Little gems

February 6, 2009 2:21 PM

What are some small, short books that are easy to read on the train? I really enjoyed Charlotte Bronte's "The Green Dwarf" because it was a small format and a well-written, entertaining and engaging little yarn and it lasted for one trip from my house and the resulting trip back to my house. Do you know of anything else like this?

I also enjoyed "The Pirates!" series and The Little Prince.

I don't have room in my bag to lug around a big, tall, fat book, nor do I like to use up lots of arm space. And I just don't have the attention span for books that take too many sessions to finish. I don't use my ipod on mass transit so audio books are out. The dimensions of my planner book are 5.4 x 3.6 x 0.5 inches to give you some idea of what I'm going for.

I wandered around two different bookstores today and didn't see anything that seemed right so I was wondering if you guys have anything to suggest. Is there a service that prints out interesting things from the internet onto little booklets and mails them to me.

posted by amethysts to Media & Arts (24 answers total)

Go to a used bookstore and pick up a bunch of best of short fiction anthologies. Pushcart prize might be a good one to start with. If the book is too big to fit in your bag, tear out the short stories you want to read and binder clip them together when you aren't reading them.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:27 PM on February 6, 2009

I don't normally like noir, but The Postman Always Rings Twice is a great little book. I'd also look for some pre-Harry Potter novels aimed at teenagers (before publishers realized that longer books would still sell). The Outsiders comes to mind, and John Christopher's Tripod books, if you don't mind science fiction.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 2:29 PM on February 6, 2009

Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome.

Short, pleasant fiction. I think if you liked The Little Prince, you'll like it.
posted by pseudonick at 2:32 PM on February 6, 2009

Travels With Charlie by Steinbeck is excellent.
posted by electroboy at 2:34 PM on February 6, 2009

The dimensions on this book (Orphans, by Charles D'Ambrosio) are very close to what you are looking for. In fact, anything from Clear Cut Press. (The books are pocket-sized and durable. They are printed in Tokyo by TOPPAN in a standard Japanese format with colorful dust jackets and built-in bookmarks.)
Also, I'd suggest classics from the Loeb Library and the Clay Sanskrit Library.
posted by mattbucher at 2:40 PM on February 6, 2009

Good luck finding them, but what you want are the Penguin 60s, a series of 60 little books that Penguin published in 1995 to celebrate their 60th anniversary, and the Pocket Penguin 70s, a series of 70 little books that Penguin published in 2005 &c. They're 4¼" x 5¼" and just 50-60 pp.
posted by nicwolff at 3:00 PM on February 6, 2009

Penguin 60s are out of print and the publisher's website no longer maintains a list; unofficial ones here (US) and here (UK).

New Directions Bibelots also fit the bill and if you download their catalog and search for "Bibelots" there's a list of titles.
posted by generalist at 3:20 PM on February 6, 2009

I'm fond of the hardcovers in the Oxford University Press World's Classics series. All your favorites in tiny little editions. You can get 1126 pages of Don Quixote at 6.3 x 4.7 x 1.9 inches! It's a chunky little thing, but compact and half the volume of any other DQ I've ever seen. I have a tendency to buy things I'll probably never read just because they're from this series.
posted by clockwork at 3:35 PM on February 6, 2009

Mrs Dalloway Virginia Wolfe

Dubliners James Joyce
posted by KTrujillo at 4:18 PM on February 6, 2009

Fup is a fine little story. I'm not sure if the dimensions are too big for you (8.5" x 5.5" x 0.2"), but it is an amusing and quick read.
posted by thinman at 4:21 PM on February 6, 2009

Any of the Sherlock Holmes books by Arthur Conan Doyle, or Poe's Tales of Mystery and Immagination. You could just cut the individual stories out of the book if you're really that short on space.
posted by talkingmuffin at 4:58 PM on February 6, 2009

Breakfast at Tiffany's is your ticket.
posted by Joe Beese at 5:07 PM on February 6, 2009

There are other types of books in the size category you mention, but I think novellas are what you want.

I've recently enjoyed Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra, A Perfect Hoax by Italo Svevo, and A Time to Keep Silence by Patrick Leigh Fermor. Sorry no link for the Svevo, Hesperus Press doesn't have a website.
posted by Alex Voyd at 7:13 PM on February 6, 2009

Have you looked in the children's section at book stores? They often have classic adult books in a smaller size and great contemporary series too. I really enjoyed the Spiderwick chronicles, for example, or anything by Rohl Dahl.

And it might not be what you are looking for, but I enjoy manga and graphic novels in the 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.7 inches size. Most are around 200 pages and can be finished in about an hour.
posted by CoralAmber at 8:34 PM on February 6, 2009

Pengiun's "Great Journeys" series are a collection of travel-related stories by classic writers. I recently read Mark Twain's Can-Cans, Cats and Cities of Ash and it was fantastic.

I think there are about 20 books in the series, and each book is quite small. 6.8 x 4.4 x 0.5 inches and under 150 pages.
posted by Relic at 10:19 PM on February 6, 2009

I'm here to 2nd thinman's rec of Fup. Great little book.

(It's about a duck. His name is Fup. Fup Duck. Get it?)
posted by ORthey at 10:29 PM on February 6, 2009

Disquiet by Julia Leigh.

It's small in size, beautifully written, and haunting.
posted by purpleclover at 11:50 PM on February 6, 2009

Also, seconding Breakfast at Tiffany's.
posted by purpleclover at 11:51 PM on February 6, 2009

Two short classics that really grabbed me...the second one might well win the prize for Weirdest Story Ever Told:

The Island of Dr Moreau by H G Wells

The Man Who Was Thursday by G K Chesterton
posted by Olden_Bittermann at 1:53 AM on February 7, 2009

If you're also a music lover, the 33 1/3 Series is interesting. Writing quality does vary somewhat from one to the next, so I'd recommend checking the reviews/ratings.
posted by namewithoutwords at 2:08 AM on February 7, 2009

Is there a service that prints out interesting things from the internet onto little booklets and mails them to me.

Circa 2001 I remember hearing about some project or service that would mail you epistolary novels as individual letters.

I'm afraid I can't remember what it was called, though and I never tried it myself.
posted by the latin mouse at 3:54 AM on February 7, 2009

The Boston Review Books are really nicely bound little essays on big ideas. Race, Incarceration, and American Values by Glenn C. Loury and The Story of Cruel and Unusual by Colin Dayan were standouts for me. All the books in the series are 4.5 x 7.
posted by Alex Voyd at 8:47 AM on February 7, 2009

down and out in Paris and London- George Orwell
posted by daveydave at 8:48 AM on February 7, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks for your great ideas everyone. These should keep me busy for awhile.

And if anyone has a lead on that thing about sending you epistolary novels as letters please feel free to contact me because it sounds fascinating but I couldn't find any info on it.
posted by amethysts at 12:18 PM on February 13, 2009