05-10-2011, 06:19 PM | #46 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 5,185
Karma: 25133758
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA
Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)
|
Interesting discussion. I read a lot of fanfic, which on most modern archives is tagged with word count. (Older ones often tag with filesize, which is how I know that 40kb of text is roughly 7000 words.) I'd started paying attention to word counts when I first looked at Fictionwise; the multiformat books are described with word counts.
Today, I'm a bit miffed at any ebook store that doesn't have word count or filesize listed--what, I'm supposed to fork over $5 without knowing if this is a short novella or a mega-epic novel? I regularly decide what to read for the day based on length. I don't know any way to sort my unread stack by length (I find Calibre rather baffling, and I haven't figured out how to not have it make annoying extra folders I keep tripping over, and anyway the books on my readers don't show length), but I regularly open them, check the page count in the reader, and decide if I'm up for that at the moment. |
05-11-2011, 09:31 AM | #47 |
Guru
Posts: 923
Karma: 9558874
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Southeast Michigan, USA
Device: 2017 10.5" iPad Pro (Kobo, NOOK, Kindle, Google Play Books & Scribd)
|
No, I don't choose a book to read based on length, although I will sometimes consider it.
The only time I really consider length is when I'm loading books onto my Sony -- I tend to fill up the internal memory as much as I can, and sometimes I'll pull off longer books (bigger files) to make room for new smaller ones, or I'll sort by size in Calibre and try to "fill in" with shorter books until I can't get any more onto it. |
Advert | |
|
05-12-2011, 08:09 AM | #48 |
Junior Bottle Washer
Posts: 13
Karma: 8824
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Newark, DE
Device: all
|
decent books in a long series
I gotta agree with Sweetpea. I love long sagas and series where I can lose myself for awhile. It used to be if each book in a series is 1000 printed pages, I might shy away. However, with the advent of ebooks, the length of the book means far less than it did before. The biggest reason is that I can read a couple of pages while standing in line at a local coffee shop, on the bus, in the car, etc... because Sweetpea is right - There are times where I can hardly read a few pages a day.
|
05-12-2011, 08:15 AM | #49 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,221
Karma: 8381518
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Oaxaca, Mexico
Device: Paperwhite 4 X 2
|
No, I don't select books on their length. When I was reading paper books I also didn't select books based on the color of the cover.
|
05-12-2011, 09:31 AM | #50 |
Coffee Nut
Posts: 410
Karma: 298350
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Missouri
Device: Kindle 3; K4PC; Calibre
|
On occasion I will temporarily re-order my book selections based on length. For example, I may have 10 days until my next book discussion group to finish the target novel for the month, so I may knock off a short one in the interim rather than start War and Peace. On the other hand, I never read digests or condensed versions, nor have I ever simply ignored a work due to its length.
|
Advert | |
|
05-12-2011, 10:09 AM | #51 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,717
Karma: 3790058
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: NYC
Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Sony 650
|
I'm a slow reader so a long book is a big commitment for me. At the same time, I have a hard time quitting a book even if I'm not enjoying it. So, I will spend more time and mental energy deciding if I want to read a long book. Whereas with a short book, I'll dive right in.
eP |
05-12-2011, 02:58 PM | #52 |
Guru
Posts: 823
Karma: 1818344
Join Date: Apr 2011
Device: iPhone 5s
|
I tend to leave novels for nighttime after my son is asleep and i can read in peace. During the day i stick to short stories, articles, etc that can be put down on a moment's notice.
|
05-12-2011, 07:32 PM | #53 |
Member
Posts: 11
Karma: 10
Join Date: May 2011
Device: Kindle, iPad, iPod, Android phone
|
It depends on a genre, for thrillers I prefer short length for fantasies - long one.
|
05-12-2011, 07:56 PM | #54 |
MR Drone
Posts: 1,613
Karma: 15612282
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: DRONEZONE
Device: PB360+, Huawei MP5, Libra H20
|
300 pages max. Occasionally 400 to 500. Most longer books I find aren't worth the time and lack quality. Describing a table for two paragraphs is not my idea of talented writing...
|
05-12-2011, 09:22 PM | #55 |
Addict
Posts: 243
Karma: 1004164
Join Date: May 2011
Device: Kindle 2
|
When I was working full-time, I used to like to read a book on Saturday and a book on Sunday. At that time I sourced my books from second-hand book stores, and I found Fontana's from the 70s were just about the perfect length for a day's reading. I must have read a few hundred of them.
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
World Book Night - Which books would you choose? | Helen Smith | Reading Recommendations | 38 | 03-09-2011 02:54 PM |
Find me some books to read based on what I have recently read (and liked) | rahulm | Reading Recommendations | 16 | 08-11-2010 03:18 PM |
How do you choose which self-published works to read? | chlorine | Reading Recommendations | 35 | 11-01-2009 10:46 PM |
ReadManiac V2.3 Java-based e-book reader | Alexander Turcic | Reading and Management | 3 | 08-09-2008 11:22 AM |
Html based book > PDF or Mobipocket | alanboss | Workshop | 1 | 05-05-2008 03:02 AM |