Does the length of a book matter?

Book discussions, Features, Nyx's Corner, , , , , 133 Comments

Hi guys! Happy New Year! Hope 2019 started with a bang, that you enjoyed your time off, if you had any, and spent memorable moments with your loved ones. I’m counting down the months until spring, going back to work was hard but yeah…not much of a choice right?

Lately I’ve been thinking…does the length of a book matter? Does it influence my buying decision? Do I prefer shorter or longer books? Hell…how long should a book be?! Have you ever thought about that? Well…keep on reading if you’re interested to know my point of view on that topic!

Short books vs. long books: an endless battle

Both have pros and cons, like everything in life I guess.

❌ Long books can be scary! They are huge and they require commitment. You can get impatient to get to the crucial parts of the story.

✅ But long books can also be awesome! The story is often complex, full of twists and turns. The characters are well developed and you can see them evolve with time.

⚔️

❌ Little books may not be deep enough, the story can feel rushed and you won’t have enough time to get attached to the characters.

✅ But beware of those clichés!  It’s not always the case. Sometimes, it’s just the right amount of pages especially for a contemporary story : it doesn’t need as much world-building as a dystopia or a fantasy.

YES: the size of a book matters… in some cases.

🌴 When I’m going on holidays, I will pay attention to the size of the books I take with me.

When I’m traveling, far away or not, I may be looking for a long book so that it will last during all of my vacation time. But if my suitcase is full and I have SO many activities planned, maybe I’ll choose a short book, easy to transport. Yes I know…with e-readers, the size or weight is not really a problem anymore. But damn it, I love my physical copies…

🔮 What if I’m a mood reader?

Maybe I’m just not in the mood to read a long book. I’m scared to commit. What if I don’t like it? I won’t enjoy getting back to the book because of all thoses pages staring straight at me, feeling like the story is taking ages to unfold. Maybe I’m in the mood to read a short story. Maybe I want to read something light, something cute. Or the other way around, maybe I’ll want to immerse myself into a complex story with plots and twists, a story I don’t ever want to see ending.

👉  I’m not going to lie: I pay attention to the size and weight of my books, I look at the page count before even picking it up. That doesn’t mean I am scared of bigger books or that I avoid them like the plague.

The length of a book doesn’t matter… what matters is what’s inside.

Despite all those factors, I guess a book’s page count doesn’t matter so much to me, as long as I find the story captivating within the first chapter. The story shouldn’t take too much time or not be developped enough, I think that what is important in the end. Evaluating a book by its size seems similar to judging a book by its cover! Whether a book is short or long is incidental and not relevant to its content. In the end, we are all looking for characters that feel real, storylines that captivate and worlds we don’t want to end.

Yet sometimes, I start to wonder… ❓What is the right amount of pages for a book? Is there a right page count? I don’t know about you but I feel like YA books are getting longer. Do publishers or authors think longer means better? Does it mean that they can sell it at a higher price? What is up with that?

📚 3 big books you shouldn’t be scared to commit to

… because they are action-packed and totally awesome!

Do you prefer short stories or long ones? Tell me why! 

Does the length of a book influence you when you’re buying a book? In your opinion, what is the perfect page count for a story? 

Let’s chat in comments 💬

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29, French, Communication. Part-time blogger, books & tv shows addict, food lover, traveler. 📚📺🍣🌎

133 thoughts on “Does the length of a book matter?”

  1. Pingback: Let’s Chat: Why Do We Avoid Big Books?

  2. Honestly, not taking into account having to travel and the physical shape of the books being an issue, I still prefer books that are around 300-ish pages. I agree that sometimes short books feel rushed and long books can have a more complex world BUT what about series? I think I’d rather have 5 short books in a series than 1 huge tome. The commitment from me would still be there, because I am not afraid of ordering entire book boxes haha I am not sure how to describe that preference though …
    Great post!!! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I totally get what you mean and I feel the exact same way! I’d rather read a series with 3 books around 300 pages than a huge one of 1000 pages. It’s way less scary I think. 😊 Thank you so much Kat, glad you enjoyed it 😘😘

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  4. Very interesting topic! I notoriously shy away from super long books. I think this has to do with the obsession in the bookish community to read as many books as possible in a year period… Also has to do with the fact that amazing new releases are being published everyday & all the backlist books we’d like to get to. I’ve often picked up a long book I’ve been wanting to read but will think to myself “I could read TWO books in the time that it will take to read this one.”

    It’s actually one of my 2019 goals to read a few of the bigger books I’ve been putting off! I think I’ll set my official goal to 6 BIG books for 2019 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you 😊 I haven’t thought about that but you’re absolutely right!! All the bookish community is obsessed with reading as many books as they can – The Goodread Challenge is the perfect example – and so people prefer to read short books than huge books that are WAY more time consuming. 😕 That totally makes sense and I must admit that I prefer my books around 300-350 pages than more but sometimes it’s a shame because we can pass up some really amazing stories! That’s an awesome goal for 2019, good luck and happy reading 😁😘

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Ah that’s interesting !!

    For me, I don’t check the page count; but rather the police sizing and how long the chapters are. I much prefer books with short chapters as it seems you go through a book so much more quickly !!
    Plus, as i’m mostly reading at night or say, on my break at work, it is easier for me to let it go if the chapter is small. I have the tweak of NEEDING TO ALWAYS END ON A CHAPTER!!! which can get hectic if it’s too long 😂 Worst case I can do “end of page/paragraph” but I don’t really like it as go back and may be a bit lost..

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you 😊 I haven’t even thought about that but YES the police sizing and how long are the chapters are SO important! Oh my god!! I do exactly the same! I just can’t stop reading if I haven’t finished a chapter. I’m so frustrated otherwise! When I’m reading on the train, I’m always asking myself : “Do I have enough time left to read another chapter or is it best if I stop right now?” haha! 😂😂 Thank you for stopping by 😘

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I totally get your point, and same here, I’d rather read 3 books with 200 pages than only 1 with 600 pages! 😊 Thanks for stopping by 😘😘

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  8. Before I started book blogging I wasn’t scared of reading huge books, as I could take my time whenever I liked. But setting myself reading goals and realising just how many amazing books are being published all the time has meant that I often leave the long titles on the back burner, just so I can enjoy more stories much quicker! I think I prefer a book with about 500 pages though as, as long as it is written well, can have the right amount of plot development without necessarily being too fast paced.

    Really nice post though, great job!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I totally get your point! It feels like we’re being pushed to read more and more books every year. Not that I’m complaining 🙈🙈 Yeees, I agree with you 😊 Thank you so much, happy you liked it 😘😘

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  10. It’s definitely a topic that some people may not notice. But yeah, seeing areally big book, sometimes can put me off. It’s difficult because with life and everything, I want a book that will not take aways my whole time, but something I can read while advancing easily.

    At the same time, I often find that some books would need a little more pages, especially for worldbuilding. I always feel like I don’t know enough

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yeees, big books are SO time consuming! Totally, I agree with you. There are many books that need way more world building for me to really get into the story 😊 Thanks for stopping by 😘😘

      Liked by 1 person

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  13. Pingback: I like big books and I cannot lie ☕️ // an ode to thick novels {chatty corner} – Bookish Rita

  14. Aahh I love this post so much, Marie! I’m definitely one of those people who are intimidated by big books and will probably stall reading them, but I really love that there are books that are big but they end up being favorites — so while it still sadly ends, it ends a lot later than a shorter book and I can stay with my favorite characters a little longer! And short books can definitely risk less development of the characters and the plot, but they’re a whole lot less scarier to me 😅 I think my ideal page number in a book would probably range from 300 to 400! (I think a lot of people say 500+ is large but for me it’s like… 400+ 🙈)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I’m Nyx, Marie’s sister but thank you so much! 😘 I’m so happy you enjoyed my post 😊 Yeees, big books require so much more commitment, it can get scary! That’s why we always gotta make sure we’re really going to enjoy the story 😊 Yeah, I agree with you! I think my perfect page number would be around 400 🙂Thanks for stopping by 😁

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