5 Quick Reads To Breeze Through The Weekend

We get it. It has been a long week. You have hardly had any time for yourself. And now here you are, standing at the threshold of the weekend, without too many plans, wondering what to do with all the time you now have for yourself. Sure, you could pick up a book or two, but you’re worried that you won't be able to finish the next item in your reading list on time.

If this sounds like you, fear not. We have compiled a list of five quick reads you can go over in a weekend. Check them out below.

The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Miller Hemingway

Let's begin with the classics: The Old Man and the Sea is the kind of sea adventure that strips away every glamorous sailor fantasy and leaves you alone in a man vs nature duel. Santiago is an old fisherman written off by everyone around him. When he hooks a giant marlin far beyond the safety of shore, he’s dragged into a brutal, days-long standoff where the ocean keeps testing him, wave after wave. Sharks close in. His body gives out. Yet the old man holds on because stopping would mean giving up his last shot at some shred of dignity. Raved by critics and readers alike, this novella is less about achieving that grand victory and more about having the courage to show up, even when the universe decides you’re nothing.

Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

Bright Lights, Big City is the literary equivalent of stumbling out of a club at 4 a.m. wondering how your life ended up face-down on a Manhattan sidewalk. The unnamed narrator pinballs through a week of cocaine, delusions, and self-inflicted chaos in New York City, convinced the city owes him something even as it’s quietly eating him alive. McInerney writes in second person in a way that forces you to sit with every bad decision as if it’s your own. This title masquerades as a party novel, with a portrayal of excess that the '80s loved to glamourise as a lifestyle. But under the neon and noise is a portrait of someone cracking under the weight of his own cowardice. Perfect for readers who enjoy city stories soaked in glamour, regret, and dark humor.

Hunger by Choi Jin-young

Choi Jin-hyung’s cannibalistic tragedy kind of falls in the “what on earth did I just read?” category. Hunger tells the story of two childhood lovers, Dam and Gu, as they navigate their teenage and adult years in a hopeless world that fails them at every step. All they have is each other, so when Gu dies after getting beaten by loan sharks, Dam decides to fulfil the last promise the two had made to each other: the one who died first among them will be eaten by the other. In alternative chapters, Dam recounts the events that led her to this macabre mourning ritual, while the ghost of Gu, watching it all from the afterlife, adds his own perspective. This is a story about grief, obsession and the way the world grinds down its young, and while it sounds more ambitious than it is, Hunger is still a compelling read that will leave you wondering whether survival in this world is just another word for sanctioned brutality.

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

Double Indemnity by journalist-turned-author James M. Cain, is a thriller that inspired the Bully Wilder noir film of the same name. Insurance salesman Walter Huff is mesmerised by the dangerously charming Phyllis Dietrichson, who convinces him to help murder her husband so they can collect on his life insurance. What follows is a tense game of deception, suspicion, and moral compromise, as the two try to outsmart the investigator Barton Keyes. At fewer than 150 pages, it’s a perfect, fast-paced weekend read for anyone craving suspense, dark intrigue, and a story that lingers long after the final page.

A Man Called Ove by Frederick Backman

If you're looking for a cozy, bittersweet weekend read, A Man Called Ove has you covered. Backman introduces you to Ove, a surly widower whose life is ruled by routines, rules, and a stubborn sense of principle. When a lively young family moves in next door, Ove’s carefully ordered world begins to unravel in the most unexpected ways. Their mirth, curiosity, and relentless optimism force him out of his comfort zone, and his gruff exterior slowly gives way, revealing a heart shaped by love, loss, and quiet acts of kindness. While it's not a quick read in the novella kind of sense, A Man Called Ove is utterly absorbing, so that even moderately paced readers can go through it over the course of a weekend.