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2025 Novellas in November is drawing to a close. I've ranked the novellas and short nonfiction I read this year for you.
When Stay True won the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography in 2023 the committee had this to say about their selection:Determined to hold on to all that was left of one of his closest friends—his memories—Hua turned to writing. Stay True is the book he’s been working on ever since. A coming-of-age story that details both the ordinary and extraordinary, Stay True is a bracing memoir about growing up, and about moving through the world in search of meaning and belonging (Pulitzer).
2. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn -- 1962 classic novella (182 pages), my rating 4.5 stars.
The story is set in a Soviet labor camp in the early 1950s and features one day in the life of a prisoner Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. Shukhov is sentenced to ten years of hard labor in a gulag. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn started writing One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in 1957 after spending nine years in a Russian gulag himself. In 1962 this story was cleared for publication. It was the first thing published about the Soviet gulags. In 1970 Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for literature. Instead of being proud of their citizen, USSR had his citizenship stripped and exiled him from his motherland. At the same time all of his books and writings were removed from libraries across Russia. Not until Gorbachev came into power in the 1980s, did his books once again circulate freely. "The Soviet Union was destroyed by information – and this wave started from Solzhenitsyn's One Day" (Wiki).
This guy can write! And here is the thing. He is writing about stuff I know nothing about, but should. Iranian-born, he brings stories forward that folks in the west know little about. For example, in Teacher of Nomad Land I learned that Iran was a point of interest during WWII because of its oil. The allies didn't want the Nazi's to gain a foothold there because the oil would just enhance their military prowess. Also, 1,000 Jewish children from Poland were given protection in Iran and eventually transported to Palestine. They were called The Tehran Children.
The Art Thief is a well-researched tale of a psychologically complicated, misguided, narcissistic art lover who steals artifacts from museums, galleries, and castles throughout France, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland over several years. He steals the art not for financial gain but because he loves the art and wants to have it to look at and to touch. Over the years he and his girlfriend stole over 200 pieces, worth millions, possibly billions. Spoiler alert: to write a book about an art thief, they have to get caught!
This National Book Award recipient has much to digest within its pages. Clearly the author is frustrated beyond words at the world's seeming disregard for the plight of the people in Gaza. But he places the lion's share of blame on progressives and left-leaning people who give lip service to being horrified by the atrocities in Gaza at the hands of Israel, yet take no action to go along with their words and objectively support Israel's right to exist and self-defense.
Back in October I read a wonderful review of this book by Brona at This Reading Life. She began her review confessing she had dilly-dallied (my words, not hers) writing about the book because she wanted to write something about "e v e r y-s i n g l e-o b j e c t". After reading the book I see why she felt that way. I, too, would love to gush about these 41 objects, some directly and others tangentially, related to Jane Austen. Never fear. I don't have it in me and why should I anyway? After reading this I hope you want to read the book, so you'll find out for yourself.
7. Seascraper by Benjamin Wood -- 2025 novella (176 pages), my rating- 4 stars.
Seascraper is one of the group-read books for this year's 'Novellas in November' challenge. I was pretty excited to read it as I'd noticed it was on the Booker Prize longlist, giving it literary cred. But as I started reading I thought, "oh no, I don't think I can read this if scraping for shrimp is all it is." But when Edgar comes to town, Thomas starts to imagine a different life for himself, the book became much more interesting to me.
8. Theory and Practice by Michelle de Kretser -- 2025 novella (197 pages), my rating - 3.75 stars.
The narrator of the book is a first-generation immigrant from Sri Lanka. She is living in Melbourne and is attending Grad School in English Lit. Her thesis relates to Virginia Woolf, specifically analyzing three of the author's works on feminism and the "generated self." The narrator says that Woolf single-handedly saved her during her teen years. But theory is one thing especially when it comes up against real-life experiences. Calling yourself a feminist is one thing but attending a school where the professors in the department are predominantly male is a whole other thing. As the narrator reads more about Woolf she realizes if she, a Sri Lankan female with golden-brown skin and from a humble background, was to meet the author today, Woolf would dismiss her on either a racial or a classist basis, or both. Theory is one thing. But the practice of that theory is whole other thing.
Two people meet for a lunch. She is an accomplished actress. He is young man, young enough to be her son. Who are they to each other? Audition is a story in two parts and those two parts don't seem to be connected. They are just confusingly next to each other but they both can't be true can they? My head swam as I read Audition, trying to make sense of the puzzle I was presented. Confusion reigned and then the book ended. I was desperate to talk in person to anyone else who had read the book.
10. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino -- 1972 Classic novella (165 pages), my rating - 3.5 stars.
As I listened to the audiobook I was aware that there was structure to the book. There were 55 different cities described by Marco Polo to Kublai Khan as each chapter had a title that seemed to have a repeating pattern. But audiobooks don't allow the eyes to play with patterns needed for understanding. Think of those kid books where the reader gets to choose-your-own-story, making decisions along the way which alter the outcome. This book is just quite a bit more complex than those. The puzzle and the form are just as important as the stories in this one. It is very mathematical and a genius work. However, its genius was lost on me, an audiobook listener. I did appreciate the beauty of the prose and at some point I told myself to quit trying to figure out what was going on and just let the words flow over me.
I'd describe We the Animals as a boy book. It reminded me of a cross between The Clockwork Orange (violence and destruction); Catcher in the Rye (lost/confused boy(s) on the loose in a city); and Lord of the Flies (boys left to their own destructive devices). The three brothers, written in the incantatory royal "we", are growing up almost feral.
12. White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky -- 1849 Classic novella/short story (62 pages), my rating - 2 stars.
The story is set in St. Petersburg and opens with the unnamed narrator walking around the city in the summer, dejected and alone. One evening he happens upon a woman who is also alone and he ends up fighting off her would-be attacker. The two strike up a friendship, of sorts, meeting several more nights for conversations where they share their stories of loneliness and woe. The narrator falls in love with the woman but she is promised in marriage to another.Honestly, I do not recall how or when I heard about White Nights but what I heard made me want to read it. Reviewers gushed about the beauty of this love story. I had high expectations, which were quickly dashed as soon as I started reading. I love a good love story as much as anyone but it fell flat for me.
It's a wrap! Now I start amassing my list of novellas I want to read in 2026.
What were the favorite novellas or short nonfiction books you read this month?
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