"The covers of this book are too far apart."  Ambrose Bierce 

 

In another time, another place, I loved the thought of a long book--anything over 500 pages was a special treat to be savored.  Somewhere along the way, I gravitated toward shorter, quicker reads, and I suspect that the internet and my computer have led to those choices, as it seem to take so much time away from reading.  Sitting on my coffee table right now is NOS4A2, a new book by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King.  A great horror story is an occasional guilty pleasure, but noting that this one numbers almost 700 pages, my first thought isn't the long leisurely hours ahead reading, but instead, is this book worth the commitment?  A quick check on Amazon (there's the computer again) tells me that out of 452 reviews, over 300 gave it five stars.  That's pretty amazing.  For book clubs, lengthy novels are often the kiss of death, and it has to be a runaway favorite to take that step to ask people to read it.  Cutting for Stone  by Abraham Verghese was a risk, but our group stuck with the choice, and it was one of the best books we've read.

Do you love the thought of a book with many pages?  Or not?  Any favorites? Any that you're determined to read? Like me, do you think it's time to decide to cut computer time for other pursuits?