A lot of readers set quantity goals at the beginning of each year. One book per week. One hundred books for the year. Etc.
Now we’ve reached the time of year where readers who fell short of their goal tell you that actually quality is better than quantity; while those of us that hit our reading goal will give you some short book recommendations to help you hit yours.
JUST KIDDING!
Of course the quality of your reading matters more than how much you actually read. If you read 100 books poorly (e.g., surface-level skimming), you haven’t read nearly as much as the reader that spends all year deep-reading one great book. There are some books, like Don Quixote or The Brothers Karamazov, that can actually sustain an entire year (or lifetime) of deep-reading.
Here at the Better Books Substack we want to read widely and deeply. We want to read a lot of books and we want to read many of them as deeply as we can.
If you’re looking for a list of books to cram in quickly before the end of the year, this might not be the most efficient list for you. But the books that I list below are all short and they’re all worth reading deeply. If you’re just a book or two shy of your quantity goal this year, stay tuned for some fantastic (and brief) books that you might want to consider attending to before the end of the year.
#1 - Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
Written at the end of the 19th century, this one tells the amusing story of three friends who decide to take a little boating expedition up the river Thames. Jerome’s prose remains accessible but is a bit dated. Thus, it takes some time to build momentum while reading this one.
Three Men in a Boat is a paradigm of British humor and serves as a good entry point into British literature for those readers seeking such a thing. It’s a quick, hilarious read that will stick with you. Here’s a brief excerpt for you to explore and see if the writing and humor may resonate with you:
“The case was becoming serious. It was now past midnight. The hotels at Shiplake and Henley would be crammed; and we could not go round, knocking up cottagers and householders in the middle of the night, to know if they let apartments! George suggested walking back to Henley and assaulting a policeman, and so getting a night’s lodging in the station-house. But then there was the thought, ‘Suppose he only hits us back and refuses to lock us up!’ We could not pass the whole night fighting policemen. Besides, we did not want to overdo the thing and get six months.”
Highly recommend! In fact, just writing this post has me itching to dive back in.
#2 - Persuasion by Jane Austen
Speaking of 19th century British literature, the next short book on this list is one of Austen’s finest. Persuasion concerns the story of Anne Elliot, whose family relocates in order to lower expenses and reduce debt. Anne, single and 27 (or seven and twenty as they say), is past her prime by society’s standards at the time. In her prime, she was engaged to one Captain Wentworth, but she broke that off after some persuading by a trusted friend. The central question of the novel: after 8 years apart, how will things work out between Anne and Wentworth when they meet again?
I recommend this work to anyone that enjoys Austen or second-chance romance stories generally. I find Persuasion to be the most refined and tightly written of Austen’s novels. Perhaps it’s time for my own reread.
#3 - The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Okay okay, no more British literature and no more 19th century. Instead, how about an American novella from the 20th century that’s actually a retelling of a traditional Mexican folk tale?
The Pearl is a classic of American literature. It’s often taught in high schools but in reality, it is appropriate for even younger readers to encounter. The book feels older than it is, perhaps because it is a retelling of a traditional folk tale. The best parables are often short and simple like this one.
On a day like any other Kino, an impoverished pearl diver, emerges from the sea with an enormous pearl as “perfect as the moon.” Can he use this pearl to provide a better life for his wife and infant son? One must read this very brief (less than 100 pages) book to find out how it resolves the themes of greed and hope inherent in that central question.
#4 - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
If you haven’t read the absolute masterpiece that is Dickens’ A Christmas Carol yet this year, what are you waiting for? This should be an annual tradition for all readers who enjoy great literature.
This short novella takes only a couple of hours to read yet it has had a seismic impact on the modern culture of Christmas. Its a powerful reminder of the importance of compassion, generosity, and the joy of giving. A reminder sorely needed every year.
We could all aspire to be described thus:
“[…] and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!
If you read the edition that I link to above, you will find plenty of other “Christmas Writings” by Dickens as well. I encourage readers to dive into those when they finish his main Christmas masterpiece.
That’s it for today, just a few short book recommendations that will help you hit your quantity (and quality) goals to round out 2024. Let me know what you plan to read to close out the year. And if you want to deep read 12 great books with the Better Books Substack community, check out the 2025 Deep Reading list below.
2025 Deep Reading List
Towards the end of each year, I finalize a list of approximately a dozen works of imaginative literature that I want to spend some time with in the following year. Today, I’m happy to share that list with you.
Until next time, Happy Reading!
**Note: I’m using affiliate links for all titles recommended in this post. If you buy books through these links, I earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you so much for supporting my work!**
Great recs.
Three Men in a Boat is hilarious. I particularly loved the cheese story and what the three men decided to do in the end lols