TOPIC · 67 BOOKS

Novels and short stories

Books I have read about novels and short stories, brought together across genres, periods and countries.

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Cover of El homenaje

El homenaje

Andrea CamilleriA very short Camilleri text that I enjoyed for its irony and the personality he brings to a small scene. It is over in no time, but leaves you smiling.

Cover of Asfixia

Asfixia

Chuck PalahniukA wild and funny story about a man who pretends to choke so that other people can save him and then feel responsible for him.

Cover of Beyond love

Beyond love

Dominique LapierreA very human story about doctors, patients and families during the first years of AIDS. I was very moved by how Lapierre turns a huge crisis into concrete stories of people trying to help and survive.

Cover of The City of Joy

The City of Joy

Dominique LapierreA novel that impressed me enormously in the way it portrays poverty in Calcutta without losing sight of dignity, friendship and the ability to keep going. I read it just after spending a summer there in the late 1990s, and I could recognise the life of the city, its smells and its people. It is a great book.

Cover of Homeland

Homeland

Fernando AramburuAn enormous novel for understanding how ETA terrorism entered families, friendships and everyday life. I thought the way it tells the conflict through different characters, without turning them into simple symbols, was very good. It is tough, but excellent.

Cover of The Farm

The Farm

Héctor Abad FaciolinceA family story told around a Colombian farm and everything that changes over the years. I loved how it mixes the lives of characters with the history and violence of the country. I was able to live life closely in those villages and farms and it's easy to imagine how hard those years had to be.

Cover of Porno (Mark Renton, #3)

Porno (Mark Renton, #3)

Irvine WelshWelsh recovers the characters from Trainspotting years later and puts them into another business that's just as overwhelming and disastrous.

Cover of Trainspotting (Mark Renton, #2)

Trainspotting (Mark Renton, #2)

Irvine WelshI never tire of this book or the film. A wild novel about friendship, drugs and a generation with very few ways out. I loved the characters’ voices and the energy of the writing, even when what it describes is very hard. Excellent.

Cover of La granja

La granja

John GrishamThis Grisham away from lawyers and courts doesn't interest me at all. the life of a farming family has some good moments, but history got slow on me and it took me a long time to move forward.

Cover of Siete vidas

Siete vidas

John GrishamA collection of stories set in Grisham's usual territory that hardly worked for me. I had trouble getting interested in the stories and it's one of his books that I least remember.

Cover of Una Navidad diferente

Una Navidad diferente

John GrishamA light-hearted Christmas story about a couple who decide to skip all the celebrations and find out that the neighborhood isn't going to let them.

Cover of La conjura de los necios

La conjura de los necios

John Kennedy TooleIgnatius is one of the most unbearable and funny characters I can remember. The novel is a mess full of weird people and absurd situations, and that's exactly why it works so well.

Cover of Our Riches

Our Riches

Kaouther AdimiThe story of a bookstore in Algiers and the people who tried to turn it into a cultural gathering place.

Cover of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mark HaddonI really liked how a seemingly small investigation helps to get into the protagonist's head and understand his way of ordering the world. It is original, entertaining and also quite exciting.

Cover of Platform

Platform

Michel HouellebecqHouellebecq mixes tourism, sex, loneliness and a bitter view of Western society. It has interesting ideas and some very good passages, but also sections that felt unnecessarily uncomfortable or provocative. It did not move me and I never quite connected with it.

Cover of Alta fidelidad

Alta fidelidad

Nick HornbyI loved the mixture of music, relationships, and the neurosis of the protagonist. It's very funny, but it also explains very well how we use our tastes and our lists to explain who we are.

Cover of The Brooklyn Follies

The Brooklyn Follies

Paul AusterIt's a nice novel about some lost people trying to rebuild their lives in Brooklyn.

Cover of París D.F.

París D.F.

Roberto WongIt's a novel about Mexico, Paris, and the feeling of not being part of either place.

Cover of Paraíso en casa

Paraíso en casa

Adrián Curiel RiveraThe story of a Mexican man who settles in Mérida after being robbed in Mexico City. His wife then leaves him and he tries to become a novelist. I found the interwoven stories difficult to distinguish and the book became confusing, although it has a good ending.

Cover of Hozuki, la librería de Mitsuko

Hozuki, la librería de Mitsuko

Aki ShimazakiThe story of Mitsuko, owner of an old bookstore, her deaf-muted son and a lady who wants to interfere in that relationship.

Cover of Tres tormentas de nieve

Tres tormentas de nieve

Aleksandr Pushkin, Lev Tolstói y Antón ChéjovCompilation of three stories related to snowstorms in Russia in the 1960s.

Cover of Bluebeard

Bluebeard

Amélie NothombA very funny novel and a very original reinterpretation of Blue Beard. The story begins with a young woman renting a room in Paris at the home of an eccentric Spanish aristocrat, whose former tenants have disappeared. It's short, strange, dark and full of Nothomb's quick and absurd dialogues.

Cover of Fear and Trembling

Fear and Trembling

Amélie NothombA curious and funny novel, based on a stage in the author's life, which tells how a young Belgian woman joins a large Japanese corporation to work.

Cover of Riquete el del Copete

Riquete el del Copete

Amélie NothombA curious reinterpretation of the tale of Riquete and the Copet, with the usual Nothomb style and some funny idea about beauty and ugliness.

Cover of The Martins

The Martins

David FoenkinosIt's an entertaining novel about a writer who goes out on the street and chooses a random person to write a book about his life. He meets an old woman and from there he comes in to meet his whole family, to write the book, with everything that comes with it.

Cover of Tlapalería

Tlapalería

Elena PoniatowskaI liked that they are VERY Mexican stories and perfectly reflect everyday life in Mexico City.

Cover of The Black Corsair

The Black Corsair

Emilio SalgariI love the pirate stories, and this is a classic adventure novel that's hardly ever written about anymore: corsairs, vengeance, battles and voyages through the Caribbean.

Cover of The Adversary

The Adversary

Emmanuel CarrèreThe true story of a man who in 1993 murdered his entire family in France and then tried to commit suicide. He had built his life around fiction, only telling lies, and only came to light after the murders.

Cover of The Moustache

The Moustache

Emmanuel CarrèreBlack humor novel by a gentleman who thought he had a mustache, but didn't, or maybe did, that conveys some discomfort and an unexpected ending.

Cover of The Armies

The Armies

Evelio RoseroThe drama of a Colombian people in the worst period of the guerrilla war told through the eyes of the village teacher, Ismael. Hard and very well written, it is really sad to imagine the desolation they lived in those villages.

Cover of White Nights

White Nights

Fiódor DostoyevskyThe story of how a lonely young man from St. Petersburg accidentally met a woman on the street. four nights of love, dislike, disappointment, hope, everything.

Cover of Of love and other demons

Of love and other demons

Gabriel García MárquezThe life of the daughter of a Marquis in Cartagena, Colombia who grew up with his slaves, got bitten by a dog and they thought she was possessed by the devil.

Cover of Leaf storm

Leaf storm

Gabriel García MárquezA great book that I enjoyed enormously. It is García Márquez’s first book set in Macondo. In a Colombian town a century ago, the local doctor, hated by its inhabitants, dies. The novel follows one family’s struggle to give him a dignified burial despite the community’s opposition, while explaining how the situation reached that point.

Cover of The vegetarian

The vegetarian

Han KangA strange and uncomfortable novel about a woman who decides to stop eating meat and how that decision ends up affecting her entire family.

Cover of Salvo mi corazón, todo está bien

Salvo mi corazón, todo está bien

Héctor Abad FaciolinceAnother great book by one of the best writers I've ever read. The story of a priest who, waiting for a heart transplant, goes to live in a house in Medellin with two women and their children. And the new life he discovers.

Cover of The Kamogawa Food Detectives

The Kamogawa Food Detectives

Hisashi KashiwaiIt's been a lot of fun, because it's a mix of culinary novels with different cases to investigate. It's like Netflix's "Midnight Dinner" series but with a different approach. Different chapters where the owner of the Kamogawa Bar and his daughter research and recreate dishes that are in the memory of their customers.

Cover of First Love

First Love

Iván TurguénevIt is a short novel from 1860 in which the protagonist tells the story of his first love. During one summer, while in his country house, he fell in love with a missing princess.

Cover of Impostor

Impostor

Javier CercasWhat a story about Enric Marco, who falsified information to pretend to be a survivor of Nazi concentration camps. And his whole life was a lie. Javier Cercas tries to tell it aseptically, but he doesn't get it, and that's the grace of the book for how it's written.

Cover of The Life of Gérard Fulmard

The Life of Gérard Fulmard

Jean EchenozAs the author of some of my favorite biographies, I didn't like this novel. It's the story of a novice detective with a sad life, a failure, who ends up involved in a political contest.

Cover of The Namesake

The Namesake

Jhumpa LahiriIt's one of those novels where nothing happens, but you get wrapped up, you get hooked, and you want to know everything until the end.

Cover of Libro del tedio

Libro del tedio

José ArdilaI really enjoyed this book, a collection of stories where one characteristic predominates in all the characters: boredom. But it's stories full of surprises, humor, drama, patience, family, friends, work. It's one of the most Colombian books I've ever read.

Cover of The Sound of Things Falling

The Sound of Things Falling

Juan Gabriel VásquezAntonio, a law professor in Bogotá, complicates his life when he befriends Ricardo Laverde, a man with a dark past. One day, Antonio and Ricardo are attacked on the street and Ricardo dies while Antonio becomes traumatized and obsessed with trying to understand Ricardo's life.

Cover of El amante bilingüe

El amante bilingüe

Juan MarséA funny novel set in Barcelona in the 80s/90s that deals with a charnego (a disdainful Catalan way of naming a Spaniard from outside Catalonia) who is still in love with his ex-wife and invents a character to try and win her back years later.

Cover of Peluquería y letras

Peluquería y letras

Juan Pablo VillalobosA funny novel about how one day what was supposed to be normal for a writer suddenly derails when they cross paths with a French hairdresser with a dark past, and an Ecuadorian vigilante who also wants to be a writer.

Cover of Helena, or the Sea in Summer

Helena, or the Sea in Summer

Julián AyestaI can't tell you why I liked it so much, but I read it from a sitting and it reminded me of many moments when I was a kid, in the summer, I would definitely read it again.

Cover of Delirium

Delirium

Laura RestrepoA novel about mental illness, love and violence. Laura Restrepo never disappoints, and I loved this book. A university lecturer named Aguilar returns from a trip to find that his wife has lost her mind. He tries to discover the source of her breakdown by examining her family history and friendships.

Cover of Divine Boys

Divine Boys

Laura RestrepoBased on a real event with a fictional story around it, fast-paced, good characters and very tough at times.

Cover of How Much Land Does a Man Need?

How Much Land Does a Man Need?

Lev TolstóiA short novel by an ambitious peasant who proves that greed breaks the sack.

Cover of Strider: The Story of a Horse

Strider: The Story of a Horse

Lev TolstóiThe life of an old decrepit horse, Jolstomer, told in the first person how humans despised and judged him for his appearance.

Cover of The Kreutzer Sonata

The Kreutzer Sonata

Lev TolstóiA disturbing novel about love, passion, the difficulties of children and the consequences of jealousy.

Cover of Le dedico mi silencio

Le dedico mi silencio

Mario Vargas LlosaAfter reading this book, I am eager to get to know Peru more deeply. The novel focuses on the life of a journalist obsessed with Creole music, a discontented musician he saw at a concert, and his desire to write a book that tells his story.

Cover of Whatever

Whatever

Michel HouellebecqThe sad and lonely life of a 30-year-old French computer engineer, misogynist and racist, told in the first person.

Cover of Serotonin

Serotonin

Michel HouellebecqA very Houellebecq novel: dark, pessimistic and full of characters unable to find their place in the world. It has very good passages about loneliness, relationships and the decline of French society, but overall it did not excite me and some parts felt heavy.

Cover of Señora de rojo sobre fondo gris

Señora de rojo sobre fondo gris

Miguel DelibesIt's an almost autobiographical novel set in '75, in which Delibes is portrayed as a painter in crisis while his wife is seriously ill, and his daughter and brother-in-law are detained for political reasons.

Cover of El gorrión de Java

El gorrión de Java

Natsume SōsekiA collection of short stories written between 1908 and 1912. Very intimate, nostalgic and with everyday stories that are very well situated in Japan at the time.

Cover of To the Spring Equinox and Beyond

To the Spring Equinox and Beyond

Natsume SōsekiWritten in 1912, this novel tells the story of Keitaro, a recent graduate, who is desperately looking for work, leading him to witness the stories and dramas of several people, sometimes intertwined with each other.

Cover of Winter

Winter

Rick BassIt's a novel about the diary of a writer looking for inspiration in a very cold, hidden corner of the U.S.-Canada border.

Cover of Tales of the Greek Heroes

Tales of the Greek Heroes

Roger Lancelyn GreenIt's a very good book that tells Greek legends and mythology, it's a single narrative that makes it easier to read, and it goes through all the stories we've ever heard: from the creation of the universe to Hercules, King Midas, Orpheus, Jason and the Argonauts. I've enjoyed it so much!

Cover of Portraits of a Marriage

Portraits of a Marriage

Sándor MáraiIt starts in a coffee shop in downtown Budapest in the first third of the 20th century with a woman telling her story with her ex-husband.

Cover of Un amor

Un amor

Sara MesaThe story of a young translator who settles in a lost village, and everything that surrounds her life there: the other people in the village, their dynamics, emotions. I liked it so much and was surprised because I didn't expect anything from this novel.

Cover of Burning Secret

Burning Secret

Stefan ZweigA 1911 novel that tells the story of a young aristocrat who tries to approach a married woman through his 12-year-old son while they're on vacation at a hotel.

Cover of Leyendas

Leyendas

Stefan ZweigIt's not one of his best books, but It is a quick read and some of the stories are good. Five legends Zweig wrote to convey his concerns and the times he lived in (World Wars, crises, etc.).

Cover of Journey Into the Past

Journey Into the Past

Stefan ZweigIt's a novel about love, distance and how you can idealize a relationship by telling the story of a couple separating during World War I.

Cover of Difficult Light

Difficult Light

Tomás GonzálezWhat a harsh and well-told novel about a Colombian family living in the USA. After a traffic accident, Jacobo decides to die to stop suffering the pains of his paralysis.

Cover of Beauty and Sadness

Beauty and Sadness

Yasunari KawabataKawabata’s final novel tells the story of a famous married writer who seeks out a former lover, now a painter living with a jealous young apprentice. I cannot say much more without spoiling it. The novel is beautifully written and atmospheric, although it is not one you race through.

Cover of Snow Country

Snow Country

Yasunari KawabataJapanese melancholy novel from the 1930s that tells the story of a wealthy man in Tokyo and a geisha from a remote snowy village in northern Japan.

Cover of After the Banquet

After the Banquet

Yukio MishimaA very Japanese novel about an independent and vital woman who falls in love with a retired politician and ends up getting involved in his return to public life.