Friday, October 07, 2011

Size does matter

I have several books on my to-be-read pile that I'm very excited about reading. They should be books that I immediately pick up and devour ... and yet, I don't. And for one reason. They are all very, very large. And I'm incredibly intimidated by chunky books. So for the time being, The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Angel Fire by LA Weatherly and Between by Jessica Warman are left unread amongst my stacks and stacks of unread books.

But I don't want them to be left for long! I really, desperately want to read this books. So in an attempt at some sort of book therapy, I'm trying to remind myself of other books that I put off reading because of size but that I read easily and loved.


Nightshade by Andrea Cremer - This book sat on my shelf for so long, and it wasn't until the idea of Paranormal month was in my head that I decided to buck up and just read it already. And I really did love it. I absolutely flew through the pages and when I'd finished, I couldn't remember why I'd put off reading it for so long and was also very curious about the sequel. Plus, it turns out I quite like reading about werewolves!


Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon - It was the same for Dead Beautiful, though my review of this book isn't up until later on in the month. I thought it had a really pretty cover, and while I didn't know much about it, I'd heard good things from other bloggers. That was enough for me to want to have a copy of my own, but apparently not enough to actually read it. What really made me pick up this book (paranormal month aside) was the idea of being swept up into a romance that is very dramatic in a way that lately only paranormals have been able to achieve. And I wanted a book in which I believed in the romantic relationship and I wanted a book that was long enough for me to fall into the story. And that was very much achieved with this book.


Blood Red Road by Moira Young - I'd heard a lot of really good things about this book before it was published. I knew that it sounded like my sort of thing, but I admit when I first saw it in the shops I did a bit of a double-take over the size of it. Ahh! I thought, there's no way I have the attention span to get through all of that. But despite initial trepidation, this is another book that I flew through! Why can't I learn that not all books will a tough slog and that I do usually enjoy long books?! Hopefully soon this lesson will sink in. Hopefully.


Tiger's Curse and Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck - Now here is a series where the longer the book, the better. I would love it if Colleen Houck wrote the longest books in the world when it comes to this series. Because I cannot get enough of Kelsey and these tigers and the fab mythology and details and the adventure and the romance. But I had the books unread on my shelves for way longer than I care to admit now because initially I was intimidated by the chunkiness of the books!


Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini - I really didn't know very much about this book before I swapped it using ReadItSwapIt. I just thought the premise sounded interesting. And I guess what I'm completely forgetting when I get all intimidated about large books is that sometimes I really need good, short books for my ever-decreasing attention span. But I also really need the larger books too for those times where I need a complete escape. Large books like Starcrossed, which completely pulled me out of my life and into a new world inhabited by other things. I do need that every once in awhile. I just need reminders that chunky books are necessary sometimes too.

Hopefully this post will do something for my irrational intimidation of some great sounding books and I should be picking one of the three books I mentioned at the start of the post up soon. I hope.
Do you have a fear of chunky books too? Am I just being silly?

7 comments:

  1. LOL, I love reading bigger books - I'm slightly sceptical about smaller books :)

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  2. Jules - ...You made that sound quite dirty, well done :)

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  3. For a long time my attitude towards books was the bigger the better, I devoured books so quickly that I liked 600+ page books as they actually lasted more than one night. Since my reading mojo became a little more fragile though I've started to find bigger books a bit daunting, like you though once I've picked them up and got going I've loved them and devoured them. It can be so hard to remember though can't it when you're looking at your shelves and trying to choose what to read next.

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  4. Im terrivle for leaving bigger books to later too... but seriously, Daughter Of Smoke and Bone... You HAVE to read it. I know you will love it Clover, seriously! :D

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  5. Jenni - It IS so hard to remember that once I get started, I will enjoy a longer book. It's very difficult for me to even pick up chunky books though :(

    Raimy - I HAVE read it now, you'll be pleased to know! After writing this post I was inspired.

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  6. No way, you're definitely not being silly! I have been putting off reading Delirium for ages! I know it's supposed to be brilliant, and it's not THAT big, but...:) I'm glad you tried out those other books and liked them in the end though!

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  7. Cliona - Oh and you should definitely read Delirium, it's amazing! :)

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