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/lit/ - Literature

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19317517 No.19317517 [Reply] [Original]

How does /lit/ feel about very long books?
Do you prefer long or short stories?

>> No.19317549

I think they are bad!

>> No.19317556

Long books are daunting and have to be really good. It took me 3 years to read the fountainhead because it was just okay and I could just go read any other book instead.

>> No.19317615

I like long stories, but they have to be good because you don't have the luxury of skimming through to see if it gets better/get over it. The endings also have a similarly high standard, unless they go the route of having multiple climaxes that only tangentially feed into the ending. A bad ending on a 1,000 page novel doesn't just mean some disappointment, but a 100 or so pages of just wanting to finish the book you've spent the last month reading and feel obliged to finish, and that feeling really destroys enjoyment of the story.

>> No.19317623

>>19317517
I have ADHD and can't read anything longer than 250 pages.

>> No.19318033
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19318033

>>19317517
>His Dark Materials
>Priory of the orange tree
>V.E. Schwab

>> No.19318255

>>19317517
If it's a long book due to a complicated and thrilling story then I wouldn't mind, as a matter of fact, I would most likely binge read it, but if it's long just because the author is a sperg for including unnecessary details or sucks at storytelling then I would absolutely not finish the book.

>> No.19318268

I love all kinds of books. The short story format is my favorite because of the sheer amount of variety it allows but I've also read dozens of massive tomes. There's something really nice about having that much time to become acclimatized to the voice of a specific book. I also love the feeling of achievement you get from finishing something absolutely massive like Proust or Gibbon. Also the feeling of suddenly losing it after it has been with you long enough to feel like a part of your daily life.

>> No.19318455

>>19317517
I have a preference for long books. I'm fond of the story feeling like a journey and having more room to get used to/get to know the characters. Today I picked up a 200 page book and finished it in one sitting, feels like it went by too fast.

>> No.19318536

>>19317517
often drivel. length is irrelevant with YA like in op since its drivel regardless of how far it's spawned. some long (700+) but worth it books ive read were
> Captain Corelli's Mandoline
> Good soldier Svejk
> The harder they come (a jamaican novel, niche)
> Pillars of Earth

>> No.19318555

i prefer short books, but i'm not put off by long ones

>> No.19318593

i love lots of long books but if you're going to make a long book you fucking better make sure it pays off and has decent pacing.

>> No.19318678
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19318678

I sometimes doubt whether these sticklers for "the art of condensation" are really lovers of books at all. For myself, I would class their cursed short stories with their teasing "economy of material," as they call it, with those "books that are no books," those checker boards and moral treatises which used to annoy Elia so. Yes, I have a sneaking feeling that all this modern fuss about "art" and the "creative vision" and "the projection of visualized images," is the itching vice of quite a different class of people, from those who, in the old, sweet, epicurean way, loved to loiter through huge digressive books, with the ample unpremeditated enjoyment of leisurely travelers wayfaring along a wonderful road. How many luckless innocents have teased and fretted their minds into a forced appreciation of that artistic ogre Flaubert, and his laborious pursuit of his precious "exact word," when they might have been pleasantly sailing down Rabelais' rich stream of immortal nectar, or sweetly hugging themselves over the lovely mischievousness of Tristram Shandy! But one must be tolerant; one must make allowances. The world of books is no puritanical bourgeois-ridden democracy; it is a large free country, a great Pantagruelian Utopia, ruled by noble kings.

>> No.19318837

>>19317517
There was a period where I was poor but still enjoyed reading so when I wanted to buy a book I would pick the one with more pages since I believed it would be more content for the same money
But no, now I can say that long books usually are worse than novellas and that keeping things short is an art

>> No.19318841

His Dark Materials is 3 separate novels, combining them into an omnibus does not make them a single novel.

>> No.19319873

>>19317517
I wish books over 500 pages would be broken up into 2 or more volumes. It is a challenge to read in bed or on a train.

>> No.19319890

>>19317517
I prefer short stories personally but I love the idea of reading a long book as I’ve read some before

>> No.19319899

>>19319873
Just cut the book in half for easy transport

>> No.19319913

>>19317517
A short story is like a movie, a long novel is like a tv series. You can get plenty enjoyment from both of them but only the latter can give you that feel of deep immersion that makes you think of nothing but the story you're absorbing.

>> No.19320045

>>19319913
>A short story is like a movie, a long novel is like a tv series
absolute state

>> No.19320067

>>19317517
Non-fiction, filled with info = long
Fiction = medium
Bullshit = short or non

>> No.19320107

>>19317517
If they aren't paced properly they are bad

>> No.19320184

>>19317517
I enjoy very long books as long as the book is good

>> No.19320196

>>19317517
I prefer stories to be just the right lengths.