I'm doing a list of Quick Reads for adult summer reading. Please name your favorite books that are either 1) UNDER 200 pages or 2) have VERY SHORT chapters. Fiction and nonfiction are fine.
Girl With a Pearl Earring may skate in just over 200 pages, but I recall blasting through it much faster than most novels when I read it.
- Catherine Pellegrino
All my friends are superheroes by Andrew Kaufman; The chairs are where the people go by Sheila Heti; The Clock of the Long Now by Steward Brand are three that come to mind...
- copystar
Well, this will spoil the surprise I had for you, because I'm mailing it as soon as I get my ass down to the post office (and I am going to imperiously and ineffectually demand you not read it until you get that copy), but I'm utterly in love with Maggie Nelson's Bluets (http://www.wavepoetry.com/collect...). It's 112 pages long and the chapters are paragraphs. (It's not *actually* poetry either, although it is sometimes poetry-like - it's fiction and/or memoir.)
- Marianne
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury (technically a collection of connected short stories, if that's okay). Also, I'd love to see your list when you're done. :)
- Katy S
I think most Jane Austen novels are a little over 200 pages, and I think they also have fairly short chapters. Pride & Prejudice comes in at about 256, and has 61 chapters. My other favorite Jane Austen novel is Persuasion.
- Laura H.
ooh, a lot of kincaid is short. My Brother is my favorite (nonfiction) and it's 208 pp... it read very quickly.
- Marianne
Second on 84 Charing Cross Road! I also adore Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, which skates in at 234 pgs. Paletas by Fany Gerson, Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? Classic short stories like the Yellow Wallpaper, ....I do not read many book under 200 pages. This is hard!
- MontglaneChess
also a lot of Diana Athill is very short. Somewhere Towards the End is seriously wonderful (and again, 208 pages; what's with me and 208 page books?).
- Marianne
I was surprised to see that The Martian Chronicles was as long as 250 pages. A college acquaintance of mine wrote a wonderful short book called Treasure Island!!! http://www.amazon.com/Treasur...
- Steele Lawman
Paul Torday's might come in under 200 pages. Always intriguing... tho perhaps a bit British!
- Heleninstitches
Cowboys Are My Weakness by Pam Houston, just under 200p, flies by
- Julie Kane
@Steele: Yeah, I've refrained from listing a bunch of titles because they might be less accessible: The Bluest Eye, Henry James short novels, Faith & the Good Thing, and the book I'm reading now, Beasts of No Nation (Iweala), which is definitely not light summer reading and is stunningly good.
- maʀtha
On Bullshit, Frankfurt. Less than 100 pages, but written by a real philosopher.
- Steele Lawman
Any of Tove Jansson's non-Moomin stuff. Novels are short, others are short story collections.
- Pete #TeamMonique
Just read Buddha in the Attic. Not my favourite per se, but it's very good, quick, and unusual.
- Megan loves summer
Thank you all! The goal is to have a variety of short books and/or quick to read books. Some will be fun and some will be more intimidating, but I figure an intimidating 180 page book is much less intimidating than, say, an intimidating 680 page book.
- laura x
we would like to see the finished list, please :)
- maʀtha
My book now exists in so many formats I am not sure I can keep track of them all.
Andy, you want that in Linear B? Or hieroglyphics?
- laura x
from BuddyFeed
Walt will be fascinated to know that Kindle Direct Publishing lets you upload in a variety of formats, though they recommend .doc or .docx, which is what I did. Then you get to preview what the book will look like on various Kindle devices and apps. Predictably, it looks great on the newest Kindles and crumby on everything else.
- laura x
Laura: I made a KDP version of Give Us a Dollar using their instructions, which worked beautifully--and which I've blogged about. The instructions use .htm, Word filtered HTML output, after you strip out page headers & footers. Great results, about 10 minutes' work, live contents in resulting ebook.
- Walt Crawford
Oh, it doesn't look *that* crumby uploading directly from Word--it's just that my book has a lot of front matter (dedication and epigraphs and stuff) that doesn't space nicely on all devices. The Pressbooks epub is gorgeous.
- laura x
Mine does have live contents direct from Word, too, though I'm not sure how important the contents is in a 33,000 word memoir. :)
- laura x
If I had to guess, I'd guess Kindle has some semi-automated process to attempt to strip headers & footers from Word files (which shouldn't be difficult, actually, if they're tagged properly). Yeah, I can imagine spacing with things like epigraphs could be problematic.
- Walt Crawford
It doesn't look any worse than most other ebooks I've seen--I've noticed this problem with a lot of them, and I think it's just part of the new(ish) formats + lots of different devices. The whole book was hard to format because so much of it is written in very short sections--so there's a header every 300-1200 words, or thereabouts. I finally gave up on vertical page justification.
- laura x
I generally have mixed feelings about vertical page justification--and it's meaningless in ebooks anyway. As far as I can tell, nobody noticed when I started using it in Cites & Insights and I almost never bother in books--especially if there are tables involved. But that's just me. (Word's bizarro treatment of sections and vertical justification doesn't help--you can get tired adding padding blank paragraphs so that Word won't s p r e a d t h e l i n e s way out.)
- Walt Crawford
Yup. Even though I've been back in Oklahoma for over seven years, I still have those moments of painfully missing Oregon and Idaho. And when I was there, I missed here the same way.
- Kirsten
Sadly, I pretty much never missed Iowa. :(
- laura x
I just received a confirmation form for a state library association conference at which, apparently, I agreed to talk about Older Teen and YA Programming.
"Disney’s live-action movie based on Judith Viorst’s 1972 hit children’s Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Atheneum) is making baby steps closer to the screen. Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) is directing, Steve Carrell is set to star as Alexander’s father, and The Hollywood Reporter writes that Jennifer Garner is in talks to join the cast as the mother."
- laura x
from Bookmarklet
I cherish the crap out of this book. I'm not sure I'm OK with a film on it. There is a children's theatre stage musical version of it that is fantastic but I think that's about as whimsical as I'm willing to get.
- Hookuh Tinypants
I guess I feel about this the same way I feel about the live-action Grinch movie from a few years back: it's an abomination, but as long as I don't have to go see it or take my kid to it, I don't much care.
- Catherine Pellegrino
Well, yes. That's about how I feel. But then I feel that way about SO MANY THINGS.
- laura x
(I quite liked the Grinch movie. But a) I never particularly cherished the book, and b) I had to watch the movie umpteen times to teach it to several ESOL classes, which is a situation where you just have to like the thing anyway out of pure self-defence.)
- Deborah Fitchett
"He didn’t try fiction until he was nearly 30, when he saw Fight Club, the 1999 film in which Brad Pitt’s character organizes a series of brutal underground fights. Bill loved the movie so much he sought out the book, and Chuck Palahniuk’s novel converted him into a reader who relied on the Internet’s algorithmic suggestions for what to devour next. I can’t decide whether to admire Bill’s drive or to despair at a literary culture that doesn’t do more to reach people like him."
- laura x
from Bookmarklet
For lunch I had a salad and a banana. Of course, the salad had blue cheese on it and I'm planning to eat chocolate cake later. This is why I practice a Belly Acceptance Program rather than a Fat Ass Reduction Program. The acronym isn't so good, though.
Professional cover designs are one thing that traditional publishing has over self-publishing. Except when you can get a design that professional (that *is* a compliment) in a self-published book. Congratulations!
- Walt Crawford
Walt, I am touched by your compliment, after I have been a jerk to you too often. Thank you. That said, Laura supplied the photo of the couch, I chose a classic typeface and sampled colors from the photograph. So I'm happy with how it turned out, but it's more a matter of listening to what the author wanted.
- Steele Lawman
OMG You mean Steele Lawman is actually Steve Lawson! I take it all.... Nah. A good book cover, especially a good uncluttered one, is great and not always easy to do. This one's good in a number of subtle ways. I try to respect those who have talents I lack, and really good cover design is one of those.
- Walt Crawford
Good thing I can read. No one tells me anything! Here I was admiring the cover, never knowing the source of it! Wow.
- Mama Lawson
My bike is at the shop (where, amazingly, I bought it 13 years ago this month). I looked at the tune up and fixing estimate and said, "Sure, go for it!" It now occurs to me that I have put more money into this bike than I paid for it in the first place. But it's still going.
mechanical things are like that. *sigh* if it makes you feel any better, the same is true of Pleione, though it's a leetle unfair 'cos I got her at end-of-season sale.
- RepoRat
Oh yeah. It's just funny, because while I've put a lot of money into car repairs over the years, I doubt I've ever exceeded the amount I paid for the car. I paid $350 for this bike (it's a Trek 720), but what with tune ups, replacing the seat a few times, replacing the tires once, and so on, I've probably doubled that in repairs. Which, if you average it out over 13 years, is not much. Just funny.
- laura x
That is the wrong way to think about it. Is tuning it up and fixing it right now cheaper than replacing it right now? Also, I love taking the bike to the shop, because even if the mechanics discover something horrible (last year I had to replace the chain and rear gears), it's still less than the cost of regular maintenance on my car.
- DJF
If it's a well-made bike, it's worth it. I *wish* I still had my Bridgestone bikes from the Grant Peterson era. They only made those for a decade or so and they're fantastic bikes. Unlike many modern cars, a good bike can be sustained in top shape for ages. The frame is the critical bit. As long as your frame & fork were well-designed, you can swap out any number of parts over the years...
more...
- Spidra Webster
Actually, properly-maintained modern cars with Honda or Toyota engines that are driven on roads that don't get salted all the time can last pretty close to forever. (The engines are good for 300,000 miles, easily. That, and general high reliability, is why I specify Honda and Toyota.) I still think of our Honda as a new car, and it's 8 years old.
- Walt Crawford
Not that I disagree with the general point. If you have a well-made bike that you actually like, doubling its price over the years to keep it in good running shape seems entirely reasonable.
- Walt Crawford
I think some Japanese cars definitely have that ability, Walt. Still, most modern cars I'm familiar with, esp US cars, ride significantly worse after 15 or so years, even with regular maintenance.
- Spidra Webster
Oh yeah, I totally think it's worth it. Just funny. Walt, my 1998 Honda Civic made it to almost 200,000 miles, at which point it acquired transmission problems common to that era of Civics, and I decided it wasn't worth the angst. Prior to that, though, the only repair I had to do was to the exhaust system.
- laura x
Pleione taught me that above-bargain-basement drivetrain components pay for themselves in less repair. *glares at Shimano*
- RepoRat
Shimano makes some very good, nowhere near the bargain basement, drivetrains. but they're not going on commuter bicycles
- DJF
from Android
yup. Jacaranda has an Alfine internal hub, and it's glorious. but the Tourney derailleur is crap, and so is their low-price twist-shifter.
- RepoRat
I agree with Spidra on the frame & fork part. Although in the last 10 years technology, design and materials have made huge leaps, in that department.
- Guy
DuckCam Woo-ooo (now I have Ducktails eaworm)
- Hedgehog
Perhaps I've straying too much on Tumblr lately. My mind went where it shouldn'ta. (Also, I don't know if that's the proper idiomatic spelling of "shouldn'ta" as a contracted version of "shouldn't of" which is a incorrect idiomatic usage for "shouldn't have"... but I digress.)
- Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ
This one is looking to be quiet broken up by the MADNESS that is having 3 programs in one day.
- Andy
Q: So I need a different username and password for every job I apply to? A: ... sadly, probably, yes. Q: So how many do I need? A: About 500?
- laura x
The worst part of Saturdaybrarian is that I'm at the ref desk and my mom and Peter are at storytime one wing over. Sniff.
- laura x
But they did come visit me. Peter immediately took off my nametag and put it in his mouth.
- laura x
Me: I was going to say that, but I thought I'd let you have the pleasure.
- laura x
from BuddyFeed
Asking actually not for a friend, but for myself: have any of you had experiences with Al-Anon or ACOA or similar? Feel free to email me (newrambler at the gmails) if you'd prefer to remain a bit more anonymous than this open thread.
Only with Alateen. It wasn't for me, but it was clearly helping some other attendees. If I had to come up with one reason it didn't work for me, I'd have to say privilege -- mine -- creating a sociocultural barrier that I found hard to communicate across. Their issues weren't my issues and vice versa.
- RepoRat
Left to my own devices I probably never would have cut his hair. But I don't think he would like barrettes, so it's probably just as well.
- laura x
from BuddyFeed
Dd needs her hair trimmed in the front but scared to do it. Barrettes seem like choking hazards?
- Christina Pikas
from iPhone
Oh, I suppose they probably are. Peter's dad had to chase him around the house with scissors. I should have filmed it.
- laura x
from BuddyFeed
The girls at daycare all have tiny ponytails.
- laura x
from BuddyFeed
My sister cuts her little guy's hair while he's asleep. Much less amusing.
- lris
My mom just emailed this to me with the note "You were dead right about Ambien." Actually, I claim no special powers; I just thought it was a weird drug.
- laura x
from Bookmarklet
Sounds more Donnie Darko than Harvey
- Steele Lawman
Finding rights holders for music: Anyone have an idea of how one would go about this? Specifically, I'm trying to find out who holds the rights to Harry Oster's recordings (he was an American folklorist).
I sent the URL to maybe a hundred peeps on the rmsla list yesterday.
- Joe Boone
Pricing question: Some of you may recall that long ago I was working on a book. Life has been a wee bit hectic these last months, but I'm actually approaching publication. It will be a 106-page trade paperback, of which I think 92 pages actually contain text. I'm planning to sell the book book for $10 and the ebook for $2,
though if you buy a book book and you hang out here, I'll send you the ebook for free. Half the (small) proceeds go to Our Bodies, Ourselves. Sound good?
- laura x
Also, is Lulu.com and Amazon enough buying options? 'Cause I really don't want to spend money getting it for sale in more ebook type places.
- laura x
Blurb, to pique your interest and/or help you decide if you care: "Laura Crossett was thirty-five years old, one month into a relationship, and six months into a new job when she sat in a staff bathroom and looked at a stick that told her something she already suspected. Almost half the pregnancies that occur in the United States each year are unplanned. Some of them happen to married...
more...
- laura x
That is enough buying options for me. However, if you want another free ebook place, I think smashwords.com is pretty good from what I've heard. Of course, time is also expensive...
- Marianne
I'd go 4.99 on teh e-book leave you some room to play "discount" free games and that mprice point gets you above the 99 cent slush pile... Good Luck with your effort
- WarLord
I should note that my scheme is designed to get me a little over $1 profit on each sale. I was going to go for $2, but that pushed the print price above $12, which I think is too much.
- laura x
I also am not doing this as a money-making scheme and seriously do not expect anyone but people I already know to buy a copy, which is why I'm asking you all. :)
- laura x
Bump up the ebook price at the very least. But in terms of buying locations i just use Amazon though of course i'd buy directly from you if more proceeds go to you.
- SteVe C
If youre shooting for friends first, I'd bump the ebook - I'm sure we'd all be willing to toss $4+ in the kitty each to read the e-version (you can discount it if you want to sell more widely to bargain hunters). Paperbacks from teeny presses like mine have ranged from 9.99 to 17.99, so you have wiggle room on the print version.
- ωαřмaiden ❤Marrit Woman❤
Laura: If you have Amazon *and* Lulu, you should be in good shape (are you using Kindle Direct?). Good luck with this.
- Walt Crawford
I agree, I'd bump up the ebook price to start. $2 is very low. I can't wait to read it! Seriously great topic.
- Heather Piwowar
from iPhone
I dunno if you read Brain, Child but seems just the sort of book they review. Drop them a teaser? I dunno how that works, but guessing theyd like to know about it.
- Heather Piwowar
from iPhone
I'd buy the ebook for $4.99 plus shipping even.
- Joe Boone
seriously, charge more, at least for the ebook. one can't even get a greeting card for $2
- maʀtha
I'm going to be stubborn and say to charge whatever the hell you want. but i would happily pay whatever that is.
- Marianne
Depending on the book, we might want to put it in the collection here. Just saying.
- kaijsa
What this seems to indicate is that allowing people to make larger contributions (with the same split of the proceeds between you and Our Bodies, Ourselves) would be something your target audience would welcome.
- Steele Lawman
Yep, I would be in favor of "pay what you will, above this totally reasonable amount" kind of pricing system.
- Meg V. Meg
Unfortunately, there's just no way to do that with Lulu or Amazon.
- Walt Crawford
Direct people to PayPal for over-payments.
- Steele Lawman
Someday, we will all have a gotdamned "appreciate" button on our whatever-comes-next-after-websites-and-social-media-profiles, and micropayments will flow like milk and honey.
- Marianne
In terms of selling venues, how bout a site of your own? WooCommerce - the shopping-cart WP plugin - is free, as is WP. Hosting could be free if you don't have your own. (cough cough)
- Mary B: #TeamMonique
I just remembered: On Lulu, you can have a thank-you note that's automatically delivered to anybody who buys your book--it's your message, and it could suggest PayPal for additional donations. So, actually, Steve's idea *is* workable--for Lulu at least.
- Walt Crawford
I'd pay $4.99 for the ebook without hesitation, maybe even a bit more. But I have to admit I tend to get a bit lazy and forget when asked to "go chip in a bit more over there if you really want."
- John Dupuis
Whoa! OK! Monday all right for a deadline, Laura?
- Steele Lawman
Nothin' like pressure from MoTO. :D Yeah, that's fine.
- laura x
Library Duck Cam! on USTREAM: We have a duck nesting outside the library! Watch along with us! (And please watch her on the webcam--we are trying not to di... - http://www.ustream.tv/channel...
Incidentally, this is part of a pretty cool thing where I signed up to be part of the Public Insight Network so maybe American Public Media shows will ask me about libraries and stuff! https://www.publicinsightnetwork.org/
- laura x
I cannot begin to tell you how THRILLED I was at the first doc student who came to me WANTING to deposit his diss and put a CC license on it. I suspect you made a UIowa librarian very happy. :)
- RepoRat
She is either very overworked or not big on chitchat, because I actually attempted to correspond with her a bit but didn't get a further reply.
- laura x
But! But! Now people can PLAGIARIZE it!
- Steele Lawman
As someone who has actually already read this book (woot, ILL), I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.
- Marianne
I should warn you that it was two pages too short when I got my MFA, but they let me pass anyway. I think now it would be 22 pages too short.
- laura x
Me: I really felt the NPR commentator was a little mean to that basketball player who just came out. I mean, he said, "Let's face it, he's not a great player--oh, he's not even GOOD." I mean, he has a professional job? How can he be bad?
Him: Yeah, that means he only has a job when someone hires him, a year at a time.
- laura x
Me: Oh! So he's like a visiting assistant professor!
- laura x
Him: Yes. We should just call visiting assistant professors free agents. It would make much more sense.
- laura x
I wonder if Michael Jordan ever watches old Harold Bloom highlight reels on YouTube.
- Steele Lawman
More often than Harold Bloom watches old Michael Jordan reels, I can tell you that.
- laura x
Think so? I don't know anything about Bloom, but I know that watching Michael Jordan is a true joy that should be shared by the whole human race. Or is like Bloom dead?
- Steele Lawman
Still alive, still teaching at Yale at age 82. http://english.yale.edu/faculty.... Not known for being a fan of popular culture (I seem to recall he hated the Harry Potter books, for instance.)
- laura x
Some googling shows that Bloom and Jordan are seldom seen together; perhaps they are the same person? More than one sportswriter has, however, referred back to "The Anxiety of Influence" when discussing the difficulties of all those top players who have tried to fill Mike's Air Jordans since his retirment.
- Steele Lawman
While there are good reasons to hate HP as literature, that doesn't mean he does not enjoy professional sports.
- DJF
He just doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who spends time on YouTube. I could, of course, be wrong.
- laura x
I mean, even *I* have watched Michael Jordan.
- laura x
back to the first threadjack, I LOVE the idea of adjuncts / visiting ass't professors as free agents. (tho' I guess there are differences between adjuncts & VAPs; but still - 'free agents" ftw)
- $tephanie•Cog$ciLibrarian
#toddlerx walked around the WHOLE BLOCK pushing his stroller. (Some steering help from his parents required.)