Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Top Ten Best One-Night Reads


I often have people tell me,
"I don't have time to read."

If you are one of those people,
this is the list for you.

All of these books are
books you can finish in one night.




(Note: A great resource for short books is
David Major and John Major's guide, 100 One-Night Reads.
I chose, for this Top Ten,
books that were not listed in that guide.)



We Sinners: A Novel
by Hanna Pylvainen

The vexations and consolations of religion.




A Room With a View
by E. M. Forster

Relationships.
Plus Italy.




The Principles of Uncertainty
by Maira Kalman

I love Maira Kalman.
She writes children's picture books,
but The Principles of Uncertainty is not one of these.
Though you might call it a grownup picture book.




South of the Border,
West of the Sun
by Haruki Murakami

How many pages is Murakami's 1Q84?
A million pages?
And what does it mean? Nothing, really.
And everything.

I suggest you try South of the Border instead
and get your nothing-and-everything in 
one sustained night of reading.



Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
by Amy Krause Rosenthal

Rosenthal mostly writes children's picture books,
which are surprising and delightful
(you really must read her Little Pea if you haven't)
but this is a gentle story of a small life
that we grownups can finish off in an evening.





The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde

For the sake of full disclosure,
I must tell you that this is not a real book,
but a play, 
but don't let that put you off.
It's Oscar Wilde, after all,
and it's full of delightful clever-ness and fun.





Not Quite What I Was Planning:
Six-Word Memoirs
by Famous & Obscure Writers

A great challenge:
tell the story of your life
in just six words.
You will finish this book in an hour
and spend the rest of the evening
trying to work on your own six-word life story.





How to Be Perfect
by Ron Padgett

It's poetry, but give it a chance.
It's fabulous.




Read these. 
You can read one of these books in one evening.
I promise you will not be sorry.




Do you have other suggestions for short books for me?
Please share them.















Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list that one of our bloggers here at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so that everyone can check out other bloggers lists! If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow bloggers.

29 comments:

  1. What a fantastic list idea! I haven't read any of these, but definitely that Marukami book is where I'll start with his readings - you're right IQ84 is daunting!

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    Replies
    1. I am not a person who likes to read long books, but I love short ones.

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  2. Sometimes a short book is just what I need to get back over a hump of mediocre books which cause my desire to read to go down. I haven't read any of these, but recently I read Deadlocked 1 (review Here) and Deadlocked 2 (review Here) which were incredibly fast gruesome reads for the Halloween holiday. And I highly enjoyed them!

    New follower!

    Check out my TTT

    Holly @ Words Fueled by Love

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  3. Great idea for a list, I love Oscar Wilde!

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    Replies
    1. This Oscar Wilde play was one of the best things I've ever read.

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  4. I love a one-night read. I've been saving the Maira Kalman for when I really need to read and love something, because I trust that I will. I really really loved And the Pursuit of Happiness. My recent favorite one sitting reads: John Green, The Fault in Our Stars and David Levithan, The Lover's Dictionary.

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  5. Great list! The Importance of Being Earnest is one of my all-time favorites.
    My Top Ten Favorite Fictional Families: http://wp.me/p2zoUo-fo

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  6. Really good idea for a list. It is good to have some easy reads for when there is too much going on and you just need to fit in some time for reading just to chill.

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  7. I'd add 84 Charing Cross Road, that's an easy evening read.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, that one is in the Major brothers' book. Great choice for those of us who love to read.

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  8. what a great list and I saw some classics in there

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  9. Sea of Ink by Richard Weihe, or pretty much anything by Peirene press who specialise in short literary works that can be read in a couple of hours.

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  10. Great list and great suggestions, thank you for sharing. I saw a movie about The Importance of Being Earnest and loved it :)

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  11. I do love your Top Ten lists, they're always so intriguing. The only one I've read here is The Importance of Being Earnest, perfect inclusion. Wilde is fabulous. I'm a ponderously slow reader, and so I always prefer short reads too.

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    Replies
    1. I don't read slow (wish I did!) but I am always impatient to move on to the next book.

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  12. I didn't know that We Sinners is a one-night read! I just took it off my tbr list. A good book that's a short read is The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for sharing, Natasha. I'm off to add it to my tbr right now.

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  13. I love Oscar Wilde! I took a seminar on him in college and it as one of the best courses I took.

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  14. Shorter books make you feel so accomplished, don't they? Thanks for the suggestions!

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  15. That was a very nice post. Being in research I often have people telling me that they don't understand how do I have time to read after the lab and the articles I have to read. This will be my suggestion from now one, short yet substantial books. On the other hand...I loved 1Q84 :)

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