10 Short Novels to Get You Out of a Reading Slump

The article argues that short, gripping novels can help readers regain the habit when a book starts to feel like a chore. It recommends choosing stories with enough momentum and personality to encourage “just a few more pages”, rather than assuming that a lower page count alone will make a book easy to finish.

The excerpt discusses W. Somerset Maugham’s *Up at the Villa*, a 128-page novel in which a woman’s invitation to a penniless refugee sets off a chain of trouble, and Vincenzo Latronico’s *Perfection*, about a successful but dissatisfied couple in Berlin. The article praises Maugham’s brisk pacing and satire of respectable society, while noting that Latronico’s dialogue-free, plot-light style makes the couple’s doubts feel recognisable. The supplied text ends part-way through the discussion of *Perfection*.