There’s no feeling quite like getting lost in a book—the rush of discovering a world that feels more real than your own, the emotions you never expected to feel for characters who don’t exist. A great book stays with you, shaping your thoughts long after you’ve turned the last page. But getting to that last page is another story.
I understand, life gets busy. You start a book, set it down, and before you know it, weeks pass. By the time you pick it up again, the details are blurry, the emotional weight is diluted, and the story doesn’t hit quite the same.
That’s why short, powerful books are worth your time. In just a few hours, they can shift your perspective, break your heart, or leave you thinking for days. Here are seven unforgettable reads you can finish in a day.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Page count: 304
We’ve all been there—wondering how our lives might’ve turned out if we had chosen a different path: a different college major, a different job, or maybe even not texting that one person. We imagine those alternate choices would’ve led to happiness or success, but in reality, we’ll never know.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig dares to explore that very question. When Nora Seed finds herself on the brink of ending her life, she stumbles into a magical library, where each book on the shelves represents a different version of her life. All of these versions are lives she could’ve lived had she made different choices. Her goal is simple: to find a life that feels worth living. But as she moves through these alternate realities, she’s forced to confront whether changing the past can truly bring her happiness, and whether she can ever escape her regrets.
It’s a quick yet reflective read. It makes you think about your own “what ifs” while leaving you with a sense of hope. Whether you’re battling your own regrets or just love short books that make you feel something, this one’s worth your time.
Bonus: it’s the kind of book you’ll want to pass on to a friend the moment you finish.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Page count: 224
A book about time travel? Sure. However, This Is How You Lose the Time War takes that premise and turns it into something wildly unexpected.
Red and Blue are agents from opposite sides of a war that spans across time. Their job is to shape history to fit their respective faction’s needs. They don’t have time for feelings, but feelings have a funny way of sneaking in when they start exchanging letters, taunting and challenging each other across timelines.
What begins as a rivalry slowly turns into something far more complicated and dangerous, that could unravel everything they’ve worked for.
What works so well in This Is How You Lose the Time War is the pacing. It’s a quick read—just 223 pages—but the plot still hits you hard. The book doesn’t waste any time getting into the heart of the matter: love, loyalty, and the cost of sticking to your side in a world where time is a battleground. And while the time travel concept is central, the real impact of the book comes from the emotional stakes.
If you’re looking for a fast-paced, emotionally charged, and intricately crafted story about love and rivalry across time, This Is How You Lose the Time War is worth picking up.
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Page count: 192
If you’ve ever read James Baldwin, you know his writing isn’t just something you read—it’s something you feel. Giovanni’s Room, first published in 1956, is no exception.
In less than 200 pages Baldwin delivers a raw, intimate, and beautifully devastating novel about love, shame, and identity. And unlike most of Baldwin’s other works, this one isn’t about race—it’s about sexuality, desire, and the ways we destroy ourselves (and others) when we can’t face the truth of who we are.
The story follows David, an American living in Paris who’s engaged to a woman named Hella but falls into a passionate, tumultuous relationship with a man named Giovanni.
What unfolds is a deeply internal, often painful exploration of repression, fear, and the consequences of denying love. David spends most of the novel trying to outrun himself, trapped between what he thinks he should want and what he actually wants. Spoiler: it doesn’t end well.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Page count: 272
If you could travel back in time, but only for the duration of a single cup of coffee, would you do it?
That’s the premise of Before the Coffee Gets Cold. Similarly to The Midnight Library, it deals with regret, second chances, and the what-ifs of life.
The story takes place in a tiny, tucked-away café in Tokyo. Here, under very specific and slightly bizarre conditions, customers can revisit moments from their past. The catch? Nothing they do will change the present.
Now, if you’re expecting a fast-paced, time-travel thriller like this is how you lose the time war—this isn’t it. Instead, the book is quiet, thoughtful, and a little melancholic. It’s more about emotions than action, focusing on four interconnected stories of people who sit in that special café chair, hoping for closure, understanding, or one last conversation.
There’s a warmth to it, but also a sense of longing—kind of like sitting in a cozy café on a rainy day, sipping a drink that reminds you of someone you miss.
I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman
Page count: 208
Now, let’s talk about a book that’s a bit more haunting than the others on this list. If the other stories leave an impact, this one leaves a void. I Who Have Never Known Men is eerie, sparse, and unsettling in a way that creeps up on you. Originally published in 1995, it’s seen a resurgence thanks to BookTok.
It’s a dystopian novel—but not in the The Hunger Games or 1984 kind of way. There are no grand rebellions, world-building dumps, or intricate political systems.
The premise is deceptively simple: a young girl is locked in an underground bunker with 39 other women. They have no idea why they’re there, who put them there, or if the world outside even exists anymore. The only people they see are silent, emotionless guards. Then, one day, something happens that forces them into the unknown—and that’s when things take a much darker turn.
What makes this book so effective is how little it gives you. There are no tidy resolutions or comforting conclusions—just a suffocating sense of emptiness and the terrifying vastness of the unknown.
Another short and unforgettable read worth adding to your list.
Tender Is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica
Page count: 240
If you think I Who Have Never Known Men sounds unsettling, Tender is the Flesh cranks that unease up to full-blown horror. This short book is not for the faint of heart. It’s gruesome, sickening, and deeply disturbing—not just because of what happens in the story, but because of how eerily plausible it feels.
The premise revolves around a dystopian world where a virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. As a result, government-sanctioned cannibalism has become the norm. That’s right—people are now bred, slaughtered, and sold as meat. But don’t call them humans. The language has changed. They’re “head” or “product” or “specimens.”
The book follows Marcos, a man working in the meat industry, who has become numb to it all—until he’s given a “gift”: a live woman meant for his personal consumption. And that’s when things get…complicated.
The writing is cold, clinical, and brutal, mirroring a world where the unthinkable has become normal. And that’s what makes it so terrifying—it’s not just about the horror of cannibalism, but about how easily society can justify the most monstrous things when language and laws shift to accommodate them.
A quick read, but one that lingers long after the final page due to how disturbingly real it feels.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Page count: 272
Closing off the list, we have Piranesi, which is probably the hardest to explain—and arguably the most fascinating.
The book follows Piranesi (yes, that’s his name—or at least what he calls himself), a man living in a huge, crumbling house filled with giant statues, rising tides, and endless hallways. He keeps meticulous journals of his days, mapping the house and tracking its strange patterns, believing this is the only world. But when a mysterious figure called “The Other” hints at secrets within the house, Piranesi starts to question everything he thought he knew.
Genre-wise, it’s hard to pin down. It’s part fantasy, part mystery, and part psychological puzzle. The writing style is also hypnotic as it pulls you into Piranesi’s perspective so completely that you start to question what’s real right alongside him.
Piranesi is a short read that draws you in from the first page. Its unique world and captivating mystery will keep you hooked, making it the perfect book to get lost in for a day.
Closing Thoughts
Life can get hectic, and finding time to read often feels like a luxury. But these books prove that a powerful story doesn’t need hundreds of pages. With just a few hours of your time, they’ll pull you in, make you feel, and leave an impression long after you’ve finished. Perfect for when you want a full reading experience without the time commitment.
And if you ever find yourself with a little more time on your hands, check out this list of 8 unforgettable duologies worth reading.
