MashReads Podcast: '300 Arguments' is a dark and charming meditation on life, told in just 300 tiny quotes

What happens when you whittle a book down to only its most salient quotes?

Does it still tell a story? Can it still be evocative and meaningful?

Sarah Manguso asks just that in her book 300 Arguments, a collection of 300 platitudes that reflect on life, writing, love, friendship, and more.

"Think of this as a short book composed entirely of what I hoped would be a long book's quotable passages," writes Manguso.

But while Manguso sets up her book as a collection seemingly disparate passages, 300 Arguments quickly shapes into a book with distinctly disenchanted view on the events we all deal with in life.

For instance, in one of her arguments, Manguso quips, "Inner beauty can fade too." Sure, its innocuous on the surface, but, delivered with a harsh, blunt candor, the line takes on a life of its own, contradicting the earnest lessons we hear again and again about the sacredness of inner beauty.

And perhaps that is the fun of 300 Arguments — each of Manguso's arguments is like a puzzle. Manguso distills her ideas into a brief line or two. It's up to the reader to uncover the argument hiding just underneath.

This week on the MashReads Podcast, we read and discuss 300 Arguments by Sarah Manguso. Join us as we talk about unconventional storytelling and what makes a book resonate with readers.

Then, inspired by 300 Arguments, we discuss our favorite tiny books that make big statements, including George Orwell's Animal Farm, Cannery Row by John Steinbeck, Bluets by Maggie Nelson, and The Final Solution: A Story of Detection by Michael Chabon.

And as always, we close the show with recommendations:

• Foster, Mashable's managing editor who joined the show this week, recommends "'Silver Springs': Inside Fleetwood Mac's Great Lost Breakup Anthem," which ran in Rolling Stone. "It's such a powerful song and when you find out the story behind it, it one of these things that so deeply increases your enjoyment of what's already such an incredibly great thing."

• MJ recommends Wesley Morris' New York Times article "In Movies and TV, Racism Made Plain" which explores how white supremacy surfaces, not just during the Charlottesville protests, but also in the pop culture we consume every day. "Whenever Wesley Morris writes anything you should just read it." He also recommends Bustle's article "How YA Twitter Is Trying To Dismantle White Supremacy, One Book At A Time" and Karl Ove Knausgaard's letter to his unborn baby about "What makes life worth living." "In [the letter], he is just so in awe with world ... and reading something where someone is just so in love with being on Earth was really uplifting."

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