Short books – those that can be consumed in one ... Once you are finished reading West, try Davies’ equally good – and just as minute – novel Clear, which came out this year.

The best one-sitting ... a landmark book that launched decades of pale imitations: Jesus’ Son, a glittering stick of dynamite thrown into the literary firmament. In this short, luminous novel ...

The Book of Ayn captures ... in the best way possible. Beginning unforgettably with a young girl’s high-octane escape from a Catholic reform school, Engel’s short but sweeping novel gives ...

What could be better than a book where each and every ‘chapter ... We’ve gathered eleven of the best short story collections. Some are contemporary fiction, some are science fiction/fantasy ...

Unmissable super short stories by brilliant women. Here is Stylist’s guide to the flash fiction female writers you need to read (plus you could probably do it all in the next hour…).

Having read them all, it is more of a mixed bag than I hoped – while two are easily the best books I’ve read all year, there ...

A father compelled to offer his accomplished but dark-skinned daughter in marriage to a stranger. An urban man forced to sacrifice who he is to become an alpha male. An elderly woman treats her ...

These memoirs, thrillers, romance, literary fiction, nonfiction and short stories focus on Native and Indigenous stories Lizz Schumer is the senior books editor at PEOPLE. She has been working at ...