Howard Jacobson and Mark Haddon are just two of the authors taking advantage of an exciting new trend in e-publishing
Howard Jacobson: mini-memoir The Swag Man is infused with his usual droll humour. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod
It may surprise readers of Howard Jacobson's latest novel, Zoo Time, a thinly disguised rant against modern literature, to learn that its famously fogeyish author has written an ebook. The Swag Man, published by American Jewish magazine Tablet, is a 31-page mini-memoir combining childhood tales of 1940s and 50s Manchester with a portrait of Frank Cohen, the multi-millionaire art collector who started his career working for Jacobson's market-trader father. A lovely little book, it serves up a fascinating slice of social history peppered with its author's trademark droll humour. Before reading The Swag Man, I wouldn't have classed myself as a diehard Jacobson fan, but now I wish he'd write a full-length memoir.
Another novelist embracing the mini-memoir is Mark Haddon. Swimming and Flying (Kindle Singles), which started off as a talk he gave at literary festivals, is a kind of lyric essay: a mishmash of personal recollections, poetry, nature writing and random observations about the universe. Haddon is charming company, whether he's remembering being caned at boarding school, confessing to a fear of flying or telling an anecdote about a fan who offered him her daughter's hand in marriage.
Also worth downloading is Falling (Byliner), a devastating 95-page account of a toxic marriage by Alexandra Fuller, author of the much-admired memoirs, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight and Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness.
Other notable mini-memoirs include Sam Leith's Going Nowhere: A Life in Six Videogames (Kindle Singles), mentioned in this column earlier this year, and Denial, about American journalist Jonathan Rauch's struggle to accept being gay. Like Howard Jacobson's ebook, Denial was commissioned by a new e-publishing imprint from a magazine, in this case The Atlantic. An exciting trend in journalism that one hopes will soon take off over here.
Another novelist embracing the mini-memoir is Mark Haddon. Swimming and Flying (Kindle Singles), which started off as a talk he gave at literary festivals, is a kind of lyric essay: a mishmash of personal recollections, poetry, nature writing and random observations about the universe. Haddon is charming company, whether he's remembering being caned at boarding school, confessing to a fear of flying or telling an anecdote about a fan who offered him her daughter's hand in marriage.
Also worth downloading is Falling (Byliner), a devastating 95-page account of a toxic marriage by Alexandra Fuller, author of the much-admired memoirs, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight and Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness.
Other notable mini-memoirs include Sam Leith's Going Nowhere: A Life in Six Videogames (Kindle Singles), mentioned in this column earlier this year, and Denial, about American journalist Jonathan Rauch's struggle to accept being gay. Like Howard Jacobson's ebook, Denial was commissioned by a new e-publishing imprint from a magazine, in this case The Atlantic. An exciting trend in journalism that one hopes will soon take off over here.
