MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - How many of you are more willing to buy a book the longer it is?

tcv · 10-20-2008, 07:42 PM

I used to have a bias against large books.

I remember ordering Journey To The West from a used book store one year. I saw the acts on PBS and wanted to read the stories. Well, that thing was four volumes, easily 600-700 pages a piece. I remember remarking to the owner of the store, "Wow, that's a lot of reading." And they said, "That's what makes it so great!" I honestly had never thought of large books that way before. (I was wizened at the age of 25.)

For a long, long time, I was always cognizant of the length of everything -- of the chapters, of the book, of any arcs within the book -- and I always felt a little frustrated when I was in a large book (500+ pages) because there was more stuff I wanted to read. Even today, I will think about the length a little bit each time I pick up a book, but I rarely decide I don't want a book because it's large.

Today, I think I honestly like books of all sizes. The change has come become I can become lost in most books. At that point, the page numbers don't matter anymore.

10-20-2008, 07:42 PM	#39
tcv Addict Posts: 330 Karma: 596 Join Date: Oct 2006	I used to have a bias against large books. I remember ordering Journey To The West from a used book store one year. I saw the acts on PBS and wanted to read the stories. Well, that thing was four volumes, easily 600-700 pages a piece. I remember remarking to the owner of the store, "Wow, that's a lot of reading." And they said, "That's what makes it so great!" I honestly had never thought of large books that way before. (I was wizened at the age of 25.) For a long, long time, I was always cognizant of the length of everything -- of the chapters, of the book, of any arcs within the book -- and I always felt a little frustrated when I was in a large book (500+ pages) because there was more stuff I wanted to read. Even today, I will think about the length a little bit each time I pick up a book, but I rarely decide I don't want a book because it's large. Today, I think I honestly like books of all sizes. The change has come become I can become lost in most books. At that point, the page numbers don't matter anymore.