The long and the short of it

    A quick question of preference, and another topic for our reading habits series: all other things being equal, that is putting aside author, subject matter and practical considerations such as weight, are you drawn to long books or short ones?

    Is it the doorstop-like tome that you crave - a huge book in which to lose yourself, or do you prefer the slim little volume, one which is soon finished and which allows you to move on to something new in only a day or two? 

Comments

[Sakura]

I love big books because I know I can spend days reading it and the potential storylines seem endless.

[Anne]

Love getting into a doorstop tome. I feel I can live with the characters longer. Mind you sometimes shorter books if well written can have a lasting effect.

[Julie Fredericksen]

Another vote for the doorstop tome. Especially if I am shopping to buy a book. I want more bang for the buck.

[A Bookish Space]

I read both types depending on what I am in the mood for.

[Carolina]

I love the doorstop-like tome because I think it will last for longer time than the thin ones... but I don't discriminate, I read all what I can

[Darlene]

The bigger the better!

[adele geras]

I'm for fat books, generally speaking. Though I sometimes leave a thick book in hardback behind when I'm going on a train and stick a little pbk into the handbag...I know, I know, there are ebooks, Kindles etc but I'm attached to the real thing. And Dombey and son in one nice fat volume did me for a whole week away last year....four nights in Venice and train both ways!

[Jodie]

Hard choice...both I'd say. I love big books, but midding books put me off more than small ones.

[Tara]

I like both, in fact I like to be reading both at the same time. I adore the chunky books that are with me for a week or sometimes weeks, but also books that I whiz through in a day or two.

[Lyn]

I like both. I love big, fat 19th century novels, I've just finished Man & Wife by Wilkie Collins, & I love to immerse myself in a long book. But, I've just started Nancy Mitford's Don't tell Alfred which is quite slim & I've just taken a few more books off the tbr shelves & they're all thinnish. I like to alternate.

[Henrietta]

Nothing like a big juicy book, so long as I can hold it comfortably in bed. There is nothing more irritating than a book almost finished, but you can feel the weight of a comfortable amount of pages left until the conclusion. You turn a page, only to find the book is ending, and the remaining pages are the first chapter of another book by the same author. I rage every time and feel cheated. As I am not the sort of reader to peruse the last pages of a book I have not finished so I always have no warning. It has the opposite effect on me that I imagine publishers hope it will. Let's face it, if I have enjoyed a book by an author, I am grown up enough to be able to find more by the same without the spoon feeding.

A slim book can be a gift. Short eough to read maybe in one uninterrupted sitting.

[Dark Puss]

Twenty pages or four hundred matters not but the quality of the writing does.

[Ros]

What I really like are books that are printed in such a way as to give you maximum words for minimum weight. I really loath trade paperbacks with huge print and margins and extra blank pages at the beginning and end. I have a wonderful set of the Austen novels printed in two volumes, each of which is smaller than a mass-market paperback. They use bible paper and small print and are perfect for travelling.

[Simon T]

You know my answer to this ;-) Short, please!

[Elaine]

I love fat books - many of Anthony Trollope are of doorstep size and it is great to immerse yourself in a read like that. It all depends on the mood though, sometimes a short book is just what you want. I have just taken delivery of the paperback of Wolf Hall and having looked at the first page am not sure I can read it.....and it is FAT

[Margaret Powling]

First the story is paramount, then the print (can I really sit and read 400 pages or more of this print on this paper?) and finally the length ... I prefer books which comes in at around 300 pages but have recently read books which are much longer. I have to say, they are not necessarily better for the length. I often feel stories of more than 400 pages have been well padded to reach the required publisher's length to warrant the cover price in order to give a decent return. And large, fat books are so much more difficult to read in bed!