Since the clocks turned back and daylight hours dwindle on our way to winter, I find less time to read. Dark evenings make me feel less productive, and I am liable to fall asleep on the couch at 7 p.m. while reading. I particularly enjoy short stories and novellas in these moments. They are long enough to satisfy my desire to read and invest time in a story, but short enough to read fully and digest before falling asleep.
I was turned on to novellas when they were included as one of the categories in the Libraries Rock Summer Reading Challenge. I read a few at the time and have returned to this genre over and over. The variety of stories included in anthologies like “The Best American Non-Required Reading” is particularly appealing. You can select a few stories or essays to read according to your mood or interest in a day and leave others for later. Novellas like Valeria Luiselli’s “Faces in the Crowd” might be quick to read, but the themes and characters will stick with you.
If you’re looking for your next short read online, you can also visit LongReads, Epic Media, and The Big Roundtable to explore a wide variety of great writing. For short stories and novellas available at the library, start with this list:
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash.