Got a minute? Read a very condensed book

Fri., Jan. 28, 2005

Ellen Henderson DallasNews.com

What it is: Part of the larger RinkWorks.com entertainment Web site, Book-A-Minute ( www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute) is dedicated to condensing works of fiction into the smallest (and most irreverent) format possible.

What it’s all about: With three major sections – Classics, Science Fiction and Bedtime Stories – Book-A-Minute offers an impressive selection of ultra-condensed novels, ranging from “Jane Eyre” to “Ender’s Game” to “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” (The synopsis for that one reads, in its entirety: “Once there was a caterpillar who ate holes in stuff and turned into a butterfly. THE END.”) These aren’t Cliffs Notes – you won’t be able to write a term paper after reading these speedy summaries, but you will get a few laughs.

Why we like it: I’m always entertained by pure silliness, and what else could you call a site that explains Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” by giving Ebenezer Scrooge this line of dialogue: “At last, I have seen the light. Let’s dance in the streets. Have some money.”

The summaries are most amusing when you’ve actually read the entire book in question. Why, you may wonder, did I bother to slog through hundreds of pages of “War and Peace” when I could have just read Book-A-Minute’s version, which reads: “History controls everything we do, so there is no point in observing individual actions. Let’s examine the individual actions of over 500 characters at great length.”

Besides giving you the barest bones of the plots of great novels (probably enough to fake your way through a cocktail party discussion), Book-A-Minute’s synopses also poke a few holes in the pretensions of literary fiction. The end of the summary of Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” reads: “Easily Deluded Reader: ‘Look at all the subtext. This must be one of the greatest anti-war pieces of our time.’ “

I’m a literature lover, and I do take it seriously and recognize its importance. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a good laugh at its expense. With Book-A-Minute, you can do the same.

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