Literature is long. Comics are short.
Does Proust get you down? Do you find The Unbearable Lightness of Being simply unbearable? Is The Inferno your own private hell? Do you long to be conversant about classics like Moby Dick, the Bhagavad Gita, Madame Bovary, and, um, Twilight?
Bestselling illustrator Lisa Brown (The Airport Book;Baby, Mix Me a Drink) did her homework. Long Story Short offers 100 pithy and skewering three-panel literary summaries, from curriculum classics like Don Quixote,Lord of the Flies, and Jane Eyre to modern favorites like Beloved,The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, andAtonement, conveniently organized by subjects including “Love,” “Sex,” “Death,” and “Female Trouble.” Lisa Brown’s Long Story Short is the perfect way to turn a traipse through what your English teacher called “the canon” into a frolic—or to happily cram for the next occasion that requires you to appear bookish and well-read.
Lisa Browndraws things like illustrations and comics, writes things like books and book reviews, and teaches things to kids and college students. Her debut picture book, How to Be, was one of the Thirteen Best Children’s Books for Family Literacy. She is a comics contributor at The Rumpusand teaches illustration at the California College of the Arts. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and son. You can find her online at americanchickens.com or on Twitter: @lisabrowndraws.
"You probably began this quarantine with dreams of rereading
Moby-Dickor
Persuasion. But if you’re like me, you’re finding it l³3
![Long Story Short: 100 Classic Books in Three Panels [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/5/2/0/2_4301123.jpg "Long Story Short: 100 Classic Books in Three Panels [Hardcover]")