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Comment: Time to read, or lack of

Mar 2nd, 2008
by gav.

I started a new job this week. Not just any job but a full-time job. I’m only mentioning it as its cutting into my reading time. Well it will until I finish training and then I hope I’m getting some time back. I have been finding some time to read Un Lun Dun by China Mieville and I’m loving his imagination. He’s created an amazing distortion of London and the story isn’t bad either.

And this, of course, is the biggest threat to the novel, but not just the book, any media that takes time to complete is going to struggle in these time poor days. It’s one of the reasons that I think that novels need to get tighter. When I’m buying a book it’s a major consideration. If it has small type and is thick then I am going to think twice. If you’re going to invest time in writing a big book then make sure it counts. The book that springs to mind is Dreaming the Void. It’s over 600 packed pages but nothing felt wandering or superfluous.

I bought two books this week as I was in Borders and thought that books would be a good treat for working so hard. I had a couple of books in mind. I was sorely tempted by the large paperback version of The Domino Men and I saw the new cover re-issues of Greg Egan. There were a few more but then Borders is like a sweet shop.

In the end I went for The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski and The Necropolis Railway by Andrew Martin. It helped that they were on the ‘buy one, get one half price’ tables but what really swung it was the fact that they were less than 300 pages each and I think I’ll be able to read them in the time I have. Though The Domino Men came a very close second…

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  • gav
    Thanks CFR :)

    I'm getting back into the rhythm a bit now so hopefully I'll be able to slowly build up some steam again. Now that I've met my team and feel a bit more settled I don't mind reading at lunch when they are all talking about last nights tv.

    The pile that I'm currently considering reading are all on the thinner side which I hope will help. They include The Last Wish (which I'm reading now), Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston, and The Necropolis Railway by Andrew Martin.

    I'm also behind on my look at the books of the month plus I've got a few others that need a mention. The trouble is that the change in routine is having the effect of me sleeping in my usual reading time/blogging time!

    Speaking of sleep I started Then we Came to the End by Joshua Ferris for a bit of a change and failed to find anything funny in the opening chapters, all I got was a boring (to me) narrator! Maybe I'm tired and its effected my sense of humour? :D
  • gav
    Thanks CFR :)

    I'm getting back into the rhythm a bit now so hopefully I'll be able to slowly build up some steam again. Now that I've met my team and feel a bit more settled I don't mind reading at lunch when they are all talking about last nights tv.

    The pile that I'm currently considering reading are all on the thinner side which I hope will help. They include The Last Wish (which I'm reading now), Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston, and The Necropolis Railway by Andrew Martin.

    I'm also behind on my look at the books of the month plus I've got a few others that need a mention. The trouble is that the change in routine is having the effect of me sleeping in my usual reading time/blogging time!

    Speaking of sleep I started Then we Came to the End by Joshua Ferris for a bit of a change and failed to find anything funny in the opening chapters, all I got was a boring (to me) narrator! Maybe I'm tired and its effected my sense of humour? :D
  • cfr
    All the best for the new job! I know how you feel: reading can take a back seat for a while... But only for a while!
  • cfr
    All the best for the new job! I know how you feel: reading can take a back seat for a while... But only for a while!
  • gav
    @ Robert - I'm not sure what to make of 'The Last Wish' but I thought I'd try it. I want to read 'Let the Right One In' but I'm not sure how many vampire origin retellings I can take. Anne Rice set my view of Vampires and Charlie Huston is doing a good job of corrupting that view :D. I think I'm going to try more fiction in translation. I have a galley of 'The Suicide Shop' by Jean Teule that I'm really eager to read as well!

    Sorry, I meant more that there wasn't any padding in 'The Dreaming Void' and I could see the point to every page. I'm not always convinced that longer novels need to be that long. In fact 'The Dreaming Void' could have been longer and I'd have been alright with it (there is a link to the review over there >>>>>> somewhere :)).

    A week for 900 pages.... how fast do you read????? I'm agog!!!!

    @ Jem - I think that somewhere publishers want to be seen to be giving value for money and page count looks like a good way of doing it. But when you get past Joe Average reader I'd hope that veteran readers think that quality counts and its worth spending the same amount of money on a smaller book as it is a large one. It also makes the writer work harder, as you say, when they can't just wander off on meaningless (in terms of development) asides.
  • gav
    @ Robert - I'm not sure what to make of 'The Last Wish' but I thought I'd try it. I want to read 'Let the Right One In' but I'm not sure how many vampire origin retellings I can take. Anne Rice set my view of Vampires and Charlie Huston is doing a good job of corrupting that view :D. I think I'm going to try more fiction in translation. I have a galley of 'The Suicide Shop' by Jean Teule that I'm really eager to read as well!

    Sorry, I meant more that there wasn't any padding in 'The Dreaming Void' and I could see the point to every page. I'm not always convinced that longer novels need to be that long. In fact 'The Dreaming Void' could have been longer and I'd have been alright with it (there is a link to the review over there >>>>>> somewhere :)).

    A week for 900 pages.... how fast do you read????? I'm agog!!!!

    @ Jem - I think that somewhere publishers want to be seen to be giving value for money and page count looks like a good way of doing it. But when you get past Joe Average reader I'd hope that veteran readers think that quality counts and its worth spending the same amount of money on a smaller book as it is a large one. It also makes the writer work harder, as you say, when they can't just wander off on meaningless (in terms of development) asides.
  • jem
    I used to prefer longer books (400 pages plus) because if they were good I got longer pleasure from them. But so many long books now are just long for the sake of it, and have large chunks that could easily have been omitted. I now far prefer a decent 300 pager where every word counts.
  • jem
    I used to prefer longer books (400 pages plus) because if they were good I got longer pleasure from them. But so many long books now are just long for the sake of it, and have large chunks that could easily have been omitted. I now far prefer a decent 300 pager where every word counts.
  • I recently just got a copy of "The Last Wish" myself. Been looking forward to that one for a while now :)

    I take it you didn't like "Dreaming the Void" very much? Personally, I thought it was pretty impressive space opera novel, and while it's over 600 pages, I actually went through it pretty quick.

    Now "Reaper's Gale" is a monster of book ;) Not only is the page count tremendous (900 pages), but the word count is just ridiculous and that one is definitely an investment of time. Even for me, it took over a week to complete...
  • I recently just got a copy of "The Last Wish" myself. Been looking forward to that one for a while now :)

    I take it you didn't like "Dreaming the Void" very much? Personally, I thought it was pretty impressive space opera novel, and while it's over 600 pages, I actually went through it pretty quick.

    Now "Reaper's Gale" is a monster of book ;) Not only is the page count tremendous (900 pages), but the word count is just ridiculous and that one is definitely an investment of time. Even for me, it took over a week to complete...
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