7 Short Books for a Rainy Evening — From a Genius Girl to a Japanese Convenience Store

Curiosities
10/11/2026
7 Short Books for a Rainy Evening — From a Genius Girl to a Japanese Convenience Store

There’s a specific kind of evening that calls for a specific kind of book. Not the ambitious one you’ve been meaning to start for three months. Not the one with the 600-page commitment and the cast of forty characters. The one you can open at seven and finish before the tea goes cold. The one that asks nothing of you except to sit still for a few hours.
These 7 short books — chosen for rainy evenings, hobby readers, and anyone who wants the full happiness of finishing something in one sitting — are exactly that kind of book.

The Girl Who Reads on the Métro by Christine Féret-Fleury

Juliette’s life is planned down to the minute, and her only entertainment on the way to work is sneaking glances at what people are reading on the subway. Everything changes when she accidentally turns down the wrong alley and finds herself visiting an eccentric bookseller. He practices “book therapy,” choosing for each person that one special book capable of dramatically changing their life.
A smart, subtle, and delightful story about how turning a page at just the right moment can help you find the courage to rewrite your own life.

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

An absolute must-read for every introvert and anyone who has ever tried to go against deeply ingrained expectations. The heroine of this short novel is 36, 18 of which she has spent working at a 24-hour Japanese convenience store, where — surprisingly — she is completely happy in the ideal little ecosystem she has carefully built for herself. If only society and her relatives would stop constantly pressuring her with questions like, “When are you getting married?” and “Find a real job!” and so on.
A refreshingly candid Japanese perspective on the importance of protecting your boundaries and your right to live in the way that feels right for you.

  • I absolutely adored this book and the most amazing part of it is that you can just read it as it is or see all the underlying issues that the author is criticizing. In Japan, there is really a cultural need to conform so Keiko really stands out.
    I’m Asian and while our need for conformity is not as extreme as Japan, there is still that pressure to follow the fixed path of “go to school > find a job > get married > have kids,” so anyone who strays from this is kind of frowned upon.
    Even the male character is also something that’s actually interesting. Because we are socialized to think that men should have a job and not just laze around, I mean I still didn’t like the character at all but him being there was a good touch I felt. Very thought provoking book which manages to squeeze in so many issues in such a thin book.

Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop by Rebecca Raisin

Imagine this: you lose your job, and then your boyfriend dumps you on the very same day. What do you do next? Our heroine, Rosie, spends her last bit of money on a battered van, fixes it up, and sets off to roam from one English festival to another, selling tea and homemade baked goods. No business strategy — just wherever the road takes her, the scent of spices, quirky fellow travelers, and countless unpredictable adventures.
A wonderfully light, romantic, and captivating story about how sometimes you can find yourself by letting go of the stability you once knew.

Matilda by Roald Dahl

Don’t think this book is just for children — adults may enjoy it even more! This utterly charming story is about a brilliant little girl who loves to read but lives with foolish, vulgar parents who, to put it mildly, do not support her passion. When Matilda starts at a school led by a tyrannical principal, she discovers an unusual gift and begins setting things right in her own special way.
Wonderful, subtle humor, childhood spontaneity, and pure delight on every page! And you can watch or listen to this story, too: the film adaptation has long been a cult classic, while the recently staged musical has become a resounding hit with audiences of all ages.

  • I went away for the weekend to visit a friend and left my son with my mother-in-law for the first time in 3 years. He’s quite the little rascal: fussy at bedtime, rowdy at the store, and he won’t even look at his ABC book.
    When I came back to pick him up, he was sitting quietly, had put away his toys, and was intently flipping through something. I asked my mother-in-law what kind of magic she’d worked, and she pointed at the book.
    I opened it and saw that it was Roald Dahl’s Matilda about a brilliant little girl who outsmarts awful grown-ups so cleverly that you simply can’t stop reading this story. “I read him a couple of chapters,” my mother-in-law said with a smile. “Now he’s sitting there, taking in the fact that books can be amazing.”
Bright Side

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

For those in the mood to read something beautiful, thought-provoking, and free of cheap happy endings, we’d venture to recommend this subtle English drama. In the story, a young widow opens a small bookstore in a sleepy seaside town where nothing has changed for decades. But this harmless initiative unexpectedly meets with quiet resistance from the locals, along with their envy and behind-the-scenes intrigues.
The acclaimed author has masterfully created an ironic, psychologically precise, and exceptionally stylish novel about how difficult it is to bring light to a place where people are used to living in the twilight.

The Cats of Shinjuku by Durian Sukegawa

A short yet deeply meditative story brimming with vibrant Japanese flavor. A young screenwriter, caught in a creative slump and emotional rut, wanders the streets of Shinjuku and discovers an unusual little establishment that opens up an entirely different world. The air is filled with the aroma of yakitori, blues plays over the speakers, and the regulars make bets on which local cat will appear in the kitchen window next.
If you’re in the mood to read about the gentle, unhurried healing of lonely hearts, the search for meaning in a big city, and the ability to notice beauty in the simplest, most understated things, dive right into this novella for an hour or so.

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

Of course, we had to include a wonderful book on a “seasonal” theme. This cinematic, atmospheric story captures the spirit of fall like no other. On Halloween night, a group of boys sets out to rescue their friend and ends up on a whirlwind journey through centuries and countries, from ancient Egypt to Mexico.
Bradbury’s writing is so finely crafted and vivid that you’ll practically feel the dry leaves rustling underfoot, catch the scent of a candlelit jack-o’-lantern with a devilish grin, and sense a cool October breeze on the back of your neck. It’s a real page-turner that takes you straight back to childhood.

The Halloween Tree is on the list because October deserves its own book. The others are here because they’re the kind of stories that make an ordinary evening feel like it was spent well. A tea van in England, a convenience store in Japan, a bookshop in a sleepy coastal town, a genius girl with an unusual gift. All of them can be read before midnight.

Read next: 6 Vintage Vanity Table Objects That Made Every Morning Feel Like a Special Occasion

If you have a book that belongs on this list — the kind you’d hand to someone on a rainy evening without hesitation — the comments are open.

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