That weirded me out. What an arbitory way to select books to read!
But then you see the huge block-buster novels and realise a lot of people must think like that. They say they want a book you can sink your teeth into but to me, that's a book bursting with ideas, not words.
Lately, I've been hanging around a lot of places where readers like to go online. Places like Goodreads. I've found that idea of paying for the number of words popping up again. Maybe it's more important in genre fiction, where a lot of books have the same themes and plot structure. If you have the choice between two similar books then I can see that you'd go for the one with more meat to it, maybe.
Maybe my aversion to thick books isdue to laziness. Books are heavy. Well they were, in paper format.
Then there is the fear that a big, thick book has lots of description. I hate description. Hate reading it, hate writing it. The only time I like it, is when it's short and clever. A well turned sentence rather than pages of detail. I assume a smaller book is going to be more succinct.
I don't like a lot of genres that tend towards thick volumes (and even then volumes that are part of a series). I don't read fantasy or sci-fi or that kind of thing. I do sometimes like a long, winding family saga that stretches over a few generations.
What about you? Is size a consideration when you buy a book? What makes you buy/download a book?
I think bigger books have bigger font print, so I don't think it really works out that way. But then again, the count of monte cristo was rediculously huge.
ReplyDeletei prefer the bigger font though, because I have trouble seeing the words since I refuse to buy glasses.
Yeah that's one of the things that I love with my kindle - I can increase the font size. I'm okay normally but when I start getting tired, I like the font bigger.
ReplyDeleteI've always been a reader of epics - being a high fantasy reader before anything else does that to you. (Much to my chagrin when I was told my 300k fantasy novel - and no, it can't be split up, because that's book 1 alone - is ~too long~) Pish posh, she says. It's as long as it needs to be.
ReplyDeleteOf course, these are for genres I like. Fantasy, mostly. (Not that big in sci-fi.) I would read an epoch romance too, except that genre does not lend itself to long stories. I'm making my way through some old previously serialized Dickens and Austen (I don't think Austen was serialized though) and oh god is it over yet?
If it's genres I don't care for, like horror or thrillers, it better be like...three pages long. Any longer than that and nope we're done.
I think even in genres that are known for being epic, I'd go for a book with a good hook over one that was longer. i don't think I even look at page count when I'm making a buying decision.
ReplyDeleteI like a good series; like the Clan of the Cavebear series... at least until her last book which I think sucked.
ReplyDeleteI really dislike series' like the Sookie Stackhouse series; why on Earth does the author feel the need to reintroduce and describe the same characters with each new book. So annoying, I skip those parts.
As for single books it depends on the subject matter and if the synopsis grabs me; I am reading it no matter how fat.
For ease of travel I do enjoy smaller/thinner books. I would much rather enjoy a Kindle if I had one but I don't know how that would fair on my eyes. Currently I read Kindle books on my phone which is quite tiring.
I find the kindle a lot easier on my eyes than paper books. You can enlarge the font so if I'm getting tired I do that, plus it's a much nicer screen (different technology) than phones.
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