Dalloway, Black No More, Slaughterhouse-Five, etc. I did not include a book below unless I could find that it had been published at least once in fewer than 200 pages-which means that some excellent novels, despite coming tantalizingly close to the magic number, had to be left off for want of proof (see Mrs. Most importantly for our purposes here: lengths vary with editions, sometimes wildly. I did not differentiate between novels and novellas (as Steven Millhauser would tell you, the novella is not a form at all, but merely a length), but letвЂ™s be honest with ourselves: вЂњThe DeadвЂќ is a short story, and so is вЂњThe Metamorphosis.вЂќ Sorry! I limited myself to one book by each author, valiantly, I should say, because I was tempted to cheat (looking at you Jean Rhys). Yes, these distinctions are somewhat arbitrary, but one has to draw the line somewhere (though I let myself fudge on translation dates). Last year, I wrote about the best contemporary novels under 200 pages, so now I must turn my attention to my favorite short classics-which represent the quickest and cheapest way, I can tell you in my salesman voice, to become вЂњwell-read.вЂќДЄ few notes: Because the вЂњcontemporaryвЂќ list surveyed novels published since 1970 (inclusive), this list will define вЂњclassicвЂќ as being originally published before 1970. At this point, if you keep monthly reading goals, even vague ones, you may be looking for few a good, short novels to knock out in an afternoon or two.

Especially this year, for all of the reasons that you already know. We are now past the mid-way point in February, which is technically the shortest month, but is also the one that-for me, anyway-feels the longest.

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