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’?