If you'll remember, a while back I briefly reviewed Avi Steinberg's Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian.
When I reviewed it, I hadn't quite finished it. I just wanted to follow up here and say I did finish it, and I really did like it all the way through. The last 25 pages are actually quite spectacular, which is noteworthy (so many memoirs start strong, and then start sputtering on to less-than-memorable endings). My one quibble with the book is that I think it could be about 75-100 pages shorter, but that's primarily because I believe most memoirs shouldn't be longer than 300 pages.*
Still and all: a good read.
*This is a corollary to my rule about movies only needing to be 90 minutes long.
"I believe most memoirs shouldn't be longer than 300 pages"
I believe anything less than 200 pages long should not be called a book and 300 pages is hunger ration.
I like to submerge myself in a book, to dive into it and it is VERY disappointing to see that I would not fit in entirely, some part of me would remain out IRL no matter how I try to escape!
Posted by: Toomas Nipernaadi | 28 November 2011 at 02:57 AM