Quick thoughts on long books
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- Опубликовано: 8 июн 2024
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I just turned 71 and have, with much regret 😢, decided to give up on the Malazan series. I’ve read 3 or 4 of them but long ago enough that I would have to re-read them to refresh my memory and then there are 6 or 7 more complicated tomes to go through. They would simply take up too much of what time I have left and there are WAY too many other great books to enjoy.
I like both, but lately I've been excited when my kindle says I'm starting a 4 hour book. 🙃
I am in my late sixties and I still read a mixture of long and shorter books. It just depends on my mood, sometimes you want to wallow in a big book. I don’t worry about how many more years I have left to read all my books, just pick up whatever you want to read and enjoy the experience. After all you can’t read everything, even though you might like to. Cheers
You just articulated exactly what has been going on with my reading habits. I've always been a 1 book at a time sort of person, but recently started making sure I'm always reading a long and short book at the same time (different genres, so I don't get confused). I'm 31, but had a stroke last year, and I'm definitely doing the "not sure how many reading years I have left, and want to read them all" sort of thing. Enjoyed this video, as always! 😊
Glad you enjoyed the video! Doing a long and short at the same time is an interesting idea, I might try that.
Great topic! I too used to read a lot more long books (as a fellow Stephen King fan) but now second guess books that are more than 350 to 400 pages. So I try to mix it up and only read those longer ones if they are classics. But to balance it I generally have a 2nd book going while I’m reading the longer book. This actually helps me read both books faster and not stress out about my ever growing tbr list.
I read both equally, but I prefer longer books. I experienced two extremes recently. Last year I was focusing on reading through my TBR shelves, and in May I decided to read through as many books of 100-200 pages length as I could in a month. I ended up reading around 40 books and by the end kinda hated the experience. I enjoyed most of the books I read, but hated constantly having to start a new book. And a year later I don’t remember much from those books since I spent such a short time with each of them. This last January on the other hand, I decided to read books that were 500+ pages. I read 8 books and loved that reading month. I love the experience of being completely immersed in a long book for a good chunk of time - especially once you had time to get to know all the characters, and you are used to the authors writing style and language, and you have a good sense of world/setting and the story just flows. My favorite kind of reading.
As I've gotten older, it takes a special interest in a book for me to even pick up a volume that's more than 200 pages. Most of the longer books I've read were tackled when I was younger.
I agree with you about the optimal length for a crime novel. Most classic hard-boiled novels fall into the "right" length. Many French noirs fall into the shorter length category--the past few years I've really been enjoying Jean-Patrick Manchette's novels that have been appearing in English translations. But a recent visit to the Gallimard Serie Noire site showed that most of the current publications are fat, long novels--influenced, no doubt, by the popularity of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.
I'm of similar age to you (will be 50 in November) but with my crappy health I probably have a lot fewer years ahead of me than you do. As such I tend to be hesitant about starting long books that look like they might take me more than two or three days to finish... but I have so many of the bloody things on the backog that I need to just dive into some of them and get it over with. This sort of thing never used to bother me as much when I was younger, maybe I had more mental energy for them or something, but since the stroke (15 years ago today) large books daunt me more.
For what it may be worth, the longest book I've ever read is Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (about 3000 pages in my Folio Society), and the longest novel A Glastonbury Romance (just shy of 1200 pages).
I care about the story and how much it engages me not the length. I have noticed though that the older I get the less I’m inclined to waste my time on boring anything😂
I've hesitated to committing to reading long books. It feels like a dare. But when people whose opinions I respect (e.g. You) recommend one, I put it in my public library (or Amazon) wish list. Still I want to read some longer works. More importantly, I've stopped focusing on things like the Goodreads Reading Challenge - which incentivizes quantity (i.e. more short works over longer works) and hopefully this will mentally free up some bandwidth so I'll jump into longer works. Great video as always.
I’m 72 and retired so I’ve got lots of time on my hands (at least in reference to the hours in a day). I really enjoy reading. Learning the number of pages in a book is the last thing I check before buying it. Long books are uncommon. The last one I remember reading was Under the Dome by Stephen King. I think it was close to 800 pages. Even so, I was sorry when it ended. Long or short, it’s the experience that counts.
Steve Donoghue just told me to read what I want because I’ll be dead in ten minutes, and here I sit watching your video. 🤦♂️
😺✌️
😂😂 you should definitely read what you want.
@@CriminOllyBlog
Flicker is available on Amazon US. I’m thinking I might find it interesting, so it’s on my wishlist.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
😺✌️
Always fun to check my data for something like this. Not counting rereads, I’ve read and recorded approx. 2200 books. Of these, 500 were over 500 pages (23%), while 900 were under 300 pages (42%). So, as I expected, I spend more time reading longer books. If I enjoy the book, its length will only be a virtue. Thus, I’m much more likely to reread very long books. For example, I’m nearly done with my third read of the Malazan books - that’s to very big books. I’ve read Moby Dick about 10 times, and I’m working my way through a reread of Trollope’s bigger books.
Nothing against short books, but they are over so fast, and rarely stick with me. But there are some series of shorter books that I love - mostly mysteries, though I rarely read them anymore.
Longest fiction book I ever read was Ken Follet's The pillars of the Earth. Nearly a thousand pages but I loved it so much! ❤️
I just read it this past week. Loved it.
Right? I never read historical fiction but it was so engrossing and interesting!
@@ginabeena6757 it was sitting on my kindle forever. Got it as a great deal .
Best wishes with what people read, long or short. I hope you get some great stories.
I appreciate what you say about enjoying rthe experience of being immersed in a novel over a longer period of time. But I also think that some books, long AND short, work best when read relatively slowly and in smaller doses (like, a chapter or two a night), where you keep coming back to the story and that way you keep coming back to the world of the book and watch the story progress over time. Whereas other books work best if you read through them relatively quickly and continuously, like binge-watching a TV series.
I read The Adventurers and loved it. I gave up on The Moon Pool. Trying it again on audio. Totally gave up on the second book of Imajica.
I'm fine with both. If the book sounds intriguing, if the cover pulls me in, if a Booktuber I trust recommends it, I'll check it out. That said, I do have a general amount of pages I give the story before I put it down and move on. It used to be 75-100 pages, but I've shrunk that down to 50-75 pages. If a story feels like it has some potential despite my struggles, I'll push closer to 75, but if it's meandering, boring, or just not clicking in some way, then it gets around 50 pages until I DNF. That's time I can spend on many other things, whether it be reading a book that calls to me more, a project I wanna get off the ground, or even just catching up on something like chores. So a book's really gotta do a good job early to hook me, then maintain that hook to keep me going, no matter the size. If it's a bigger sized book, though, it's gotta make sure it can justify every page. I haven't thought on it yet, but maybe I should consider middle of the book sagging and how many pages to give that. I don't know, though. Can someone feel intense middle sagging and say no to finishing a story? Is that a faux pas? I don't think so, but now I'm rolling that around in my mind. Thanks, Olly, haha.
I don't let the length of the book deter me other than when I don't know anything about the author or that book ahead of time. It's hard to take the plunge on an 800-page book just on a whim.
I tend to go for shorter books on my Kindle and save the longer ones for audiobook.
I'm a strange kind of book snob. If I see a book is less than 300 pages I rarely will even give it a second glance unless it's an author I like and know they are good. I typically like 400+ page books and ones over 700 pages are the ones I really love. I know book length doesn't necessarily equate to how good it is, but I like to get immersed in a story and that's hard for me to do in shorter books. Perhaps it's why I love series books. I like the people and worlds I read about to continue on.
I read roughly 20 pages a day Monday through Friday, very little on weekends with my 4 children’s sport schedules, might read Comics/ Manga if I have some time on Sunday. 250 pages in a day or 2 is nuts to me! Regardless love long books but 250-400 is preferred, great video, cheers!
I felt a bit of solemn in this video. I appreciate the vulnerability. I can see how your grandpas jest stuck with you. I wonder when I also will start counting the number of years left. I just turned 24 years old and hope I get to finish every book I start.
Yeah it creeps up on you a bit, but I’m definitely more than halfway through my time on earth now 😂
@@CriminOllyBlog Well, let's read what we can with the time we have left!
I tend to gravitate _towards_ longer books, especially the classics. I'm currently reading two: _Martin Chuzzlewit_ by Dickens and _Lady Audley's Secret_ by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Longer books have a bigger payoff. I expect it will take me a couple of weeks to get through _Chuzzlewit._ I'm reading _Lady Audley_ in installments over the phone, that will take until mid-July.
I gravitate more towards shorter books, but that’s because I’m a slow reader.
I love long books. 500, 700, 1000+ pages and I'm in.
I definitely gravitate towards shorter books nowadays. I’m not entirely sure why. I used to read fat fantasy and Clancy and all that as a teen and in my 20s. Over the years I think I’ve lost patience for that long world building type stuff. Interestingly, I’m about the same age as you (52). I tend to read mystery, horror and men’s adventure novels these days and those tend to be on the short/medium side.
Yeah I think all of those are the kind of books that lend themselves well to shorter lengths. So many mystery novels are far too long nowadays
I think you instinctively understood that the short story form embodies the point of writing...the rest is just fluff . Plus as you get older you realise time is the most valuable thing we have
I typically don't read books with more than 300 pages. Every few months I'll pick out a long one tho.
Am in love with the Elizabeth George Lynley and Havers mystery series and John Connolly's Charlie Parker series. Many entries are over 700 pages which must make any reader pause. I try and read 200 pages a day whether it be Crime and Punishment or the lighter stuff.
It's fun to watch you progress through long books but as a major influencer it's understandable your need to finish novels. You got a few thousand books left in you Olly, mostly prickly weird ones no doubt.
Interesting. I just started rereading IT. It’s a long book.
It really is!
I still have That waiting to be read on my bookshelf. I’m pretty sure I will love it, but its around 1100 Pages right …. Thats alot haha
One of the few long books I've read...I found the first half largely... boring. It's nowhere near as good as The Stand
I read a lot of James Michener and Edward Rutherford in the past but it has been quite some time ago. I enjoyed the pace although I suspect some folks would find them slow. They worked well for me at the time but my recent past has included books that are in the 350-700 page range. Not sure the reason why.
I am also feeling the “so many books, so little time” nagging feeling, so I don’t read as many long books as I used too.
I'm 52 now and like yourself I've noticed my really long book days are behind me. In my twenties, I read numerous one thousand page books but now I'm older, I stick to two to four hundred pages. Easier to read and just as enjoyable. It also means I can read three or four a week by different authors thus adding to my knowledge of their works.
I tend to read shorter books, probably because when I was growing up, most books seemed to be on the shorter side and that's what my 'story mind' is used to. I used to read fantasy, but it was always Michael Moorcock, or Fritz Leiber, or old Robert E Howard books. They were short. The same with crime; books by Ed McBain, Mickey Spillane, and Elmore Leonard were never doorstoppers.
I also like variety in my reading material, and shorter books cater to that, letting me switch genres, authors, and writing style more often.
I often find myself reading longer books by a shorter one is always viewed as a treat , I love Stephen King books and I think I’d be terrified if he put out a short book just cause of the emotional rollercoaster it would bound to be in such as short timeframe
Damn, I'm 50. I guess I'm old too. 🤨I just started The Kindly Ones. In light of this revelation, I better hurry it up. 😂
I just purchased the entire dark tower from Stephen king.. And I am the type of person once i finish the first one I want to stick with it and read the second and so one.. so that makes it a long project… Lets hope its worth it haha
I loved the series.
I tried and I like King. Had no issues reading IT or Needful Things
It could be longer project than you think. As you go on you may also want to read Salem's Lot, Insomnia and Everything's Eventual before you get through all of the actual Dark Tower books, as there are things in these that directly relate to the story. You may then end up going down a massive King rabbit hole, where a lot of his books start tying into the Tower story.
@@jonathanboogers9003 I know Eye of the Dragon connects.
@@jonathanboogers9003 I am not sure if you just scared me or excited me with your comment haha, naw I am kidding I appreciatie it massively.. havent started yet so I will probably pick those books up along the way, thank you!
30 years is a long time. I think you will be okay @CriminOlly . After your eyes go, there is always Laser Eye Surgery and audiobooks. I have had Laser Eye Surgery, it works just great.
Im in my mid 50's. I can read long or short. Never really think of it that way. Especially on a Kindle. Cause im not holding a brick of a book. Just started The Count if Monte Cristo. Yes a long one. If i dont enjoy ill move onto another if i lose interest.
I like both, but i try and go for the happy medium (Books ~300-400 pages). That being said I just finished The Great and Secret Show and the last 200 pages felt like a slog.
I love long books because you get your moneys worth and you can treat it in episodal form (as i often do). Almost like saving in an rpg, at the good parts so you start again at something fun. I saw the last page of The Stand while looking for page total and there was an animation. I think it might have blown the story for me (say it aint so). I havent read a word of it yet.
The Stand is the only long book I've enjoyed. I think it took me about 9 months to read it
I like long books, as long as it's non-fiction. Long fiction often annoys me because it can almost always be shorter (especially King).
I have read some long books: Swan Song, Lonesome Dove, The Talisman, etc. But more of the time I completely lose interest in some long books. I could not finish -The Stand, IT, 11/22/63. Around midway the story just flattens out with very slow progress. I feel like I failed but I stop reading anything until I surrender and move on.
Have you seen the BOOKSTORES video by Max Joseph? He did a breakdown of how to determine the number of books you will read in your lifetime. Never enough, especially since I do have reading slumps off and on. I've gotten better about DNFing books since watching it, though. Some books just aren't for me. I read the first volume of War and Peace recently and have read several short books as a break from that. Seems to help when I'm reading longer or more difficult books.
At 59 (and with RA), I feel time breathing down my neck more and more. It makes me reluctant to take on series of books that go beyond two or three. I don’t read as quickly as you do and don’t want to have to dedicate a year of my life to a single long story.
I think also part of it is that you know that you can get just as much enjoyment from a short book. Books are often long just for the sake of it much like music where artists can fill a cd with about a hours of music but only really have 30 minutes worthwhile tracks...brilliant on vinyl ...lacking on cd
I used to be able to read long books. And then I got burned out later in life lol
I read a mix. I do read some long books but I like to mix in a shorter novel or a few between the longer books. If I read multiple long books back to back I start to feel burn out.
Stop thinking like that mate. Why bother reading five so so books, when you could read one great one. Stay healthy and just keep on reading and don't think negative thoughts.
For me it depends upon the writer . Some one like Alan Dean Foster can pack more world building and characters in 150 pages than other writers can in 700 pages . Of the long books I have read recently I often find myself feeling the so much is just bloat .
I think I prefer slower-paced books but every so often I just want to read a book in one sitting.
Long books are intimidating. The deciding factor on finishing one is how invested you get while reading.
I enjoy long books when they're really good. But there are a lot that just aren't, unfortunately, and definitely need an editor to cut them down. As an author, I have trouble writing very long books, although my books have tended to get longer the more books I write.
Do you think you get most pleasure out of finishing a book, compare to that middle part?
For me, I enjoy the beginning most and the period after finishing a book - that: "what should I read now" feeling.
🖤💚
I've found myself turning away from modern crime novels and loving the pulp crime novels. If a crime book nowadays isnt more than 400 pages then its not considered a novel by publishers or customers. A lot of these modern books ive noticed obvious padding of the story which ruins it for me
Not a pulp crime novel. The Friends of Eddie Coyle fantastic crime novel. But if you get a copy with the introduction by Dennis Lehanne. Don't read the intro he gives away major plot points. I read an old 70's version. Read the intro in a bookstore and was amazed he ruined it.
Long books are usually full of bloat and nearly every book I've enjoyed has been short sub 200 pages. I suspect long books are preferred due to the cost...£7 for a paperback...you want lots of pages, you want value for money
I prefer books that are under 400 pages. I like more concise storytelling, and I feel books that are over 500 pages are inflated with unnecessary details and tangential storylines that take away from my reading interest.
Do you like Austen? The men I know refuse to even see the movies. I would love to have them see you saying that you approve, do you?
I'm 67. Don't depress m
me
Most of them are boring shit.
Lol..I'm guessing you've been burnt by reading 1 or 2 long books and completing them but thought afterwards that they could have been just as good at half the length
My grandfather used to read the last chapter of a book first so that he knew how it happened if he died before he finished it 🫣