Hello friends! The end of the year, as per usual, is shaping up to be overwhelming as hell. The holidays, the exam period, trying to finish our reading challenges, and just the general feeling that a decade is ending is bound to make many of us stressed.
As a solution to all that, Kathy @ Books and Munches and Destiny @ Howling Libraries are hosting Short-a-Thon, a read-a-thon that will take place from the 21st of December to the 31st. I’m using this as a helpful little boost to my Goodreads challenge (I mean, yes, I’ve completed it, but I can always read even more. 🙈) Click here to find out more about the read-a-thon, and don’t forget to let me know if you’re joining in on the fun.
If you need suggestions, you can check out my post on 27 short novels and novellas I love.
THE BLOODY CHAMBER & OTHER STORIES
by Angela Carter
Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of such contemporary masters of supernatural fiction as Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Audrey Niffenegger, J. K. Rowling, and Kelly Link, who introduces this edition of Carter’s most celebrated book, published for the seventy-fifth anniversary of her birth.
In The Bloody Chamber – which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves – Carter spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition.
THE SENSE OF AN ENDING
by Julian Barnes
This intense novel follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he has never much thought about – until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance, one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. Tony Webster thought he’d left all this behind as he built a life for himself, and by now his marriage and family and career have fallen into an amicable divorce and retirement. But he is then presented with a mysterious legacy that obliges him to reconsider a variety of things he thought he’d understood all along, and to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.
A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single sitting, with stunning psychological and emotional depth and sophistication, The Sense of an Ending is a brilliant new chapter in Julian Barnes’s oeuvre.
MY NEW CRUSH GAVE TO ME
by Shani Petroff
Charlotte Charlie Donovan knows exactly what she wants for Christmas: Teo Ortiz. He’s the school’s star athlete, in the National Honor Society, invited to every party, contributes to the school paper (where Charlie is co-editor), and is about to be featured as One to Watch in a teen magazine basically, he’s exactly the type of guy Charlie s meant to be with. The only problem he barely knows she exists.
But Charlie is determined to be Teo’s date to the Christmas ball. And she has a plan: To rig the paper’s Secret Santa so that she can win his heart with five perfect gifts. But to do that she needs help. Enter J.D. Ortiz Teo s cousin, and possibly the most annoying person on the planet. He’s easy going, laid back, unorganized, spontaneous, and makes a joke out of everything the exact opposite of Charlie (and Teo). But he’s willing to provide insight into what Teo wants, so she s stuck with him.
Yet, the more time Charlie spends with J.D., the more she starts to wonder: Does she really know what, or rather who, she wants for Christmas?
ALL AMERICAN MUSLIM GIRL
by Nadine Jolie Courtney
Allie Abraham has it all going for her—she’s a straight-A student, with good friends and a close-knit family, and she’s dating cute, popular, and sweet Wells Henderson. One problem: Wells’s father is Jack Henderson, America’s most famous conservative shock jock…and Allie hasn’t told Wells that her family is Muslim. It’s not like Allie’s religion is a secret, exactly. It’s just that her parents don’t practice and raised her to keep her Islamic heritage to herself. But as Allie witnesses ever-growing Islamophobia in her small town and across the nation, she begins to embrace her faith—studying it, practicing it, and facing hatred and misunderstanding for it. Who is Allie, if she sheds the façade of the “perfect” all-American girl? What does it mean to be a “Good Muslim?” And can a Muslim girl in America ever truly fit in?
GIRLS ON THE VERGE
by Sharon Biggs Waller
Camille couldn’t be having a better summer. But on the very night she learns she got into a prestigious theater program, she also finds out she’s pregnant. She definitely can’t tell her parents. And her best friend, Bea, doesn’t agree with the decision Camille has made.
Camille is forced to try to solve her problem alone . . . and the system is very much working against her. At her most vulnerable, Camille reaches out to Annabelle Ponsonby, a girl she only barely knows from the theater. Happily, Annabelle agrees to drive her wherever she needs to go. And in a last-minute change of heart, Bea decides to come with.
SNOWED IN
by Rachel Hawthorne
Seventeen-year-old Ashleigh is about to experience a lot of things for the first time. 1) Snow. She and her mom are moving from sunny Texas to an icy island in the middle of Lake Michigan, which is completely snowbound. As in, no cars, just sleighs. 2) Small-town life. The icy island? Yep, it’s tiny. Like, 30 people in the whole high school tiny. And scariest of all: 3) Boys. Of course they had boys in Texas. But none of them were as irresistible—or as hard to figure out—as Josh Wynter. And before the snow melts, Ashleigh might also be falling in love …
SICK KIDS IN LOVE
by Hannah Moskowitz
Isabel has one rule: no dating.
It’s easier–
It’s safer–
It’s better–
–for the other person.
She’s got issues. She’s got secrets. She’s got rheumatoid arthritis.
But then she meets another sick kid.
He’s got a chronic illness Isabel’s never heard of, something she can’t even pronounce. He understands what it means to be sick. He understands her more than her healthy friends. He understands her more than her own father who’s a doctor.
He’s gorgeous, fun, and foul-mouthed. And totally into her.
Isabel has one rule: no dating.
It’s complicated–
It’s dangerous–
It’s never felt better–
–to consider breaking that rule for him.
THE CRY
by Helen Fitzgerald
He’s gone. And telling the truth won’t bring him back…
When a baby goes missing on a lonely roadside in Australia, it sets off a police investigation that will become a media sensation and dinner-table talk across the world.
Lies, rumours and guilt snowball, causing the parents, Joanna and Alistair, to slowly turn against each other.
Finally Joanna starts thinking the unthinkable: could the truth be even more terrible than she suspected? And what will it take to make things right?
The Cry is a dark psychological thriller with a gripping moral dilemma at its heart and characters who will keep you guessing on every page.
A HOLIDAY BY GASLIGHT
by Mimi Matthews
A Courtship of Convenience
Sophie Appersett is quite willing to marry outside of her class to ensure the survival of her family. But the darkly handsome Mr. Edward Sharpe is no run-of-the-mill London merchant. He’s grim and silent. A man of little emotion—or perhaps no emotion at all. After two months of courtship, she’s ready to put an end to things.
A Last Chance for Love
But severing ties with her taciturn suitor isn’t as straightforward as Sophie envisioned. Her parents are outraged. And then there’s Charles Darwin, Prince Albert, and that dratted gaslight. What’s a girl to do except invite Mr. Sharpe to Appersett House for Christmas and give him one last chance to win her? Only this time there’ll be no false formality. This time they’ll get to know each other for who they really are.
ALL THE LITTLE BONES
by Ellie Marney
A teenage trapeze artist and an apprentice strongman on the run from a terrible crime…
Seventeen-year-old Sorsha Neary’s life is changed in one night when she defends herself behind the vans of her family circus troupe. Now Sorsha and apprentice strongman Colm Mackay are travelling south, to evade the fallout and escape the long arm of the law. All they have in their favour is talent, an old promise, and slim acquaintance with the crew members and performers of their new home, Klatsch’s Karnival. But the question for Sorsha and Colm isn’t if the police will catch up with them, but when…
Let’s chat!
Are you doing Short-A-Thon? Did you set a challenge for yourself? Have you completed it? Have you read any of these? What are your favorite short books?
I’m not doing short-a-thon… I’ve finished my Goodreads challenge and have several books I want to finish before the end of the year, so that doesn’t work for me. I hope you like these books though! And good luck with all your exams!
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Thank you!! 🙂 Good luck on finishing the books you want to! 🙂
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I am not doing short-a-thon but am doing a different on instagram. I am one away from my goodreads goal.
MY TTT
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Good luck on reaching your goodreads goal!!
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Thank you. I just did a few days ago.
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I read that Barnes book, and it was… okay… unmemorable. However, his “The Noise of Time” was wonderful!
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I’ll add that one to my tbr as well!
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It’s always nice to read some short books when you’ve got a lot going on in daily life. Haven’t read any of these but All American Muslim Girl and Girls on the Verge Sound great!
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Every. Single. One. Sounds like such a cute, fun read! I’ll have to try some of these this winter! Short-a-thon also sounds perfect, I’ll have to check my Goodreads TBR to see if I can join in!
My TTT
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You can define what counts as short for you, so even with 400 page long books, you can join, haha. Hope you do. 🙂
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I loved My New Crush Gave to Me. It’s a fast and fun read!! Sick Kids in Love is one I need to read as well.
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I’m so excited for My New Crush Gave to Me!! I’m ready for all the Christmas romance!
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An interesting list, Circus Hearts caught my attention. https://pmprescott.blogspot.com/2019/12/ttt-winter-tbr-list.html
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I’m intrigued by Sick Kids in Love.
My TTT.
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A Holiday by Gaslight and Snowed In just sound really adorable!
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I find myself reaching for shorter books at the end of the year as well, especially when I’m behind on my reading goals. Right now, I’m 30 books behind on my Goodreads reading challenge goal of 200 books. Ha ha. I never reach 200, but I always try!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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You’re braver than me, haha. I always aim safe. 🙈
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Girls on the Verge and All-American Muslim Girl both sound good–great selections!
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What a great idea for a challenge! It’s fun to get a bunch of books (novellas) read right before the end. I love the look of Snowed In. I hope it’s good!
My TTT.
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Last year’s short-a-thon really helped me get a lot of my manga read. Hahaha. Good luck!
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
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I read The Bloody Chamber for school a long time ago, and it’s one of the very few books I liked after studying it. I’m not participating in short-a-thon but I do like the idea of it! 🙂
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I love this take. I want to read My New Cush Gave to Me, and Sick Kids in Love at some point. Here is my post- https://paigesofbook.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-ten-tuesday-winter-tbr.html.
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Great list. I’ve heard really good things about Girls on the Verge, though I still haven’t gotten around to reading it yet either.
Krystianna @ Volumes and Voyages
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I’ve only read The Bloody Chamber from this list, and I loved it! The rest of them sound good, but I haven’t read them… yet.
Happy Reading! 🙂
My Top Ten Tuesday!
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I spy two of my 5-star reads up there – Sick Kids and My New Crush. Gosh! I adored those books. They made me all warm, fuzzy and happy.
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I’m super-excited for those two, Sam, so I’m happy you loved them 😀
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I’m always keen to add more short reads to my list whether they’re festive or not! I haven’t heard of the majority of these but I’m keen to check out a few of these, like Sick Kids in Love and A Holiday by Gaslight! My New Crush Gave to Me sounds really cute too 😍Good luck and have fun with the readathon!
My TTT post
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Sick Kids in Love sounds FANTASTIC, esp. because I’ve heard fantastic things about the author. Thank you! 🙂
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Best of luck for this readathon, I hope you’ll do great! I’m really curious about Sick Kids in Love, I keep hearing incredible things about this book. I hope you’ll love it 🙂
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Thank you, Marie! Same – everyone I’ve seen reading it has loved it, which is super promising.
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I’m so glad you’re joining, and what a great TBR! 😍 Good luck! I loved Girls on the Verge, and A Holiday By Gaslight was one of my top favorite books of 2018, so I especially hope you enjoy both of those!
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Thanks, and thank you for hosting the readathon, Destiny! 🙂 I’m currently reading A Holiday By Gaslight, and oh my god, it is SO CUTE, I adore it. 😀
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Yay, I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!
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Ahh, the bloody chamber and sick kids love and all american girl are all on my wishlist! I am so curious to see what you will make of those ones 😀
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I’ll definitely try to do an update post for the readathon, and I’m really excited for those!
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My goodreads challenge is always either at 1 or 12 books so I manage to complete it quite quickly and so I don’t have the pressure of seeing “you’re x books behind your challenge” which just makes me see reading as a chore and not as a hobby. I haven’t read this past week and probably won’t pick any more books before the year ends. I was participating in the magical winter readathon and in week 4 everything went downhill with christmas and such but good luck with the short a thon!
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I set mine to a manageable number exactly because of those “you’re x books behind your challenge” messages. I’ve seen other bloggers post about them and even just seeing them makes me nervous, haha. Reading shouldn’t be a chore, like you said. My December was terrible reading-wise; the exams, holidays, and everything else pushed me into a reading slump, so I barely read anything… and kind of failed short-a-thon, haha. I’ll try to tackle these books in January to boost my reading challenge.
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