Novellas in November is hosted by Cathy of 746 Books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck.
Cathy and Rebecca have set a category for each week – there are no rules as such (although they suggest that 150–200 pages is the upper limit for a novella, and post-1980 as a definition of ‘contemporary’).
This year there is also a buddy read – Foster by Claire Keegan, a ‘long short story’ that was the basis for the recent record-breaking Irish-language film The Quiet Girl, which, although I tried, I couldn’t fit into my Melbourne International Film Festival schedule (hopefully there will be another opportunity to see it).
I’m going to use Novellas in November to whip through some of my towering TBR stack. I have lots to choose from. Here are the possibilities:
1–7 November: Short Classics
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (163pp)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote (100pp)
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (194pp)
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (99pp)
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger (199pp)
8–14 November: Novellas in Translation
The Black Lake by Hella S. Haasse (Dutch, 116pp)
Daughters by Lucy Fricke (German, 177pp)
The Book of Everything by Guus Kuijer (Dutch, 112pp)
All Dogs Are Blue by Rodrigo de Souza Leão (Brazilian, 125pp)
Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena (Russian, 192pp)
The Bureau of Past Management by Iris Hanika (German, 178pp)
15–21 November: Short nonfiction
On Mother by Sarah Ferguson (44pp)
The Battle for Home by Marwa al-Sabouni (179pp – although the print is tiny!)
Living with ‘The Gloria Films’ by Pamela J Burry (170pp – more tiny print!)
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis (76pp)
My Two Elaines by Martin J. Schreiber (126pp)
Hooked by Rita Felski (199pp – more tiny print!)
22–28 November: Contemporary novellas (Cathy)
We the Animals by Justin Torres (128pp)
Eve in Hollywood by Amor Towles (91pp)
Brother by David Chariandy (192pp)
Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life by Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle (76pp)
This is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill (97pp)
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (118pp)
Come Rain or Come Shine by Kazuo Ishiguro (78pp)
Of course, no intention of reading all of these, but one or two each week should be manageable. Are any of these ‘must reads’?
I have Eve in Hollywood lined up too! Love these options – I’d highly recommend The Member of the Wedding, Mrs Dalloway (which I love) and Franny & Zooey. I read This is Pleasure last year and found it quite interesting. Small Things Like These is beautiful, but not quite to the standard of Foster. Enjoy!
I just know #NovNov will be terrible for my want list! Some great reads here, hope you enjoy whatever you choose.
Loved Daughters, Brother and Small Things Like These. Soviet Milk is a very tough read but excellent.
I’m so glad you’re looking forward to taking part. Brilliant options here! And so clever to combine it with German Lit month — I think I have just one on the stack that would do double duty (The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe).
I hadn’t realised Ethan Frome was so short. I think I have a copy somewhere so Nov would be a good time to read it
I am looking for tge list I carefully made of novellas….lol. I may end up stealing from your post.
I only know your classics. Absolutely love Franny and Zooey
I don’t read a lot of novellas, so I am tempted to join this challenge, together with Nonfiction November. I have not read any of them but are familiar with some of them. I have Wharton as an e-book and might try that one. Amor Towles is a must. Wolf and Capote are also high on the list.
All of your classics are must reads. I didn’t like Mrs Dalloway personally, but it’s a book that other books draw on, so worth reading for that. I loved all the others on your classics list. I’d go for Soviet Milk, too. That one’s on my wish list. I hope you get through a bunch, Kate.
Oh, and A Grief Observed. That’s worth a read, too.
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As I commented on Cathy’s post, I’m going to have to steal books from ya’lls lists as I am new to the world of Novellas and don’t know a classic from a contemporary. I hope no one minds!
I’ll be combing everyone’s list and then reading whatever I can download immediately from the library.
I’ll try to come better prepared next year!
Steal away! I always come away at the end of the month with a bunch of new titles on my reading list.
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