The last two books I read were too long. They felt like they went on and on and…. But the question is, what made them too long? I personally don’t like really long books as a general rule. The only time I do is when I’m so involved in the story that I want it to keep going. That’s how I felt when I read 11/22/63. I was so involved with the story and the characters, I felt like I was there. That RARELY happens with most books I read. That doesn’t mean they aren’t good books, they just don’t have what a Stephen King novel has.
The two books I read were too long for different reasons. The first one was too long because it described EVERYTHING. And I mean that literally. I won’t go into too much detail because I don’t want anyone to know the book I’m talking about, but there were times when I had to skim over the details. It was a great story. There was just too much of it. (So Susan, don’t give me too hard of a time about describing food. At least that’s interesting to SOME people. LOL.) But, seriously, this story could have been shorter and would have still been good. I hate it when I’m checking the percentage read on my Kindle constantly to see if I’m almost done with it.
The second story was too long because things kept happening that I didn’t think were necessary. The characters had too much conflict in too many different situations. And the situations were too drawn out. Just when you thought things were coming to a close, something else would happen. And that’s okay for awhile, but it made the book soooo long, much longer than it needed to be.
I do want to mention that both of these books have good reviews. So apparently not everyone feels the way I do. I know a lot of people like long books, but I’m not one of them…unless the book NEEDS to be long to tell the story. I just see too much word padding and scene padding that seems it’s just to make a book longer.
How do you guys feel about this? Have you read books that seemed to go on forever? Do you like long books, short books, or does it depend on how much time you have? I really would love to hear what you think.
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