Six novels you can read in a day
Reluctant to start on a big masterpiece? Try these small gems instead
FOR A SMALL format the novella carries a lot of baggage—starting with its diminutive. It has long been seen as the middle child of the literary world: it is neither the fully fledged novel, nor the fussed-over baby of the literary family, the short story. Presented with a work of between 60 and 160 pages, agents and editors typically tell an author to scale up or pare back. Melville House, an independent publisher in New York that prides itself on publishing novellas, calls them a “renegade art form”.
Discover more
Books for young children that you can read over and over and over
Parents will enjoy these, too
Books that imagine that history took a different course
What if Hitler had won and Hillary Rodham had broken up with Bill Clinton?
What to read about America’s culture wars
Four books on controversies that helped to shape the presidential election
What to read about grief and bereavement
Six books about feelings that are both universal and unique to the person experiencing them
Books that probe the secrets of the Mossad
Seven books on Israeli intelligence agencies, which are spearheading the offensive against Hizbullah in Lebanon
An introduction to Lebanon, perhaps the next front in a wider war
Four books and a film on a pivotal Middle Eastern country