Great Books Under a Hundred Pages
Most readers love a big thick book. Lots of pages equal a good story, right? Well, yes, but some of the World’s greatest literature is less than one hundred pages.
Here are a few examples:
This famous book is a satire on dictatorship in which the animals on a farm drive out the owners and run the farm themselves. However, every society needs a leader and the responsibility falls to the pigs. A huge story packed into a one small volume. Writing at its best.
A masterpiece for which Hemingway received the Nobel prize for literature. The tale is very simple. A Cuban fisherman who has failed to catch any fish for eighty-four days, takes to the sea in search of marlin. His companion is a boy, Manolin. There are no superfluous words in this story, the prose is stark and effective, the characters simple, yet vivid and memorable, gradually drawing the reader into the tale.
The book that spawned a thousand films! Ebeneezer Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future are giants of literature, as are Tiny Tim and Bob Cratchit. Reading this short book is more satisfying than watching one of the films as the homeliness, tradition and true meaning of Christmas are portrayed though effective us of the English language.
Daisy Miller is a young feisty American woman visiting Europe. With no money worries, she is free to do exactly as she likes and sets about challenging European etiquette and protocol. Attracted to her flirtatious nature, Frederick Winterbourne, eager to protect Daisy’s reputation, is unsure how to handle her precociousness. The story centres on differences between European and American culture, the disapproval and censure of unsuitable friendships, and shows that freedom comes with a price.
Gustav von Aschenbach prides himself on being a well-ordered and disciplined author. But on a trip to Venice, he is aware of decadent changes within himself. Unable to fight these changes, he falls in love with Tadzio, a Polish boy. The city is full of cholera victims but Aschenbach’s love of Tadzio means he is unable to leave. As the title suggests, the story centres on death and dying, plus the age-old conundrum of an older man trying to recapture his youth.
This may not qualify as one of the World’s greatest works of literature, but it is a charming and warm read. Through letters to an English bookshop, the author orders rare second-hand books. Frank Doel, the bookshop manager, and his stiff-upper-lip British staff, supply them. This arrangement lasts for over twenty years. As friendships develops, Helene becomes infatuated with everything British and longs to visit the bookshop in person. The sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, is an account of her visit to London.
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