Small Books TBR for busy months

My life has gotten extremely busy these last few months. I made a trip to Disney World and spent 6 days in those parks and then 3 days in Universal Studios parks. I loved that trip so much that I didn’t feel like coming back. And now that I am back, I want to plan another trip in the near future. I am a fan of Disney movies, Star Wars, Avatar and Harry Potter so it was like visiting heaven. I even got myself Rey’s dress from the movies to wear when my Jedi instinct kicks in. Other than that, I have gone into full on Konmari mode and have cleaned up my house. I did the cleaning in phases and I like the end result. Minimalism has reduced stress and anxiety in my life.

My plan for 2020 is to focus less on reading and to focus more on my personal life, health and career. I also want to start focusing on all my neglected hobbies like painting, journaling, artwork etc. I am not in the mood to read big chunky fantasy books with lot of complex world building and politics, nor am I in the mood to read hard sci-fi lately. So I have been mostly reading literary fiction or historical fiction or contemporary fiction and books with light fantasy/sci-fi elements.

I was looking at all the books on my shelves and I realized how many small books I own which are less than or around 200 pages in size. I read one such small book this month and it took me less than 4 days even with a hectic schedule.

So I decided I will have a TBR of small books kept aside and will pick books from this pile for next few months when I don’t have enough time to read. Once I have more free time, I will start reading those chunky 600+ page books from my shelf.

Here are the small books that I plan to tackle in the near future –

Some SFF books –

• The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle which inspired Jurassic Park
• Solaris by Stanislaw Lem – supposed to be very different from other sci-fi novels
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – I have read one or two stories from this short story collection but would like to read all the stories in one go.
• The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson – I haven’t read many books by him but would like to try his short novella to see how he writes shorter fiction as all his books are 700+ pages.
• The Scarlet Plague by Jack London – I was surprised to see this book in SFF shelf at my local bookstore as I didn’t know that Jack London wrote SFF as well. I picked it on a whim.

I have few non-fiction:

• A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway – I have started and stopped this book multiple times in the past because I got drawn to other books. But I am now eager to read it after watching “Midnight in Paris” movie where all the characters that the author talks about in this book come to life.
• A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle – I love books on travel. I also love books that talk about food and culture from other countries so I have a feeling I will like this book.
• Einstein’s Dream by Alan Lightman – Another book that I saw at the bookstore and picked up just based on the blurb. I have never seen anyone review or talk about it before.
• Letters to Juliet by Lise Friedman and Ceil Friedman – I thought this was a novel which the movie was based on but it turns out that it is a non-fiction book about letters written to Juliet.

Some classics that I want to tackle –

• Lot No 249 by Arthur Conan Doyle – I have not read anything other than Sherlock Holmes by this author so I am curious to read a gothic horror from him.
• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys – This book is based on a character who appears in Jane Eyre. Even though I am not a big fan of Jane Eyre, I am curious to see what this book is all about. The synopsis at the back sounds amazing as it is about a woman who is driven mad by her husband.
• We have always lived in a castle by Shirley Jackson – The author is called queen of gothic horror and I love gothic horror so I have a feeling I will love it.

What are you reading? What are you planning to read in 2020?