the list of stolen books

"The fact that she didn't have genuine proof of identity, the way her accent shifted, like her grandfather's, the old guy's strange ideas, their peculiar way of life, even her skill at outwitting alarm systems: all of this suggested that our love affair had been a trick, not a trick performed by two human beings in order to deceive a third, but a product of my own delirious imagination. Except that I wasn't crazy, I had proof that both of them existed: the list of stolen books, Ahmed's testimony (unless he was in on the scheme), and Juana's, and the hospital bills."

~~ from Severina by Rodrigo Rey Rosa

one-sitting reads

Both "Frade Killed Ellen" and The Betrayal of Times of Peace and Prosperity fall under the category of one-sitting reads, although increasingly, I find that I enjoy returning even to the shortest stories to consider them over several sittings, often rereading earlier passages, the beginning, etc.

But here are lists of classic short reads, longer novellas and short novels, one of "The 20 Best Novellas in the History of Mankind" and another of "17 Brilliant Short Novels You Can Read in a Sitting."

Some of my favorites that didn't make either list are Herman Melville's Benito Cereno, Kate Chopin's The Awakening, Yuri Olesha's Envy, John Fante's The Brotherhood of the Grape, Dan Fante's Chump Change, and Camera by Jean-Philippe Toussaint.