It’s 1 November and that can only mean one thing – it’s time for our second year of the Novellas in November reading event, hosted by myself and Rebecca at Bookish Beck.

Over the next four weeks we can going to celebrate the short novel in all its forms. The definition of a novella is loose – it’s based on word count rather than number of pages – but we suggest aiming for 150 pages or under, with a firm upper limit of 200 pages.

Each Monday we’ll be introducing a theme and will be hosting a Buddy Read, which will be reviewed on the Thursday of each week:

1–7 November: Contemporary fiction (Cathy)

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson – including a giveaway of a signed copy!

8–14 November: Short nonfiction (Rebecca)

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (free to download here from Project Gutenberg. Note: only the first 85 pages constitute her memoir; the rest is letters and supplementary material.)

15–21 November: Literature in translation (Cathy)

Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima

22–28 November: Short classics (Rebecca)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (free to download here from Project Gutenberg)

Remember when you post a review to tag myself or Rebecca on Twitter (@cathy746books & @bookishbeck) or Instagram (@bookishbeck & @cathy_746books) and use the hashtag #NovNov

Add the links to your novella-related reviews on this post, or Rebecca’s main post and we’ll keep them updated throughout the month!

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Here are our Novellas in November posts so far:

The Disinvent Movement by Susanne Gendall (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

Novellas in November and their screen adaptations (Arti at Ripple Effects)

Yet Another Five Novellas I’ve Read (Susan at A Life in Books)

The Fell by Sarah Moss (Laura Tisdall)

Contemporary Novellas from the Archives (Annabel at Annabookbel)

Novellas in November TBR & Research Round-up (Laura F at Reading in Bed)

A Child in the Theatre by Rachel Ferguson (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Moral Hazard by Kate Jennings (Cathy at 746 Books for Aus Reading Month)

Come Closer by Sara Gran (Cathy at 746 Books)

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Death of the Author by Gilbert Adair (Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings)

Novellas I’ve Read: Capote, Steinbeck, Welch & Hill (Margaret at Books Please)

An Island by Kate Jennings (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

Often I Am Happy by Jens Christian Grøndahl (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Open Water & Other Contemporary Novellas Read this Year (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

Vertigo by Amanda Lohrey (Nancy Elin)

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Cathy at 746 Books)

At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop (Tony’s Book World)

A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler (Imogen at Reading and Watching the World)

Stone in a Landscape by Maria Barbal (Booker Talk)

I’m Ready Now by Nigel Featherstone (Nancy Elin)

Fludd by Hilary Mantel (Margaret at Books Please)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Cathy at 746 Books)

The Lonely by Paul Gallico (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Love Child by Edith Oliver (Liz and Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home)

Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark (Sarah Matthews on Twitter)

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald (Arti at Ripple Effects)

Murder Included by Joanna Cannan (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Rector and The Doctor’s Family by Mrs Oliphant (Liz and Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home)

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Laura at Reading in Bed)

Touch the Water Touch the Wind by Amos Oz (Kim at Reading Matters)

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis (Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best)

Foe by JM Coetzee (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

The River by Rumer Godden (Lisa t ANZ Lit Lovers)

A Wild Swan by Michael Cunningham (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Dublin 4 by Maeve Binchy (Market Garden Reader)

I Was Jack Mortimer by Alexander Lernet-Holenia (Madame Bibilophile) 

Casanova’s Homecoming by Arthur Schnitzler (Marina Sofia at Finding Time to Write)

Nonfiction Week: Short Memoirs by Lucille Clifton, Alice Thomas Ellis and Deborah Levy (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig (Chris at Calmgrove)

Short Nonfiction from the Archives (Annabookbel)

The Writer’s Cats by Muriel Barbery (Davida at The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog)

Aimez-vous Brahms? by Francoise Sagan (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

Book Pairings: Novellas and Nonfiction (Cathy at 746 Books)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Jackie at Never Imitate)

Mary Beard and Sara Gran: Mini Reviews (Callum McLaughlin)

The Writer’s Cat by Muriel Barbery (Annabookbel)

The Cost of Living by Deborah Levy (Cathy at 746 Books)

To Die in Spring by Ralf Rothmann (Kim at Reading Matters)

Baron Bagge by Alexander Lernet-Holenia (Grant at 1streading)

Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig (Chris at Calmgrove)

The Birds of the Innocent Wood by Deirdre Madden (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Writer’s Cats by Muriel Barbary (Annabookbel)

Hiroshima by James Hersey (Cathy at 746 Books)

Somebody Loves You by Mona Arshi (Davida at TCL Book Reviews)

Short Nature Books for #NovNov: Burnside, Nezhukumatathil and Crummley (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

The Fell by Sarah Moss (Susan at A Life in Books)

Short Nonfiction: Mantel, Athill & Herriot (Margaret at Books Please)

The Parakeeting of London by Nick Hunt and Tim Mitchell (Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Woking from Home)

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

Which Way? by Theodora Benson (Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running at Working from Home)

The Story of Stanley Brent by Elizabeth Berridge (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (Cathy at 746 Books)

The Faces by Tove Ditlevsen (Tony at Tony’s Book World)

The Woman in the Blue Cloak by Deon Meyer (Kim at Reading Matters)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Mairead at Swirl and Thread)

Coda by Thea Astley (Nancy Elin)

Breathtaking by Rachel Clarke (Margaret at Books Please)

I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel (Karen at The Simply Blog)

The Fell by Sarah Moss (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

Maigret in Court by George Simenon (Karen at Booker Talk)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Susan at A Life in Books)

The Fell by Sarah Moss (Years of Reading Selfishly)

The Looking Glass by Carla Sarett (Davida at TCL Book Reviews)

The War of the Poor by  Éric Vuillard (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

Concrete by Thomas Bernhard (Emma at Books Around the Corner)

Two Sci-Fi Novellas: The Employees and A Psalm for the Wild Built (Annabookbel)

Boys Don’t Cry by Fiona Scarlett (Kim at Reading Matters)

Passing by Nella Larsen from Stage to Screen (Arti at Ripple Effects)

Tea and Sympathetic Magic by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Nancy Elin)

Daisy Miller by Henry James (Diana at Thoughts on Papyrus)

The Spoke by Friedrich Glauser (Marina Sofia at Finding Time to Write)

The Silent Traveller in Oxford by Chiang Yee (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Griffith Review #66, The Light Ascending, annual Novella Project edition (Lisa at ANZ LitLovers)

Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg by Emily Rapp Black (Imogen at Reading and Watching the World)

Utility Furniture by Jon Mills (Liz at Adventures in reading, running and working from home)

Symposium by Muriel Spark (Chris at Calmgrove)

No. 91/92: A Diary of a Year on the Bus by Lauren Elkin (Rebecca at Reading Indie)

Six Scottish Novellas: Gray, Mackay Brown, Mitchison, Muir, Owens, Smith (Grant at 1streading)

Cain by José Saramago (Lisa at ANZ LitLovers)

The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili (Booktube review by Jennifer at Insert Literary Pun Here)

Tinkers by Paul Harding (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Heritage by Vita Sackville-West (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

One Billion Years to the End of the World by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky (Chris at Calmgrove)

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes (Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery)

We Kill Stella by Marlen Haushofer and Come Closer by Sara Gran (Marina Sofia at Finding Time to Write)

Dinner by César Aira (Cathy at 746 Books)

Assembly by Natasha Brown (Radhika’s Reading Retreat)

The Bad Policeman by Helen Hodgman (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller (Laura at Reading in Bed)

Crusade by Amos Oz (Nancy Elin)

Translated Fiction Novellas from the Archives (Annabookbel)

The White Riband by F. Tennyson Jesse (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Scrolls from the Dead Sea by Edmund Wilson (Reese at Typings)

Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa (Cathy at 746 Books)

The Invention of Morel by  Adolfo Bioy Casares (Emma at Words and Peace)

Barbarian Spring by Jonas Lüscher (Marina at Finding Time to Write)

Miss Peabody’s Inheritance by Elizabeth Jolley (Karen at Booker Talk)

I Don’t Want to Go to the Taj Mahal by Charlie Hill (Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home)

The Chronicles of Narmo by Caitlin Moran (Chris at Calmgrove)

Still Life by Richard Cobb (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Silent Traveller in Oxford by Chiang Yee (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Winter Flowers by Angélique Villeneuve (Cathy at 746 Books)

Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima (Cathy at 746 Books)

Pietr The Latvian by Georges Simenon (Margaret at Books Please)

Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

Two novellas for German Literature Month: Andrea Maria Schenkel & Isabel Bogdan (Annabookbel)

Particularly Cats by Doris Lessing (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Fell by Sarah Moss (Eric at Lonesome Reader)

My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson (Susan at A life in books)

An Interview with Stella Sabin of Peirene Press (Cathy at 746 Books)

In Translation by Annamarie Jagose (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

‘A Tree’s Wood is also its Memory’: Three nonfiction reads by Deborah Levy (Madame Bibi Lophile Recommends)

Ludmilla by Paul Gallico (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Woman from Uruguay by Pedro Mairal (Susan at A life in books)

The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman (Karen at Simply Me, Simply Writing)

Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton (Arti at Ripple Effects)

Snake by Kate Jennings (Whispering Gums)

Inspector Chopra and the Million Dollar Motor Car by Vaseem Khan (Chris at Calmgrove)

Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au (Brona at This Reading Life: Brona’s Books)

The Pigeon and The Appointment for German Literature Month and Novellas in November (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

Life in Translation by Anthony Ferner and Friend Indeed by Katherine D’Souza (Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home)

Father Malachy’s Miracle by Bruce Marshall (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Two reads for Translation Week: Redonnet and Zweig (Cathy at 746 Books)

Two French Novellas for #NovNov: Sebastian Japrisot and Georges Simenon (Annabookbel)

Why Do I Like Novellas? (Stargazer Online)

Translation Week: In the Company of Men and Winter Flowers (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

Farmer Gils of Ham by JRR Tolkien (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

Four novellas, four countries, four decades (Emma at Book Around the Corner)

Ignorance by Milan Kundera (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Sci Fi Novellas: The Deep, A Psalm for the Wild Built & These Lifeless Things (Laura Tisdall)

The Cardinals by Bessie Head (Marina Sofia at Finding Time to Write)

Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

Classic Novellas from my Archives (Annabookbel)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Callum McLaughlin)

Carte Blanche by Carlo Lucarelli (Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery)

Behind the Mask by Kate Walter (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

The Newspaper of Claremont Street by Elizabeth Jolley (Nancy Elin)

Foster by Claire Keegan (Smithereens)

The Light in the Piazza by Elizabeth Spencer (Tony at Tony’s Book World)

Daphnis and Chloe by Longus (Reese at Typings)

The Invisible Host by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

In Youth Is Pleasure by Denton Welch (Imogen at Reading and Watching the World)

Catholics by Brian Moore (Cathy at 746 Books)

Six Short Cat Books for #NovNov: Muriel Barbary, Garfield and More (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

The Witch of Clatteringshaws by Joan Aiken (Chris at Calmgrove)

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (Margaret at Books Please)

King City: Adventures into Birmingham’s Diverse Music Culture by Stephen Pennell (Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home)

A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa (Karen at Booker Talk)

I’d Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (Cathy at 746 Books)

Three to See the King by Magnus Mills (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Cathy at 746 Books)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

Two short guides to London (Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home)

More Novellas in November: Kashimada and Serpell (Laura Tisdall)

A Dream Life by Claire Messud (Brona at This Reading Life)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Davida at The Chocolate Lady’s Book Review Blog)

Love by Angela Carter (Simon at Stuck in a Book)

Caravan Story by Wayne Macauley (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (Margaret at BooksPlease)

Novellas in November 2021 Wrap Up (Carol at Reading Ladies)

Every Day is Gertie Day by Helen Meany (Sue at Whispering Gums)

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera (Karen at Booker Talk)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Karen at The Simply Blog)

White Fragility by Robin D’Angelo & Me And White Supremacy by Laila F. Saad (Liz at Adventures in Reading, Running and Working from Home)

Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali (Imogen at Reading and Watching the World

Three Contemporary Novellas: Brown, Moss & Gaitskill (Cathy at 746 Books)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote: From Novella to Screen (Arti at Ripple Effects)

The White Woman by Liam Davison (Kim at Reading Matters)

The Aunt Who Wouldn’t Die by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay (The Bookly Purple)

Missus by Ruth Park (Lisa at ANZ Lit Lovers)

Clara’s Daughter by Meike Ziervogel (Chris at Calmgrove)

Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima (Laura at Reading in Bed)

Seven Final Novellas: Crumley, Morris, Rapp Black; Hunter, Johnson, Josipovici, Otsuka (Rebecca at Bookish Beck)

The Peneliopiad by Margaret Atwood (Helen at She Reads Books) 

The Fell by Sarah Moss (Callum McLaughlin)

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Davida at The Chocolate Lady’s blog)

Second-Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta (Liz at Adventures in reading, running and working from home)

I Am God, a Novel by Giacomo Sartori (Lisa at ANZ LitLovers)

In Pious Memory by Margery Sharp (HeavenAli)

Murder in the Dark by Margaret Atwood, The Story of Stanley Brent by Elizabeth Berridge, Under the Tripoli Sky by Kamal Ben Hameda (HeavenAli)

Inseparable by Simone de Beauvoir (Tony’s Book World)

My Week with Marilyn by Colin Clark (Kate at Books are my Favourite and Best)

The Red Chesterfield, Winter Wren, Tower and The Book Eve (Naomi at Consumed by Ink)

Maigret Defends Himself by Georges Simenon (Chris at Calmgrove)

I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven (Robin at A Fondness for Reading)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Margaret at Books Please)

Four Novellas: Assembly, Treacle Walker, All the Devils are Here, Space Exploration (Annabookbel)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Laura at Reading in Bed)

Novellas in November re-cap! (Market Garden Reader)

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (Bookshelf Discovery)

Montalbano’s First Case by Andrea Camilleri (Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery)

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells (Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery)

Three French Novellas by Georges Simenon, Jean-Patrick Manchette and Pascal Garnier (Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery)

Something of His Art: Walking to Lübeck with J S Bach
by Horatio Clare (Chris at Calmgrove)

Novellas in November #NovNov novellasinnovember reading challenge