Less than two weeks to go now until Novellas in November (#NovNov24) begins! Cathy and I are getting geared up and making plans for what we’re going to read. As I mentioned in my announcement post, this year it’s my challenge to self to read mostly books of 150 pages or under. I gathered all my potential reads at home and in the library for photo shoots. Although we’re not having the below as themes this year, I’ve grouped my options in rough categories:
Short Classics (pre-1980)
*Memoirs of a Spacewoman would do double duty for SciFi Month. I have already read Passing, so would just be reading Quicksand from the Nella Larsen omnibus.
Novellas in Translation
*Knulp, from the Little Free Library, would do double duty for German Literature Month.
Contemporary Novellas
(With three review copies perched on the top.)
Library Haul
I can’t wait to get started on our buddy read, Orbital by Samantha Harvey!
Short Nonfiction
(And the right-hand Library Haul photo above.) On Wednesday I’ll post some ideas for how to link Novellas in November with Nonfiction November – there are various great series that only publish short nonfiction.
In 2021–2023, I read 29, 24 and 27 novellas, respectively. I wonder how many I’ll manage this year… Maybe I’ll aim for 30+, or an average of 1+ per day!
Spy any favourites or a particularly appealing title in my piles? Give me a recommendation for what I should be sure to try to get to.
The link-up is now open for you to share your planning posts!
Thanks to Cathy of What Cathy Read Next for starting us off.
Have any novellas lined up to read next month?
Bookish Beck = Rebecca Foster. American transplant to England. Freelance proofreader and book reviewer.
Bookish Beck 
Good luck. You know me, I’m not very good at these challenges, but I’ll try to join in.
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Please do! All it takes is grabbing one short book from the shelf at home or the library.
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I feel a bit challenged out after 20 Books of Summer, the Booker longlist, RIP XIX/Spooktastic Reads and now SF Month in a row, so I’ll probably skip this this year. The only one I’ve read from your piles is On Chesil Beach which (as I often find with McEwan) started v well but fizzled out.
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Fair enough! November is a busy month in the blogging world. Do you have any SF novellas lined up that would incidentally cross over? I’m going to see if I can read Memoirs of a Spacewoman to count for both challenges.
On Chesil Beach would be a reread for me; I read it when it first came out, which feels an awfully long time ago.
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I have a lot of SF books stacked up already this year, but sadly none are novellas.
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Weirdly, I’ve read absolutely tons of novellas in recent months—twelve since the end of August, including Kick the Latch and Love Me Tender! That’s far more than I usually read and it’s been almost entirely accidental. I probably won’t try to read novellas in November on purpose, but maybe a few will end up sneaking their way into my stacks… that seems to be how it’s happened!
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Wow, that’s impressive! Do put up a “My Year in Novellas” post to share a bit about them and any insight you’ve gained into how a novella works.
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Ahhh yes, good idea!
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[…] Also, check out Rebecca’s excellent pile of possibilities here! […]
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You have so many options here Rebecca, great stuff! I enjoyed the Messud and Mrs Caliban. Look forward to hearing about that Michel Faber (which is new to me!)
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I’d never heard of that Faber either but snapped it up from a charity shop in Dunbar.
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I can’t plan anything ahead of time but I’m interested to see that Lolly Willowes, a book I keep meaning to read, is a novella! And the Hanff looks interesting too so I hope I can join in!
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Lolly Willowes is 160 pages in my copy. I actually read just over half of it last year and need to get back to it!
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Impressive collection! Novella a day…that is an incredible goal, I wish you all the luck!
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We’ll see how it goes 😉
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I love Lolly Willowes, and I read The Solace of Open Spaces in high school. I remember enjoying it.
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Gretel Ehrlich is a really impressive writer. This will be my third book of hers.
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Gosh, tons of wonderful options. I’ll have to get my thinking cap on!!
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I have no doubt your shelves will come through for you 😉
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Brightly Shining has been cheering up my NetGalley shelf for months. I can’t wait to actually read it. I also have an ebook of Quicksand, but I don’t know if I’ll find time. I really want to make some miles with nonfiction in November, but a few thin books as light relief seem very tempting.
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I thought about saving it for Christmas, but as Nov. is its pub. month AND it’s a novella, it seems like something I should read sooner.
Choose some slim nonfiction! Two of my favourite challenges to combine.
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It seems like such a Christmassy title, so that was my plan, too, but now I’m planning it towards the end of November. I also have quite a decent pile of novellas, some of them nonfiction; I just can’t help myself. 😁
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I’m keen to run out and get the Makine for myself. I read one of his books several years ago that I absolutely loved. These are great selections! I’ll look forward to reading about them here.
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It’s a very evocative title, isn’t it? I looked at it in a charity shop but decided not to buy it … then went back the following week for it as I hadn’t stopped thinking about it!
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I just got “The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury as my #CCSpin pick, and it is novella length, and is Sci-Fi! It will be working very hard. Also, maybe when I finish that, I can read “On Chesil Beach” or this challenge. I’ve never read any of his books, and a novella would be a good start. Ah… Quicksand and Passing – TWO novellas in ONE book. And beautiful, as well.
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A perfect combination of multiple challenges!
A lot of McEwan’s books are novella length, actually. On Chesil Beach would be a nice way to ease yourself into his work, whereas The Comfort of Strangers et al. are somewhat unpleasant.
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Oh, good to know! Thanks.
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Hooray Lolly Willowes! I think I’m going to manage to read all nonfiction for Nonfiction November and most of them short nonfiction for Novellas in November: I have 11 for my TBR challenge then will move on to the ones I have acquired this year. I will post my initial picture of my books on 1 November in my State of the TBR post (I have a lot of posts to get in the last week of October!) and will share to the link up.
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Exciting! I’m going to post tomorrow about some nonfiction series that only publish short books.
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You made me LOL with the “somewhat unpleasant” description of early-McEwan. (Flashback to The Cement Garden.)
In another comment somewhere, I’ve just mentioned that Orbital has fallen into my lap unexpectedly (Good Problems to Have) and your choice from last year, Western Lane. I’m also intrigued by the appearance of The Poet and the Donkey in your stack (you and I probably have the only two copies of that one heheh) and some other overlaps too, but I have no wriggle room in this reading year (usually I don’t figure this out until December, but this year I checked my math in hopes of skipping the annual panic /snorts). Regardless, I’ll enjoy reading about your novella selections and hope you have tonnes of company reading them (as always)!
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I haven’t actually read that one, but I was thinking of The Comfort of Strangers and First Love, Last Rites…
Well then, you have no excuse but to join in with the buddy read 😉
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The Comfort of Strangers was actually the one that came to mind first, but I dunno why, cuz his debut was…wow.
I’m looking forward to it! (Just started over lunch. Only a few pages, but good already.)
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Voyage in the Dark is hard to find but it’s on my list, along with all the other Rhys books I haven’t read yet. Lolly Willowes is not hard to find at all, I believe I’ve had it out from the library more than once, and just never got to it!
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I’ve only ever read Wide Sargasso Sea, but have long intended to read more by Rhys.
I actually read just over half of it during last year’s NovNov and need to get back into it!
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If you’re able to access the ILL program through your library, Laura, that’s how I read Voyage in the Dark, via an omnibus edition with all her novels (and a nice one too, not super tiny print and all squishy!) from the North Bay Library in Ontario.
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Wow. Your piles! I’ll feel good if I get eight novellas read. Ha!
My first batch of reviews: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2024/11/novella-reviews-christmas-carol-dept-of.html
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Thanks for joining us! What a varied trio of novellas.
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[…] preparing my TBR (Possibilities List) for Novellas in November 2024 hosted by Cathy @ 746 Books and Rebecca @ Bookish Beck I’m planning two posts: my November Novella TBR and a Novella Wrap […]
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