Whenever you buy a book from our online store, we may make a small commission which supports our work. Visit our online store here.
Many avid readers often proclaim their love for lengthy books. They argue that a book that runs for hundreds of pages pulls you deeply into the worlds of its characters. For the most part, I agree. When reading a book I love, it is always sad to say goodbye to the characters. Reading a lengthy book requires a significant commitment, but the ever-increasing pace of our world leaves us with less and less time for such endeavours. That is why I sometimes prefer a shorter book that requires short-term commitment.
In our latest book recommendation, we have compiled a list of seven books you can read in less than 24 hours. From fiction and non-fiction to plays, the books on this list can be read in less than a day. Though short, these books engage with profound themes—such as war, sexual abuse, and revolution—that linger in the reader’s mind long after the final page.
Read our recommendations below.
Becoming Abigail
Author: Chris Abani
Genre: Fiction
Abigail, the young protagonist of Nigerian novelist and poet Chris Abani’s 2006 novella, has had a tough life. First, her mother dies during her birth, which more than being a personal trauma for her, also means she has to deal with her father’s depression after losing his wife. Then, during her childhood, Abigail is constantly sexually abused by relatives.
Eventually, Abigail’s father commits suicide, but before this, he tries to give his daughter a better life by facilitating her relocation to England. In England, Abigail lives with her cousin, but rather than have a better life, she continues to experience sexual abuse. There is a glimmer of hope when she meets the kind Derek, but that hope is quickly dashed by tragedy. Abigail learns that she is all alone in the world.
Notes on Grief
AUTHOR: CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
GENRE: NON-FICTIOn
Writers have always been rumoured to produce their most profound works when struggling with dark emotions, and Nigerian feminist novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, confirms it with her 2021 memoir, Notes on Grief. It is an ‘exquisite work’ that reflects on grief.
Notes on Grief has its origin in a New Yorker essay Adichie published in response to her father’s death. She writes not only about the loss of her father, but also about his impact on her life, especially his efforts in making her a writer.
SO LONG A LETTER
AUTHOR: MARIAMA BÂ
GENRE: FICTION
When her husband suddenly passes, Senegalese university lecturer, Ramatoulaye Fall, decides to reconnect with her old friend, Aissatou, who now lives in America. That sets the stage for this 1979 classic by Senegalese literary master, Mariama Bâ.
So Long a Letter, as its title suggests, is a long letter addressed from Ramatoulaye to her friend. It contains a series of entries detailing not only her husband’s death and the rites of funeral she must partake in, but also her life with her husband, Modou. After 30 years of marriage, Modou suddenly takes a second wife in his daughter’s friends Binetou. Following this, Ramatoulaye distances herself from him.
So Long a Letter has been hailed since its publication as an African feminist masterpiece, exploring the experiences of women in marriage (especially polygamy), as well as the class hierarchy that keeps women subjugated.
Cassava Republic Press is proud to announce the launch of their inaugural $20,000 Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize dedicated to exceptional works by Black women. Deadline: 30th June 2024. Learn more here.
WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS
AUTHOR: J.M. COETZEE
GENRE: FICTION
South African Nobel laureate, J. M. Coetzee, gives a profound commentary on colonialism with this 1980 short novel. In this book, we meet an unnamed magistrate of a frontier settlement of ‘The Empire’ who, in the course of the novel, experiences a complete change in his view of colonialism.
The peace he experiences in office ends when a colonel arrives from The Empire to begin an expedition into the land beyond the frontier. The Empire has declared a state of emergency in the frontier, following rumours that the area’s indigenous people, called barbarians, are planning an attack.
After the colonel launches an attack on the indigenous people and returns with several of them captured, the magistrate nurses a ‘barbarian’ girl badly wounded by torturers. It is through his intimate relationship with this girl that he begins to understand the brutality and illegitimacy of colonialism.
EVERY DAY IS FOR THE THIEF
Author: Teju Cole
Genre: Fiction
Nigerian writer, Teju Cole, has earned a reputation in African literature as the patron saint of the art-loving flaneur. His three novels centre such characters, who amble about cities observing people and culture and commenting on art, history, and philosophy.
The first of these novels, Every Day is for the Thief, is narrated by an unnamed character who has just returned to Lagos from New York. We follow this narrator as he experiences the city anew after 15 years away. He observes people in traffic jams, visits a market, the National History Museum, and other places. Running through all his observations are commentaries that express his dismay at the state of things in Nigeria.
Beasts of No Nation
AUTHOR: UZODINMA IWEALA
GENRE: FICTION
Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala’s debut novel is a short masterpiece of war fiction published to much acclaim in 2005. An ongoing war has torn an unnamed African country apart, and a little boy, Agu, is forced to join a group of rebel soldiers when he escapes from a battle in his small village. We follow Agu’s narration of his experiences of war. He is revolted by war, especially by all the killing he must to participate in.
Suddenly forced to abandon his childhood, he can’t help being drawn back to it in his memories. He finds himself constantly remembering the past: his mother and sister who escaped with the UN peacekeepers, his father whom he watched die, his love for reading and his dream of becoming an important doctor in the future. He struggles to accept that all that is gone now.
After an internal revolt within the battalion, Agu tries to make his way back home, but he is found by missionaries and taken to a missionary shelter.
THE TRIAL OF DEDAN KIMATHI
AAUTHOR: NGŨGĨ WA THIONG’O AND MICERE MUGO
GENRE: DRAMA
Kenyan playwrights Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Micere Mugo collaborated to write this classic of African literature. The Trial of Dedan Kimathi is a 1976 play that follows the trial of Dedan Kimathi, the military and spiritual leader of the Mau Mau Uprising of 1952 to 1960.
After his arrest by the colonial government, he is put on trial. The trial takes place in four parts, each of which features representatives of the government trying to convince Kimathi to surrender and divulge the identities of his comrades. A strong-willed man, Kimathi refuses.
While the trial is going on, attempts are made by other revolutionists to rescue Kimathi from prison. We meet the courageous woman, who smuggles a gun to Kimathi inside the court to enable his escape. She has the help of a boy, an orange seller, and a prison guard. But the plan is sabotaged. In the final trial, Kimathi is tortured until he dies.