The Wandering Bibliophile

Some of the novellas I have to choose from for the month of November.

I am embarking upon a month of reading novellas, inspired by Another Book Blog (http://anotherbookblog.com/2013/10/16/novellas-in-november/) which I heard about from http://reading-in-bed.com/, and I am really looking forward to it. Obviously, since I have a rather reading heavy day job (and a reading heavy second job, come to think of it), I won’t be able to read the 30-odd books in the photo. I am totally okay with that. My intention was to gather most of the novellas from my shelves so that I would have the broadest selection possible, enabling me to read for my mood. Some of the books in the piles are potential re-reads because I enjoyed them so much the first time around, but most of them are as yet unread. Anything under 200 pages is fair game for my reading pile. I will, of course, continue reading other books for the month of November, but my goal is to read eight to ten novellas in four weeks. If you have any recommendations, please leave a comment.

It should be evident from the photo that I will be reading quite a few novellas in translation, which I am quite excited about. There is also a good mix of male and female writers. There are several independent small presses that publish amazing novellas, and I recommend that you check out their catalogues to get your short narrative fix. My favourites include: New Directions, Biblioasis, Melville House, Peirene Press, Pushkin Press, Coffee House Press, and Dalkey Archive.

I’ve decided to start off with Ticknor by Sheila Heti from another great Canadian press, House of Anansi. I’ll endeavour to post weekly progress reports, but may have to resort to one massive final recap, because November is traditionally one of the busiest months for my day job. In any case, I hope that you will all consider picking up a novella this month to join in with the spirit of the thing. If you are on Twitter, watch for the hashtag #NovNov to keep an eye on what other participants are reading.

Here is a proper list of the books in the photo, plus a couple I discovered after the pic was taken. They are all novellas from my own library that I have not yet read, or have read, but would like to reread:

The Miracle Cures of Dr. Aira – Cesar Aira

Conversations – Aira

Shantytown – Aira

All My Friends are Superheroes – Andrew Kaufman

Professor Andersen’s Night – Dag Solstad

Magda – Meike Ziervogel

The Mansion – Alvaro Mutis

Dance with Snakes – Horacio Castellanos Moya

Agua Viva – Clarice Lispector

Point Omega – Don DeLillo

Granma Nineteen and the Soviet’s Secret – Ondjaki

The Graveyard – Marek Hlasko

Visitation – Jenny Erpenbeck

Ticknor – Sheila Heti

The Book of Proper Names – Amelie Nothomb

Motorman – David Ohle

The Faster I Walk, the Smaller I Am – Kjersti A. Skomsvold (Read this one last year. Marvellous, dark. Also, met the author. Awesome.)

My Beautiful Bus – Jacques Jouet

Light Boxes – Shane Jones

The Sandman – ETA Hoffmann

Last Night at the Lobster – Stewart O’Nan

The Prowler – Kristjana Gunnars (Read over a decade ago. Time to revisit.)

Stick Out Your Tongue – Ma Jian

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark (Read. Loved it. Probably get more out of it now.)

Shopgirl – Steve Martin (Read. Loved it. Time to reread.)

The Pleasure of My Company – Steve Martin (Read. Loved it. About time to reread.)

The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway

Portuguese Irregular Verbs – Alexander McCall Smith

At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances – Smith

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs – Smith

The Pharmacist’s Mate – Amy Fusselman

The Seas – Samantha Hunt

Travels in the Scriptorium – Paul Auster

Train Dreams – Denis Johnson (Read, and it is absolutely remarkable. Plan to reread.)

The Anxiety of the Goalie at the Penalty Kick – Peter Handke