Have I mentioned on this blog that I'm lazy? I'm sure that I have. And I am sure you have figured that out by the length of time it can take me to respond to comments. Okay, I am working on it . . . and I'm talking about both the laziness and the responding to comments.
Most of the time, I am not lazy when it comes to reading. Actually, reading is the reason why I can be lazy sometimes.
reading vs. cleaning = reading wins (though that probably isn't a fair match)
reading vs. responding to blog comments = reading
reading vs. working out = reading
reading vs. . . . . well, just about anything = reading wins (except maybe eating. I'll give up ten minutes of reading time to stuff some chocolate in my mouth.)
But when it comes to reading long books . . . well, my laziness has a tendency to win out. My average size book is around 300 or 350 pages. Don't get me wrong, I will read a long book. Last year, my longest book read was
Gone with the Wind, which came in at a whopping 1057 pages.
Great book, but do you have
any idea how long it languished on my Kindle before I
finally read it?
Yeah, me neither but I know it was a long time.
Right now, I am reading
Gemina, which is 659 pages. I have been looking forward to this book for ages, but it took forever to gather the motivation to read it because of its length.
I know some people may say they are intimidated by books with a lot of pages. I would love to say that is my excuse. Then maybe you guys would respect me a bit. But alas, it's strictly laziness.
I have found that the longer a book is, the longer it takes me to read it. If it's over 500 pages, that's the sweet, sweet spot of procrastination on my part.
So let's discuss: do you procrastinate on reading books if they are too long? What do you consider too long? Is it an intimidation thing or are you just lazy like me? No judgments!
Ugh I avoid long books. Long to me is over like 550 pages. I think it is part intimidation and part hating that it will take me so long to read. I like to fly through books. But yeah page length is definitely something I look at when picking my next book.
ReplyDeleteSAME. I avoid long books like nothing else.😂 It's ridiculous though, because I would totally read two 300 page books in a day....but somehow reading a 500 page book? NAH.😂 (Although not that I do read two books in a day often, but I have, and yet I still haven't read The Mirror King because it's so long.) 350-pages is the best length of a book in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteYup, I am the exact same way!! I think 350 pages is a great length for me. Even anything just over 400, I can be hesitant to approach. I have a friend who actually prefers really long books. I try to get him to read the chunksters I'm interested in so he can tell me if they're worth my time :P
ReplyDeleteSometimes the format of the book makes the decision for me--for instance, I will read a big book on my Nook but I might not listen to an audiobook that's more than 25 hours long.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes I do. I am the WORST at this. The only reason I read Gemina rather quickly was because PICTURES. I am a mess, and have lots of big books on my shelves that I may never read because they are too long. I even look at the lengths of my review books before decided which to read next. The one I am currently reading won out of sheer page number. It is sad.
ReplyDeleteLong books terrify me, honestly. I'm such a slow reader and it takes me so long to finish a book... because of this, I'd much rather read shorter books so I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something. LOL When I read a longer book, it could take me a week or two and I feel like it's "taking forever" and I start to get discouraged.
ReplyDeleteI am exactly the same. I will choose reading over just about anything. But at around 500 pages or so, a book starts to get avoided. I just can't help it!
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Guess I'm the odd one out here. I've never avoided a book due to the length of pages. I think it goes back to being a kid who picked the longests books to prove I could and look impressive. Didn't work, of course, but I guess it worked for something else? lol XD
ReplyDeleteThe length of the book definitely does affect whether I want to read it or not. That fear of wasting so much time is real haha. Ebooks have helped me because I can't tell how long the book actually is!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I avoid long books, but I mostly avoid short ones. If I see a book is under 150 pages, I'll usually skip it unless it goes with a series I'm doing. I guess that's because most of the shorter fiction I have read has been underdeveloped and/or has cliffhangers.
ReplyDeleteI mark long books as ones I want to read, and sometimes, I even buy them! But actually reading them? That gets put off, until I'm in the right mood. Otherwise I'll find any excuse to do anything else - even clean! - to avoid reading because I know how long it's going to take me to finish it. I really don't like when a book takes me more than a couple sittings to finish haha
ReplyDeleteIlluminae sat on my shelf from BEA 2015 until practically BEA 2016, because every time I looked at it, all I saw was a huge book. Then my daughter read it, pushed me into it, and I couldn't stop! I tend to read the long books on my Kindle, so I am ignorant to how long they are, and can just lose myself in the story. One thing though, I take issue with super long contemporaries. You don't have to build a world, why is your book so long?
ReplyDeleteSam @ WLABB