At the beginning of each year, ambitious book lovers set reading challenges for themselves on Goodreads, hoping to one-up their previous goal and out-read their friends. Some people finish enough books to hit their book-count easily, potentially having set the bar lower or lowering them in the middle of the year, while others are just short of their goal. With the end of the year looming overhead, people turn to quick reads to hit to finish the year strong and prove their literary expertise.
Here are a few books spanning a variety of genres and topics that are shorter, stand-alone and fast-paced — perfect to finish in a sitting or two, while still delivering on quality and depth.
“The Martian” by Andy Weir
An exciting science-fiction book, “The Martian” follows astronaut and botanist Mark Watney on his journey home from Mars. His team evacuated the planet due to a dangerous sandstorm and left him alone there, believing he had died. The crew left the Hab — the mission’s base — in a hurry, and the satellite dish was destroyed in the sandstorm, leaving Watney alone on Mars with no way to communicate with Earth or the rest of his crew. He must first figure out a way to survive and then get rescued.
The book switches between Watney’s perspective, told through log entries, and the happenings on Earth, where people come together to attempt to save him once they realize he is stuck. Going back and forth between the experiences of Watney on Mars and the leaders behind world space travel organizations, Weir shows how the desire to save Watney becomes complicated by bureaucratic pressure, the media and international politics, which shape NASA’s decisions.
“The Martian’s” true heart lies in Watney, who, despite the terrible predicament he is in, continues to look on the bright side, staying humorous throughout. Making jokes in his logs, along with a heavy amount of profanity, Watney deals with the fact that he is truly alone on the planet and tries his best to overcome his fears and doubts. A story about overcoming the difficulties that Mars and loneliness have to offer, “The Martian” is an inspiring book that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
“Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
“Mexican Gothic" is a horror novel focusing on Noemí Taboada after she receives a letter from her newlywed cousin, begging to be saved from her new husband and their terrifying house. Taboada, wanting to check in on her cousin, heads to the house, High Place, a large estate that overlooks the Mexican countryside in the small mining town of El Triunfo. When she arrives, her cousin Catalina claims she had tuberculosis and wrote the letter delirious with fever, so nothing is wrong with the house or her husband — however, not everything in Catalina’s explanation makes sense.
Taboada is not sure what to make of the estate, Catalina or Catalina’s father-in-law — Howard Doyle, the elderly English patriarch of the family. The longer she stays, the more she uncovers about the Doyle family, its dark past and the evil lurking in the house. Not sure who to trust, with new friends and enemies made within the house and surrounding town, Taboada investigates the goings-on of High Place and its role in the town’s mining history, with Doyle trying to prevent her from learning more.
The book slowly reveals the chilling truths lurking within the house, keeping the reader on their toes. Combining themes of colonialism and power with horror, Moreno-Garcia captures the harsh realities of Mexico’s history as a colonized nation and the lingering violence that oppression leaves behind.
“The Vegetarian” by Han Kang
Number 49 on The New York Times' best books of the 21st century, “The Vegetarian” is a surreal literary fiction novel following a woman living in Seoul, South Korea, who decides to become a vegetarian after being plagued with grotesque dreams about meat. The novel is originally written in Korean, but is translated into English for more readers to enjoy. Told in three acts from three different perspectives, all centered on the main character Yeong-hye, Kang weaves a tale of the brutality surrounding bodily autonomy and social conventions.
Yeong-hye’s vegetarian choice soon starts to disrupt her life, as her husband views her decision as selfish and disobedient, attempting to assert dominance over her by forcing her to eat meat. She closes herself off from others more and more, as her brother-in-law becomes perversely obsessed with her and her sister tries to care for her.
Disturbing and thought-provoking, Kang’s book is a look into a woman’s struggle to escape the patriarchy — violence that comes from within her own family, from her husband, brother-in-law and father. Through the grotesque depictions of meat, sexuality and family relationships, this book delivers a haunting story about resistance, identity and the cost of breaking free from societal expectations.
The weeks before New Year’s Eve are the perfect time to get cozy with new adventures to expand your reading repertoire — and to show your past self that it is possible to achieve your reading goals, if you put your mind to it.
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