Memorial Day weekend is coming up quick, and you know what that means: A whole extra day to READ! (Am I the only one who thinks this?)
Summer is the season of long weekends, and I don’t know about you, but I relish every opportunity I can to pick up a book. On the beach, in front of an open window, on the front porch with a glass of Rosé – you name the place, and I’ll be there with books on. But if you’re a bit of a commitment-phobe, I’ve put together a list of some shorter books that you can finish before the long weekend is up. Get ready to feel really accomplished.
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Hiroshima
John Hersey
Pages: 124
Sooooo this is definitely not the most uplifting book on the list, but I’ve read it so many times that I practically know it by heart. First published in The New Yorker in 1946 (about a year after the nuclear bombing of Japan that effectively ended World War II), Hiroshima is an exceptionally graphic but totally gripping account of that day in 1945 – told through first-hand accounts of the survivors. Given the number of pages and the won’t-be-able-to-put-it-down factor, you could probably finish Hiroshima in a day or less.
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The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
Pages: 128
I know, I know. You were forced to read this in high school by your thousand-year-old English teacher and then write about the symbolism. But I promise – cruising through The Old Man and the Sea for pleasure is an entirely different experience. First of all, there’s no pop quiz. Secondly, Hemingway is really at his best in shorter form, meaning this book. It’s a literary classic that earned Hemingway the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, so it must be worth a read.
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We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Shirley Jackson
Pages: 146
I can’t possibly write a list without including something by Shirley Jackson. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is Jackson’s shortest (and final) book. It follows the lives of the extremely reclusive Blackwood sisters after the death of their entire family years before. If it sounds haunting – it definitely is. But there are such tender and humorous moments that you won’t be able to help feeling a little sad when this book is over.
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Bonjour Tristesse
Françoise Sagan
Page: 160
Fans of all things French, this one’s for you. And by French, I mean… painfully French. Cecile, who is 17 years old, spends the summer with her father and his mistress at their beautiful villa outside of Paris. For being written in 1954, Bonjour Tristesse is a rather risqué little book and would be a perfect accompaniment to a lazy day spent at the beach.
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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Gail Honeyman
Pages: 336
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is double the page count of the rest of the books on this list, but I swear it flies by. I personally finished this book in two days, because I couldn’t put it down. It’s extremely sad, moving, and laugh-out-loud funny all at once. Eleanor’s quirks and demons are relatable enough to make you nod your head in agreement and foreign enough to give you insight into someone entirely different from yourself.
By Emma Lifvergren, Staff Writer
