Daily Bookshot: Fit-in-the-hand Perfect!

Fit-in-the-hand Perfect!, originally uploaded by Robert Burdock.

Ever since I featured the Art of the Novella series from Melville House in a Cover Love feature back in March, I’ve coveted the very fabric of them. Recently I’ve been graced with a batch, and I can confirm that they are, as expected, even better in the flesh than they are on a computer screen. Wahoo!

Vibrantly colourful, and luxurious in manufacture (for a paperback), the most delightful discovery however is the physical size of the Art of the Novella volumes, which are fit-in-the-hand perfect; a real testament to the reader’s need for portability.

As is always the case for the book blogger, time is a major obstacle to reading what one wants when one wants. And the fact I’ve not snatched up these novellas and ravenously devoured them already, is no reflection of my enthusiasm towards them. If the truth be told, every reading sinew and tendon in my body is straining to ensure that these novellas keep their place in my reading schedule.

As good as this bookshot illustrates the vibrancy of the titles on show, it doesn’t show exactly what the titles are. So for the benefit of clarity here’s a rundown on the five titles from top to bottom, with links to each title’s page on the Melville House website:

• May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• A Sleep and a Forgetting by William Dean Howells
• The Coxon Fund by Henry James
• Tales of Belkin by Alexander Pushkin
• Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson

A superb and wide-ranging selection I’m sure you’ll agree (the Scott Fitzgerald, Pushkin and Johnson titles have got me salivating me the most), but remember there’s a heck of a lot more in the series, so make sure you have a good rummage around the rest of the Melville House website (especially the section on the Contemporary Art of the Novella series which is similarly minimalist in design, except with white covers and coloured text and accents – yum!).

Finally, while we’re on the subject of novellas, I’d like to encourage you to read my namesake’s recently posted article over at The Fiction Desk. In his nicely written piece, Rob ruminates on the novella as a form, and asks whether it’s the perfect reading medium for the time-strapped book blogger. It really is rather good, and I agree with Rob on almost every point. Great job that man!