Moderator:Forum Administrators
lichtrausch wrote:Do you read Very Long Books and if so how do you justify the time investment?
linguoboy wrote:If you like an author enough to read most of their oeuvre, how much does it matter what proportion is presented as a single work as opposed to being distributed among several? Most of Balzac's novels are linked up into a larger piece called La Comédie humaine. If you read them all (which plenty of people do and which I'd like to do one day), then you'll've read the equivalent of a novel running into the thousands of pages.
KingHarvest wrote:I don't really understand the conundrum. If you no longer enjoy the book then stop. As the great novelist John Williams said, "Reading without pleasure is stupid."
modus.irrealis wrote:I used to think like that but then I read a book (can't remember which, but not a long one by any measure) and with maybe thirty pages left or something, the book just turned incredibly stupid and I just put the book down and never read those thirty pages because I couldn't care less anymore. Maybe you need an experience like that.
modus.irrealis wrote:I agree, but I meant that there were only thirty pages remaining in the book, and it was the first time I abandoned a book being that close to the end, and after that, I no longer have any problems with tossing a book aside if it reaches a point where I'm not enjoying it at all.
Zorba wrote:It depends what your goals are.
If your goals are an overall familiarity with the canon (know as many great writers as possible),
I can understand why you might want to choose a shorter work rather than one of the 1000 pages + marathons. For example, I'm not sure if I would recommend reading all of War and Peace to get to know Tolstoy. Reading Hadji Murat (only 150 pages, and very enjoyable) and the second epilogue of War and Peace will serve as a fine introduction to Tolstoy.
On the other hand, if your goal is simply to read great books, with the emphasis on the pleasure that comes from the reading experience, rather than the acquisition of knowledge, you may well choose to read all of War and Peace. It's a riveting read, both as a yarn and as an intellectual meditation. However, you'll add some 20 hours to your time with Tolstoy in comparison to the Hadji Murat + second epilogue situation.
You probably can't read all the great works of literature in detail in your life, so make informed choices.
In general, I advise approaching an unfamiliar writer through a shorter, lesser-known work and then moving to the masterpiece if you're still intrigued.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests