Caveats: it must be a single book, published on its own under a single title. Within, it can be a series of essays, or poems, or whatever.
I'm already anticipating many people adding the obvious ones: The Little Prince, Of Mice and Men, The Lorax, The Grinch, Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 #141, etc.
Really, I'm curious about the obscure, rarely read, short books that caught you unaware — but LANDED.
e.g.
The first book of this kind, for me, was Indignez Vous! (Time for Outrage) by Stéphane Hessel. It is 32 pages. In its time, about 2011, it said a lot of things I needed to hear and hoped others wanted to say. If I remember it correctly at all, it's grown more relevant with time.
The latest book of this kind, for me, is the Burnout Society by Byung Chul-Han. Finishing it tonight, at 51 pages, I've re-read it twice already.
9 Comments
toynbee@piefed.social · 4 pts · 15d
House of Stairs by William Sleator messed with my head for a while.
Among other aspects, I read it in - I think - the mid nineties. At one point one of the main characters describes a past activity - leaving her car to rescue another person, IIRC - and details how difficult was to do so because you have to put on a gas mask to be out in the atmosphere or something like that. (It's been most of thirty years since I read it, I apologize for being light on the details.)
At the time I was a kid and thought it ridiculous. After all, humanity had conquered acid rain and the hole in the ozone (though I don't recall if that had happened yet). Climate change would never get that bad.
lunalein@federatedfandom.net · 3 pts · 15d
@eightpix The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
TheFunkyMonk@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 15d
Fight Oligarchy by Bernie Sanders. Read in an afternoon and got me fired up.
modernangel@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 15d
Your God is Too Small (1952, about 128 pp depending on edition)
Sophocles@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 15d
My favorite kids book "Stone Soup" is only 32 pages. The story is at an elementary reading level, but the story itself dates back ages and was often told by adults. Almost every culture has their own rendition of it, and I love the moral of the story. I first read it as a kid, but I still appreciate it to this day.
WeHi@feddit.org · 1 pts · 15d
A Short Stay In Hell stuck with me to some degree ever since I've finished it. It's somwhere around 100 pages long if I remember corecctly.
It's quite disturbing but it, somewhat ironically, helped me put things into perspective back when I've read it.
NycterVyvver@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 15d
The Children's Story by James Clavell.
xylogx@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 15d
Probably the Alchemist by Paul Coelho at 160 pages or Seagull by Anton Chekhov at 60 pages.
WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.today · 0 pts · 15d
"Now I know my ABCs" (title pulled out of my ass from the song) - learning to read at all is the biggest impact of all.