how the story ends, I encourage you to pick it up without looking into it any more. It’s so well written that the tension is palpable throughout, whether you’re familiar with the story or not, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how it would feel to read this when it first came out. But even reading it knowing the general plot, it’s propulsive, suspenseful, and difficult to put down.
5. To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers (2019)
Genre: Science fiction
Length: 153 pages
My rating: 5 stars
It’s the twenty-second century, and a scientific breakthrough has allowed astronauts to journey across galaxies, exploring planets theorized to hold other lifeforms. Ariadne and her three crewmates are fifteen light-years away from Earth, and fifteen years behind on their knowledge of Earth. When they receive a startling transmission, Ariadne starts detailing their time surveying four inhabited worlds – telling their story to anyone who might be listening.
To Be Taught, If Fortunate is one of the best science fiction stories I’ve ever read. It looks at four people living in isolation as they travel the universe – completely severed from the lives they’ve left behind. Ariadne’s story dives into their relationships and how it feels to be in this unique situation and what it’s like to experience life on other planets. We explore themes around the pursuit of knowledge and what it means to be human. In some ways, it explores the timeless question: what do we owe each other? If literally anything about this sounds interesting to you, I can’t recommend this enough.
Conclusion
That’s what I have for you today. I hope one of these recommendations works for you. Let me know if you pick any of these up, and leave more recommendations in the comments. What books made you want to start reading again?