Not wanting to divert yet another thread.
Has anyone noticed how books now have loads of chapters. One novel I read had 48...!
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Indeed, but they make suitable waypoints when trying to surreptitiously read at my desk (its very quiet in the office at this time of year, but someone has to be there in case the phone rings)
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Has anyone noticed how books now have loads of chapters. One novel I read had 48...!
Blame the invention of the word processor for the current trend to write lengthy books. Before that appeared books on the whole were shorter with only a few weighty tomes. Some authors do use the ease of writing to be relevant, but others waste time on lengthy descriptions which do nothing for the plot.
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We are not short of iPads or Kindles in this house, but I must say I still prefer a "proper" book, doesn't have to be hardback, but I still much prefer the feel and experience of paper. Oddly enough I don't miss newspapers and I'm happy enough to browse those online.
But give me a long plane journey or just any chunk of time to read without interuption and I'll take a real book every time. They are just more tactile ( and don't break if they fall of the bed when you fall asleep reading them ! )
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I know. I Kindle reasonably often. A book I'd ordered last week finally arrived today, a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer..I unpacked it, opened it, sniffed it, looked at the photos - then took it upstairs where it now awaits being read. One other thing I did with it was to open it completely at random and read a couple of lines and learnt something new about German inter-war history. You don't do any of that with an e-book.Not counted the chapters yet though, although I suspect for a weighty tome written in the 1950s I think it will be proportionate.
Last edited by: R.P. on Fri 11 Mar 16 at 23:00
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Modern American fiction writers, in particular, tend to produce massive books. Examples are Gaddis, The Recognitions, with 956 pages and David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest, with 1079. Even in the second rank, with around 500 pages, are Franzen, Purity, 567 and Pynchon, Bleeding Edge, with 477. These are all excellent literature to boot.
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Can't say that I've noticed, but I'm not a big reader. I perhaps read a couple of books a year, the one I'm reading now i started some time last year, i suppose I'll finish it one day or another.
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>> We are not short of iPads or Kindles in this house, but I must say
>> I still prefer a "proper" book, doesn't have to be hardback, but I still much
>> prefer the feel and experience of paper. Oddly enough I don't miss newspapers and I'm
>> happy enough to browse those online.
>>
>> >>
I have a Kindle and while I do use it a lot I agree that it isn't as good as a book. Being able to flick back at random to check on something is one of the things I miss, and running out of battery at an interesting bit is a right pain.
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Ah but paper books lack a feature that becomes ever more important as the years go by and you eyesight is not what it was. The ability to increase the size of the text. Hardly ever buy a proper book these days except for reference books.
Kindle books are usually cheaper these days too
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>> One novel I read had
>> 48...!
War and Peace has I think 365.
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Chapters. - Alastairw
