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Sunday Salon: The Long and Short Story
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For the majority of this summer I have been gravitating towards shorter books. Two hundred to three hundred pages has seemed to be my limit, and because of that I have already read quite a stack of books in June. I have always been a big fan of short books. I like to be deeply involved in something for a short amount of time, and then put it aside. As teenager and child I would sometimes go after a larger book and really enjoy it, but it would always be sandwiched by several smaller books. I think my favorite book length is about 250 pages- but this, of course, depends on the book. Some books demand more and some demand less. Some books I get to the end I think to myself No! You can't end yet! I want you to keep going! But in general I like books I can finish in a weeks' time. I can't explain it, I just do.

But since I've read so many short books lately and I've been reading several quick books this summer, I have decided to end out the month by reading two humongous bricks (accompanied by two medium length books of course). I've been reading lots of posts about Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell lately, in particular the recent posts at A Literary Odyssey. I have wanted to read this book since Christmas and I am finally going to do it, I'm finally going to discover if I like Scarlett O'Hara or not. A word I have often heard used to describe Gone With the Wind is "epic," and I really don't know the last time I read 1037 pages of epic so this seems like a sure bet.

The other brick I've decided to pick up is The Passage by Justin Cronin. Usually I don't pick up books just because I see them everywhere, but that is basically the case with this one. Books on the Nightstand made a real fuss over this book back in early spring (I remember listening to the podcast while walking back from the library with a stack of art books that wouldn't fit in my backpack and I was terrified I would drop them in the snow). I don't read just anything Books on the Nightstand suggests, but I think Michael and Ann are pretty convincing and they were especially convincing about this book. They might have described this book as epic as well, but don't quote me on that. When they first described this book on the podcast I wasn't entirely sure I would end up reading it, and I think what put me off was actually the length of 766 pages. I can't be sure what made me decide to commit to this book but I think it was Michael and Ann's reassurance that the book reads fairly quickly. Let's hope they're right!

I remember when I read the Harry Potter books in sixth grade and how proud I was that I read a book that was really long. The Goblet of Fire especially (my favorite) was a great source of pride for me. I realized I could finish a ridiculously long novel and that made me feel like a grown up reader. I had been reader my whole life just to reach the point where I could read something that was 400 pages plus. And really that is my definition of long to this day, maybe 500 plus. And now even though I know I can read a long novel, I rarely do. Part of me recent distaste for them might be rooted in the three Wilkie Collins novels I read for my English class in the Spring though (his are too long in my opinion).

Accompanying me in my brick reads are No one belongs here more than you. Stories by Miranda July, and The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. I mostly need to read two smaller books because The Passage and Gone With the Wind will not fit in my purse, and I simply can't walk around without a book in my purse. Also, I tried to pull both of the books off my bookshelf to do this post and I quite possibly twisted my wrist. That's how big these books are. If I got several I could probably build a home.

So what about you? Do you love long books, or do you prefer short ones? Do you remember what your first really long book was? What is a long book?

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Sunday Salon: The Long and Short Story + TIME