Blogmas #5: 10 Short Books To Read to Catch Up On Your Goodreads Goal

Hi all!

It’s Blogmas day 5 and today I’m bringing you a collection of short books you can read to catch up on your Goodreads goal before the end of 2020! All under 200 pages!

I’ve managed to complete my Goodreads goal this year — I always set my goal at 50 books and manage to easily complete that — but I know there’s quite a few people out there who haven’t yet.

So this post is for you! And tomorrow, I’ll be sharing some graphic novels to read to also catch up on your Goodreads goal.

Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants by Mathias Énard (144 pages)

This is one of my favourite books ever, and something I think more people need to read. I adore it so damn much!

It’s a fictional novella based on real historical events when Michelangelo was invited by the Sultan of Constantinople to design a bridge. Michelangelo flees Rome after he angers the pope and arrives in Constantinople for his epic project that he hopes will supersede Leonardo Da Vinci. There, he uncovers the beauty of the Ottoman Empire, and struggles to created what will be his most genius architectural masterpiece.

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The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht (160 pages)

If you like Horror and queer rep, then you definitely should read this book! It’s about a vicious murdering monster who becomes sexually obsessed with an equally evil dandy who becomes his boss, as the dandy plots to murder the entire city.

So, if that hasn’t caught your attention, I don’t know what will.

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The Ascent to Godhood by J.Y Yang (122 pages)

Another queer story about evil people — that’s pretty much my brand! This is the fourth book in a series but can be read as a standalone, which I did.

It’s about Lady Han who gets drunk in a tavern after she hears of the death of the Protector, her evil former lover who was Queen, and tells their life story to a stranger next to her.

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The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter by KJ Charles (59 pages)

This is another book that can be read as a standalone even though it’s a short story in the middle of a series … and I just realised this is a book about queer criminals. Holy crap, I really do have a type 😂

It’s about a trans musical hall singer named Miss Christina who is in debt to horrible people who plans to make an example of her. But Christina has an admirer in the name of Stan, a criminal who peddles diamonds, and he’s determined to help her.

Also, both these characters are ace!

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The Test by Sylvain Neuvel (108 pages)

The first book on this list not about a queer criminal! But it will give up chills.

It’s set in the not too distant future where immigrants need to sit a British Citizenship Test — there’s only 25 questions to answer. 25 chances to impress the government. It’s Idir’s one chance to help his family, but then his test takes an unexpected, tragic turn and Idir is granted the power of life and death.

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The Space Between by Meg Grehan (180 pages)

This is a book in verse, so although it’s 180 pages, you will fly through it much faster than you think!

It’s about a young woman named Beth who is incredibly agoraphobic and just getting worse. On New Years Eve, she decides to spend the following year at home, but soon a beautiful woman and her dog invade Beth’s life and make her feel like wanting to leave her house for the first time in ages.

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This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (209 pages)

Although I said I’m only recommending books under 200 pages, this book is the exception because it’s in verse so it won’t take you long to read at all! And it’s only 9 pages over.

The novel follows a Commandant who finds a letter in the ashes of a dying world. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence and eventual love between two rival agents on different sides of a time war. The whole book is their letters to each other, beginning as taunts and slowly turning romantic, until they need to find a way to be together.

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Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli (81 pages)

This is such a beautiful, fascinating book! It’s such a tiny thing but packs such a punch.

It’s a nonfiction novella about physics in very easy to understand terms, but stunningly written. Rovelli explains quantum mechanics, general relativity, black hole and gravity — and the part humans play in this world around us. It’s so damn stunning. Here’s a favourite quote of mine, to show you how beautiful it is:

“We are made of the same stardust of which all things are made, and when we are immersed in suffering or when we are experiencing intense joy we are being nothing other than what we can’t help but be: a part of our world.”

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Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (96 pages)

If you love complex scifi about warring aliens, this book is for you!

It’s about a girl named Binti who becomes the first of the Himba people to be offered a place at Oomza University. But to do so, she must leave her place in her family and travel to a place that won’t respect her customs. But on the way there, Binti’s spaceship is attacked and she becomes the sole survivor of an attack by the Meduse, who use her as a bargaining chip with the University.

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The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (93 pages)

Although this little novella is meant for children, the themes it touches upon are so complex and beautiful, all adults will love this book.

It follows a child narrator who becomes a pilot and, one day, crashes into the Sahara desert. He has only 8 days of supplies left and has to find a way to fix his plane when, unexpectedly, he meets a young boy that he nicknames the “little prince” who is actually from outer space. The prince describes his life before crashing on Earth, and all the adventures he had travelling from planet to planet.

God, I want to read this book all over again!

What short books do you recommend? Let me know!