For wisdom, distilled.
The Internet loves to write think pieces about how we’ve lost our attention spans. Where did they go?
Social media is one obvious culprit. I personally like to pick on TikTok for reasons such as: 5 TikTok Challenges That Left Thousands Injured and Over 100 Dead.
In general, I’m pretty anti short-form video and the fact that information is becoming more and more condensed into visually-stimulating, “aesthetically-pleasing” 30-second sound bytes.
Give me words. Give me chapters. Give me delicious sentences to underline and real paper pages to dog-ear.
And give it to me even when I’m short on time. Because, yes, me too, I sometimes feel like life is a vat of quicksand mercilessly pulling me in. It’s part of why I’m trying to live a more analog life—one where I spend time away from social media and make my downtime less consumption-based and more pleasure-based.
Naturally, books are a big part of that. Even when I feel like I have no time.
If you’re short on time this week but still want to enrich your precious downtime instead of losing it to a doomscrolling spiral, try this: 9 good books you can read in a day.
Start with one, and then let the good vibes roll.
The shortlist: 9 short books to read in a day
2 Classic books to read in a day… One from a French author and one from a Polish author
2 Fiction books to read in one day… One inspired by family and one romance novel
2 Non-fiction books you can read in one sitting… One book about health and one about philosophy
3 Memoirs under 200 pages… One from an Old Hollywood starlet; one from a NYT bestseller; and one from a poet
Or if reading by mood is more your thing...
The Stranger — If you want to work on the classics
Solaris — If you’re interested in books from non-English-speakers
Life on the Refrigerator Door — If you want an emotional, mother-daughter story
Love Story — If you’re looking for a tear-jerking romance
Healing Adaptogens — If you’re curious to learn something new about health
Become What You Are — If you want to explore a bit of philosophy
My Story — If you’re in the mood for an honest celebrity autobiography
Tuesdays with Morrie — If you want to read a book about life
Instructions for Traveling West — If you’ve got a craving for poetry
Classic books you can read in a day
Reading the classics can feel like a daunting, arduous task. Crime and Punishment, for example, (the much-celebrated, 19th-century Russian novel that I’ve yet to read) is over 600 pages, which for most of us, puts it well out of bounds of a casual beach read.
But there are other, lighter ways to get into reading classic literature. I like these two:
I devoured this one over the course of a few metro rides last summer in Paris—a fitting landscape for the French writer’s existential classic. At only 144 pages, The Stranger is a short and snappy read that will make even non-bibliophiles fly through it.
The scene is an Algerian beach, where an unsuspecting man finds himself witness to a murder and is quickly drawn into the subsequent moral and legal fallout. Ranking number one on Le Monde’s 100 Books of the Century list, The Stranger will make you well read on both continents.
About the author: Albert Camus (1913—1960) was a French philosopher, journalist, novelist, and recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature (the second-youngest recipient in history, in fact). In addition to his renowned The Stranger, he also wrote the novels The Fall and The Plague, as well as many short stories, plays, and essays.
Available at Bookshop.org
By the way, do you speak a little French?
Not only is The Stranger a tight, snappy read, the original French version is also highly accessible to language learners.
If you’re learning French and want to work on your reading comprehension, I highly recommend giving Camus’s original words a go.
This was a gift from a friend and a wonderful introduction for me into Polish literature.
Written by Stanisław Lem, whom writer and critic Theodore Sturgeon supposedly heralded as the “most widely read science fiction author in the world,” Solaris is probably Lem’s most famous novel. It has been adapted for the screen many times, most prominently by the Soviet Union in 1968 and 1972 and again by the USA in 2002, starring a certain George Clooney and Natascha McElhone. (How did this go under my radar?)
I see the appeal. Solaris has one of the more intriguing concepts I’ve seen explored in science fiction: Aboard the Solaris Station for scientific research, psychologist Kris Kelvin faces a physical simulacra of his dead wife, chillingly reconstructed from his repressed memories.
Of note: The English translation that’s been in print since 1971 was not directly translated from Polish but, rather, translated from Jean-Michel Jasiensko’s 1964 French translation. Lem has, on the record, stated his disappointment with the subsequent English translation, considering it unfaithful to his writing.
In 2011, Bill Johnston completed a direct Polish-to-English translation, which Lem’s family praised as having “captured the spirit of the original.” Unfortunately, this edition was only released in print in a limited run of 400 copies in 2024. Today, it is only available as an ebook.
Why am I pointing this out?
There’s a gross imbalance between literature that is translated from English to other languages and literature that is translated from other langauges to English.
Feast your eyes on these astounding statistics:
According to the UNESCO Index Translationum, from 1979 to 2019, 1.27 million works were translated from English to another language. But the other direction (i.e., any other language translated to English), only counts 164,000 works.
To say this is a bummer is an understatement.
I’m currently working on a longer piece detailing the dominance of English literature, along with tips on how to find translated works to expand your reading list beyond the Anglo-Saxon publishing industry.
If you’d like to read it, sign up for A Merry Loner’s mailing list, and I’ll send it to you when it’s finished.
About the author: Stanisław Lem (1921—2006) was a Polish writer of novels, short stories, and essays that explore science fiction, philosophy, satire, and futurology. He’s particularly recognized for his ideas on intelligence, both human and artificial, and the limits of their abilities to interact with each other.
Available at Bookshop.org (paperback, Polish-French-English translation)
Available at Amazon (ebook, Polish-English translation) Note: This is the first and last time I will link to Amazon, as I do not condone Amazon’s deplorable treatment of their workers and thus do not buy from them or otherwise support them financially. If you, too, want to stop buying books from Amazon, I encourage you to check out these 5 Alternatives to Amazon for Books.
If you have more than one day to read…
There are obviously many more classic novels worth poking your nose into, but they’re not all short enough to be read in a day. Still, they are accessible, relatable, and fun.
Find 18 easy-read classic novels to diversify your reading list.
Fiction books you can read in a day
I’m frequently extolling the benefits of reading classic literature, but that doesn’t mean I’m always hankering for an old-fashioned novel. For something a little more of the times, I like these two short novels:
Written entirely in Post-It messages stuck to the refrigerator, the aptly named Life on the Refrigerator door is a heartfelt story exploring the mother-daughter relationship.
Between single motherhood and the all-consuming torment that is adolescence, this mother and daughter rarely find time to physically be together; nonetheless, their daily written exchanges, however brief, keep them deeply connected—all the more so as they navigate a family tragedy together.
Powerful, uplifting, and highly relatable, this may even be a nice book to read with a family member.
About the author: Alice Kuipers (1979—) is a British novelist who has won the Grand Prix de Viarmes, the Livrentête Prize, the Redbridge Teenage Book Award, and the Saskatchewan First Book Award and has seen her Life on the Refrigerator Door adapted for the stage in England, France, and Japan. She writes young adult and children’s books.
Available at Bookshop.org
Few books make me cry, but this one made the list—and I don’t think I’m the only one. The 160-page romance chronicles the love story of a Harvard jock and a working-class music student.
That’s all I’ll say about the plot, but even better: This book has a trivia-rich backstory:
Love Story was originally written as a screenplay and unceremoniously rejected by many Hollywood studios. Ali MacGraw, an actress, friend of the author, and at-the-time wife of Paramount executive vice president Robert Evans, apparently convinced her husband to greenlight the film. MacGraw would play the leading lady.
To promote what was expected to be a lackluster film, Paramount supposedly requested Segal transform the screenplay into a novel for promotional purposes, to be serialized in Ladies Home Journal and released in a few-thousand-copies run on Valentine’s Day. (Valentine’s Day to promote a romance novel? Groundbreaking.)
Unexpectedly, the novel became a best-seller, topping The New York Times Best Seller list and has since been translated into 30+ languages.
Though many literary critics were not fans. Upon its nomination for a National Book Award, one judge famously deemed it “banal,” saying “it…simply doesn’t qualify as literature.”
Final fun fact: This book is also the origin of the now famous catchphrase, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
About the author: Erich Segal, Ph.D. (1937—2010) was an American screenwriter, author, and professor. Beyond writing over a dozen novels and screenplays, he was also a classics scholar, teaching at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Dartmouth.
Available at Bookshop.org
Non-fiction books you can read in a day
I’m a big fan of non-fiction. Biographies and history books are my favorites, though those are often quite long and involved.
These two short non-fiction books are decidedly informative and enlightening but short enough to enjoy over a cup of coffee:
I’m a bit of a wellness freak (though I’m not that into the world, “wellness”). I exercise almost daily. I rarely eat processed food. And I’m a frequent meditator. I also consume mushrooms, lots of mushrooms.
I’ll be brief here, but functional or medicinal mushrooms, per the International Journey of Molecular Sciences, “have important health benefits and exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities, including:
- Antiallergic
- Antibacterial
- Antifungal
- Anti-inflammatory
- Antioxidative
- Antiviral
- Cytotoxic
- Immunomodulating
- Antidepressive
- Antihyperlipidemic
- Antidiabetic
- Digestive
- Hepatoprotective
- Neuroprotective
- Nephroprotective
- Osteoprotective
- And hypotensive activities.”
Some functional mushrooms are also adaptogens or as Dr. Dana Ellis Hunnes, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health assistant professor of community health sciences and senior dietitian at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, defines them:
“herbs, roots and other plant substances (like mushrooms) that help our bodies manage stress and restore balance after a stressful situation.”
TLDR: Mushrooms have very powerful health benefits that are finally starting to garner attention from Western medicine—and this book gives you a crash course in a light, easy-to-read book.
About the author: Tero Isokauppila is the founder of the Finnish-American functional foods company, Four Sigmatic, which (full disclosure) does sell adaptogenic mushrooms. (I’m a fan.) His book, however, is highly informative and educational. He has a degree in chemistry and a certificate in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University. He has also authored a companion book, Healing Mushrooms.
Available at Bookshop.org
This book did take me more than a single day to read, as it was one I carried around in my bag and puzzled over for a while—but I could have.
At 144 pages, Become What You Are is a delightfully thought-provoking, inspiring little book that can be consumed in a single afternoon, though you’ll likely want to keep the evening free for the musings, self-introspection, and general philosophizing that are sure to follow. It gives a glimpse into various religious philosophies on how to discover your true self: a question we’ve all asked ourselves at one time or another but whose answer is often elusive if not ephemeral.
About the author: Alan Watts (1915—1973) was a British and American writer and speaker who popularized and interpreted Eastern philosophies for a Western audience. In addition to his 25+ books and essays on Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu philosophy, Watts gained a significant following through his radio broadcasts, which are still circulated today.
Available at Bookshop.org
Who are you, really?
Continue the never-ending project of getting to know yourself better with My Favorite Books on Self-Awareness.
Learn how to do things alone—without feeling lonely
a comfortable, nonjudgmental email challenge that helps you own the power of being alone
Memoirs you can read in a day
Memoirs and biographies are some of my favorite types of books. As a long-time journal-er, I appreciate the dedication and insight it takes to attempt to articulate the chaos within—and the courage to bear it publicly.
From household names to emerging voices, these short memoirs are worth taking the afternoon off:
There have been countless books, essays, documentaries, memes, and other think pieces written about the life of Marilyn Monroe.
Tragic. Beautiful. Famous. Blonde. Married thrice. Institutionalized once. Medicated often. The superficial details of Monroe’s life provide easy material to romanticize and sensationalize. But what would she say?
My Story is, for once, the woman’s own words. Written throughout her life but published posthumously, this unfinished memoir touches on her childhood, her career, and her highly publicized marriage to Joe DiMaggio. If you’re curious what lies beneath all the pop culture hullabaloo and want to get straight to the source, this is it.
About the author: Marilyn Monroe (1953—1962) needs little introduction. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, the American star was a top-billed actress, famous sex symbol, and an enduring cultural icon. She was also an intelligent, compassionate person who, despite the ongoing speculations, the public will never truly know.
Available at Bookshop.org
More Marilyn?
A few years ago, I surprised myself by falling into an enormous Marily Monroe reading rabbit hole. I was never that intrigued by the famed starlet (I was more of an Audrey Hepburn fan) but quickly became mesmerized by her so widely dispersed yet so little understood story.
These books, in particular, were well researched and illuminating:
Marilyn Monroe: The Final Years by Keith Badman
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe by Donald H. Wolfe
The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli
I found this book on a friend’s bookshelf while visiting her in Washington, D.C. for the weekend and spent a rainy afternoon sitting on her couch reading it from cover to cover.
In this memoir, Albom recounts his weekly visits with his former sociology professor who is dying from ALS. I believe it’s been made into a film and adapted for the screen several times, but (as always) I recommend reading the book first.
It’s one of those heartwarming, feel-good books that IMHO is best enjoyed with a delightful beverage, i.e., tea. If you’re not yet a tea drinker but want to be, you can find a cup to suit your palette in my enormous guide on How to Start Drinking Tea: The Best Tea for Non Tea Drinkers.
About the author: Mitch Albom (1958—) is an American writer, journalist, and radio host, best known for his books about life, loss, and meaning. Altogether, his works have sold 42+ million copies and have been translated into 48 languages. He currently writes a lifestyle column for the Detroit Free Press and a sports column, syndicated by Tribune Content Agency. He also hosts two radio programs.
Available at Bookshop.org
Sometimes, only poetry will do. If you want to spend the afternoon with some light reading that will inspire, uplift, and take you on a journey to get in touch with those deep-down feelings you have that you’ve always struggled to articulate, then Joy Sullivan is your ideal partner in crime.
I devoured this book of poems over two days, on both occasions luxuriating in the bath with candles and, you guessed it: tea. Both times, I emerged feeling understood, reassured, and certain that any wild ideas I have are well worth pursuing.
I’ve since gifted my copy to a friend, and I wish to do the same to you.
About the author: Joy Sullivan (unknown) is a poet and educator. She was the poet-in-residence for the Wexner Center for the Arts and has guest-lectured at Stanford, Florida State University, and other institutions. She now leads writing workshops and writes the newsletter, Necessary Salt.
Available at Bookshop.org
In times of trouble, I need books.
That’s why I also included Instructions for Traveling West in my collection of Books for Existential Dread.
If the state of the world has you feeling troubled lately, I hope these will help you or at least offer a few hours of respite.
Ready to read?
Don't procrastinate—grab a book you can read today:
The best book to read in a day, depending on your mood
“Best” is, of course, subjective. But I’ve spent a long time creating a curated guide to help you find a short book to read in an afternoon that accurately matches your mood:
| What’s the best book to read in a day… Based on your mood | The book |
|---|---|
| If you want to work on the classics… | The Stranger by Albert Camus |
| If you’re interested in books from non-English-speakers | Solaris by Stanisław Lem |
| If you want an emotional, mother-daughter story | Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alice Kuipers |
| If you’re looking for a tear-jerking romance | Love Story by Erich Segal |
| If you’re curious to learn something new about health | Healing Adaptogens by Tero Isokauppila |
| If you want to explore a bit of philosophy | Become What You Are by Alan Watts |
| If you’re in the mood for an honest celebrity autobiography | My Story by Marilyn Monroe |
| If you want to read a book about life | Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom |
| If you’ve got a craving for poetry | Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan |
Conclusion: Books you can read in one sitting are always worth "wasting" the day
There’s something delicious about spending the entire afternoon reading, especially when there’s something else you really “should” be doing. But in the grand scheme of things, is there any better way to spend your time than bettering your mind?
If so, I’ve yet to discover it.
Next Steps:
Pick one book from this list and buy it now so you’re ready for your reading day. Or head over to your local library and grab a copy for free.
Set aside a full afternoon (or morning or evening). Book a spot at your favorite restaurant. Plan to head to your coziest cafe. Or just nestle at home with a freshly brewed cup.
Put the kettle on. Because what goes better with a brand-new book than a steaming pot of tea? Before you brew, I encourage you to consider one of these 6 Ethical Tea Companies from which to source your leaves. (Big Tea is a thing, and it’s gnarly.)
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Books You Can Read in a Day: Common FAQs
What is the best book to read in a day?
It depends on your mood. If you want to work on the classics, I highly recommend reading The Stranger by Albert Camus. If you’re in the mood for poetry, I’m smitten with Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan. And if you’re just looking for a good, old novel, I’m in love with Love Story by Erich Segal.
What are some classic books that can be read in one sitting?
The Stranger by Albert Camus is very short and snappy to read. I didn’t include it in this list, but George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm are also quick reads; they’re included in my round-up of easy-to-read classic novels for people dipping their toe into the world of classic literature.
What are some great short novels you can read in one sitting?
There are many, actually! Some of my current favorites are Love Story by Erich Segal (if you’re going for romance), Life on the Refrigerator Door by Alex Kuipers (if you want a mother-daughter tale), or Solaris by Stanisław Lem (for science fiction fans).
Merry
Merry is the blogger behind A Merry Loner, a full-time freelance writer, and a lifelong bookworm. Since kindergarten, it was her dream to become a novelist. (She likes to think she's headed in the right direction.) Born and raised in Rhode Island, where she earned a triple-major BA in writing, communication, and French from the University of Rhode Island, she moved to Toulouse, France after the pandemic to complete a master's in creative writing at Univeristé Toulouse Jean — Jaurès. She now lives in Paris with husband.
Discover how the merry loner lifestyle makes life more enjoyable:
LONER MINDSET: fresh perspectives on learning to genuinely enjoy your own company
BOOKS: reading lists for people who love being alone with a good story
ANALOG LIVING: inspiration to step back from the screen and live a life offline
SOLO TRAVEL: guides on where to go and how to enjoy it alone
MINDFUL CONSUMPTION: vetted recommendations for a simpler, less wasteful life
LONER Q&As: interviews from global voices on how to live a meaningful, enjoyable life
