Top Ten Favourite Novellas/Short Stories

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week, she posts an idea relating to books and encourages other book bloggers to respond with their own top ten lists.

This week’s topic is “top ten favourite novellas/short stories.” I tend not to read a lot of novellas so this list was difficult for me to put together, but here are a few of my favourites:

1.  The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

I know this is technically an anthology, but I absolutely loved this collection of beautifully crafted, dark fairy tales that subverted their source material. My favourite of the group, though, was When Water Sang Fire. 

2. Opal by Maggie Stiefvater

I technically haven’t read this one yet, but I already know that I’m going to love it because a) it’s Maggie and b) my love for The Raven Cycle is neverending.

3. The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado

The Husband Stitch weaves folk tales and urban legends into an exploration of societies expectations for women – a discussion that is so important and increasingly relevant. I wish I could make everyone give this a read.

4. The Girl Who Woke the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

This short story provides literal holiday magic to the otherwise contemporary anthology entitled My True Love Gave to Me, reminding me once again how much I love Taylor’s exquisite writing,

5. Midnights by Rainbow Rowell

Like #4, this can also be found in the My True Love Gave to Me anthology. The idea of exploring a relationship by revisiting the same night each year (in this case, a New Years Eve countdown) was so interesting, and I was impressed by how invested in the relationship I became despite only seeing such small windows of time.

6. The Birds of Azalea Street by Nova Ren Suma

This short story can be found in Slasher Girls & Monster Boys, a delightfully creepy anthology. This story was beautifully written and poetic, despite its creepy context.

7. The Assassin and the Underworld by Sarah J. Maas

While I’m less enamoured with the Throne of Glass series right now, I loved The Assassin’s Blade when I first read it – and I absolutely loved seeing Sam and Celaena’s relationship develop in The Assassin and the Underworld.

8. The Boy in the Smoke by Maureen Johnson

This is another one that I haven’t yet read, but I love the Shades of London series so it stands to reason that I’ll love this as well.

9. The Wide, Wide Sea by Patrick Ness

The Chaos Walking series is one of my all-time favourites, so I jumped at the opportunity to return to that dystopic world. And, of course, Ness continued to pull at my heartstrings with this short story.

10. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

At under 100 pages, I’d count The Little Prince as a short story. I haven’t read it yet (shameful, I know!) but I purchased a copy when I was last at Shakespeare and Company and can’t wait to give it a read – from what I’ve heard, it’s absolutely adorable.

 

What are some of your favourite novellas/short stories? Leave me a list or a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post below.

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