Looking for short books for your book club? As fulfilling as participating in a book group can be, keeping up with the reading is no easy feat. If your group is on the lookout for short reads that still pack a punch, look no further. We've put together a wide variety of intriguing novels, memoirs and short story collections that all clock in at less than 250 pages.

All of these books are viewable on BookBrowse, and for the vast majority we've included excerpts below from our own reviews. Many also have reading guides accessible through our website to help generate discussion. These short books range from National Book Award and Pulitzer winners to lesser-known works deserving of attention.

In general, we've veered towards newer selections with this list, in order to provide you and your book club with a fresh crop of books recommended by BookBrowse reviewers in recent years, but we've also thrown in a handful of beloved older works that remain relevant. Happy reading!

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In celebration of Black History Month, we feature more than 70 outstanding contemporary works of nonfiction and historical fiction by Black authors.

From now through to the end of February we're giving readers free access to these books, all of which have a review, an excerpt, a range of read-alike recommendations, and a "beyond the book" article that looks at a historical or cultural aspect of the book.

You can also explore many other genres of books by Black writers, such as contemporary novels, short stories and fantasy, with almost every book backed by a review, beyond the book article and an excerpt.

In fact, you can get even more specific by customizing your search to filter hundreds of genres, settings, time periods, and themes (for example: Black authors + Adult-YA Crossover Fiction + Set in Africa).

All these filters are available to you for free during February but are normally only available to BookBrowse members and patrons and staff of subscribing libraries.

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Do you enjoy reading and cooking? Have you thought of combining the two into a book club focused on cookbooks?

In our latest Book Club Q&A, Marie and Sally share everything you need to know to start your own cookbook book group!

Davina: Hi Sally and Marie, I'm so excited to hear about your cookbook book clubs, so without further ado, let's dive in! Firstly, Sally, what's the name of your group, what's your role in it and how did it get started?

Sally: Our group is called Books for Cooks and we're affiliated with Martha Washington Library, which is one of the branches of Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) in Alexandria, Virginia. I'm the volunteer organizer and facilitator; my background was as a public school reading teacher and professional literacy staff developer, and now that I'm retired, I enjoy running a number of book clubs including Books for Cooks.

Davina: I just love the idea of a cookbook book club, melding two of the most important things in so many of our lives. Where do you meet?

Sally: Pre-pandemic we met at Martha Washington Library. Previously I had attended Cook the Book! meetings at FCPL's George Mason Library, facilitated by librarian Marie Cavanagh, so as to learn how to organize a cookbook book club. Using a template developed by Marie, the Martha Washington Library group began in February 2019, meeting on the first Tuesday of the month, while Marie's already established George Mason group met on the third Monday of the month, with some folks attending both.

Davina: So now FCPL has two cookbook groups. What fun! Marie – can you share a bit about how you came to start a cookbook book club?

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More book club Q&As

The holidays seem to go so fast! Here we are now in 2022, and the publishers are hitting the ground running. From the vast number of books that will publish this month, we've identified 80 of particular note, 14 of which publish this week.

The New Year also sees a new batch of books enter the public domain. In the U.S. in 2022, this includes books first published in 1926, such as A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh; The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway; My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather; Soldiers' Pay by William Faulkner; Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence; an early novel by Georgette Heyer, These Old Shades; a slew of novels from the prolific Edgar Wallace; and other works by a veritable who's who of early 20th century authors including Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ford Maddox Ford, C. S. Forester, Franz Kafka, Vladimir Nabokov, Dorothy L. Sayers and H. G. Wells.

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There are many places to find reader reviews on the web, but it can be a challenge to know which are truly independent.

The reader reviews offered through BookBrowse's First Impressions program are trustworthy because only our members can post them. Members have the opportunity to request books to read months ahead of publication in exchange for their honest opinion. They can request specific titles but the books are assigned by an algorithm. This approach helps ensure that the overall consensus will not be influenced by readers with personal connections to the author.

It also results in candid, thoughtful perspectives from our members that give a glimpse of the experiences they've had with a book. By seeing the similarities in reader reactions and opinions, you can better decide if a book is one you're likely to enjoy. And with all of the reviewed books available, you're sure to find many that appeal to you.

Below are this year's First Impressions titles. If you'd like to see more books, we have reviews of over 750 available for you to browse!

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Last week, we introduced you to BookBrowse's Top 20 Books of the Year, as chosen by our subscribers. Now, it's time to announce the award winners. The winners for Best Fiction, Best Nonfiction, Best Debut and Best Young Adult Novel are the books with the highest ratings from subscribers in their respective category.

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