Only "classics," please

Some of us revel in timeworn stories. Our shortlist of 200+ classic short novels can help you find old favorites... and maybe discover a few you've missed.

What's a "classic"? To keep it as broad as possible, we're including novels published between the 1800s and 2010. By extending it to the first decade of this century, we're aiming to include more diverse voices and perspectives.

Here's the deal:

• The history of the short novel isn't well-documented. It's not a category publishers or booksellers have actively tracked.
• Some famous beloved "novels" are actually "short novels."
• Sometimes short novels are "under-marketed." Even ones by major authors. Often because they're minimized as "minor work."

We're still digging and adding to the database. Stay tuned for more as we add more classic short novels.

The Shortish Project is an evolving database of new and classic short novels from publishers big and small. Find the latest. Discover hidden gems. Search by author, book title or ISBN here.

Or lean in and do a random scroll through the full Shortish database (600 titles or so)!