Good and short

 I’m a fan of Kay Ryan. I also think her book The Niagara River is a model for writers.

It’s my favorite answer to a question that comes up when writers talk shop: How long should a book be?

One of the biases of this collection of notes is for one-night reads, books that can be read in a free evening. But I’ve had writers tell me that a novel should be at least 75,000 words. I’ve heard serious people talk about cheating and short-changing the reader.

The Niagara River is 72 pages long. It has 64 poems. Most are 50 to 100 words. Eight are 2-pagers. I’d be surprised if there are 6,000 words between the covers.

I do not feel cheated.

I’ve mentioned that I’m trying to commit one poem, “Carrying a Ladder,” to memory. Rather than reading the whole book in an evening, I’m more apt to read a page a day, trying to absorb it in some way. (Eric Hoffer liked the metaphor of digestion.)

When I was young, I would listen to an album of music carefully, learning each song, memorizing my favorite lyrics. Reading Ryan’s book is like that.

• Sources: Kay Ryan, The Niagara River; New York: Grove Press, 2005.