Recommend me a very small book...

[theclaud]

... with a lot in it.

I'm joining my mother, who is walking the Camino de Santiago, and want something that weighs as little as possible. The sort of book that you want to go straight back to again, rather than the sort that's so densely unreadable you only get through five pages in a fortnight.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

A pocket dictionary?

 

[theclaud]

A pocket dictionary?

I know I'm a nerd, but I was thinking of something a little more, er, imaginative...

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

A pocket Thesaurus maybe?

Edit: Sorry TC, I don't tend to read too much so can't really offer any sensible advice.

 

[Zorro]

It is hard to recommend something without knowing what you like but a book which comes to mind straight away as a really engrossing yet light read is "down and out in paris and london" by George Orwell. It is only about 200 pages i think.

Also I am quite a fan of the Lucifer Box novels by Mark Gatiss. Quite funny, james bond in victorian times.

Hope that helps?

 

[theclaud]

It is hard to recommend something without knowing what you like but a book which comes to mind straight away as a really engrossing yet light read is "down and out in paris and london" by George Orwell. It is only about 200 pages i think.

Also I am quite a fan of the Lucifer Box novels by Mark Gatiss. Quite funny, james bond in victorian times.

Hope that helps?

I like Orwell and I happen not to have read that, so it's a good suggestion - except that I really mean small. 200 pages is big compared to what I have in mind - I'm taking an 18L rucksack for a fortnight. There was a particular book I was after that is 95 pages, but it's unavailable except for vast sums of money.

 

[Haitch]

The Elizabethan World Picture by EMW Tillyard


Edit: rip out the preface and the index and it's 110 pages and the book, my copy at least, is smaller than a normal paperback.

 

[theclaud]

A pocket Thesaurus maybe?

Edit: Sorry TC, I don't tend to read too much so can't really offer any sensible advice.

Don't be sorry - I have a thesaurus on my desk , so your judgement of my reading inclinations is not far wrong. I'm not even going to tell you what book I was hoping to take.

 

[theclaud]

The Elizabethan World Picture by EMW Tillyard

128 pages! And my kind of thing. This is the winner so far...

 

[Zorro]

Hmm.

The shortest book I can think of-that is worth a read-is "A matter of death and life" by Andrey Kurkov. It is 112 pages

 

[marinyork]

In keeping with the theme of one of the other threads that may interest theclaud: Introducing Logic. 176 pages including the index and plenty of pictures.

 

[Zorro]

Ooh just thought,

You could always get come Tenessee Williams. If you don't mind plays, they are always very short! "The night of the iguana" is a fantastic play by him.

 

[theclaud]

Hmm.

The shortest book I can think of-that is worth a read-is "A matter of death and life" by Andrey Kurkov. It is 112 pages

Looks interesting, thanks. One for my small/shortlist.

 

[Maz]

Speaking of very small books...Don't forget your passport.

 

[theclaud]

In keeping with the theme of one of the other threads that may interest theclaud: Introducing Logic. 176 pages including the index and plenty of pictures.

Is that a sly dig at some faulty argument I made in P&L?

Seriously though, I'm all for it, but I think I've decided to set the limit at 150 pages! The pictures thing has made me think of John Berger's marvellous Ways of Seeing, though, so my smalllist is shaping up quite nicely.