The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (Hardcover)

An aging Cuban fisherman, a giant marlin and a battle far out at sea. Hemingway's short masterpiece about endurance, pride and dignity in defeat, told in his famously spare style.

Read it if: you want a story about never quitting that you can finish in a single afternoon.

First Shelf — short and gripping. Finish it this weekend.