Tiny Book Space

Fill up your bookshelf, two hours at a time

What is this?

Tiny Book Space is for people who desperately want to read more, but find themselves lacking time. As a solution, all books in this list are carefully curated and should take two hours or less to read.

What kind of books do you feature?

I try to showcase a wide range of genres; classics as well as more recent releases.

Where do you get the reading time from?

I use this website with 250 words-per-minute as the reading speed setting. Your reading time will vary, but hopefully two hours is a good approximation!

Where do you get the descriptions from?

I use Wikipedia and edit their descriptions.

I think [book/essay/poetry] would really go well in this list.

Suggestions are welcome! You can contact me on Twitter or through email: vaidaplankyte at gmail dot com.

Who are you?

I never find time for books because I spend too much time on the internet. You can find out more on my website.

Vaida Plankyte, 2016

The Metamorphosis

Franz Kafka

Absurdist Fiction

First published in 1915, it has been called one of the seminal works of fiction of the 20th century and is studied in colleges and universities across the Western world. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a large, monstrous insect-like creature. The novella deals with Gregor's attempts to adjust to his new condition as he deals with being burdensome to his parents and sister, who are repelled by the horrible, verminous creature Gregor has become.

The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Children's Literature, Fable

The Little Prince, first published in 1943, is a novella, the most famous work of French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It is a poetic tale, with watercolour illustrations by the author, in which a pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince fallen to Earth from a tiny asteroid. The story is philosophical and includes social criticism, remarking on the strangeness of the adult world. Since its first publication in the United States, the novella has been adapted to numerous art forms and media.

Politics and the English Language

George Orwell

Essay

Politics and the English Language is an essay by George Orwell that criticises the "ugly and inaccurate" written English of his time and examines the connection between political orthodoxies and the debasement of language. The essay focuses on political language, which, according to Orwell, "is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

The Raven

Edgar Allan Poe

Poem

First published in January 1845, this narrative poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow fall into madness. The lover, often identified as being a student, is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore. Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repetition of the word "Nevermore". The poem makes use of a number of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson

Fable, Gothic Novel

First published in 1886, the work describes a London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde. Stevenson had long been intrigued by the idea of how personalities can affect a human and how to incorporate the interplay of good and evil into a story. Literary genres which critics have applied as a framework for interpreting the novel include religious allegory, fable, detective story, sensation fiction, Doppelgänger literature, Scottish devil tales and gothic novel.