Small Books

When on a quest to devour four books a week, one learns to very much appreciate the short ones (under 200 pages). Many a Sunday night has been saved by a brief text. I love them, and it’s not just the list compulsion that drives the sentiment. They are light, which means that they make great public transit reading. Often (though not always), there is an economy of verbiage, meaning that big ideas or concepts are crammed into thinner packages, creating more bang for your buck, or more importantly, your time. That’s not to say that what amounts to essays are not often stretched into short books (they are, unfortunately), but in general, you can access a greater quantity and more highly varied information by running through a string of smaller volumes, especially non-fiction.

One of our displays last summer in the library was “Short Books/Petits Bouquins”, where the only qualifier for admission was length. It was a smashing success, with people grabbing bunches and taking them home because they could breeze through each in an afternoon. There’s less commitment on their part, unlike intimidating 1000+ page tomes.

Some great short books:

Sobel, Dava. The Planets (NF)
Domínguez, Carlos María. The House of Paper (F)
Sijie, Dai. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (F)
Paradiž, Valerie. Clever Maids: The Secret History of the Grimm Fairy Tales (NF)
Schecter, Harold. Savage Pastimes: A Cultural History of Violent Entertainment (NF)
Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots & Leaves (NF)
Furedi, Frank. Where Have All the Intellectuals Gone? (NF)
Jacobs, Jane. Dark Age Ahead (NF)

I have to apologize for the scattershot manner in which I’ve been posting lately. The next month or two will be nuts, so bear with me. Thanks.