Two small books

I've read two books recently that don't have a big page count. In fact, none of them reaches 200 pages, and that is why I've decided to group them in a single post. Thus, they remain registered in the diary, but to be honest I don't have much to say about them, so this post choice is handy.
I'm including the Portuguese covers of the editions I've read.

A Catastrophic Visit to the Zoo by Joel Dicker is the author's most recent release, not yet translated into English. I've literally translated the title of this small story, which I think would be best labeled as a juvenile story. Or, if readers prefer it, a story for children. The author apparently wrote it precisely for it to be read by different people, of any age. 
The plot is quite simple, the narrator Josephine shares the events of how a field trip to the zoo, organized by the school, happened after a series of other seemingly catastrophic situations. 
I cannot say this is a bad story, but it certainly wasn't what I imagined when I knew the author had writen it. True, the cover is incredibly ridiculous and should have been enough of a clue, but.... well, it was fun and I got the book at the library, so no loss to me at all, but the decision to go into it blind didn't truly pay off in this case.
Grade: 7/10

White Nights by Fiodor Dostoevsky is a novella sized story that the author originally wrote for a magazine. This book was gifted to me by a friend who loved the story and I can see why. The narrator is a dreamer, who shares his views of what it means to live in Saint Petersburg and why those who live there are special and unique and then he meets a young woman and falls in love with her, despite her telling him he shouldn't. Of course, he does, but in the five nights they meet one another to talk, she shares her story with him, which leads him to consider happiness is in their path. Things don't end up in happiness for him, though. 
I can see the point of the novel and why it is a literary jewel, but I was not convinced. As it happened with other Russian novels I tried, the writing was too moody and vague for me to really appreciate the drama of the story and the main character's stat of mind. It definitely helped this was short and I might try something else by the author one day, just to compare.
Grade: 6/10