Like speeding through the newest season of a TV show or tackling a jigsaw puzzle, there’s something uniquely satisfying about reading an entire book in one weekend. Whether you have an empty weekend coming up this spring or you are looking forward to a vacation in the summer, here are five short novels you can tackle when you’re ready to be swept up for two days, leaving your normal life behind.
1. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
This short novel will keep you on the edge of your seat, leaning into the story of a nanny and the children she is watching. It’s sinister and unsettling, but also satisfying to the very last word.
Spend your weekend: Twisting away from the things that haunt you in an English country house
Buy it on Bookshop or read the book for free on Project Gutenberg
2. Silas Marner by George Eliot
Step into the world of Silas Marner, a solitary man who is still reeling from a false accusation years earlier that threw him into his lonely existence. As we get closer to Silas than seemingly anyone around him, we see him for who he is: more than his past mistakes and misunderstandings, a person still finding his way forward.
Spend your weekend: Quietly weaving linen in an English village
Buy it on Bookshop or read the book for free on Project Gutenberg
3. The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck
Not one of his best-known novels, The Moon is Down is John Steinbeck unlike most people know him. In this story of a fascist invasion of a small town, Steinbeck uses his keen observational skills to examine the impact of war, the rise of fascism, and the “durability of democracy.” For a more typical Steinbeck novel to read in a weekend, try Cannery Row.
Spend your weekend: Fighting fascism in a small town in Northern Europe
4. The Optimist’s Daughter by Eudora Welty
Eudora Welty is a master in tracing back a character’s steps to the early moments that formed them. In The Optimist’s Daughter, follow Laurel as she returns home to help her father through surgery, only to be thrown even further into the past with his new and much-younger wife Faye.
Spend your weekend: Uncovering dusty memories in small-town Mississippi
5. The Time of the Doves by Mercè Rodoreda
Beginning in pre-Civil War Barcelona, The Time of the Doves tells the story of a woman dealing with the rise of war, the growth of her family, and her own place in a world that moves seemingly without her. Mercè Rodoreda is one of the best-known Catalan authors, and this book will sweep you away for a few hours to La plaça del Diamant, or the Diamond Plaza, as the book is originally titled in Catalan.
Spend your weekend: Walking the streets of Barcelona, looking for a way forward through life and loss
For more novels you can read in a weekend, check out our list on Bookshop.org.
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