The Church of Wrestling The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting Carpe Glitter The Church of Wrestling Monster Portraits Carpe Glitter The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting
Bardo Bardo Bardo Monster Portraits The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting Carpe Glitter Monster Portraits
Carpe Glitter Carpe Glitter Bardo The Church of Wrestling The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting Monster Portraits The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting
The Church of Wrestling Monster Portraits Bardo The Church of Wrestling The Church of Wrestling Bardo Monster Portraits

Cheat Code: Short Books to Help You Hit Your Yearly Reading Goal

By Independent Book Review

By Independent Book Review

Right. Left. Down. Down. Down. X. O. Down. Left. O. Left. O. Left. 

 

Yearly reading goal: Unlocked.✨

 

It's November already, somehow. Maybe the months or flying by or I am just reading bigger books, but at least I know I'm not alone. Who else is behind on their yearly reading goal?

 

Good news is: Nobody's counting pages! My favorite not-so-secret to catching up to the amount of books I planned to read in a single year is to dive headlong into novellas, novelettes, and fun-sized chapbooks. Not only are they quick reads that can catapult you to the path you'd planned on being on, but they're also a stellar way to see what magic authors can get up to. Short books are a different beast. How do you make a reading experience feel full under 100 pages? 

 

I've got some ideas!

 

Read one or two or all of these short books to climb your yearly reading goal ladder. They're all worth checking out.

Bardo

Bardo

Joseph Edwin Haeger

$14.99 $13.94

"Unique and meaningfully disorienting—Bardo explores the space between death and rebirth, between vengeance and coming to terms with a guilt-ridden life...In 90 pages, Haeger has captured the depth and meaning of a tome." - Nick Gardner, IBR (STARRED review).

The Church of Wrestling

The Church of Wrestling

Emily Thomas Mani

$16.00

What is it that you do to survive? What do you pray to? Emily Thomas Mani crafts a deeply sympathetic tale with The Church of Wrestling, allowing us to ask questions and believe in what we believe, to take them to new heights, to worship in the church of wrestling, sport.

Monster Portraits

Monster Portraits

Sofia Samatar and del Samatar

$14.95

Tap into incisive little vignettes about various monsters, or not-so-monsters, in this short collection of illustrated fictions or nonfictions about how we view monsters. I absolutely loved this one, and it's a breeze to flip through at your leisure.

The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting

The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting

Veronica Montes

$9.95

And the award to shortest collection goes to...! The Conquered Sits at the Bus Stop, Waiting might be only 16 pages, but each story is so full with deep, resonant emotions that linger. If you like flash and microfiction, I'd definitely recommend this one!

Carpe Glitter

Carpe Glitter

Cat Rambo

$9.95

Hello weird short fiction! This 58-page novella finds a protagonist sorting through a former magician's hoarder house. This one's got some beyond memorable images in it.