Love your thoughts on short reads. I've been reading a lot of novellas recently, and really enjoyed Small Things. Many of them have felt more substantial than much longer books I have read. The best example from last year was Alan Garner's Treacle Walker. Which is 150 pages with lots of space to spare. But few books I have read contained quite so many ideas. It was a pleasure to read and re-read. And that's the beauty of shorter fiction as well: they positively demand to be re-read.
Great suggestions, thank you! I have Foster on my Kindle and plan to make it an afternoon rather than a bedtime read, where I far prefer to come back to the same characters over the course of a week or more.
BTW, I never would have imagined myself a Kindle reader but since I was bought one, the prospect of longer books feels far more palatable. Maybe it's the ease of this that has made my experience of reading Franzen's Crossroads in hardback more of a challenge, though...
Thank you for this! I am sure you don’t listen to the Irish Times Women’s Podcast but they have a regular Book Club episode and mentioned Claire Keegan’s So Late In The Day in their most recent episode (they were reviewing Margaret Atwood’s Old Babes In The Wood) as an exemplar of how to write with brevity, exactly as you describe. They are considering a book club podcast dedicated to her novellas. Perhaps this is the future for books! Not very relevant but I am currently reading Ian McEwan’s Lessons and there’s nothing concise about it! It would require a very long bath. And I will have no urge to re-read it....
Love your thoughts on short reads. I've been reading a lot of novellas recently, and really enjoyed Small Things. Many of them have felt more substantial than much longer books I have read. The best example from last year was Alan Garner's Treacle Walker. Which is 150 pages with lots of space to spare. But few books I have read contained quite so many ideas. It was a pleasure to read and re-read. And that's the beauty of shorter fiction as well: they positively demand to be re-read.
Yes, that's a very good point. I'd much sooner re-read a Keegan than a Kingsolver, though both are excellent.
Great suggestions, thank you! I have Foster on my Kindle and plan to make it an afternoon rather than a bedtime read, where I far prefer to come back to the same characters over the course of a week or more.
BTW, I never would have imagined myself a Kindle reader but since I was bought one, the prospect of longer books feels far more palatable. Maybe it's the ease of this that has made my experience of reading Franzen's Crossroads in hardback more of a challenge, though...
Thank you for this! I am sure you don’t listen to the Irish Times Women’s Podcast but they have a regular Book Club episode and mentioned Claire Keegan’s So Late In The Day in their most recent episode (they were reviewing Margaret Atwood’s Old Babes In The Wood) as an exemplar of how to write with brevity, exactly as you describe. They are considering a book club podcast dedicated to her novellas. Perhaps this is the future for books! Not very relevant but I am currently reading Ian McEwan’s Lessons and there’s nothing concise about it! It would require a very long bath. And I will have no urge to re-read it....
I started that, Deborah, and just could not get along with it!