17 Great Short Book Club Books Under 300 Pages

Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson
Page count: 288 pages

I said this in my main book club picks list — this is an odd book on the surface but truly a must-read. It’s a weird and endearing little book that your group should definitely give a chance. Seriously, just TRUST ME on this. The concept sounds outlandish, and it is, but it is rooted by its absolute heart and the human emotions that it feels very grounded in reality.

It’s a quirky little book about a woman who becomes the caretaker of a long lost friend’s stepchildren — who just happen to burst into flames when they get upset.

For book clubs who like: unique books, books about found family, humorous & heartwarming books

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
Page count: 278 pages

It’s about an elderly man and writer who has made it his duty to rescue lost objects, give them a new home with him and writes stories about them — a project he started after to console himself, forty years ago, when he unexpectedly lost his wife on the same day that he misplaced one of her keepsakes. At the end of his life he decides to leave his housekeeper, whom he’s grown close with over the years, the house and all of the objects in it in hopes that she will fulfill his wish to reunite the lost things with their owners — a mission that she embarks on with a ragtag group of new companions that ultimately will change her life.

For book clubs who like: whimsical and fairytale-like books, heartwarming reads, character driven books

Yellow Wife by Sadeqa Johnson
Page count: 278 pages

This is a really excellent short book club book (though it certainly won’t be light)!! It follows an enslaved woman, who was promised freedom on her 18th birthday, but circumstances change and she finds herself living at one of the most infamous slave jails in Virginia and has been chosen as the horrible jailer’s wife. It is inspired by a true story.

For book clubs who like: powerful historical fiction, books about courageous women

Float Plan by Trish Doller
Page count: 272 pages

One of my favorite books of 2021 — a book filled with romance, adventure and re-birth after a time of grief and sorrow. It’s a great book if your book club is wanting something a bit lighter as the sadder bits of the story are very well evened out by slow-burn romance and beautiful destinations.

It’s about a woman who, in her grief, decides to embark on the year-long sailboat trip she and her late husband planned to take. She quickly realizes she’s not equipped to do this on her own and hires a professional to sail along with her — a man with his own charted life that’s gone off course — and she begins to open her heart to charting a new future course for her life amidst her grief.

For book clubs who like: “women’s fiction” type reads, books with romance, books about self discovery & starting over, travel-themed books

content warning: suicide

Shiner by Amy Jo Burns
Page count: 272 pages

Set in Appalachia, it’s about a young girl who lives a rather isolated existence with her snake-handling father who preaches sermons in an abandoned gas station, her bored mother who always wanted to escape the mountaintop along with her lifelong best friend who lives nearby with her family.

Along the course of a summer, the young girl’s world is ripped wide open after tragedy strikes and she learns the truth of certain family legend’s and her mother’s past. Equal parts coming of age story as it is a story about the friendship between the Wren’s mom and best friend.

For book clubs who like: dark & gritty books, Southern fiction, atmospheric reads like Where the Crawdads Sing

Meet Me At The Museum by Anne Youngson
Page count: 272 pages

This one is about the year-long correspondence between a farmer’s wife in England and a Danish museum curator after the woman spurred when a letter, from the woman, intended for somebody else ends up in the hands of the Danish curator. Polite correspondence gives way to friendship that gives both solace and companionship they are both in need of as they share their hearts and lives with one another.

For book clubs who like: epistolary books like Guernsey and the Literary Potato Peel Society, books about friendship

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Page count: 260 pages

If you like books that make you laugh and cry at the same time, check this one out. It’s about a cranky, isolated bookstore owner who receives a surprise and life-changing package to help him restart his life

For book clubs who like: books for book lovers, heartwarming books

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy
Page count: 258 pages

This one is about a biologist who moves to the Scottish Highlands, with her sister accompanying her, as she sets out to lead a team to re-introduce wolves back to the area to hopefully heal the dying ecosystem — a project met with resistance by nearby farmers and others. She also hopes the time in Scotland will be healing for her sister, who has been severely traumatized and unable to care for herself, after events that led them to fleeing Alaska before coming to Scotland. Things seem to be going well –both work-wise and personally — until a farmer goes missing, which prompts her to defend the wolves she knows are going to be blamed for the death, and she suspects something more sinister could be at play.

For book clubs who like: literary fiction with mystery elements, atmospheric books, books with nature and environment themes (even if you don’t normally — highly recommend this one as it touches on many more thought-provoking themes), her other book Migrations (highly recommend that for a short book club book too)

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle
Page count: 255 pages

I really enjoyed this one but I find Rebecca’s books divisive in general but make for GREAT discussions because of it. It’s about a woman who is on track in every aspect of her meticulously planned out life and she can check off another box when she gets engaged to her boyfriend that very night. Upon falling asleep, she wakes up — in a different apartment in a different bed with a different man five years into the future. She spends a strange hour in the future and then wakes up back into the present. Life moves on until 4 1/2 years later when she meets the man from her vision.

P.S. The Dinner List by this author would be a great short read for book club under 300 pages as well!

For book clubs who like: books about friendship and love, tearjerkers

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi
Page count: 248 pages

This Nigerian-set book begins with a mother finding the body of Vivek, her child, wrapped in a piece of fabric at their door. The rest of the book unfolds from various perspectives of the people who loved Vivek, as well as in flashbacks, that help his mother piece together what happened to Vivek but also reveal the parts of Vivek held secret from some. How do you grieve a person you loved but maybe didn’t truly know or understand until their death?

For book clubs who like: thought-provoking books, books exploring gender identity and social identity, intimate family stories

Fault Lines by Emily Itami
Page count: 224 pages

This one is about a Japanese housewife who has the perfect life — two children and a husband — but she feels like, despite loving her kids so much, this wasn’t the life she envisioned despite it being everything she should want. Especially within her marriage that is stale and disconnected. She meets a man who gives her a glimpse the life she could have but soon their friendship morphs into something that could blur the lines and put her at a crossroads.

For book clubs who like: books about motherhood & marriage, contemporary books more on the literary side

News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Page count: 209 pages

One of my favorite book club ideas is always reading a book that is a book to movie adaptation so, as a group, we can discuss both. This slim but poignant historical novel also has an adaptation featuring Tom Hanks that came out recently.

It’s about a widowed Civil War veteran who goes from small town to small town to read the news of the world to people who will pay. On his journey, he is asked and agrees to a job paying him to transport a young white orphan girl, raised by the Kiowa and who doesn’t remember anything else about her previous life, back to her relatives 600 miles away.

For book clubs who like: historical fiction, memorable characters, a character-driven adventure

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong
Page count: 196 pages (hardcover)

This one is about a 30-something named Ruth who, fresh off a breakup with her fiance and feeling like life has not turned out the way she planned, who returns home to care for her father who she finds is at the beginning stage of Alzheimer’s. The story is told through snippets of diary entries, both her own and one’s from her father about her as a child, and we see the daily ins-and-outs (and ups and downs) of caring for her father as well as these last memories they will make together as she reconciles the past and grieves.

For book clubs who like: books that are equal parts sad and humorous (like really charming!), books that are a little quirky, a sort of stream-of-consciousness style writing told in diary entries, literary fiction

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
Page count: 191 pages (hardcover)

A moving portrait of a Colombian family fractured because of a deportation. It gives the backstory of the parents and how they became undocumented in America which lead to their family being split between the U.S. and Colombia.

P.S. If you are looking for short non-fiction book club picks under 300 pages, The Undocumented Americans would pair nicely with this.

For book clubs who like: books about timely topics like immigration and undocumented Americans, heavy-hitting books

The Test by Sylvain Neuvel
Page count: 108 pages

A slim little dystopian worth reading if you are looking for real short novels for book club! Feeling like it could be an episode of Black Mirror (one of my favorite shows ever), it’s about a man and his family wanting to immigrate, to a not so distant Britain, and all that stands in there way are 25 questions. I think it’s best not to say much else about the plot but just know — the question portion turns a bit sinister.

For book clubs who like: books with plenty of social commentary, books discussing morals and ethics, deliciously dark books

Assembly by Natasha Brown
Page count: 112 pages

A super slim book that somehow packs in a lot! The unnamed narrator, a Black British woman, is on her way to a lavish party at her boyfriend’s family estate. En route, told through vignettes, she considers all these pieces of herself and all the places she’s had to fit in to make it or compromise herself –work, in her intimate relationships, her place in society through the years– as she faces a crossroads in her life during a health crisis.

For book clubs who like: literary fiction, books that will get you talking about things like racism, classism, misogyny, etc.,

And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer and Longer
Page count: 97 pages

A charming & moving (and, yes, sad!) little novella — a true gem! It’s about an elderly man who is losing his memories and tries to connect with his young grandson and son, reminiscing about the past, and trying to grapple with saying goodbye.

For book clubs who like: Fredrick Backman’s other books — the same heart just in a smaller package, powerful books that will probably make you cry