Do You Care If Books Are Big or Small?
As I've grown older, I tend to shy away more from the doorstopper novels. You know, the books running 400 or even more pages. Epics, some readers call them. On occasion, I still enjoy the longer story. After all, a few yarns just take longer to tell (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was my last one, a sweet read, BTW).
But my ideal book length clocks in at between 225 and 250 pages. That works out to 60-75,000 words. Authors will pad their books to reach a predetermined length. In 1950 the Gold Medal Books published by Fawcett established the paperback original (PBO) and made a ton of money off of selling the PBOs for 25 cents. Sort of like the Kindle versions today sold for 99 cents. The Gold Medals are sought out by today's readers because the tales are streamlined, snappy, and edgy gems.
At any rate, I have to admit when I'm selecting new titles at the library or bookstore (I still don't Kindle) to test out, the page or word count is one criterion I use.
Do you care how long a book is before reading it?
@edlynskey
Ed Lynskey
But my ideal book length clocks in at between 225 and 250 pages. That works out to 60-75,000 words. Authors will pad their books to reach a predetermined length. In 1950 the Gold Medal Books published by Fawcett established the paperback original (PBO) and made a ton of money off of selling the PBOs for 25 cents. Sort of like the Kindle versions today sold for 99 cents. The Gold Medals are sought out by today's readers because the tales are streamlined, snappy, and edgy gems.
At any rate, I have to admit when I'm selecting new titles at the library or bookstore (I still don't Kindle) to test out, the page or word count is one criterion I use.
Do you care how long a book is before reading it?
@edlynskey
Ed Lynskey
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Lynn
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Apr 03, 2011 03:52AM
I prefer big books especially when I've got lots of time to read.
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Hmmm I find that it depends on the time. If I only have an hour to kill I try to stay under 200 pages but really I read anything that takes my fancy.
I never really thought about this. I read a lot of Children's and Teen books to stay current with my profession so there have been times when I reading an Adult novel I've thought "Sheesh, get on with it already!" Now, I'll probably pay more attention :)
That is an interesting question, Ed. I haven't ever really thought about that before. Recently I just three series of novels by J.A. Jance, and they averaged about 350 pages each. That was a size that I enjoyed, since I don't have an e-reader, and the books were quite easy to carry around, no matter where my plans for the day took me.
Overall, I when I read fiction, I find that I enjoy books that have enough length to fully develop a story, and enough depth that I can appreciate the characters and story line.
Thanks. Something else occurs to me. My mother doesn't like the heavier books (mostly library loaners) because they're more difficult to hold for her. Maybe she'll look into getting an e-reader.
Well it really depends on my mood on what size of book i read. lol. most of the time i go for small books but on the odd occasion i will go for a thick book.
I usually put bigger books on my Kindle and read almost everything else in paperback. I read on a train on the way to work and choose my reading material based on whether or not it fits in my purse.
Kathleen wrote: "I usually put bigger books on my Kindle and read almost everything else in paperback. I read on a train on the way to work and choose my reading material based on whether or not it fits in my purse."That size selection makes sense. I'd rather carry a slim paperback than lug around a hardback with me, especially if I was riding on a train, bus, or subway car.
My ideal book length is one just long enough to tell the story and not long enough to make me wonder why the editor didn't leave another few (or ten) thousand words on the cutting-room floor.Yes, that's a mealy-mouthed way of saying I don't pay attention to book length - at least, not when selecting books. If I find myself halfway through and I'm actually paying attention to page numbers, the book's probably not going to get more than a couple of stars on my review.
I do tend to shy away from larger books when I'm looking on the library shelves or in the bookstore, just because they're a little intimidating (and awkward to hold and carry around), but on the other hand, some of my favorite books have been the door-stopping opuses - Les Miserables, And Ladies of the Club, Lord of the Rings, Dombey & Son...As for ideal book length, I've read some 200 page books that were 150 pages too long, and some 700 page books that were 300 pages too short. It really depends on the quality of the writing.
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