The 50 Best Contemporary Novels Under 200 Pages

I go through a new list of 50 of the best short contemporary novels to discuss my favourites, books I've meant to read and some I've never heard of before. Let me know your top novels under 200 pages in the comments. Click ‘Show More’ for info & links.
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Emily Temple's article: lithub.com/the...
Short book recommendations: • Short Book Recommendat...
Book to Film: The Sense of an Ending • Book to Film: The Sen...
Books discussed & links:
Mary Robison, Why Did I Ever
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Jenny Offill, Dept. of Speculation
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Denis Johnson, Train Dreams
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Han Kang, tr. Deborah Smith, The Vegetarian
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Milan Kundera, Slowness
www.bookdeposi...
Kazuo Ishiguro, A Pale View of Hills
www.bookdeposi...
Clarice Lispector, tr. Alison Entrekin, Near to the Wild Heart
www.bookdeposi...
Susanna Moore, In the Cut
www.bookdeposi...
Samanta Schweblin, tr. Megan McDowell, Fever Dream
www.bookdeposi...
Garth Greenwell, What Belongs to You
www.bookdeposi...
Ben Lerner, Leaving the Atocha Station
www.bookdeposi...
Don DeLillo, Point Omega
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Thomas Bernhard, tr. Jack Dawson, The Loser
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Danielle Dutton, Margaret the First
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Leonard Michaels, Sylvia
Renata Adler, Speedboat
Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
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Jenny Erpenbeck, tr. Susan Bernofsky, Visitation
Yuri Herrera, tr. Lisa Dillman, Signs Preceding the End of the World
Marguerite Duras, The Lover
Rachel Ingalls, Mrs. Caliban
www.bookdeposi...
Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
Sayaka Murata, tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori, Convenience Store Woman
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Edward St. Aubyn, Never Mind
Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red
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Donald Antrim, Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World
Fleur Jaeggy, tr. Tim Parks, Sweet Days of Discipline
Sara Levine, Treasure Island!!!
www.bookdeposi...
Caesar Aira, tr. Chris Andrews, Ghosts
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Elena Ferrante, tr. Ann Goldstein, The Days of Abandonment
Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine
www.bookdeposi...
Andras Barba, tr. Lisa Dillman, Such Small Hands
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Susan Steinberg, Machine
Julie Otsuka, The Buddha in the Attic
Paula Fox, Desperate Characters
William Maxwell, So Long, See You Tomorrow
Toni Morrison, Sula
Jeanette Winterson, The Passion
James Welch, Winter in the Blood
Max Porter, Grief is the Thing with Feathers
Valeria Luiselli, tr. Christina MacSweeney, Faces in the Crowd
Tobias Wolff, Old School
Lorrie Moore, Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?
Penelope Fitzgerald, The Bookshop
Stephen Graham Jones, Mapping the Interior
Ron Hansen, Mariette in Ecstasy
Grace Krilanovich, The Orange Eats Creeps
Justin Torres, We the Animals
Marie Redonnet, tr. Jordan Stump, Hotel Splendid
Ottessa Moshfegh, McGlue
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[@lacasa8640]

When I read ' Convenience Store Woman' I thought of the character as possibly being autistic. My best friend since childhood is autistic. When I had her read it she told me she related to character at times. Without me saying anything she found the character to also show signs of autistim. We both loved it.

[@ChaoticBibliophile]

I think you're totally right! I also like how the book focuses on non-conformity in contemporary Japan, especially from a woman, rather than making her character the whole point.

[@misselder1]

Yes, autistic and sociopath - two very different things.

[@sakurav]

Then again not every quirky or outcast character has to be autistic.

[@Robert.Sheard]

Yay, now I just need 315 more titles to have my read-a-book-a-day-for-a-year project.

[@deestrip6848]

This is exactly what I was looking for!!! Thank you!!

[@EricKarlAnderson]

🤗📚

[@AliHammoud1]

I think The Sense Of An Ending is one of the underrated novels out there...I read it twice and both times it hit me in the heart...it's really gorgeous and profound.

[@mradcaqbdb]

Look what you’ve made me do. I just sent an email to my local indie asking them to order Fever Dream, Margaret the First, The Mezzanine, Autobiography of Red, and Faces in the Crowd. 😁 Thanks for doing this video. I had missed this list. I love short books!

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Oh that's great and I hope you enjoy them all! 📚

[@kellygrant4759]

Thanks for the list. Lots I've never heard of and have added them to my tbr.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

📚

[@TheSalMaris]

Thank you, I love lists like this. Short books not on the list: Calvino’s Cosmicomics, Grass’s Cat and Mouse, Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, Barnes Nightwood, Drager’s The Archive of Alternate Endings, Crawford’s Log of the S. S. the Mrs. Unguentine, Aleman’s Poso Wells, Fuentes The Old Gringo, et al . . .

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Fab additions! I love Nightwood.

[@mickyboymick5210]

What a coincidence! This afternoon, I finished reading my book and I searched on Google for excellent books below 200 pages. After about an hour's deliberation, I could not make my mind up and ended up reading Rebecca, some 432 pages. I'm now going to have a detailed look see of your video to come up with some ideas.

[@filmfanatic9084]

I read Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go’ a few weeks ago for uni and loved it!! I’m just about to start Ishiguro’s ‘The remains of the day’. Thank you for the insightful video!

[@eddie_d1233]

Remains of the Day is one of my all time favorite books.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Fab! And I highly recommend his novel The Unconsoled which is a very different style for his writing but I loved it.

[@Sherlika_Gregori]

Clarice Lispector is an amazing writer. I’m one of the lucky ones who can read her in the original language, but I was able to compare the translation of The Hour of the Star and is very good.

[@panchikasrigate7076]

You are so nice. I love your vibe so much. 💕

[@AuburnAfterglow]

The Days of Abandonment is such a great book! Highly recommended!! :) I've only read two Ferrante books so far, this one and recently her first novel Troubling Love (also below 200pp) :) I want to start My Brilliant Friend later this year but we'll see... I don't like starting a series... but Ferrante's writing is so good so I'm sure it's worth it! Other short books I really liked: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - M.Spark The Ice Palace - T.Vesaas Ghost Wall - S.Moss Silk / Mr Gwyn - A.Baricco Flaubert’s Parrot - J.Barnes

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Fab additions! I feel like there are many Muriel Spark novels that would qualify.

[@ChaoticBibliophile]

I ADORE short books that are well done. I think they are really hard to do since you can't really hide bad plotting/writing in under 200 pages. There are lots of books on the list that I wholeheartedly support! Of the ones you haven't read, Train Dreams and The House on Mango Street are really good. I would add Ghachar Ghochar to this list. Some books I really want to get to are: Speedboat, What belongs to you, Slowness, Old School, The Lover, Autobiography of Red, The Bookshop, We the Animals, The Passion, and The Buddha in the Attic. I really didn't click with Margaret the First, but I was so interested in the real Margaret that I might give the novel another chance (also because I think I might have been in the wrong mood to really enjoy it the first time around).

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Yes, you're so right about how challenging it is for an author to keep a book short and make it so impactful! And Ghachar Ghochar is one I've been meaning to get to for ages as it's been sitting on my shelf since it was published. I know several readers that had mixed reactions to Margaret the First and I wonder how I'll feel about it if I reread it because I think you're right that part of what makes the book initially compelling is just what a fascinating historical figure she was.

[@ChaoticBibliophile]

@@EricKarlAnderson Ohhhh I hope you enjoy it when you read it! I think it's very layered and interesting, but some people dislike it because they don't get along with the characters. That's interesting, I've only seen people rave about Margaret the First so I thought it was only me. We'll see if I ever reread it.

[@RickMacDonnell]

This was awesome, Eric. Absolutely loved this. What a great resource this video is going to be for people (myself included!). A few that I would add to the list: Of Mice and Men, Ethan Frome, and Waiting For the Barbarians. And a few lesser known books: Dragonflies by Grant Buday and Grendel by John Gardner.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Thanks Rick! Yes, Ethan Frome!. And I've not yet read those others though I know it's a crime not to have read that Steinbeck.

[@ejazhusseini1888]

I've read two Kundera's novels. 'The Book of Laughter and Forgetting' and 'The Festival of Insignificance' and in both he mixes philosophy and a sense of lightness and casualness to his writings - which is both profound and easy.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Great, thank you!

[@jeffreyfuller168]

Garth Greenwell's Cleanness is fantastic. It's heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. Thank you for helping me discover this amazing writer through your videos!

[@nealwriter]

I highly recommend The Vegetarian by Han Kang. Not only is it absorbing but it's terrifying near the end. Everything Garth Greenwell writes is gold. Sara Levine was my advisor and mentor in my MFA program. Both she and her novel are incredible!

[@celebrityauthor7942]

Oof -- desperate characters is something special. Just ordered Train Dreams and noted down some more recommendations, thanks!

[@abeilleify]

Thank you for the list! I added so many to my TBR. I loved Margaret the First and would also add to list The White Book by Han Kang (132 pages) and This is How You Lose the Time War by El-Mohtar and Gladstone (179 pages).

[@BJPDesigns]

Thank you for the great novella recommendations. Some I have, many others I will add to my tbr. I’m so lucky that my edition of Margaret the First is signed by Danielle Dutton. If you’d like to read more by Denis Johnson, his book The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is good, although it’s not a novella but of short stories totaling 207 pages. Novella books I’d recommend are not all contemporary but still worth reading are: In the Cafe of Lost Youth by Patrick Modiano, translated by Chris Clarke, published 2007, at 118 pages. Patrick Modiano is a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. He has many excellent books, many are short too. The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas, translated by Elizabeth Rokkan, first published 1963, at 139 pages. The Last Children of Tokyo (also called The Emisary?) by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani, published 2018 at 138 pages. A Tale by Moonlight by Leonard Woolf, Virginia Woolf’s husband, first published 1921 at 72 pages. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, translated by William Weaver published 1972 at 165 pages. This is a book of very imaginative stories about different kinds of places. We used this book in an art class to draw a story of our choice.

[@jennarorison738]

this video is exactly what I was looking for today! I'm preparing to go back for my 4th year of university in September and wanted some short novel recs for which I can easily make time!! I have added a number of books to my TBR after watching this and I can't wait to check them out :) I've watched a number of your videos and I love your channel and enthusiasm towards books!

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Thanks so much! That’s great to hear. Hope you find some good reads. 📚

[@milkcatdog394]

I love short books I’m reading 1Q84 now and I’m just invested in finishing it already so I can move on to shorter novels 😭 I love a good story but I also enjoy the satisfaction finishing them Also! I recommend Into the Miso Soup and Kitchen

[@hartereads]

I started reading The Victorian Chaise-Logue that you recommended previously. I love it! It's only 99 pages.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Oh great! Glad you loved it too

[@MarcNash]

Lispector, Carson & Denis Johnson are three authors who I'm determined to read all their novels. I haven't read "Near To The Wild Heart" yet so I'm not sure how representative it is of her astoundingly good oeuvre. Johnson never writes the same book twice, very different. Train Dreams is very good. By sheer coincidence I'm currently reading "The Autobiography Of Red". BTW just because Lispector's novels are short, doesn't mean you can read them in an afternoon! They are so intense, you have to come up for air as a reader.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Yes, very good point. Some short novels really demand and deserve a lot of time - as well as rereadings!

[@mian2286]

Autobiography of Red is amazing --feel like it's very under read these days considering it was so influential for a lot of big name writers (Ocean Vuong and Madeline Miller).

[@EricKarlAnderson]

I've fallen in love with her writing! She's incredible.

[@christinefortner7725]

I also found The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes quite compelling & remember it stayed with me for a long time after. I have added several of these to my list & thank you so much for sharing! 🌷

[@eddie_d1233]

Train Dreams and The Sense of an Ending were both super, memorable books. Loved both. I wrote down some others, because short novels or novellas can be just the thing for a shortened attention span right now for me. I just finished the under 200 page The Housekeeper and the Professor which was touching. Thanks for this long, short list. I will refer back to it when I need to!

[@mikeshreds4real]

Thank you for this list, Karl.

[@pennygraham3767]

I interrupted my reading of Jenny Offill’s weather to watch your video. I am loving it probably as much as Dept. of Speculation. What a good list and thanks for the links. I have read a few of those mentioned- sense of an ending and the lover. Will look for many others. Thanks Eric.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Yay, so glad you're enjoying Weather!

[@TheFloMachine]

it's really strange, but I seem to never really manage to like short novels very much, I never seem to be able to properly get into them or care for the characters because I know I won't "know" them for long. That being said, a couple of the ones mentioned here seem really interesting and I want to give them a try!

[@basketca2]

I feel "Some Hope" is a more interesting book by St Aubyn ("Mother's Milk" is my favourite, but that one is over 200 pages), but you can't really read it without having read the first two books in the series. Honestly, all of them are great in very different ways. Ian McEwan is has some good novellas, but I need more than one day to read them because they seem too intense for me ;) "Amsterdam" was quite a trip (and it feels so of the moment, even though it was published in 1998) and "On Chesil Beach" was really touching. I'd also add "The Testament of Mary" by Colm Tóibín. It's under 100 pages so it's a quick read.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

I really need to get to reading On Chesil Beach. And, though I normally love Tóibín's writing, The Testament of Mary weirdly had little effect on me. I think I need to read it again.

[@arkadeepchakraborty9665]

Thank you Eric for this keep inspiring me

[@JentheLibrarianreads]

A Pale View of the Hills is exceptional, I think it’s one of my favourite Ishiguro novels (and I love them all, so I can really recommend this)

[@kirsten0929]

I really liked Leaving the Atocha Station and Sense of an Ending and quite a few others on this list. Just got Renata Adler's Speedboat. So many more that I would love to check out. Will keep the list handy!

[@KellieRobinson965]

Every work I hear of by Anne Carson seems so impactful and interesting! I better start reading. Thanks for the video :) I really like l novellas and I feel like a lot of people glance over them because they're often the same price as novels, and they see it as worse value. But as you said, novellas allow for really intense books and atmospheres which would be 'too much' or difficult to follow if extended to a novel.

[@MrSeanfrisco]

'The Horned Man' by James Lasdun packs a lot of creepy dread and bizarro scenarios before it races to a fitting ending. A very accomplished first novel (just under 200 pages). And one, many years later, I still often find myself thinking about.

[@andrewrussell2845]

Hi Eric, great work! I loved Julian Barnes The Sense of An Ending but am afraid to watch the film in case it shatters the magic of the book.

[@matchasketch8224]

I actually had that somewhat disappointed experience reading The Sense of an Ending last year (as well as when I was reading All The Light We Cannot See) but I’ll definitely try reading it again sometime in the future, perhaps when I’m a bit older. Thanks for the great video as always Eric!

[@alanshadastrokeanddiedinho2897]

Enjoyed the video. One of the authors that I have come across is from Korea. Jung Young Moon. His first novel; Vaseline Budda, a tragicomic odyssey told through free association. The novel comes in at just over 200 pages.

[@SMOgamer10]

First comment! At night I like to read 1 book for hours

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Hi Sam! That's great!

[@sophipolitain]

Speedboat is considered a modern classic in US because of its quality. I plan to read her other novel as well. I totally recommend R. Adler. Great insights BTW. I wonder if you plan to do the same with the list of 50 over 500 pages.

[@pegthebookprizeaddict579]

This looks like it would be a great summer challenge (as soon as I get the 4 prize longlists I am working on now done!)🙋‍♀️❤️📚

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Fab! 🤗📚

[@judybrown1624]

I had the same experience with The Sense of an Ending.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

👍📚

[@AliHammoud1]

The Convenience Store Woman is such a treat...I think it should be a textbook about social politics and individualism...any recommendations for similar books pls? Earthlings is a mad dark trip, I wasn't sure if I should be laughing or horrified while reading it...loved it to pieces!

[@joniheisenberg6691]

“In The Cut “ is a very good book ( much better than the movie ). Highly recommend “Everyman” ( winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award ) by Philip Roth.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Oh yes, I'd entirely forgotten about Everyman. That is an excellent short novel.

[@johnhunt8388]

Thanks Eric for this video. I think it is just what I needed right now. I have started two fiction books this week and both have ended up back in the bookcase not finished. I just don't seem to be able to read a good fiction book at the moment. I am coping with non-fiction just about but fiction I don't seem to be able to get into. I have loads of books I want to read but am scared to start as I know I won't read them cover to cover right now. I am not good at going back to a book I have already started so it would be a waste to start something I am excited about and not ever finish reading it. I think I am finding it hard to concentrate plus being at home all of the time makes me more tired than ever. Plus there are constant worries always in the background that distract. These books being so short might be a solution to the problem. As you said they could in most cases be read in a couple of hours or an afternoon. I have only read one on the list and that is Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. I did like that book and was pleased I had read it but I didn't feel it lived up to all of the hype surrounding it. I was expecting a bit more. I am looking forward to her new release though. Seven books on the list did excite me though. 1. Jeanette Winterson - The Passion - I love Jeanette Winterson she is such a wonderful writer and so different from a lot of other authors around today in her style. I have not read this book however so now might be the time. 2. The Mezzanine - Nicholson Baker - I liked the sound of this book when you spoke about it and you said it made you laugh as well so that is a plus. 3. Jenny Offill - Dept. of Speculation - I have this on my Kindle but have yet to read. I got it as I loved Weather so much and wanted to see what Jenny's other work was like. 4. Fever Dream - Samatha Schweblin - I love Samatha's writing style and think she is very talented at writing creepy stories that said I have yet to read this book by her. 5. Garth Greenwell - What Belongs to You - I have heard good things about this book and am keen to read it. 6. Margaret The First - Danielle Dutton - I think this sounds interesting and you obviously liked it a lot. 7. The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros - I have been meaning to get a copy of this book for ages as I loved the sound of it and it always had good reviews, maybe now is the time? I had a bit of fun as I was bored and needed something exciting to do and complied a list of my top 12 favourite book covers from this list of books. Here they are: 1. The Passion by Jeannette Winterson 2. Margaret The First by Danielle Dutton 3. Mapping the Interior by Stephen Graham Jones 4. The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker 5. What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell 6. Leaving the Station by Ben Lerner 7. Sylvia by Leonard Michaels 8. Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen 9. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell 10. Speedboat by Renata Adler 11. Such Small Hands by Andres Barba 12. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Thank you! It's definitely challenging to read during this time for a number of reasons and I think short books of fiction like these could be a good way to reignite your passion for fiction. And I agree with a lot of your cover choices! So good.

[@johnhunt8388]

@@EricKarlAnderson I just wanted to say that I downloaded The Passion by Jeannette Winterson at lunch time yesterday. My plan was to read it today but by 8pm last night it was read and finished. Wow what a book. Absolutely amazing. Loved it. Just got to decide what to read next. Alot of those suggested books you can't get on the Kindle sadly. Thanks for inspiring me.

[@misselder1]

I enjoyed Pale View of Hills a lot and Marietta in Ecstasy. Ron Hansen’s writing is so gorgeous. I preferred his novels Exiles and Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Ah okay, I’ll look those up as well 📚

[@kimswhims8435]

Max Porter's books are excellent. Another book I've loved - Red at The Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

[@justinastonyte6098]

I would definitely include Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Oh I've been wanting to read that!

[@tokyochemist]

I love a good novella and added a few of these to my wishlist.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

👍📚

[@ashTame]

I just have to add Nicola Barker's I Am Sovereign. Hilarious, moving, profound, engaging. A favourite of mine from last year, which I've already reread twice.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Oh great, yeah I thought it was a really interesting novel but I don't think I loved it as much.

[@mytherapygarden3909]

Now is the perfect time for reading. Wanna be friends

[@augustinegeorge980]

Do you have a theory why we are drawn to shorter books during this self-isolation time?I find it harder to read longer works these days and mostly try to spend more time with comic books or short stories.

[@EricKarlAnderson]

I guess maybe it is about how attention span is effected by anxiety. At first, I certainly couldn't pay attention to my book for longer than a few pages without stopping to look at the news or do some mindless activity.

[@musik102]

For some reason, mentioning the page length of each book irritated me. All we need to know is that there under 200 pages (unless one was very short).

[@anaovejero103]

I remember the stars on your face as a homage to Margaret the First!!!

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Haha, I should get creative taking selfies with books again but that cover really was so tempting to emulate! 😄

[@thetributary8089]

I cannot recommend Dennis Johnson enough. Any serious reader of literature has to read him.

[@Gagging4Lit]

Sad no Gwendoline Riley made this list. Autobiography of Red is awesome. Nevermind by Edward St Aubyn I didn't like, actually. One scene was very upsetting and all the characters apart from the child were vile. Normally I love reading about horrible characters so it was strange to me. Seemed to not have anything good to say about humanity, and that all upper class people are vile lol. This list is a great idea anyhow. I like punchy short novels.

[@karla_blackbooker]

Hello! I like your videos and your channel, but please 🙏, when you mount a video, make the sound louder 🙏 Thank you

[@KDbooks]

People can read a book in an afternoon?!?!!

[@Christine-jg2ch]

Possibly people with no kids or animals demanding constant attention 😂

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Ha, it does take good concentration and reading pace.

[@KDbooks]

Eric Karl Anderson my concentration is appalling!!! I can do 30 pages a day MAX and that takes at least an hour. I am a horrid reader....

[@KDbooks]

Christine 4 cats, a 1 year old and another in the way, have I scored high marks?

[@yomismo74]

Well, a list always offer a lot of possibilities so i tried The Mezzanine and Sweet days of discipline and well, thing didn't went as i expected because i really disliked both. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. At least both were short

[@LuizaRocha04]

I’m so glad Clarice Lispector is on this list. She is one of our most beloved authors in Brazil. Her short stories are to die for as well.

[@Sherlika_Gregori]

Luiza Rocha and they’re also translated into English.

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

The only one I’ve read is The Book Shop. Not a great book. Not a great film. The Ballad of Lucy Gault by William Trevor is short and very memorable. I read Connivence Store Woman as a character on autism spectrum. I’ve read all of the Edward St Aubyn via audio.