Books by J. L. Carr
“A very subtle and understated work. Overlaying the whole book is a feeling of deep nostalgia and regret. It’s a wonderful book. And it was made into a very good film starring Colin Firth.” Read more...
Claire Fuller, Novelist
A Season in Sinji
by J. L. Carr
It’s a novel about class, cricket and war. The backdrop is how people deal with the underlying uncertainty and fear that goes with warfare
Interviews where books by J. L. Carr were recommended
Ed Smith on My Life and Luck
The former international cricketer, author of a book on luck, and England’s national selector tells us about the chance happenings that have helped shape his life, for better or worse
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1
Orbital
by Samantha Harvey -
2
Small Things Like These
by Claire Keegan -
3
Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor (narrator) -
4
The Invention of Morel
by Adolfo Bioy Casares, translated by Ruth L. C. Simms -
5
Heart of Darkness
by Joseph Conrad -
6
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
by Shirley Jackson
Short Novels
Short Novels
A short novel can be the perfect way to occupy the mind during an empty evening or a long journey. One can also appreciate a well-written book’s true complexity when it can be read and digested in a single, immersive sitting. Here, we’ve pulled together a list of short literary novels—most of them fewer than 200 pages in length—that have been recommended on Five Books over the years.
The Best Novellas, recommended by Claire Fuller
The acclaimed novelist Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground, recommends five of the best novellas: short works of fiction that offer the power and intensity of a novel in little more than 100 pages. From an epic-in-miniature set in the American West to an infamous story of bestial love, these books offer short, sharp shocks of fiction that can be enjoyed over a single evening.
