Book lovers…Does size matter? (Or “Tell us about your Tiddlers”)…
“One always tends to over praise a long book, because one has got through it"
E.M. Forster
“You will, I am sure, agree with me that if page 534 only finds us in the second chapter, the length of the first one must have been really intolerable”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Well, dear readers...
Are some books just too big?
Are you put off by the prospect of anything too ‘heavy’?...
Then, perhaps, dear book lovers, we can tempt you with some tiddlers?...
Shall I let you into a secret?...
I’ve tried to read Moby Dick half a dozen times – after all, it is meant to be the greatest novel ever written – but, well, it’s 702 pages long and weighs almost as much as a great whale. (I know this, because I’ve taken the book with me to the whale weigh station…). But I’ve given up every time, daunted by the prospect of soooo many pages…
I mean, even if I read a page a day it’d take me a year and a half, and by the time I`d finished I`d have forgotten the start!
Don’t let me put you off, of course – but, if you’re looking for some stimulating but briefer books, then might I present to you my list of – what we in the specialist book business call – “Tiddlers”?...
They’re small, but perfectly formed:
The Dig ~ (Just 250 pages – a light delight!)
Diary of a Nobody ~ (216 pages of polite, petite perfection)
A Clockwork Orange ~ (Just 148 pages – a malevolent mini-masterpiece)
Catcher in the Rye ~ (Teenage turmoil, tiny book – just 192 pages)
On Chesil Beach ~ (A seaside snip at 166 pages)
The Great Gatsby ~ (A classic novel, in a nutshell – 183 pages)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie ~ (A slim, prim & trim 127 page slice of prime fiction)…
Or finally, and back to our nautical theme, the Old Man and the Sea … with just 112 pages, this is one tiddler you won’t want to put back!
Can you recommend any other tiddlers? Let us know; just click on the teeny-weeny COMMENTS tab below…
TTFN.
