6 terrific volumes you can read in one sitting

Book-wise, good things do come in small packages.

I got to thinking about this while reading “The Christmas Guest.” Peter Swanson’s 2023 mystery is fine, but I was most compelled by the afterword, in which Swanson says he specifically wrote “Guest,” which is 96 pages long, so it could be gobbled in one sitting.

In general, my take on book length would be similar to Roger Ebert’s pronouncement that “no good movie is long enough and no bad movie is short enough,” but Swanson has a point. There are times when a shortie is just the ticket: If you’ve been taking a reading break and you’re diving in again; if it’s December and your book club needs a title that accommodates busy schedules; or even if you just crave the satisfied sigh you emit when you flip the last page (that’s not just me, right?).

The exact length of oneday reads depends on how speedily you read and the kind of book it is. I’m thinking the sweet spot is around 100 pages. In that spirit, here are some titles you can whip through on a lazy afternoon: and diversions on the way to a murder. (Coming next week, his “Until August” is also just 100 pages.)

— That title sounds like a bummer, but Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s rage-filled reflections on the death of her father are strangely comforting, like a hand on your shoulder that reminds you that whatever you’re feeling is OK.

— Nella Larsen’s Harlem Renaissance novel focuses on two women in the Jazz Age. Both biracial, they have taken different paths (one presents to the world, including her husband, as white). Things come to a shocking climax as Larsen explores the horrors of racism and the price of hiding from it.