Bookish Posts

Discussion: Humongous Books and Do You Read Them?

Shaz

discussion

Hello everyone! There has been a particular book on my TBR for a while now. I have heard great things about this novel, but am a little hesitant to read it. This is because at 1,006 pages, it’s a humongous book. Now you might be wondering how an avid reader can be intimidated by big books? I can only speak for myself, although I’m hoping there are other bibliophiles who feel the same way. Here are the reasons why I tend not to read big books:

1. I’m a slow reader

Some of my Goodreads buddies read 100 or more books a year and I am in awe of them. I usually read around 15 books a year, try as I might to increase this number. More often than not, life gets in the way. It therefore stands to reason that if I read a novel more than 500 pages long, I will be unable to complete my Goodreads challenge.

2. I start to lose interest

Sometimes I’ll read a book which is on the long side and end up getting bored if I’m not fully invested in the characters or story. This typically results in a reading slump. Plus it can take me forever to read the novel in full.

3. I feel guilty DNFing a book

I’m more likely to DNF a big book. If I don’t really enjoy a book and it’s a quick read, I will stick it out to the end. With big books though, it’s a different story. I feel bad about DNFing a book which is probably why I evade some huge tomes.

This is not to say that I avoid all big books. For instance, I will quite happily read a long fantasy series such as A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Some books are huge but they don’t feel like it when you’re reading them. Conversely, a relatively short book can really drag on! It’s also worth noting that if a novel has had lots of great reviews and sounds like my kind of book, then I will try to read it regardless of the page length. One of my favourite novels is Gone With the Wind and this is the longest book I have ever read at 984 pages. It was worth it!

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Humongous Books and Do You Read Them

Over to you! Do you read humongous books? Or do you find them intimidating? Let me know in the comments!

48 thoughts on “Discussion: Humongous Books and Do You Read Them?”

  1. I have the same reasons haha that’s why I haven’t started Lord of the Rings and Games of Throne or even Outlander series I heard many bloggers compliments of. Hopefully one day I will read them haha.. which Humongous books are you delaying?

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  6. Is it weird that I kind of like how intimidating huge books are? Most of the time, it doesn’t even have anything to do with the content — I just like the feel of holding them, of cracking them open and feeling the weight of a huge story in your hands! (Plus, they’re a good way to impress people, haha.) But I totally get where you’re coming from when you mention putting off a book because it’s too intimidating — I’ve been doing that with Lord of the Rings, to be honest. I’m trying to overcome that this year, though, because my friends have been bugging me to read it!

    Anyways, thank you for sharing. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your posts 🙂

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    1. It’s not weird at all! There can be something magical about huge books.

      Same, Lord of the Rings is one of the books I’ve been putting off. I hope we both get a chance to read it because it sounds epic!

      Aww you’re welcome! And thank you for commenting! 🙂

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  7. I can definitely relate to this! I’m a fantasy fan at heart so a lot of the books I end up loving are quite long. Depends on the book, but what I normally do is read smaller books between each big book as a little break to get me hyped up 😁

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  13. The size of a book has put me off reading it sometimes. Once I get stuck into it I forget the size of it and just tear through the pages. I hate not finishing a book. Especially if quite a few bloggers have mentioned how good it is.

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  14. Hopefully you’ll find the RIGHT thicc book for you! (I used to be scared of reading Sherlock Holmes but the 800+ pages with thin AF font was super worth it!) A lot of books are intimidating and aren’t worth the thickness sometimes haha!

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  15. Great post, Shaz. Found you via twitter.
    I must admit that because I read author/publisher received ARCs I usually don’t have the time to commit to a book as long as that; I’m not a particularly fast reader either. But the physical strain of holding big heavy books also plays a factor too – one of the reasons I love my Kindle so much 😘

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  16. Yeees! Big books can be sooo intimidating! I’m currently struggling to finish The Wise Mans Fear and I should probably reread the first half … but thats soo much ^^
    But on the other hand it’s also so rewarding when you finally finish that gigantic book!

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  23. Great discussion and I totally get where you are coming from! I personally love big books, my favourite is Les Misérables and its about 1300 pages give or take, but I will admit to sometimes pushing bigger books to the end of the list especially if I want to reach my Goodreads goal! Can I ask which book you’ve been wanting to pick up?

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  24. I don’t altogether avoid longer books but will very rarely plan more than one long book in a month as it takes me quite a bit longer to get through it and I think about my goodreads challenge a lot lol 😀

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