Side-stepping with Shorty

Ford, Sewell, 1868-1946Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 409K words
Chapters: 41

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Side-stepping with Shorty by Sewell FordAuthor: Ford, Sewell, 1868-1946,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Mar 15, 2010

Editor's review

Side-stepping with Shorty is a popular novel written in a humorous vein by the American author Sewell Ford, one of his "Shorty" series. The story revolves around the clever, streetwise Shorty, using a string of light, comic everyday episodes to sketch a vivid profile of early twentieth-century American urban life. Ford's prose is brisk and his dialogue lively; he excels at portraying the worldly wisdom of ordinary people with exaggeration tempered by warmth, often drawing a knowing smile. The book is not long and its chapters are relatively self-contained, making it suitable for fragmented reading and as an introduction to American popular fiction and its tradition of streetwise humor. Note that the work bears clear marks of its era; some slang and social background may feel unfamiliar to contemporary readers, so there is no need to dwell on every detail—grasp the overall fun and the characters' personalities. For readers who enjoy light comic narrative and want a change of pace, this is a diverting read to pick up and put down at will.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy American humor and streetwise fiction
Readers who want to read English originals in light, fragmented sessions
Enthusiasts of early twentieth-century American popular literature
People who need light reading to vary their pace

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting deep social critique or serious literary themes
Readers with weak English who struggle with early slang and colloquial expression
Readers who prefer tightly structured, continuously plotted long stories

Reading tips

Read chapter by chapter independently; there is no need to finish in one go, making it good for commutes or bedtime.
Guess unfamiliar slang from context first rather than looking up words constantly, so as not to break the reading rhythm.
Note how Shorty speaks and handles situations, and appreciate the humorous techniques of characterization.
After finishing, look up the author's other Shorty series works and compare how the character continues and changes.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Does this book need to be read in order?

The chapters are relatively self-contained and the plot continuity is loose, so you can start from any chapter. Reading in order, however, makes it easier to follow the relationships and the development of the characters' personalities, so a first reading is best begun from the start.

How difficult is the English, and is it good for learning English?

The language is fairly colloquial and sentences are not long, but it contains early twentieth-century slang and regional expressions, which pose some challenge for non-native readers. It suits readers with some English foundation who want exposure to early popular literary language; it is not recommended as zero-beginner material.

Is this book connected to the author's other works?

It is one of Sewell Ford's series featuring Shorty, and the character continues across several stories. Reading it alone does not hinder understanding, but if you like the character, you can seek out other works in the series for a fuller reading experience.

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About the author

Ford, Sewell, 1868-1946 Author

Sewell Ford (1868–1946) was an American writer of popular fiction. Public information about him is limited, and few details of his life survive, but the twelve works held in the collection show that he was best known for light, humorous serial fiction. His representative works include Wilt Thou Torchy, The House of Torchy, Torchy and Vee, Torchy, Private Sec., and Torchy As A Pa, a series of stories built around the character Torchy, along with Shorty McCabe and On With Torchy. Judging from the titles and the series structure, his writing drew on everyday urban life, office settings, and family scenes, with a comic tone and vivid characters suited to popular reading and newspaper serialization. Such character-driven series were well received in early twentieth-century American popular literature, and they helped his work remain in print and survive to the present, offering a glimpse of the urban life and humor writing of his time.