Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
We know what book you should read next
  • Books

  • Kids

  • Popular

  • Authors & Events

  • Recommendations

  • Audio

  • Browse All Our Lists, Essays, and Interviews
    Browse All Our Lists, Essays, and Interviews
    See What We’re Reading >

  • Join Our Authors for Virtual Events
    Join Our Authors for Virtual Events
    Learn More >

  • 17 Books That Show Kids What It Means to Be Thankful
    17 Books That Show Kids What It Means to Be Thankful
    Learn More >
  • <
    Books>
  • Popular
  • New & Noteworthy
  • Bestsellers
  • Must-Read Books of 2022
  • Popular Series
  • Libros en español
  • Coming Soon
  • Fiction
  • Classics
  • Romance
  • Literary Fiction
  • Mystery
  • Science Fiction & Fantasy
  • Nonfiction
  • Biographies & Memoirs
  • Wellness
  • Politics
  • Cooking
  • History
  • Series
  • Gray Man
  • Dark Star Trilogy
  • Ramses the Damned
  • Outlander
  • Penguin Classics
  • <
    View All>
  • <
    Kids>
  • Popular
  • New & Noteworthy
  • Bestsellers
  • Award Winners
  • The Parenting Book Guide
  • Books to Read Before Bed
  • Books for Middle Graders
  • Trending Series
  • Who Was?
  • Magic Tree House
  • The Last Kids on Earth
  • Mad Libs
  • Planet Omar
  • Beloved Characters
  • The World of Eric Carle
  • Bluey
  • Llama Llama
  • Dr. Seuss
  • Junie B. Jones
  • Peter Rabbit
  • Categories
  • Board Books
  • Picture Books
  • Guided Reading Levels
  • Middle Grade
  • Activity Books
  • <
    View All>
  • <

    Popular

  • Trending
  • Trending This Week
  • Books to Read During Dry January
  • Debut Novels
  • Books to Cope With Anxiety
  • Short Reads
  • Anti-Racist Resources
  • Expert Picks
  • Editor's Picks: Fiction
  • Editor's Picks: Science Fiction & Fantasy
  • Editor's Picks: Romance
  • Staff Picks: Mystery
  • Features & Interviews
  • Emma Brodie Interview
  • Gabriella Burnham Interview
  • Nicola Yoon Interview
  • Qian Julie Wang Interview
  • Deepak Chopra Essay
  • How Can I Get Published?
  • For Book Clubs
  • Reese's Book Club
  • Oprah’s Book Club
  • Guide: Trust
  • Guide: Book Lovers
  • <
  • <
    Authors & Events>
  • Our Authors
  • Michelle Obama
  • Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • Mohsin Hamid
  • Maggie O’Farrell
  • Celeste Ng
  • In Their Own Words
  • Qian Julie Wang
  • Patrick Radden Keefe
  • Phoebe Robinson
  • Emma Brodie
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Laura Hankin
  • <
    View All>
  • <
    Recommendations>
  • Book Lists
  • Book Gifts for Everyone on Your List
  • Must-Read Books by Indigenous Authors
  • Holiday Cozy Mysteries
  • Narrative Nonfiction to Rival Thrillers
  • Fiction for Food Lovers
  • Manga and Graphic Novels
  • Articles
  • Between the World and Me Oral History
  • Meet the Bookseller: Yu and Me Books
  • Cook a Soul Food Holiday Meal With Rosie Mayes
  • Ina Garten’s Chicken & Potatoes Recipe
  • Vallery Lomas’ Blueberry Buckle Recipe
  • <
    View All>
  • <
    Audio>
  • Popular
  • New Releases
  • Award Winners
  • Coming Soon
  • Featured
  • Memoirs Read by the Author
  • Our Most Soothing Narrators
  • Press Play for Inspiration
  • Audiobooks You Just Can't Pause
  • Listen With the Whole Family
  • <
    View All>
cart
Penguin Random House
  • Books

    • Popular

    • New & Noteworthy
    • Bestsellers
    • Must-Read Books of 2022
    • Popular Series
    • Libros en español
    • Coming Soon
    • Fiction

    • Classics
    • Romance
    • Literary Fiction
    • Mystery
    • Science Fiction & Fantasy
    • View All >
    • Nonfiction

    • Biographies & Memoirs
    • Wellness
    • Politics
    • Cooking
    • History
    • View All >
    • Series

    • Gray Man
    • Dark Star Trilogy
    • Ramses the Damned
    • Outlander
    • Penguin Classics
    • View All >
    New Releases
    New Releases
    Learn More >
  • Kids

    • Popular

    • New & Noteworthy
    • Bestsellers
    • Award Winners
    • The Parenting Book Guide
    • Books to Read Before Bed
    • Books for Middle Graders
    • Trending Series

    • Who Was?
    • Magic Tree House
    • The Last Kids on Earth
    • Mad Libs
    • Planet Omar
    • View All >
    • Beloved Characters

    • The World of Eric Carle
    • Bluey
    • Llama Llama
    • Dr. Seuss
    • Junie B. Jones
    • Peter Rabbit
    • Categories

    • Board Books
    • Picture Books
    • Guided Reading Levels
    • Middle Grade
    • Activity Books
    • View All >
    17 Books That Show Kids What It Means to Be Thankful
    17 Books That Show Kids What It Means to Be Thankful
    Learn More >
  • Popular

    • Trending

    • Trending This Week
    • Books to Read During Dry January
    • Debut Novels
    • Books to Cope With Anxiety
    • Short Reads
    • Anti-Racist Resources
    • Expert Picks

    • Editor's Picks: Fiction
    • Editor's Picks: Science Fiction & Fantasy
    • Editor's Picks: Romance
    • Staff Picks: Mystery
    • Features & Interviews

    • Emma Brodie Interview
    • Gabriella Burnham Interview
    • Nicola Yoon Interview
    • Qian Julie Wang Interview
    • Deepak Chopra Essay
    • How Can I Get Published?
    • For Book Clubs

    • Reese's Book Club
    • Oprah’s Book Club
    • Guide: Trust
    • Guide: Book Lovers
    What Pamela Dorman Is Loving Right Now
    What Pamela Dorman Is Loving Right Now
    Learn More >
  • Authors & Events

    • Our Authors

    • Michelle Obama
    • Taylor Jenkins Reid
    • Mohsin Hamid
    • Maggie O’Farrell
    • Celeste Ng
    • View All >
    • In Their Own Words

    • Qian Julie Wang
    • Patrick Radden Keefe
    • Phoebe Robinson
    • Emma Brodie
    • Ta-Nehisi Coates
    • Laura Hankin
    Host the Holidays With the Family Behind Five Marys Farms
    Host the Holidays With the Family Behind Five Marys Farms
    Learn More >
    Join Our Authors for Virtual Events
    Join Our Authors for Virtual Events
    Learn More >
  • Recommendations

    • Book Lists

    • Book Gifts for Everyone on Your List
    • Must-Read Books by Indigenous Authors
    • Holiday Cozy Mysteries
    • Narrative Nonfiction to Rival Thrillers
    • Fiction for Food Lovers
    • Manga and Graphic Novels
    • Articles

    • Between the World and Me Oral History
    • Meet the Bookseller: Yu and Me Books
    • Cook a Soul Food Holiday Meal With Rosie Mayes
    • Ina Garten’s Chicken & Potatoes Recipe
    • Vallery Lomas’ Blueberry Buckle Recipe
    Browse All Our Lists, Essays, and Interviews
    Browse All Our Lists, Essays, and Interviews
    See What We’re Reading >
    Experimental Fiction: 10 Books With Unique Literary Techniques
    Experimental Fiction: 10 Books With Unique Literary Techniques
    Read More >
  • Audio

    • Popular

    • New Releases
    • Award Winners
    • Coming Soon
    • View All >
    • Featured

    • Memoirs Read by the Author
    • Our Most Soothing Narrators
    • Press Play for Inspiration
    • Audiobooks You Just Can't Pause
    • Listen With the Whole Family
    • View All >
    New Stories to Listen to
    New Stories to Listen to
    Learn More >
    Audiobooks to Listen to While You Cook
    Audiobooks to Listen to While You Cook
    Learn More >
search
Penguin Random House Penguin Random House
cart
search
Penguin RandomHouse
close search
close search
Penguin Random House
mobile banner image
The ReadDown

Short Books To Read in a Weekend

Short books can feel more intimate, like an experience you lived through or a story you were told in the dark. This weekend, lose yourself in stunning short books that don’t skimp on character or narrative.

  1. 1
    Giovanni's Room Book Cover Picture
    Giovanni's Room Book Cover Picture
    Add Giovanni's Room to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Giovanni’s Room

    by James Baldwin

    Baldwin’s confessional, grave novel follows an engaged American man abroad who falls in love with what he’s forbidden himself: another man, an Italian, named Giovanni. Set in 1950s Paris, Giovanni’s Room is essential: a moving and exacting novel of ambiguity, remorse, and the difficulty of self-acceptance.
    Giovanni's Room Book Cover Picture
    Giovanni's Room Book Cover Picture
    Add Giovanni's Room to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $15.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  2. 2
    The Last White Man Book Cover Picture
    The Last White Man Book Cover Picture
    Add The Last White Man to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    The Last White Man

    by Mohsin Hamid

    One morning, a man wakes up to find himself transformed. Overnight, Anders’s skin has turned dark, and the reflection in the mirror seems a stranger to him. At first, he shares his secret only with Oona, an old friend turned new lover. Soon, reports of similar events begin to surface. Across the land, people are awakening in new incarnations, uncertain how their neighbors, friends, and family will greet them. As the bond between Anders and Oona deepens, change takes on a different shading: a chance at a kind of rebirth–an opportunity to see ourselves, face to face, anew.
    The Last White Man Book Cover Picture
    The Last White Man Book Cover Picture
    Add The Last White Man to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Hardcover
    $26.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  3. 3
    McGlue Book Cover Picture
    McGlue Book Cover Picture
    Add McGlue to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    McGlue

    by Ottessa Moshfegh

    McGlue is Ottessa Moshfegh’s debut novella, and it sets up the sort of strangeness—and, at times, repulsiveness—we’ve come to expect in her later works. Set in 1851 Salem, Massachusetts, McGlue is in custody after allegedly and drunkenly killing his best friend. McGlue isn’t convinced of the crime, and his remorseless thoughts drive the engine of this slow-burning narrative.
    McGlue Book Cover Picture
    McGlue Book Cover Picture
    Add McGlue to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $15.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  4. 4
    The White Book Book Cover Picture
    The White Book Book Cover Picture
    Add The White Book to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    The White Room

    by Han Kang

    In this lyrical meditation of grief, Han Kang’s unnamed narrator wanders around the snow-filled city of Warsaw while she muses on all things white, from the innocuous—a silent dog—to the profound and devastating—the rice cake–colored skin of the baby who died in the narrator’s mother’s arms long ago, an event inspired by Kang’s family history. Beautiful and impossible to pin down, it’s a remarkably absorbing read.
    The White Book Book Cover Picture
    The White Book Book Cover Picture
    Add The White Book to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Hardcover
    $20.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  5. 5
    Harrow Book Cover Picture
    Harrow Book Cover Picture
    Add Harrow to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Harrow

    by Joy Williams

    Khristen is a teenager who, her mother believes, was marked by greatness as a baby when she died for a moment and then came back to life. After Khristen’s failing boarding school for gifted teens closes its doors, and she finds that her mother has disappeared, she ranges across the dead landscape and washes up at a “resort” on the shores of a mysterious, putrid lake the elderly residents there call “Big Girl.” Rivetingly strange and beautiful, and delivered with Williams’s searing, deadpan wit, Harrow is their intertwined tale of paradise lost and of their reasons—against all reasonableness—to try and recover something of it.
    Harrow Book Cover Picture
    Harrow Book Cover Picture
    Add Harrow to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  6. 6
    Probably Ruby Book Cover Picture
    Probably Ruby Book Cover Picture
    Add Probably Ruby to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Probably Ruby

    by Lisa Bird-Wilson

    This is the story of a woman in search of herself, in every sense. When we first meet Ruby, a Métis woman in her thirties, her life is spinning out of control. She’s angling to sleep with her counselor while also rekindling an old relationship she knows will only bring more heartache. But as we soon learn, Ruby’s story is far more complex than even she can imagine. Probably Ruby is a dazzling novel about a bold, unapologetic woman taking control of her life and story, and marks the debut of a major new voice in Indigenous fiction.
    Probably Ruby Book Cover Picture
    Probably Ruby Book Cover Picture
    Add Probably Ruby to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  7. 7
    Diary of a Void Book Cover Picture
    Diary of a Void Book Cover Picture
    Add Diary of a Void to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Diary of a Void

    by Emi Yagi

    When thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that as the only woman at her new workplace—a manufacturer of cardboard tubes—she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can’t clear away her coworkers’ dirty cups—because she’s pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is … Ms. Shibata is not pregnant. Surreal and absurdist, and with a winning matter-of-factness, a light touch, and a refreshing sensitivity to mental health, Diary of a Void will keep you turning the pages to see just how far Ms. Shibata will carry her deception for the sake of women, and especially working mothers, everywhere.
    Diary of a Void Book Cover Picture
    Diary of a Void Book Cover Picture
    Add Diary of a Void to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Hardcover
    $23.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  8. 8
    Monkeys Book Cover Picture
    Monkeys Book Cover Picture
    Add Monkeys to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Monkeys

    by Susan Minot

    Susan Minot’s first book chronicles the Vincents, a sprawling New England family of nine: a religious mother, an alcoholic father, and their seven “monkeys.” A minimalist novel-in-stories, each chapter lurches forward with new conflicts and deceptions, mining the tenderness and tragedy of a family so extensive they’re cocooned in their own universe, for better or worse.
    Monkeys Book Cover Picture
    Monkeys Book Cover Picture
    Add Monkeys to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $15.95

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  9. 9
    Dept. of Speculation Book Cover Picture
    Dept. of Speculation Book Cover Picture
    Add Dept. of Speculation to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Dept. of Speculation

    by Jenny Offill

    Jenny Offill’s much-loved portrait of a marriage at its breaking point—as funny as it is heartbreaking—can be read in a single sitting, but don’t be surprised if you feel the need to immediately start again from the beginning. Invoking the code name they once used in love letters about their bright and unknown future, the wife addresses her husband and attempts to make sense of how they’ve gotten to now.
    Dept. of Speculation Book Cover Picture
    Dept. of Speculation Book Cover Picture
    Add Dept. of Speculation to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  10. 10
    Levels of Life Book Cover Picture
    Levels of Life Book Cover Picture
    Add Levels of Life to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Levels of Life

    by Julian Barnes

    Julian Barnes wrote Levels of Life after the death of his wife, and the tripartite book consists of three sections: one history, one fiction, and one memoir. The final section, in which Barnes writes candidly about the emotions that have consumed him since his wife’s death, is so precise in expressing grief—a universal yet indefinable emotion—that it will leave you reeling.
    Levels of Life Book Cover Picture
    Levels of Life Book Cover Picture
    Add Levels of Life to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $15.95

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  11. 11
    What We Lose Book Cover Picture
    What We Lose Book Cover Picture
    Add What We Lose to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    What We Lose

    by Zinzi Clemmons

    In spare yet rich prose, Zinzi Clemmons reflects on race, family, and grief through the lens of Thandi, a young mixed-race woman coming of age in America, watching her mother die of cancer, and moving through life without the person she needs most. Thandi’s search for meaning and her reflections on her mother’s childhood in Johannesburg merge into a multigenerational tale of lost and remade identity.
    What We Lose Book Cover Picture
    What We Lose Book Cover Picture
    Add What We Lose to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  12. 12
    Intimacies Book Cover Picture
    Intimacies Book Cover Picture
    Add Intimacies to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Intimacies

    by Katie Kitamura

    An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home. She confronts power, love, and violence, both in her personal intimacies and in her work at the Court. She is soon pushed to the precipice, where betrayal and heartbreak threaten to overwhelm her, forcing her to decide what she wants from her life.
    Intimacies Book Cover Picture
    Intimacies Book Cover Picture
    Add Intimacies to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  13. 13
    Brood Book Cover Picture
    Brood Book Cover Picture
    Add Brood to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Brood

    by Jackie Polzin

    Over the course of a single year, our nameless narrator heroically tries to keep her small brood of four chickens alive despite the seemingly endless challenges that caring for other creatures entails. From the forty-below nights of a brutal Minnesota winter to a sweltering summer that brings a surprise tornado, she battles predators, bad luck, and the uncertainty of a future that may not look anything like the one she always imagined. A stunning and brilliantly insightful meditation on life and longing, Brood rewards its readers with the richness of reflection and unrelenting hope.
    Brood Book Cover Picture
    Brood Book Cover Picture
    Add Brood to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  14. 14
    Tokyo Ueno Station Book Cover Picture
    Tokyo Ueno Station Book Cover Picture
    Add Tokyo Ueno Station to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Tokyo Ueno Station

    by Yu Miri

    Kazu is dead. Born in Fukushima in 1933, the same year as the Japanese Emperor, his life is tied by a series of coincidences to the Imperial family and has been shaped at every turn by modern Japanese history. But his life story is also marked by bad luck, and now, in death, he is unable to rest, doomed to haunt the park near Ueno Station in Tokyo. Through Kazu’s eyes, we see daily life in Tokyo buzz around him and learn the intimate details of his personal story, how loss and society’s inequalities and constrictions spiraled towards this ghostly fate, with moments of beauty and grace just out of reach.
    Tokyo Ueno Station Book Cover Picture
    Tokyo Ueno Station Book Cover Picture
    Add Tokyo Ueno Station to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $17.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  15. 15
    Sula Book Cover Picture
    Sula Book Cover Picture
    Add Sula to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Sula

    by Toni Morrison

    Nel and Sula’s devotion is fierce enough to withstand bullies and the burden of a dreadful secret. It endures even after Nel has grown up to be a pillar of the black community and Sula has become a pariah. But their friendship ends in an unforgivable betrayal—or does it end? Terrifying, comic, ribald, and tragic, Sula is a work that overflows with life.
    Sula Book Cover Picture
    Sula Book Cover Picture
    Add Sula to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  16. 16
    The Friend Book Cover Picture
    The Friend Book Cover Picture
    Add The Friend to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    The Friend

    by Sigrid Nunez

    When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion.
    The Friend Book Cover Picture
    The Friend Book Cover Picture
    Add The Friend to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Paperback
    $16.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  17. 17
    Acts of Service Book Cover Picture
    Acts of Service Book Cover Picture
    Add Acts of Service to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Acts of Service

    by Lillian Fishman

    Eve has an adoring girlfriend, an impulsive streak, and a secret fear that she’s wasting her brief youth with just one person. So one evening she posts some nudes online. This is how Eve meets Olivia and through Olivia the charismatic Nathan. Despite her better instincts, the three soon begin a relationship—one that disturbs Eve as much as it enthralls her.  In the way only great fiction can, Acts of Service takes between its teeth the contradictions written all over our ideas of sex and sexuality.
    Acts of Service Book Cover Picture
    Acts of Service Book Cover Picture
    Add Acts of Service to bookshelf
    Add to Bookshelf

    Hardcover
    $27.00

    Buy from Other Retailers:

    Buy
  • Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Tweet
  • Pin it
  • Share on Tumblr
  • SMS
  • Email
More to Explore
Back to Top
We know what book you should read next
  • Connect
  • Sign up for news about books, authors, and more from Penguin Random House

  • global.penguinrandomhouse.com
  • © 2023 Penguin Random House
  • Quick Links
  • Partnerships
  • Media Queries
  • Influencers
  • Company Reads
  • PenguinRandomHouse.biz
  • Email Preferences
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • CA Privacy Policy
  • Do Not Sell My Personal Info
  • Affiliate Program Disclosure
  • Fraud Alert
  • Help
  • Publishing Process
  • FAQ
  • Shopping & Shipping FAQ
  • For Educators
  • Subrights
  • Permissions
  • About Us
  • Our Story
  • Our People
  • Our Contributors
  • Locations
  • Management
  • Social Impact
  • Careers
  • Imprints

Visit other sites in the Penguin Random House Network

Raise kids who love to read

Brightly

Raise kids who love to read
Today's Top Books

Today's Top Books

Want to know what people are actually reading right now?
An online magazine for today’s home cook

TASTE

An online magazine for today’s home cook

Stay in Touch

Please enter a valid email address
We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please try again later.

By clicking Sign Up, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

×

Become a Member

Start earning points for buying books! Just for joining you’ll get personalized recommendations on your dashboard daily and features only for members.

Find Out More Join Now Sign In
Hi,
Member Since

Account Overview Rewards Recommendations Orders Account Details Email Preferences Bookshelf

Point Status
This is where you’ll see your current point status and your earned rewards. To redeem, copy and paste the code during the checkout process.See Account Overview

until your next FREE book!
0 120
You currently do not have any rewards.

Success!

Your account has been created. Upload book purchases, access your personalized book recommendations, and more from here.