I was looking at my reading list for this year and noticed something weird – almost every book is 350+ pages. I think I've developed this bias where shorter books feel "less serious" or "not worth the time investment," which is absolutely ridiculous
I'm missing out on novellas, shorter literary fiction, poetry collections, and probably some incredible tight storytelling. It's like I've convinced myself that length equals quality
Has anyone else noticed similar weird biases creeping into their reading habits? Maybe avoiding certain genres, publishers, cover styles, or page counts without even realizing it? How did you break out of it?
I am genuinely curious if this is a common thing or if I'm just overthinking my reading patterns
by buddha9457
16 Comments
Read Of Mice And Men by Steinbeck, it’s like 89 pages and it’s a masterpiece.
Read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad or The Woman with the Yellow Wallpaper.
Length equalling quality is a mistake lots of – people – make.
Simply put, you know the answer don’t you. You literally wrote it out. This whole post is a waste of time – albeit you got two splendid recommendations.
Try out tender is the flesh if you can stomach it. It’s a great book with a good ending. I don’t remember the page count but definitely around 250 iirc.
I recently read The Divine Farce (Book of the year for me) and A Short Stay In Hell… Terrific books and made me look more into shorter stories like an Inhabitant of Carcossa and some smaller stuff by Ambrose.
To answer ur post: I read only what interests me story wise, and I don’t really have a reading preference so it varies a lot. If you’re someone like that just explore more story synopsis and don’t worry about lengths
I really loved Giovanni’s room it may be able to cure your bias!
Once I got my Kobo, I started reading a lot of shorter material because publishers were pricing them accordingly (no production costs) and now I’m wary of books over 300 pages because my time is valuable and I find big-ass books are often poorly edited, and filled with side-quests and extra characters that don’t add to the story. Were the later Harry Potter books better than the early ones?
I’d say it’s pretty common to have certain biases. I usually “avoid” longer books (700+ pages) since it can feel like a massive commitment, but I’ll still read like 1 or 2 big books per year. I also avoid romantasy, romance, etc.
However, there are some really great books under 300 pages and that’s a bias I haven’t personally heard before lol. What genres do you like?
It’s one thing to prefer longer books because you want to spend more time with them. Whether it’s because you enjoy the in depth world building or whatever.
That’s fine.
But dismissing shorter books for being “less serious” is kind of silly. Some of the most influential books have been leas than 300 pages. The Road, Great Gatsby, Frankenstein, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men.
I really enjoy novellas. It’s nice to be able to blast through a couple of short books after spending a long time on a large or difficult one.
Some of my favourites:
-Ice – Anna Kavan
-The Invention of Morel – Adolfo Bioy Casares
-Hurricane Season – Fernanda Melchor
-A month in the country – JL Carr
-The Crying of Lot 49 – Thomas Pynchon
I’ll read book of any length, sometimes a short one can be more satisfying as you can read in one go.
I can recommend Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin at 183 pages.
I generally mix lengths. If I just read a series, for example, I’ll read a few shorties, poems, etc. I like to mix it up.
Short stories can have a big impact. For me it was “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”. Just a few pages and it destroyed me.
I Am Legend is an absolutely stellar short read. I think the best way to get around your hang-up is to just read quality shorter books/stories.
I never even consider length of book in my reading choices.
It’s like an ROI thing for me. Big books cost about the same as small books, and I mostly read for entertainment.
Plus there’s always a sightly difficult period trying to get fully engaged with a new book, unless it just has an amazing hook, so longer books mean fewer of those times.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Great Gatsby
Nothing like what you’ve described, but I do try to read certain genres and authors during certain times of the year (ie. Brontë’s in the Spring, something creepy in the fall, etc).