As a book editor, I read for a living. I’m lucky; I get to earn my keep doing something I enjoy. I have edited books included in almost every genre of fiction, as well as trade nonfiction and academic tomes. I love that every project is different, that I am constantly learning new things, and that I can set my own schedule.
That said, reading all day for work means that often my own personal reading gets put on the back burner. But when a rainy day presents itself I can’t help but climb into the club chair in the corner of my office and dive into a good book. If the rain comes with thunder and lightning, all the better—I will happily wait out the storm.
It’s rained the last couple of days and it looks like the next few days will bring more of the same, so I thought it was a good time to share some great, classic reads for rainy days. I don’t mind rainy, stormy days at all. I like the rain; I like way rain makes everything smell, the coolness of the air, and I love the sound of the rain on the roof. If I can get a thunder and lightning as well, I’m in heaven.
Most of us don’t have much time during our busy week to curl up and read a book, but the downpour changed my plans to ride today and so I’ve taken the opportunity to catch up on my reading (no matter how much I read, I never seem to keep up!).
While it’s no matter to me how long or short a book is, sometimes it’s especially satisfying to be able to start something you can finish in one sitting. So I’ve compiled a short list of good reads that you can read in one sitting (though I guess that depends on how long you’d like to sit, I suppose).
The following are older titles, all of which are rather short (novellas, really).
- 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff
- Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- The End of the Alphabet by C. S. Richardson
- Walks with Men by Ann Beattie
- Disquiet by Julia Leigh
- The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
- The Alchemist by Paul Coelho
If you’re in for hurricane weather, here are some longer titles that nonetheless, kept me sitting still through to the very last page.
- a la Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, I recommend The Silent Wife by A. S. A. Harrison
- Superstition by David Ambrose
- A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (it was a very rainy day–and night!)
- The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s* Stone by J. K. Rowling
(*I read the Canadian/British editions of the series)
What books kept you reading until the very last word? Please share!!
no pants 