Short books era

In praise of the slim and complete volume

I can appreciate a tome, but what I really love is a short book. I live with these books differently—I sit with them in two or maybe three focused sessions, I drink them up, I slip them into my purse. Whereas a long text lives on my coffee table and gives itself to me in fits and starts, the short book offers itself up whole and lean, like an extension of my body. I think with it more easily; it does not weigh me down.

That said, short does not mean light, nor do I want it to. As many of the books on this list will attest, short books can often do more than a long one, maximizing every word to its fullest potential as well as mobilizing subtlety, and what is left unsaid can likewise be just as potent (I’m thinking here in particular of Shibli’s Minor Detail, which is so full perhaps not inspite but because of its length). The books I want to praise then are those that take advantage of the restrictions of pithy-ness—not the postmodern fragmentary book that is 100 pages where most of them are blank or made of lists and gaps (I hate this trend), but ones that are short because that is how they are meant to be.

Short books also offer practical advantages: light and small, they are easily portable, and also seem like more manageable undertakings for those who have not read in a while or have little time in which to do so. There also seem to be a lot of BIG novels these days that want to signal their literary importance through size rather than skill, or perhaps publishers know they can command a higher price from the reader for a massive hardcover than something constructed more tightly. In any case, there is a place for long books, but also certainly a place for short books, on my shelf and in my heart. Here are some of my favourites, as well as a few from my TBR.

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Fiction

Perhaps some of these fall under the umbrella of the novella, but in any case, I don’t think you will find they are lacking in depth—they stand tall next to the capital-N Novel. Minor Detail, Recitatif, and Lucy are, I think, masterpieces, and perhaps teach us about the art of doing more with less.

• Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

• Recitatif by Toni Morrison

• Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid

• If An Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga

• Mouthpieces by Eimear McBride

• Assembly by Natasha Brown

• Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au

Nonfiction

Some of these are long essays and lectures, some are small essay collections, some are short memoirs. In any case, I like the short nonfiction text because it allows me to sit with another person in their world, but just one particular sliver of it—it is not an attempt to catalogue an entire autobiography, but more like sharing a really good cup of tea with someone new. The specific lenses that these writers try on—a diary of taking the bus in Paris, memories of a famous aunt or family friend—allow us to look up close at the resonances between the particular and the general.

• Emily Dickinson Face to Face by Martha Dickinson Bianchi

• On the Abolition of All Political Parties by Simone Weil

• Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad

• Sempre Susan by Sigrid Nuñez

• No. 91/92 by Lauren Elkin

Poetry and Drama

The ultimate one-to-two-sitting read is a play or small poetry collection. What I look for in these is generally less about an elaborate plot and moreso an opportunity to spend time with beautiful language. The Seuss collection and Sears play are two of my favourites from last year, both of which offer up diction and imagery that seduces, cuts, sutures. I found the Arnold book—a sort of collaged poetry collection and essay about interracial adoption—on a whim a number of years ago and often wonder why it isn’t more popular.

• Modern Poetry by Diane Seuss

• Litany for the Long Moment by Mary-Kim Arnold

• Harlem Duet by Djanet Sears

• The Essential June Jordan

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What I’m Writing:

• I interviewed feminist writer/researcher Sophie Lewis about her new book Enemy Feminisms for Interview Magazine. You can read it here.

What I’m Reading:

• Emily Dickinson Face to Face, a biography of the poet written by her niece (and mentioned above)

What I’m Watching:

• TV: Season 2 of Mo (Netflix) and Season 3 of The White Lotus (Crave/HBO)

• Movies: Hoping to see No Other Land this week