Adam Ross's favorite books under 200 pages

Adam Ross is the author of the novel Mr. Peanut and a new collection of short stories, Ladies and Gentlemen.

For The Daily Beast, he named his favorite books with fewer than 200 pages.

One title on the list:

The Living End
by Stanley Elkin

Elkin’s wickedly funny triptych, a loose retelling of Dante’s Divine Comedy, begins with the story of Ellerbee, a good man condemned to hell for keeping his liquor store open on the Sabbath, then follows his murdered clerk, Ladelhaus, and his ascent into purgatory, and concludes with a satiric tour de force on Judgment Day, with God himself doing a stand-up routine for the sinners and the saved (“Because I never found My audience,” bemoans the Creator). A meditation on suffering and powerlessness, this slim volume contains more hilarity in its 148 pages than a season of The Office and will seem like a revelation to those who’ve never before encountered Elkin’s linguistic genius.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue