The 20 Shortest Chapters in literature

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"