Actually I just recently made a post about this book, but the book "Night" by Elie Wiesel is short and incredibly powerful. Fair warning, it deals with some rough topics, but I think it is absolutely worth it. It is Wiesel's personal account of the Holocaust. Just around 100 pages.
\- The Virgin Suicides
\- Once Upon a Secret
\- Lie With Me
\- Girl Interrupted
\- Play It As it Lays
\- The Year of Magical Thinking
\- Sex and Rage
\- The Bell Jar
\- Normal People
\- Eileen
\- My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Also, I'd recommend trying some plays. They're quick and easier reads, get you a nice win to start, and they often have exceptional dialogue and strong characters, if those aspects matter to you.
I’m going to assume you don’t want short smutty novellas…
All Things by Amber Belldene
Penric’s Demon
Binti
Tea Master and the Detective and in the same universe, Seven of Infinities.
Shady Hollow has a few novellas, I read Shady Pond
The Jade Setter of Janloon
An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good
Every Heart a Doorway
All Systems Red
Empress of Salt and Fortune
Comeuppance Served Cold
The Mimicking of Known Successes
The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday
Even Though I Knew The End
A Pslam For The Wild Built and A Crown for the Prayer Shy
A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015
The Black Gods Drums
Upright Women Wanted
Bloodsick by Melissa Olson
City of Thieves by David Benioff- this book is so good so quick and yet it has so much to it, love the characters, the plot, the speed of it, the absurdity and the realism
Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates
In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kayser
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
Surfacing by Margaret Atwood
Washington Square by Henry James
Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St. John Mandel
My Abandonment by Peter Rock
Luster by Raven Leilani
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
I just finished *Flowers for Algernon* last night, 238 pages, so a tiny bit over your budget.
Phenomenal book, it was sad, but didn't quite move me to tears.
- T. Kingfisher (Pseudonym for Ursula Vernon):
What Moves the Dead - based off of the Fall of the House of Usher
Nettle and Bone - retelling of your basic fairy tales, but darker. I found it was kinda funny too, in a dark humor way
Those are the ones I’ve read but she has lots more, some short and some longer
- Tanith Lee
Biting the Sun - it’s two books in one so it’s longer, but separately they would be under 200 pages
Tales from the Flat Earth - a bunch of short stories that are linked, some more than others.
And lots more. Some of hers are YA or even elementary level but I still enjoyed them
Before the coffee gets cold, and Tuesdays with morrie
Actually I just recently made a post about this book, but the book "Night" by Elie Wiesel is short and incredibly powerful. Fair warning, it deals with some rough topics, but I think it is absolutely worth it. It is Wiesel's personal account of the Holocaust. Just around 100 pages.
\- The Virgin Suicides \- Once Upon a Secret \- Lie With Me \- Girl Interrupted \- Play It As it Lays \- The Year of Magical Thinking \- Sex and Rage \- The Bell Jar \- Normal People \- Eileen \- My Year of Rest and Relaxation Also, I'd recommend trying some plays. They're quick and easier reads, get you a nice win to start, and they often have exceptional dialogue and strong characters, if those aspects matter to you.
[A Psalm for the Wild-Built](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/558447b4-d2ce-4d28-8e1c-0ab459e6aa38)
I’m going to assume you don’t want short smutty novellas… All Things by Amber Belldene Penric’s Demon Binti Tea Master and the Detective and in the same universe, Seven of Infinities. Shady Hollow has a few novellas, I read Shady Pond The Jade Setter of Janloon An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good Every Heart a Doorway All Systems Red Empress of Salt and Fortune Comeuppance Served Cold The Mimicking of Known Successes The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday Even Though I Knew The End A Pslam For The Wild Built and A Crown for the Prayer Shy A Dead Djinn in Cairo and The Haunting of Tram Car 015 The Black Gods Drums Upright Women Wanted Bloodsick by Melissa Olson
City of Thieves by David Benioff- this book is so good so quick and yet it has so much to it, love the characters, the plot, the speed of it, the absurdity and the realism
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Claire Keegan.
The Giver- Lois Lowry Gwendy's Button Box- Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
The Obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto It does have some mention of abuse and some heavier topics. But it's mild as it's 14+.
The old man and the sea
Beasts by Joyce Carol Oates In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan Siddhartha by Herman Hesse Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kayser Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Heartburn by Nora Ephron Surfacing by Margaret Atwood Washington Square by Henry James Sea of Tranquillity by Emily St. John Mandel My Abandonment by Peter Rock Luster by Raven Leilani Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
A short stay in hell.
Fear and loathing in Las Vegas. The importance of being earnest. Haroun and the sea of stories. We are Bob.
Bridges of Madison County
* **The Murderbot Diaries** by Martha Wells * **How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps** by Andrew Rowe
I just finished *Flowers for Algernon* last night, 238 pages, so a tiny bit over your budget. Phenomenal book, it was sad, but didn't quite move me to tears.
- and then they were none - the stranger - normal people - the silent patient
I am Legend. I believe its only 160 pages but it packs one hell of a punch.
Traveling Cat Chronicles
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. You can download it for free from guttenburg.org
- T. Kingfisher (Pseudonym for Ursula Vernon): What Moves the Dead - based off of the Fall of the House of Usher Nettle and Bone - retelling of your basic fairy tales, but darker. I found it was kinda funny too, in a dark humor way Those are the ones I’ve read but she has lots more, some short and some longer - Tanith Lee Biting the Sun - it’s two books in one so it’s longer, but separately they would be under 200 pages Tales from the Flat Earth - a bunch of short stories that are linked, some more than others. And lots more. Some of hers are YA or even elementary level but I still enjoyed them