Sometimes less is more. Or perhaps the authors were being paid by the chapter and decided to cash in.
Either way, we've hunted high and low to find the shortest chapters in book history; there's 20 below, so if you read them all, you've sort of read a book haven't you?
We would write more, but if these writers can get away with it, then we can too.
Let us know if we've missed any in the comments below.
This Is A Book
Author: Demetri Martin
Title:This Is A Book
Year: 2012
Chapter:
"How to Read This Book:
If you're reading this sentence then you've pretty much got it. Good job. Just keep going the way you are.
(please ignore this part)"
Misery
Author: Stephen King
Title:Misery
Year: 1987
Chapter:
"Rinse"
As I Lay Dying
Author: William Faulkner
Title:As I Lay Dying
Year: 1930
Chapter:
"My mother is a fish."
The Easy Way To Stop Smoking
Author: Allen Carr
Title:The Easy Way to Stop Smoking
Year: 1985
Chapter:
"The Advantages of Being A Smoker"
"(blank)"
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
Author: Lewis Carroll
Title: '''Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
Year: 1871
Chapter:
"And it really was a kitten after all."
It
Author: Stephen King
Title:It
Year: 1986
Chapter:
"Nothing much happened for the next two weeks"
Nobody True
Author: James Herbert
Title:Nobody True
Year: 2003
Chapter:
"About ten minutes later there was a knock on the door."
Gremlins
Author: George Gipe
Title:Gremlins'
Year: 1984
Chapter:
"Pete forgot."
The Bible
Author: Various
Title:The Bible
Year: Unknown
Chapter:
Psalm 117
O praise the Lord, all ye nations:
praise him, all ye people.
For his merciful kindness is great toward us:
and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Author: Lawrence Sterne
Title:The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentlemen
Year: 1767
Chapter:
Chapter 24
"(blank)"
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Author: Ray Bradbury
''Title: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Year: 1962
Chapter:
"Nothing much else happened that night."
You Suck: A Love Story
Author: Christopher Moore
Title:You Suck: A Love Story
Year: 2007
Chapter:
"And so...
that really sucked."
Misery
Author: Stephen King
Title:Misery
Year: 1987
Chapter:
"Paulie, can you?"
Wayside School is Falling Down
Author: Louis Sachar
Title:Wayside School is Falling Down
Year: 1989
Chapter:
Chapter 19
"(blank)"
Blood Magic
Author: Tessa Gratton
Title:Blood Magic
Year: 2011
Chapter:
"I am Josephine Darly, and I intend to live forever."
The Kings of Cool
Author: Don Winslow
Title:The Kings of Cool
Year: 2012
Chapter:
"F**k me."
Angela's Ashes
Author: Frank McCourt
Title:Angela's Ashes
Year: 1996
Chapter:
"T'is."
The Mark of the Moderately Vicious Vampire
Author: Lionel Fenn
Title:The Mark of the Moderately Vicious Vampire
Year: 1992
Chapter:
"Really dark."
The Lost Symbol
Author: Dan Brown
Title:The Lost Symbol
Year: 2009
Chapter:
"Robert Langdon’s mind hovered in an endless abyss. No light. No sound. No feeling. Only an infinite and silent void.
Softness. Weightlessness. His body had released him. He was untethered. The physical world had ceased to exist. Time had ceased to exist.
He was pure consciousness now...a fleshless sentience suspended in the emptiness of a vast universe."
The Qur'an
Title:The Qur'an
Chapter:
"Verily We have given to you the abundance
So pray to your Lord and sacrifice
Indeed your enemy is the one who is cut off"
