看小说(kàn xiǎo shuō) - to read a novel in Mandarin

看小说 (kàn xiǎo shuō) means to read a novel. 看 (kàn) covers looking, watching and reading in Mandarin, doing the job that English splits between "watch" and "read", and 小说 (xiǎo shuō) is the noun for a novel or work of fiction.

Because 看 (kàn) already carries the sense of "to read" here, do not stack the more formal reading verb 读 (dú) on top of it; 看小说 (kàn xiǎo shuō) on its own is the natural, everyday phrase.

小说 (xiǎo shuō) takes the measure word 本 (běn), the classifier for bound volumes, so "a novel" is 一本小说 (yì běn xiǎo shuō).