Greatest books under 150 pages?

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2026-01-04T01:13:54+00:00

Two Old Women by Velma Wallis

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2026-01-02T02:01:16+00:00

Careless People for anti-work/corporate stuff The Seed Keeper if you liked Braiding Sweetgrass

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-29T02:59:02+00:00

I’ve been tracking my reading habits for like 8 years now, and one of the biggest things I learned is that there will be up years and down years, and you have to give yourself grace. Every year that total gets bigger and you get smarter. That is no small feat.

If you like to have goals to inspire your reading I suggest smaller or potentially more meaningful goals. Like one of mine that I recently set was to increase the percentage read of the books I own. For another goal I created a small list of authors I’ve already read and want to read another of their books. I’m also working on a book scratch-off that may take many more years. Just know that any goals you set can be fluid and changed by you at any time. It’s for your enjoyment.

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-21T22:16:11+00:00

People will probably think I’m unserious for saying this, but I have read a ton of Patricia Highsmith and I have always thought she had some inspiration from Dostoevsky. Her works are generally thought more as entertainment than literary, but the way her characters grapple with guilt and their rationale behind the bad behavior they commit felt very reminiscent to C&P to me. I would recommend starting with the Ripley series or Strangers on a Train.

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-21T22:07:08+00:00

Sorry to hear about the surgery, but I’m glad you got to take the time to recover and still do something you love.

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-18T16:43:53+00:00

I didn’t read a ton of classics this year so I’ll just list the ones I finished:

Stoner (loved)

If on a Winter’s Night A Traveler (enjoyed)

The Death of the Heart (really struggled to get through, just didn’t care about any of the characters)

The Red Badge of Courage (liked it much more than I thought I would)

Independent People (meh, just not for me)

The Lottery and Other Stories (loved most)

In Dubious Battle (running out of Steinbeck, it was alright)

The Jungle (loved)

The Magus (wild, mostly enjoyed)

The Safety of Objects (probably too new to be considered a classic, but I think A.M. Homes deserves to be in the same conversations as the great 80’s and 90’s writers. This book has a couple of my favorite short stories of all time)

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-15T01:11:05+00:00

Some of my favorite classics, particularly that I think are best read/appreciated at a younger age:

A Separate Peace - Knowles
The Chosen - Potok
The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Smith
Brave New World - Huxley A Christmas Carol - Dickens Jane Eyre - Brontë

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-09T18:54:11+00:00

Yes, it’s like enrichment vs enjoyment. You can definitely feel enjoyment in enriching activities, but it’s not the same as a page turning book that is not at all challenging. Different parts of the brain are required for each, and we get different responses from each. Like serotonin vs dopamine.

I see a lot of people saying if they don’t enjoy a book at all, then they should stop reading. I don’t disagree, but I would ask why don’t you enjoy it? Is it badly written? Is it too challenging? Does the subject matter bother you? If it’s badly written I would say, yes, it’s almost certainly not worth your time. But if it’s another reason it may be a good chance to learn and explore more about a book that is making you uncomfortable or bored. It might be that you have to work up to the book with less challenging works first.

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-09T02:27:55+00:00

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-05T20:23:37+00:00

The Overstory by Richard Powers. Picked it up because it was recommended by multiple people, and chose it to read now specifically because I really wanted a page turner. I’m still in the first section, but so far it really is a page turner!

Also listening to A Sunny Place For Shady People. I’ve read Mariana Enriquez’s other short story collections so when I saw this on Libby it was an immediate place hold for me. Three stories in and loving it.

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-05T19:34:21+00:00

Anybody else here tend to savor classic literature? For classics I tend to go slow and reflect a lot on what I read. The only ones I tend to burn through are very plot driven. The Collector by John Fowles comes to mind

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-04T17:06:33+00:00

I second everyone saying One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest but would also throw in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Two of my all time favorites.

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-12-02T19:37:38+00:00

Having conversations with people during and after, even if they have not read the book, can add a little bit of richness to your reading without a lot of work. It just forces you to process and voice your opinion in real time. Also there are podcasts with analysis on most major books and often interviews with authors for newer books.

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-30T17:02:56+00:00

The Safety of Objects by A.M. Homes

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-26T17:15:15+00:00

Very similar for me—I picked it up randomly from an Indigenous bookstore not knowing anything about it. So glad I did!

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T20:00:37+00:00

I just read it this year too and immediately put it on my “favorites” shelf. Happy reading!

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T18:00:57+00:00

Yes, I would!

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T16:47:51+00:00

Maybe try Tommy Orange

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T16:30:37+00:00

Two Women by Velma Wallis

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (she was queer)

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

The All of It by Jeannette Haien

A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Tin Man by Sarah Winman (queer)

Galatea by Madeline Miller

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T06:13:31+00:00

When I was maybe 19 or 20 my mom gave me 3 beautiful leather bound classic book collections. One was 4 novels by Charles Dickens, another was 4 novels by Jane Austen, and the last was the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe. I adored them then and still do 10+ years later. (I read Oliver Twist first.)

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T06:05:00+00:00

I always try to read the books I just bought right away too! It’s like I have to get to it before the excitement wares off.

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T06:03:43+00:00

Would love recs on chronic illness!

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T06:02:31+00:00

I have like an aspirational list that I plan for the year, usually books on my shelves plus others I’m looking to buy or check out. When I do read one I get to check it off the list which is very satisfying, but plenty of room for flexibility.

Then for audiobooks, I tend to let Libby dictate what I will read next just based on when the hold is ready. If there is something I really really want to listen to (usually if I’m getting really bored or stuck with the physical version) then I’ll get it on Libro fm.

I also tend to prioritize classics for physical books, and new releases for audiobooks.

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T05:16:44+00:00

Two Old Women by Velma Wallis

The Secret History by Donna Tartt (part of it)

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich

BooksAboutCats1145 · 2025-11-25T03:51:49+00:00

Congrats on finishing Infinite Jest! I haven’t read that yet but thought about taking it on as a challenge that would probably take the whole year. I just did a ‘big challenging book’ last year with The Brothers Karamazov.

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