Horror Aficionados discussion
Does anyone besides me have a min page req to bother with a book?
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Benjamin
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Jan 01, 2015 04:40PM
For me, for the most part, I wont bother with a book thats less than 400 other than with specific authors that have give me special reason too. Less than that and the stories are just too short, even in series. When I read a book in want to get sucked into the world, and that world ends just way too soon with these 250 page books.
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I don't. If it's really short(under 200 or so), it won't be as developed but there's less time invested in reading it so I may as well try it. You can always put a book down.
I generally look for 250-400 pages, and anything longer I hesistate to read it given a bigger time commitment. Then again, I'm a fan of short stories.
Mod
I'm the same way Wendy. Page count doesn't factor into my book choices.
I'm the opposite. I won't read a book more then 300 pages though I sometimes make exceptions. It's just I prefer to read medium sized books I don't know, just my thing.
I actually have more of a maximum page count than a minimum, but if it's something I really wanted to read it wouldn't matter the length. I suppose if it was 1,000+ pages though, I'd REALLY have to want to read it.
I have no preference either way. I will read a 100 page book or a behemoth like "A Storm of Swords" 1177 pages. It makes no difference, the story is the key here for me.
Most people (and I mean MOST) only have the attention span for a cheap tabloid rag or a magazine article. For me, at least, size doesn't matter. I'm with Delmy here.
No minimum of miximum for me. But I've read 50 page books that were too long and and 1,000 page tomes that I felt were too short.;)
And vise versa...or versa vise.
Squire, I could've have put it better myself.
Auto-correction will be the death of some people...
Squire wrote: "No minimum of miximum for me. But I've read 50 page books that were too long and and 1,000 page tomes that I felt were too short.;)
And vise versa...or versa vise."
Beautifully put, Squire. :)
I don't think page count matters either but it is sometimes quite daunting to start a read with a huge page count.
I'm with the won't start a huge book crowd - unless I know the author and I have to love their work. I like short reads and I like longer I tend to read shorter on the kindle and longer with paperback.
Can you tell me why that is? With the Kindle, I mean. Do you like the feel of a fat book in your hands? Sometimes I can purchase a book on Kindle, then after I'm a certain way in I long to feel it's "physical" twin, so I purchase it again. I must have done that a dozen times.
I returned the Nook I was given for my birthday last year. I like the feel and smell of a physical book in my hand. On top of thaqt, I collect hardcover books. I can sit and read a physical book for hours. I'll lose interest in an ebook after about 15 minutes. I cant' sit in front of a computer screen (no matter what it looks like) and read for very long.
Squire, you've got a very good point. I know two people personally who have got rid of their entire libraries of physical books in favour of their newly acquired Kindles. I also made them aware of how appalled I was. They both did it for the sake of having more room. I honestly believe that books furnish a room. Don't get me wrong, my first Kindle was the best toy I'd ever had at the time, but you'll never replace the real thing.
King has been rambling on for the past twenty-five years. His books are needlessly lengthy. Cut them by a good third and they would be a lot tighter and better for it. These door-stops he produces are filled with unnecessary fodder.
Mod
Length doesn't matter just so long as the story gets told, y'know?
I love both short stories and literary monoliths, each in their own time and place.
My only rule on length: a book must be over 350 pages to be called a novel.
I enjoy my Kindle for the access to titles I can't find or afford physically, but, despite the fact I was given one to clear up my book collection, that sn't gonna happen.
Books for every room, and there's always room for books.
Book length doesn't matter to me. In fact, I think some of the finest horror stories I've read have been rather short: The Haunting of Hill House for one. Also, I think horror shines in the short form-be it just a story or a novella. The Turn of the Screw for instance is rather a short story, but packed full of weirdness and fun. The Yellow Wallpaper is also short, but full of questions about sanity and the medical care of women back in the day.
Some of my favourite authors have short stories but they are all usually in 1 book...but I wont read anything less than 150 pages and even that is a stretch...the story only gets good at page 151
The Next in Line by Ray Bradbury or Metastasis by Dan Simmons. Both short stories. Wow! Both as good as any horror novel.
Shamshaad, you need to re-reconsider the 150 page thing. Some short horror stories are things of beauty...
Mod
The Willows by Algernon Blackwood is up there for me.
Length doesn't matter much to me either. My ideal length would be between 300-450 pages, but as long as I enjoy them I don't mind shorter ones or longer ones.
Jon, you're a man after my own heart! Indeed, I've read many a short story which has lingered in my mind. In a Season of Calm Weather by Bradbury must be the one which has lingered the most. A work of art.
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Nightmare Seasons and Tales from the Nightside are my favorite collections.
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" I know two people personally who have got rid of their entire libraries of physical books in favour of their newly acquired Kindles. I also made them aware of how appalled I was. They both did it for the sake of having more room."
O horror. Room for what?
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I'm replacing furniture with books...
Hahaha! Me too! Oh, when Hour of the Oxrun Dead came out, I think it redefined horror as we knew it at the time.
Doesn't matter to me either. I've read great stories of 1000 words, and terrible books above 500 pages. The story and quality of writing are really my only requirements.
If you're a Stephen King fan (like I am), you can't really work from a minimum page requirement 'cause that guy likes to write!
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I couldn't agree more.
Yeah, but his turnaround is astonishing! He must have a laptop on the floor and tap them out with his toes at the same time he does it with his fingers!
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I'm replacing furniture with books..."
I know, I'd rather throw out mt clothes and furniture than to "get rid" of a book, that just sounds insane to me lol.
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Love that visual, and he says that he's a slow reader, only getting though 70 books a year that he reads!
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Nooo :( dont say that, no wallpaper licking from King. Maybe he works on a few things at once, for months or years and then it all comes up together spaced out.
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:)
I'm excited for 2015 reading, hopefully I won't suck at it this year, books#1st!
Jon, it's rather strange you mentioning ghostwriters in the same breath as King. I vividly remember when Firestarter came out. I first read a couple of chapters of it in consecutive editions of Omni (whatever happened to that lovely magazine?). At the time I thought about how different the texture and structure was from his previous books. The style was completely different. It seemed more sober and less frenetic than what I'd read before. Don't get me wrong, I loved the book and still regard it as one of my favourite thrillers. But for me, it seemed as though it had been written by someone other than SK himself. Even the stuff directly afterwards kind of went back to the way it was.
Mod
As for King, by his own admission, he was dodging in and out of heavy cocaine use. Much like Poe, you can judge how hammered he was by the style of his writing.
Length doesn't matter, but I do really love a story I can sink into for a long time.
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