The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1

The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 1 (The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories #1)

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3.96 of 5 stars 3.96  ·  rating details  ·  1,815 ratings  ·  224 reviews
From hitRECord, the immensely popular open collaborative production company, and its founder, Golden Globe-nominated actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, comes The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1.

The universe is not made of atoms; it's made of tiny stories.

To create The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, known within the hitRECord community as RegularJOE...more
Hardcover, 87 pages
Published December 6th 2011 by It Books
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Man
I had very high expectations on this book, not because of the name printed on the front (Joseph Gordon-Levitt that is), but because I love the plain idea of a collaborate book consisting of works by different people. I genuinely believe this idea is a good way of sharing art, because it shows that the range of imagination is so vast. And the first sentence is just fantastic: "The universe is not made of atoms; it's made of tiny stories.

Although I didn't read the psysical book I did watch the rea...more
Kirsty
I purchased this today and read it in one delicious gulp on the train on the way home. It was utterly lovely, and the illustrations throughout are beautiful. Very inventive and such a lovely idea. My favourite was 'You're gone. No mailing address. But I send you letters anyway'.
Lisa
“The universe is not made up of atoms; it’s made up of tiny stories.”

It’s a great beginning to a very tiny book. The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1 by hitRECord and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Actually, the great beginning was the end paper. It’s full of tiny drawings and all the detail and work that went into it are just amazing.

Then, there are the stories — they are truly tiny. Maybe a sentence or two, with a drawing to go with them. They are sad and funny and wonderful.

My favorite, which I have...more
Jenn
This is a fairly twee and in many ways adorable book produced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt's hitRECord open-collaborative creative arts company. The book's cover boasts that it features "67 contributors from the 8,569 contributions on the Tiny Stories collaboration on hitRECord.org." Contributions are both very, very tiny stories (never more than two sentences) and black-and-white hand drawings. The concept itself is to take online submissions, under online user names like wirrow (the main architect)...more
Jenny
Jan 22, 2012 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars
Shelves: other
I'll admit up front that part of the reason I wanted to review this is because it was associated with Joseph Gordon-Levitt who I love as an actor. But, also, the book sounded so unique. This book is essentially a compilation of the contributions to Gordon-Levitt's production company hitRECord where artists of all types tell tiny, but impactful, stories utilizing a combination of words and art.

The book is actually tiny and adorable. I read it as soon as it came in the mail, and it took me about 5...more
Elizabeth
If you enjoy storytelling and collaborative artforms, THE TINY BOOK OF TINY STORIES volume 1 is a treasure waiting to be discovered.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (yes, the actor) is the director of hitRECord, an "open-collaborative production company," which encourages anyone to contribute "records" (creative content) that others can use in collaborative projects, some of which get produced and sold. They split profits 50/50 with contributors, and use their cut to finance more projects.

Their latest produ...more
Ti
The Short of It:

A short, snappy little book filled with creativity.

The Rest of It:

When I first heard about this little gem, I knew I had to read it for myself. HitRECord, founded by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (3rd Rock from the Sun, Inception, 10 Things I Hate About You) reviewed contributions from thousands of writers and artists to create this collection. The stories are only one or two pages long. Some are humorous, some of thought-provoking but the real challenge here is telling a story in just on...more
Kelly Hager
When I got the query letter that compared this to PostSecret and the Six Word Memoirs books, I knew this was a book I had to read, and I am so glad I did get that pitch. This book is magic.

I will admit that I have a complete obsession with books like that. I love small glimpses into people's lives and seeing things I completely relate to and things I don't understand at all. This book isn't exactly like that, but there are definite similarities. This is more like incredibly short stories (none l...more
Gaby
Feb 02, 2012 Gaby rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: humor
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories (Vol. 1) by HitRecord and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was selected as an Amazon Best Book of December 2011. It's a gem of tiny (as opposed to short) stories.

The stories are so tiny that they take up a page or two at the most. While these stories are more like poems, puns, riddles, and sophisticated cartoons (think New Yorker), I found the selections brilliant. A mix of whimsy, humor, wryness, and quirky (in the best possible way), The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories is the sort...more
Nancy
HitRECord’s collaborative coalition of artists and writers are making history with The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1, a collection of innovative crowd-sourced creative projects that pushes the limits of originality, cooperation, imagination, and inspiration. HitRECord, a grassroots creative collective founded by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, known worldwide for his performances in (500) Days of Summer and Inception, is a forum where thousands of artists worldwide share work and contribute to...more
Annie
I picked up this book because I recently joined the hitRECord community. The cover illustration is very cute and it makes the book kind of hard to resist (yes, I sometimes judge a book by the cover). Before today the only pictures that I saw of the book cover were online. At $10 per book I thought it was a great steal. When I finally saw it my initial thought was, 'it's so SMALL.' It's a lot smaller in real life than I expected. All of a sudden, $10 per book made a lot of sense. What I really do...more
Annette Abbott
One word comes to mind when describing this twee little book: "Kawaii!"

If you're not familiar with JGL's collaborative website, hitrecord.org, do yourself a favour and visit it. This little hardcover is a fantastic sampling of what you can see throughout the site: contributions of video, song, stories, art, etc.

After finishing "Sister: A Novel" earlier today and being thoroughly let down (and perhaps a little pissed off) about the ending, I felt I couldn't allow that to be the last thing in my...more
Brittany
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories is a collaborative effort put together by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. hitRECord is an online art spectacular filled to the brim with talent. Anyone can sign up and contribute in any way.

In this first volume of the tiny book series, there are one to two sentences for each story and they are accompanied by an illustration. The stories all make you think and expand your imagination a little bit further. Some are cute, some are sad and some are strange. They are all fantastic...more
Marie
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories is filled with tiny stories and illustrations. Each story is no longer than a few sentences and is accompanied by a tiny illustration. The whole book is "a collection of innovative crowd-sourced creative projects that pushes the limits of originality, cooperation, imagination, and inspiration."

This is such a delightful little book. It definitely has a little something for everyone. The stories and illustrations are varied in theme and style. Some of the stories are...more
Gmr
Jan 18, 2012 Gmr rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: all ages

Yes, that double take you just did WAS warranted as the “director” of the project is a famous actor (aka RegularJOE)…and yes, I said director. You see this unique little creation is a group effort in which stories submitted on their website are worked, tweaked and finalized to reveal the true splendor within. In other words, YOU can contribute, possibly be included in a future volume, and help other creative souls like yourself reach their full potential despite the miles between you.

From the wo...more
Mackenzie
Dec 29, 2011 Mackenzie rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of John Lennon's "In His Own Write"
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is not the first celebrity to have published a (non-autobiographical) book. John Lennon did it twice, James Franco has done it, Stephen Gately has done it and, next year, Chris Colfer will do it. But if publishing a work of fiction is some sort of competition, it is Gordon-Levitt who has the biggest chance of winning the race... simply because his efforts produce the most heartwarming effect at all.

Don't get it wrong - he didn't write the contents of the small book. (At leas...more
Bells
Most people hear the name Joseph Gordon-Levitt and know him from the various movies that he has acted in. But he's also involved in a project with a company that he has started. HitRECord allows artists worldwide the chance to share their works with one another and then are remixed by their peers. Music, art, and videos are uploaded to the site where anyone can view them. Now this book may be little, but you don't think about that once you get the chance to read the entertaining tiny stories ins...more
Mae
Lately I've been getting into graphic novels that tell a story more with pictures. I did some research and posted the book on my wishlist - requesting it from my secret Santa LOL

This little book has text to accompany the images. Kind of like this bedtime story novel I have, but geared towards an older audience.

My advice: Look at the image, analyze it first, then read the text. It's better that way.

Both Art and Lit. work together to create overall effects on the reader - this is the power of sto...more
Serena
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories Volume 1 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a collection of short stories and illustrations. hitRECord is an open, collaborative website joining musicians, authors, illustrators, and other artistic people in the creative process. The book itself is short with a mere 83 pages, very little text, but engaging images.

Some of these stories are witty and play on old wives tales and sayings, while others use text as an image to convey their messages. A quick read over the holidays...more
Angelc
This tiny little book is so original and refreshing. I gobbled it down in one sitting, and I simply adored all of the thought provoking tiny stories and beautiful, quirky illustrations.

The most interesting part about the tiny stories is that you can really make up the rest of the story yourself. They all definitely have a beginning, middle, and end, but the rest of the story is up for interpretation. It really makes every one's experience of reading the stories different.

It may not take long to...more
Natasha  A.
- That Mr. Gordon-Levitt isn't just a really pretty face. He's doing some spectacular things for the arts.
- That this book is VERY cute and is definitely going to be added to my SMILE books. What are smile books? These are the books that I grab when I need a smile.
- That I probably would still buy this book despite the cost of the book (I do think it is slightly overpriced for what you get - BUT it's currently on sale at Amazon.com [as of Jan 10, 2012]. You see part of the proceeds are split up...more
Mark DC
It's a fascinating and provoking piece of Literature - to my English classmates: Yes, I deem this to be a great "capital-L Literature" book. Within this tiny book, I discovered intellectual and spiritual value. I believe that through the simplistic aesthetics of this book, I see incomparable beauty and overwhelming shock that really made me fall in love with it. This tiny book emits a powerful psychic energy that motivates me to seek more deeply to explain and to analyze the miniscule words that...more
Olivia
This collection is wonderful. Each story is short and sweet - accompanied by a detailed illustration - just as the title implies; however, though rarely more than a few sentences long if that, something about them resonates in a way I cannot explain. There is something poetic about their nature, in the sense that upon reading each story, you think it's a cute little tale, but the deeper meaning surfaces and lingers well beyond the turn of the page. This anthology delivers a punch and is worth re...more
Brittany Flaming
Liked? I thought the title was just a cutesy little name for the book, but no. It really is a tiny book! It will take you maybe 10-20 minutes to read through the book, and maybe a second read to look at the pictures again. This anthology doesn't really deserve to be reviewed as a book because it is a collection of tiny stories, some humorous, some not, contributed by various people through the internet. And it's pretty cool.
Recommend? Yeah, if only to just have it on hand for a quick laugh. Thi...more
Sarah Joyce Bryant
Lately, I am gravitating towards brevity in my writing and in what I read. I heard about The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1 compiled by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (RegularJOE) through HitRECord and thought it sounded perfect. It is! I loved the tiny stories, and they are tiny. Each story (sometimes only a few lines long) is accompanied by artwork that adds a special element to it. I am often amazed at how only a few words can say so much and have such a powerful impact to the reader. This is a co...more
Sarah
This collection of, well, tiny stories was organized by members of HitRecord.org, a creative and collaborative online community pioneered by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. “The guy from ‘3rd Rock from the Sun?’” you ask. Yup that’s the one. Though he’s had some notable appearances on screens big and small since those days, most recently in the feature film “50/50” with Seth Rogen.

But back to the book…

In addition to Gordon-Levitt, this collaborative project is also lead by the anonymous wirrow, who remai...more
Jasmine
Dec 30, 2011 Jasmine rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: n-a
Okay I just read this book in 20 minutes, and I read it fully. it's micro stories and it deserves 5 stars.

1. the stories are freaking amazing, 2. the illustrations are freaking amazing, 3. you should read it, before or after you read mark hodder I'm not particular given it's shortness.

I was going to do this review like my other micro stories review but when I started marking stories I was marking every page so I was like "that's no good" so I was going to open to a random page and give you tha...more
Wallace
Two and a half stars, rounded up to three. Although some page were laugh our loud funny (only a few) and a few other resonated with me, I'm not sure it was enough to qualify a buy (which I did). I rounded up to three stars because (now that I have it) I will show some of the pages to other people.

Basically it feels a bit like there was too much hype over this one... and it's probably better to just read it at the store (or library or friends...) in the three minutes it takes to read it unless y...more
Afrina
This was one quick read! And like most, I read this on Youtube. I must say it is such a great book with so much creativity put into it (and NO! My rating for this book was not influenced by the beautiful Joseph Gordon-Levitt who helped create this book). It is very different from my usual reads and the book pretty much consisted of stories (sentences,riddles, poetry) that were one page to two pages long filled with illustrations. I actually felt like I was reading a children's book because of al...more
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an American actor whose career as both a child and adult has included television series and theatrical films.

He is known for his roles in the 2009 indie (500) Days of Summer (for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination), a supporting role in the 2010 science fiction film Inception, and for starring in the 2011 drama 50/50. Beginning in commercials as a young child, he mad...more
More about Joseph Gordon-Levitt...
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 2 The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories 2010 RECollection, Vol. 1 The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, Vol. 3 Little Red Riding Hood: Redux (The hitRECorderly #1)

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