Best Short Books to Read | Quick and Impactful Reads for Busy Days

“A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage." - Lorrie Moore

For when you want the joy of reading, but aren't ready to make a long term commitment. The short story collections, novellas and short novels our booksellers have selected can fit even into the busiest of schedules, and are perfect for a quick escape on your commute, a cosy evening at home, or a break between meetings.

Dubray Recommends
Small Things Like These
Claire Keegan
€10.99
Convenience Store Woman
Sayaka Murata
€14.50
Marzahn, Mon Amour
Katja Oskamp
€16.80
The Spinning Heart
Donal Ryan
€9.99
The Forester's Daughter
Claire Keegan
€10.15
Travelling in a Strange Land
David Park
€14.50
Grief Is the Thing With Feathers
Max Porter
€14.50
No Longer Human
Osamu Dazai
€15.40
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
€11.60
Until August
Gabriel García Márquez
€24.65
Greek Lessons
Kang Han
€14.00
Dubray Recommends
Antarctica
Claire Keegan
€10.99
So Late in the Day
Claire Keegan
€9.99
Minor Detail
Adaniyah Shibli
€15.40
Days At the Morisaki Bookshop
Satoshi Yagisawa
€15.40
The Death of Francis Bacon
Max Porter
€8.70
Foster
Claire Keegan
€11.99
The Uncommon Reader
Alan Bennett
€11.20
Mostly Hero
Anna Burns
€7.30
The Word For World Is Forest
Ursula K. Le Guin
€13.05
The Girls of Slender Means
Muriel Spark
€14.50

Night & Day
John Connolly
€17.99
Roman Stories
Jhumpa Lahiri
€14.50
Self-Help
Lorrie Moore
€14.50
Quickly, While They Still Have Horses
Jan Carson
€21.75
Free Therapy
Rebecca Ivory
€17.99
Openings
Lucy Caldwell
€21.75
You Like It Darker
Stephen King
€24.65
Old Romantics
Maggie Armstrong
€16.00
Dubray Recommends
Topographia Hibernica
Blindboy Boatclub
€29.00
Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang
€14.50
Different Seasons
Stephen King
€18.85
How To Gut a Fish
Sheila Armstrong
€14.00
After the Funeral
Tessa Hadley
€14.50
Forty Stories
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
€18.85
Eyes Guts Throat Bones
Moïra Fowley-Doyle
€14.50

White Nights
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
€5.80
How Much Land Does a Man Need?
Leo Tolstoy
€5.80
Femme Fatale
Guy de Maupassant
€4.35
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime
Oscar Wilde
€4.20
A Terrible Beauty Is Born
W. B. Yeats
€4.35
A Modest Proposal
Jonathan Swift
€4.35
Travels in the Land of Serpents and Pearls
Marco Polo
€4.35
Leonardo Da Vinci
Giorgio Vasari
€4.35
The Yellow Wall-Paper
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
€4.35
Anthem For Doomed Youth
Wilfred Owen
€4.35
The Nose
Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol
€4.35

Dubray Recommends
Soldier Sailor
Claire Kilroy
€12.99
The Queen Of Dirt Island
Donal Ryan
€12.99
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong
€14.50
Night Boat To Tangier
Kevin Barry
€14.50
Dubray Recommends
Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Toshikazu Kawaguchi
€10.99
This Is How You Lose the Time War
Amal El-Mohtar
€18.85
Redhead By the Side of the Road
Anne Tyler
€14.50
Dubray Recommends
This Is My Sea
Miriam Mulcahy
€14.50
Earth
John Boyne
€13.99
The Motel Life
Willy Vlautin
€14.50
Dubray Recommends
Walk the Blue Fields
Claire Keegan
€10.99
The Cat Who Taught Zen
James Norbury
€26.60
Diary of a Void
Emi Yagi
€14.50
Last White Man P/B
Mohsin Hamid
€14.50
Heartburn
Nora Ephron
€24.65
Carmilla
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
€14.00
My Sister, the Serial Killer
Oyinkan Braithwaite
€14.50
West
Carys Davies
€12.60
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho
€14.00
If Beale Street Could TalkPenguin Modern Classics
James Baldwin
€13.05

The Art of the Glimpse
Sinéad Gleeson
€25.20
The Story
Victoria Hislop
€25.20
The Long Gaze Back
Sinéad Gleeson
€12.95
The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story
Anne Enright
€21.75
The Glass Shore
Sinéad Gleeson
€14.95
Furies
Margaret Atwood
€18.85
Tales of the Otherworld
Anne Doyle
€24.99
Being Various
Lucy Caldwell
€15.95
It Rose Up
Jack Fennell
€15.00

A Quick Read

Novellas

Small Things Like These

Convenience Store Woman

Marzahn, Mon Amour

The Spinning Heart

The Forester's Daughter

Travelling in a Strange Land

Grief Is the Thing With Feathers

No Longer Human

The Old Man and the Sea

Until August

Greek Lessons

Antarctica

So Late in the Day

Minor Detail

Days At the Morisaki Bookshop

The Death of Francis Bacon

Foster

The Uncommon Reader

Mostly Hero

The Word For World Is Forest

The Girls of Slender Means

Short Stories by Individual Authors

Night & Day

Roman Stories

Self-Help

Quickly, While They Still Have Horses

Free Therapy

Openings

You Like It Darker

Old Romantics

Topographia Hibernica

Stories of Your Life and Others

Different Seasons

How To Gut a Fish

After the Funeral

Forty Stories

Eyes Guts Throat Bones

Penguin Little Black Classics

White Nights

How Much Land Does a Man Need?

Femme Fatale

Lord Arthur Savile's Crime

A Terrible Beauty Is Born

A Modest Proposal

Travels in the Land of Serpents and Pearls

Leonardo Da Vinci

The Yellow Wall-Paper

Anthem For Doomed Youth

The Nose

Short Novels

Soldier Sailor

The Queen Of Dirt Island

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Night Boat To Tangier

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

This Is How You Lose the Time War

Redhead By the Side of the Road

This Is My Sea

Earth

The Motel Life

Walk the Blue Fields

The Cat Who Taught Zen

Diary of a Void

Last White Man P/B

Heartburn

Carmilla

My Sister, the Serial Killer

West

The Alchemist

If Beale Street Could TalkPenguin Modern Classics

Short Story Collections

The Art of the Glimpse

The Story

The Long Gaze Back

The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story

The Glass Shore

Furies

Tales of the Otherworld