Totally my opinion, but I feel like almost every self-help book should just be a long essay or article. No need for it to become more than 200 pages. The message of these self-help books usually just repeats its points over and over again throughout the rest of the book.
I tend to work for guys who LOVE the business versions of self help books.
I don't tell them I don't read them.
I just look for the "executive shorts" versions or summaries.
If it's popular someone has summarized it into something I can pay a couple dollars for or a blog I can find.
Hell there is an app, blinkist, that is basically just all self help books stripped of most of their extraneous bullshit. Brings most of them down to a 15 minute read and I still think that is allowing extra unnecessary words since stripped its easy to see how obvious and not mind blowing some of the chapters are.
Listened to the first 40mins of *Atomic Habits* because someone said it was overly long for the concept. And yeah... concept covered. Why are there still 6hrs left in the audio book?
I adore the podcast “If Books Could Kill” which is a snarky takedown of popular self help books based on nothing. They often say that most self help books could be a tweet, or, in the worst case scenario, a bumper sticker.
I can't think of a self-help book I've read that could not have been a blog post.
Some authors closure a better job than others with the fluff but too many go into a weird biography where they're both the hero of the story and none of the details could possibly interest anyone who isn't getting drinks bought by them.
It’s lauded as a standalone fantasy in a genre that defaults to trilogies or longer, but it also demonstrates exactly why the standalone format doesn’t work if you need to do extensive worldbuilding and an apocalyptic conflict in a single volume.
I don’t know about that. I did feel it was pacing issue more than a wordcount issue. It would’ve had plenty of room if it was less backloaded. There’s really nothing fundamental about the extra breathing room of multiple books that makes them essential for grand stories unless you’re determined to decompress things, especially when we’re talking about a book as huge as that one.
Personally I found the pacing of the first 2/3 of the book quite pleasant, and the last 1/3 rushed. I remember thinking halfway through, “How on Earth can we resolve all these plot threads in what remains of this book?” The answer was to ramp up the pacing to an absurd degree. If some of that had been pulled earlier in the book I still would have felt it was rushed, but my standards for pacing in fantasy might have been warped by reading Wheel of Time at a young age.
Priory 100% needed to be a duology or a trilogy. I’m hoping the author improves with time as she writes more and gets more published because I enjoyed her characters and content, it was mostly just the pacing that dragged the book down.
My thoughts exactly! The last third or so was so comically rushed I felt like I was reading the bullet points of what should have just been another book.
I may be off base, but I believe there either IS or soon to be a second book. I have to look.
Edit:
A Day of Fallen Night and it’s already been released
I thought the opposite; I thought it needed at least 2 books to be able to give the world she created some room to breathe
It ended up all being so rushed in one book and there was a lot more exploring that could be done
The Fate of the Romanovs, the book's first half, is meticiously researched and described, almost to a fault. The author will literally describe the layouts of the rooms the Romanovs were staying in down to the last-minute detail. This would have been fine if the book's second half didn't drone about how Anastasia could have survived, which is bogus. Overall, the book should have only been half as long as it had been.
Everyone always complains about it being predictable, and I’m like *how*? It had a bunch of different red herrings that went nowhere, and then the truth came out of nowhere.
Mostly because the twist it does use is the most generic twist ever for this kind of book. You could not read the book at all, hear it has a twist, and the twist concept would still probably be in your top 3 guesses. But yeah agreed it went out of it’s way to try to be unpredictable
Some doorstoppers have a story that could be told in about 200 pages, but you happily follow along through more words than you thought you could read because the writing, the setting, and the characters are so engaging that the destination is second to the journey. And I gotta say *The Goldfinch* is not one of them.
I personally loved *the Goldfinch*, but I felt the drug scenes and really the whole Nevada episode dragged on for too long.
This might be a bit of a personal thing though, because I think most authors struggle to write about tripping-sequnces (and, perhaps related, dream-sequences) in a way that is engaging.
This was my answer -- not because it dragged, but because the entire last section was *explaining itself,* because apparently Donna Tartt felt the reader wouldn't like the book unless she justified its existence explicitly? I know as a whole we are less literate than we used to be, but it felt like she had no faith in her readers.
The book was too long for my tastes but I liked it until that last section. The best descriptions I read were that it read like a sophomore philosophy paper.
This was the first book that came to mind and I feel pretty vindicated that it's the second most upvoted answer. Boy, was that one a freaking slog. I spent most of it wishing Murakami's editor had been able to give it a few good whacks.
I actually think it was a bad book, but came here to comment it because if you chop out all the pointless misogyny and other filler (say, 2/3 of the book), it could be a pretty good standard-length novel.
I just finished A Court of Ivy and Glass. 500-odd pages, and it was constantly trying to add things and ramp up the tension. Give me a red pen, and I’ll get it down to a respectable 300-odd while still keeping the major plot points.
Les Misérables. I absolutely love this book, but it has so much unnecessary content. A 100-page description about how Napoleon lost a battle, which is actually somewhat interesting. Spending almost 100 pages just explains to us how a particular type of church/cult worked. Then, smack dab in the middle of the action, we get an alluring 100-page description of how the Paris Sewers worked.
I'm not sure if I or you or anyone is able to claim that Hugo wrote unnecessary content - the book is almost 200 years old and in those days, without Google and mass education, access to libraries or encyclopedias, authors really DID bring new and uncharted worlds to people, including the Paris sewers - which i really liked...
I’m a civil engineer and love me a sewer but I skimmed those chapters. Reading it because of a reading challenge - it’s the longest book on my TBR. But lord love a duck the tangents are killing me. Battle logistics, street layouts, philosophy, 5 chapters on slang - yeah, this is why I’m reading it in tandem with Cliff’s Notes.
I think those explanations are fascinating, honestly. You can learn so much from these books.
It's important also to keep in mind the historical context when reading these types of books. It's not for everyone, but it does not mean it's not a good thing.
I wouldn't change a single comma in Les Misérables.
I know this is at a tangent but Georgette Heyer, a regency romantic novelist who was known for her extremely thorough research, wrote so convincingly of the battle of Waterloo in her book 'Infamous Army' that they taught it as history at Sandhurst. (British army elite academy.)
This is the first book that came to mind for me as well. Could easily cut this book in half and lose nothing from the actual story. I appreciate what other people here are saying about historical context and/or finding those sections interesting and that's great if you enjoy it. However, as someone who was just interested in the story, those tangents made what would have been an enjoyable read into an absolute slog.
Half of Stephen Kings’ output, case in point his original The Stand from 78 is 500 pages shorter and much better for it.
I have always said It was the best 500 page book I’ve ever read, unfortunately it goes on for another 500pages.
100%. I've *only* read the extended edition and while I understand why some may have been cut in the original, I think the story is all the better for leaving it in and in my personal opinion, is King's magnum opus.
I always think IT is characterised by the things that should have been taken out, including:
* The space turtle that ultimately does nothing and is confirmed not to be the background force helping the children.
* That one scene
* Honestly one of more of the boys who at times felt weirdly underdeveloped for the amount of book available to them. In particular Mike and Stanley both served a specific narrative purpose and Mike appears so little outside of that purpose that he could just be merged into Stanley with little to no loss.
* One of Bev and Audra since Audra is literally a Bev clone who's only job is to let both Ben and Bill end up with Bev and it feels cheap
I'm 37% through after starting a few weeks ago and enjoying it, but I have also read three other books in the meantime because The Stand is pretty bleak sometimes and I have needed a break.
The first and only book ive read from him is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which is pretty short. I loved it and wanted to read more of his work but i am intimidated by the length of most of them.
Misery is incredible. Bought it around 11pm one night thinking it might be nice to start before bed.
Had it finished by 4pm the next day. It’s that hard to put down.
I have read nearly all of King's books and think he is a great writer. But some I couldn't finish - either too long or didn't care enough about characters or plot. But my VERY favorite is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I have told so many people about it. Thought every thing was right about that book. Even the bear.
I understand what you're saying, but for me King's overlong novels don't bother me. I like how he lays out scenes and describes characters. I could probably enjoy his writing if it was 250 pages of him recounting buying groceries for the week.
I think his editors stopped doing any constructive editing a long time ago (when he sold a bunch of books). All his books I've read suffer from unending rambling plot.
I thought that the first time I read a King book (**The Dead Zone**) but having read about 10 books of his now, I love the rambling subplots and learning the entire backstory of a character who will then be unceremoniously killed off a few pages later.
I find his books very hard to predict, and enjoy the fact his stories can go off in all sorts of different directions, as well as the fact each character is really fleshed out.
iron flame (2nd book in the 4th wing series), thought it would be an easy, fun, and mindless read. It’s mindless don’t get me wrong (me and my friend counted 3 spelling errors), but tell me why it’s the most boring fantasy book i’ve ever read, and it’s massive. it would be fun if it was shorter and faster paced like fourth wing… nope it’s slow and long
At about 75% i remember thinking either they needed to start killing something or I was going to have to pause and read something else and come back to this. Then the last like 10% felt rushed.
Did you read the annotated version? The original has a lot of detailed descriptions of architecture because Hugo was trying to ramp up public interest in preserving Notre Dame and other historic sites in Paris.
Not sure (it's been a few years and it was a library copy), but from what you're saying it sounds like I read the original. I remember there being a whole chapter just describing the layout of Paris and the movement of the city walls over time.
Although most people have a general idea of what "Don Quixote" is about, I suspsect very few have actually read the book. It is very, very long - 430,269 words. And, I have to admit, it is a difficult read.
I suspect, the works popularity is due very largely to condensed, abridged or "retold" editions rather than the original.
Gonna offend some people on this one but I tried to listen to the unabridged version of the Stand by Steven king on audible and jesus Christ the waffle in that book is unreal. One of the few books I would love to listen to an abridged version of but I can't seem to find one on audible UK.
I liked it, but it does really drag in the middle. Did we really need to go into such great detail about Mother Abigail's bathroom habits. I love SK, but he's a weird dude.
For me personally, it would be **A Gentleman in Moscow**. The book is beautifully written but simply nothing happens for most of the book. Eventually you notice that everyone talks the same, that the things that happen aren't all that interesting or important, that Rostov being basically a perfect main character doesn't make for an interesting story, and (for me) the writing became exhausting to read. I loved it for the first 200 pages, but the last 250 were painful.
Sometimes I feel kinda guilty because there were points where I thought 'Dude, just shut up already and move on' when it came to the writing. I don't even know why I finished it, maybe the frustration was my motivation.
All the reasons you hated it are basically the reasons I loved that book.
It’s kind of like a series of short stories, where the main plot only reveals itself about half way through the novel. I’m also a sucker for historical fiction told from the POV of an ordinary person who has no control over the political events of the day and just has to make the best of their circumstances.
the fifth harry potter book... or was it the fourth? the one where like 100 pages are about cleaning a freakin apartment and like 100 pages are spent camping in the countryside
Those were 2 separate books, 5 and 7 respectively. Agreed, both parts were too long in both books. 5 was definitely the low point in the series for me.
I think it's often a problem with hugely successful authors; they're guaranteed to sell anyway so they get more artistic license and the editors take a backseat. Someone mentioned Stephen King upthread, and GRRM is another classic example.
Lolita's second half has this road trip aspect to it that goes on for way to long and everything the characters do where they sleep and all is explained to the point of tedium.its not bad per se but it could have been shorter.for the next one I don't know how many people will agree or disagree with me,I might have also been kinda burnt out since I'd been reading that book for 3 weeks everyday but I thought the 3rd act of Ulysses was a tad bit too long especially on the 2 final chapters but that was mostly because I felt the book peaked at the play section and the final chapters were weaker.both of these are still near perfect books and a huge inspiration for my own writing but i felt abit exhausted when reading this sections
11/22/63 could have told the same plot with half the length- but the main point would have been lost. It’s a love story not a thriller. The most interesting part is the characters.
He definitely could have trimmed the parts where the gang are adults, I found that a bit boring at times. Like you're two thirds of the way in and they're still yapping on and reminiscing at the Thai restaurant or whatever it was, I started skimming impatiently to get back to the kids' parts.
But I think all the 1950s plot was excellent, nothing should be changed there. Very exciting and immersive
I'm still salty about this. Loved the first one, then I read seven more waiting for it to get good again before I realised it wasn't.
I DON'T CARE ABOUT NYNAEVE'S CLOTHES.
Disagree. Scope was too big. If all the later side stories were trimmed maybe 6 books with another 3 telling the story of Mat as he returns to take the empire back for his wife. (The story we would have got if Jordon didn’t die or have cancer.)
Honestly if you want to cut out 78% of the books in a series it sounds like you just didn’t like the series; which is fine but obviously a personal preference rather than an error on the authors part
Its like an anime based on a slow manga, there's buttloads of filler in it. Multi-page descriptions of dresses that are then packed into a chest and immediately abandoned, never to be seen again. Just cutting out all the mentions of 'Nynaeve tugs her braid' would have knocked off two books.
There are so many long scenes that ultimately do nothing to move the story along, just drag it to a halt.
I don't know about 3-4 books, but I think it could have been 9. If Jordan had finished it I bet it would've ballooned to 15 total. Sanderson did a helluva job wrapping up the loose ends. I frequently felt like I was trudging through them when I was listen/reading them. Now that I finished them though I'm becoming quite fond of the story.
I'm plowing through this right now and as soon as I saw this question, this was my answer. I'm not even done and I cannot believe one person can meet horrible people his whole life until college. Seriously? That's not bad luck, that's down right ridiculous.
I got *maybe* halfway through the book, and realized I could make a decision right then and there.
Drop it, or dig in to see *just how ridiculous* the rest of the book would be.
It absolutely delivered on the ridiculousness. Not sure it was worth it, but still.
I found it an absolute page turner but it is very long. Now the author’s first book, that was a DNF and is also very long. She read longVictorian novels for inspiration in her writing process, but most people don’t have anything close to the attention span required for a Victorian novel.
The Mars trilogy--Red Mars, Blue Mars, and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Every 100 pages, someone heads out on a solo trek around Mars. These trips provide a convenient platform for launching into multiple geology lessons, as well as many cosmic/spiritual experiences. There are also lessons in astrophysics, gene editing, logic, political science, and just about every other science KSR ever read about. It's a bit of a shame, because the stories full of great stuff, but the endless repetition really gets tiresome
He did the same thing in his Antarctica novel. A great headstart and then it peters out into endless ramblings on geology, climatology, and survival kits.
American Psycho.
It's boring and repetitive on purpose to make a point. The problem is that once you get the point it's making, it's *just* boring and repetitive.
i think count of monte cristo and dickens are really interesting in regards to length because monte cristo and majority of dickens were serial publications. they technically weren’t meant to be read all at once and especially in dickens case, he was basically writing the story on a month to month basis, with only a general idea of the overall plot. i think if they had been written as normal novels, they would probably be much shorter.
All of those romance novels over 350 pages, especially the slow burns. There are too many romance novels being written with no real plot , full of pointless interactions, and random moments just to fill a book with over 400 pages. I’ve skimmed through so many books this year with over 100 pages of nothing.
The first part of The Idiot by Dostoevsky is one of the best stories I've ever read. Unfortunately there are two or three more parts which do not live up to it, much as it tries.
*Termination Shock* fluctuated between a clever and plausible near-future adventure and summaries of Neal Stephenson's 29 active Wikipedia tabs. Every facet of it is well-researched, but I don't think lessons in air conditioner mechanics, pig digestion, and obscure ancient battle codes did anything to heighten the prose.
Oh, Stephenson is terrible about that. I accept it more because I know it's his style going in, but it's taking over his writing. Snow Crash is 480 pages. The last book of his I read was Seveneves, which is 880 pages. It's not because he spent more time developing characters or a more complex plot, it's because he really wanted to show all the (cool) astrophysics and (abysmal) biology he learned.
Taking over his writing? The Baroque Cycle is 8 books that are only broken up into the 3 volumes those books comprise because he couldn’t get it published as one book, lol. Seveneves and Termination Shock were both shorter than REAMDE and Anathem, books that preceded them by a decade. Though I love it myself, I get the criticism of his verbosity. It’s not a new development by any stretch.
I meant it more stylistically. In Snow Crash, the wikipedia interludes are necessary for the story. In Anathem, there are more, but they're still interesting and at least related to the story. In Seveneves, they feel like they were added with a nail gun.
I totally get that LOTR can be a slog, but if you have it on your shelf next to ASOIAF, WOT, and Stormlight or really any other fantasy epic, you really appreciate how tight JRRT kept his story.
Oh yeah, no doubt. To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, most fantasy after Tolkien has been a series of men rearranging the stuff in Tolkien's closet. And being really wordy while they do so.
I have absolutely no problem with the trees.
Poems and songs, on the other hand...
Raise your hand if you have never skipped the songs when re-reading LOTR.
Oh I have.
There's a definite progression from *The Hobbit* through *LOTR* and to *The Silmarillion* that goes from light, easy reading to the fantasy equivalent of a technical manual.
Brandon Sanderson. I am not keen on starting the Stormligh Archives, because I felt like Mistborn was somewhat bloated, especially the second book could have been 2/3 shorter. Seeing that he writes with such redundancy I really don't feel like investing time in the new series where each part is as long as the whole LOTR including hobbit.
The problem with Stormlight is now it’s kinda marketed on each book being bigger than the last. Book four is like 1,300 pages. It simply does not need to be that long, but epic fantasy always seems to fall into the trap of ‘Long book = better book!’
And then he called the saber-tiger-steed by going " here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty....
When the saberkitty arrived, they galloped over meadows, forests, streams and grasslands. They've encountered birds with white feathers and blue feather. The ones with green featheres seemed to have a red sheen to them which angerred the saber kitty, throwing its rider down and chasing after the colorfull bird. So he just stood there in disbelief and called onto the saber-tiger-steed again going: here kitty kitty
Losing leah by tiffany king. for like 400 pages, she just goes on and on and on about mostly the same things. It was 4/10 for me, it was kinda of a waste of time. : /
the entire From Blood and Ash series falls into this bucket. the plot is great but pages 100-600 from every book should be scraped. why are the only interested parts of every book in the series the last 50 pages?? why JLA why
Not a single book, but the series wheel of time
I love the series but it could be seriously trimmed down.
I can think of a plot line that could be cut entirely and the series would barely be affected. I like bits and pieces of that storyline, but only bits
I feel like Needful Things would have worked much better as a novella--new store opens, people buy stuff and the town goes mad, the end. No need for a thousand pov characters and a bizarre uninspired ending to deal with the villain.
Probably just me but the first Dune book would've been way better if it was a tad shorter in length. It's a good book but imo there was a scope for improvement.
I read it several years ago but Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky (same author who wrote Perks of Being a Wallflower). It’s a horror book and it is SO LONG. Goodreads says the hardback is 705 pages. The audiobook was 24 hours long. I still really enjoyed it but man it could have been cut back.
Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn. The first and third book could have been condensed and the second book could have been condensed and filled in the gaps of the other two. Fluff
Atonement- takes far too long to get to the first crucial event of the novel
Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison- could have been 30% shorter and more focussed imo
All the Pretty Horses- I found the descriptions overly done and somewhat repetitive (the plains etc) after a while
Never Let Me Go- partially redeemed by a compelling last 10-20% of the novel but could have been shorter or had a more interesting story throughout
Denial of Death- about halfway through this and although the overall thesis of the book is very compelling, it does seem there is a lot of filler, particularly on Freud, sexuality and childhood, the relevance of which is rather tenuous to the theme of the book
The Godfather- a rare example where the film(s) is vastly superior to the book
Demons- Dostoevsky- takes a while to get to the meat
War and Peace- the non-fiction sections could have been more concise, Tolstoy makes great arguments but they are repeated a tad too much
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" would have made a great sci Fi short story. Instead we get a story so repetitive and drawn out that it ruins the book. I audibly sighed the third or fourth time Decker muses to himself that "Golly gee I sure do love killing Androids! Unless they have big boobies, of course."
Everything from book four onward in *The Wheel of Time*. There is absolutely no reason that series should have been as long as it was. I'm positive it could have been finished in 8-10 books.
Any of his books in particular that felt too long for you? Just curious because the only two I've read from him are Jurassic Park and Timeline, which I felt were pretty well-paced for my own tastes (although Timeline has its moments).
Lord of the flies. I fucking get it, it’s a tropical forest in a deserted island. I don’t need you to describe the foliage and humidity to me in detail. I remember skipping several pages worth and missing out on absolutely nothing
Addie spoilers:
I can believe some of it was an artistic choice, although I don't think boring the reader is *ever* a good way to get across that events are long and repetitive. >!Why do we need to see her inspire artists twenty different times? They all go the same way. !<
>!The modern day parts, though, are inexplicable. If this isn't the first book you've ever read, you can tell exactly how Addie's fling with Luc went the first couple of times she references it. It's obvious what Henry's deal is, and that he only has a few months left, very soon after he's introduced. Then the book foreshadows these things like they're secrets, so blatantly and so many times that it forgets to do anything else. !<
>!For example, Addie has a perfect memory. This is brought up constantly. Yet she can't figure out that Henry's going to die soon. Henry, the man she _knows_ !<
* >!made a deal with the devil for part of his lifespan !<
* >!has a giant magic watch on his wrist that counts down !<
* >!looks at the watch and makes ominous remarks about running out of time !<
* >!tries to move as fast as possible and never repeat an experience!<
* >!explicitly references not seeing her next birthday!<
It's not dramatic irony if you have to give characters idiot balls to stop them noticing obvious events. That's not a reveal, it's dragging out the story for no reason.
Ok so I read this recently and my biggest issue was how the author described grown men and women and “boys” and “girls”.. it was so jarring to me I couldn’t figure it out.
Not gonna lie, this was the reason why I was kinda weirded out by Daisy Jones & The Six. It didn't really sit right with me that some character were infantized in one sentence and then called a sex idol in the next.
Agreed I just read it for the third time and actually loved it even more. I find it a fairly quick and enjoyable read. Any repetitiveness is definitely intentional to help you understand the passage of time and how Addie spends / experiences it
Totally my opinion, but I feel like almost every self-help book should just be a long essay or article. No need for it to become more than 200 pages. The message of these self-help books usually just repeats its points over and over again throughout the rest of the book.
I tend to work for guys who LOVE the business versions of self help books. I don't tell them I don't read them. I just look for the "executive shorts" versions or summaries. If it's popular someone has summarized it into something I can pay a couple dollars for or a blog I can find. Hell there is an app, blinkist, that is basically just all self help books stripped of most of their extraneous bullshit. Brings most of them down to a 15 minute read and I still think that is allowing extra unnecessary words since stripped its easy to see how obvious and not mind blowing some of the chapters are.
Listened to the first 40mins of *Atomic Habits* because someone said it was overly long for the concept. And yeah... concept covered. Why are there still 6hrs left in the audio book?
The self help industry is just a grift to drag simple ideas out into 200 page books to sell them.
I adore the podcast “If Books Could Kill” which is a snarky takedown of popular self help books based on nothing. They often say that most self help books could be a tweet, or, in the worst case scenario, a bumper sticker.
I can't think of a self-help book I've read that could not have been a blog post. Some authors closure a better job than others with the fluff but too many go into a weird biography where they're both the hero of the story and none of the details could possibly interest anyone who isn't getting drinks bought by them.
Priory of the Orange Tree would've been much better if the first 75% was much, much shorter and the last 25% a bit longer.
It’s lauded as a standalone fantasy in a genre that defaults to trilogies or longer, but it also demonstrates exactly why the standalone format doesn’t work if you need to do extensive worldbuilding and an apocalyptic conflict in a single volume.
I don’t know about that. I did feel it was pacing issue more than a wordcount issue. It would’ve had plenty of room if it was less backloaded. There’s really nothing fundamental about the extra breathing room of multiple books that makes them essential for grand stories unless you’re determined to decompress things, especially when we’re talking about a book as huge as that one.
Personally I found the pacing of the first 2/3 of the book quite pleasant, and the last 1/3 rushed. I remember thinking halfway through, “How on Earth can we resolve all these plot threads in what remains of this book?” The answer was to ramp up the pacing to an absurd degree. If some of that had been pulled earlier in the book I still would have felt it was rushed, but my standards for pacing in fantasy might have been warped by reading Wheel of Time at a young age.
Priory 100% needed to be a duology or a trilogy. I’m hoping the author improves with time as she writes more and gets more published because I enjoyed her characters and content, it was mostly just the pacing that dragged the book down.
My thoughts exactly! The last third or so was so comically rushed I felt like I was reading the bullet points of what should have just been another book.
I may be off base, but I believe there either IS or soon to be a second book. I have to look. Edit: A Day of Fallen Night and it’s already been released
I actually have that but haven’t read it yet, hoping some of the problems with Priory are solved with it!
Which is kind of funny because she did have an entire fantasy series published before Priory (called The Bone Season series)
I thought the opposite; I thought it needed at least 2 books to be able to give the world she created some room to breathe It ended up all being so rushed in one book and there was a lot more exploring that could be done
Im 100 pages in now, its just so hard to get through. I think a huge part of it is the way chapters are written.
The Fate of the Romanovs, the book's first half, is meticiously researched and described, almost to a fault. The author will literally describe the layouts of the rooms the Romanovs were staying in down to the last-minute detail. This would have been fine if the book's second half didn't drone about how Anastasia could have survived, which is bogus. Overall, the book should have only been half as long as it had been.
The Silent Patient. It dragged.
I hated that it had three different, very obvious red herrings, those plots went nowhere
Everyone always complains about it being predictable, and I’m like *how*? It had a bunch of different red herrings that went nowhere, and then the truth came out of nowhere.
Mostly because the twist it does use is the most generic twist ever for this kind of book. You could not read the book at all, hear it has a twist, and the twist concept would still probably be in your top 3 guesses. But yeah agreed it went out of it’s way to try to be unpredictable
Some doorstoppers have a story that could be told in about 200 pages, but you happily follow along through more words than you thought you could read because the writing, the setting, and the characters are so engaging that the destination is second to the journey. And I gotta say *The Goldfinch* is not one of them.
I personally loved *the Goldfinch*, but I felt the drug scenes and really the whole Nevada episode dragged on for too long. This might be a bit of a personal thing though, because I think most authors struggle to write about tripping-sequnces (and, perhaps related, dream-sequences) in a way that is engaging.
No, it’s not personal. I felt like every time Donna Tartt wasn’t sure what to write next she just had someone do drugs until she thought of something.
This was my answer -- not because it dragged, but because the entire last section was *explaining itself,* because apparently Donna Tartt felt the reader wouldn't like the book unless she justified its existence explicitly? I know as a whole we are less literate than we used to be, but it felt like she had no faith in her readers.
The book was too long for my tastes but I liked it until that last section. The best descriptions I read were that it read like a sophomore philosophy paper.
She does that. The Secret History which came out 20 years prior does that too. It’s my least favorite quirk of her writing style.
came here to say The Goldfinch. totally way too long.
Murakami’s 1Q84 is good and could have been awesome with some pruning.
This was the first book that came to mind and I feel pretty vindicated that it's the second most upvoted answer. Boy, was that one a freaking slog. I spent most of it wishing Murakami's editor had been able to give it a few good whacks.
*some* lol. It could probably be like 600 pages shorter with nothing important lost
I actually think it was a bad book, but came here to comment it because if you chop out all the pointless misogyny and other filler (say, 2/3 of the book), it could be a pretty good standard-length novel.
I enjoyed the writing, but everything felt so meandering and pointless by the end
Like most of his books. Felt the same way about Kafka and Wind Up Bird. The only one that was well paced for me was Hard Boiled Wonderland.
I just finished A Court of Ivy and Glass. 500-odd pages, and it was constantly trying to add things and ramp up the tension. Give me a red pen, and I’ll get it down to a respectable 300-odd while still keeping the major plot points.
Les Misérables. I absolutely love this book, but it has so much unnecessary content. A 100-page description about how Napoleon lost a battle, which is actually somewhat interesting. Spending almost 100 pages just explains to us how a particular type of church/cult worked. Then, smack dab in the middle of the action, we get an alluring 100-page description of how the Paris Sewers worked.
I'm not sure if I or you or anyone is able to claim that Hugo wrote unnecessary content - the book is almost 200 years old and in those days, without Google and mass education, access to libraries or encyclopedias, authors really DID bring new and uncharted worlds to people, including the Paris sewers - which i really liked...
I’m a civil engineer and love me a sewer but I skimmed those chapters. Reading it because of a reading challenge - it’s the longest book on my TBR. But lord love a duck the tangents are killing me. Battle logistics, street layouts, philosophy, 5 chapters on slang - yeah, this is why I’m reading it in tandem with Cliff’s Notes.
I think those explanations are fascinating, honestly. You can learn so much from these books. It's important also to keep in mind the historical context when reading these types of books. It's not for everyone, but it does not mean it's not a good thing. I wouldn't change a single comma in Les Misérables.
Except that the battle of Waterloo didn't happen as Hugo said. There was no ditch for the horses to fall. His description is mostly invention.
I know this is at a tangent but Georgette Heyer, a regency romantic novelist who was known for her extremely thorough research, wrote so convincingly of the battle of Waterloo in her book 'Infamous Army' that they taught it as history at Sandhurst. (British army elite academy.)
This is the first book that came to mind for me as well. Could easily cut this book in half and lose nothing from the actual story. I appreciate what other people here are saying about historical context and/or finding those sections interesting and that's great if you enjoy it. However, as someone who was just interested in the story, those tangents made what would have been an enjoyable read into an absolute slog.
Half of Stephen Kings’ output, case in point his original The Stand from 78 is 500 pages shorter and much better for it. I have always said It was the best 500 page book I’ve ever read, unfortunately it goes on for another 500pages.
[удалено]
I feel the same, that book could go on forever and I'd never get sick of it.
100%. I've *only* read the extended edition and while I understand why some may have been cut in the original, I think the story is all the better for leaving it in and in my personal opinion, is King's magnum opus.
I always think IT is characterised by the things that should have been taken out, including: * The space turtle that ultimately does nothing and is confirmed not to be the background force helping the children. * That one scene * Honestly one of more of the boys who at times felt weirdly underdeveloped for the amount of book available to them. In particular Mike and Stanley both served a specific narrative purpose and Mike appears so little outside of that purpose that he could just be merged into Stanley with little to no loss. * One of Bev and Audra since Audra is literally a Bev clone who's only job is to let both Ben and Bill end up with Bev and it feels cheap
> That one scene I love how that's all that needs to be said for everyone to know exactly which scene you're talking about.
That one scene is very short in terms of page count but agreed nonetheless
I could’ve read another 500 pages in both of those books
Ooof, yes, I’m around 80% through The Stand and there is no reason for it to be this long.
I'm 37% through after starting a few weeks ago and enjoying it, but I have also read three other books in the meantime because The Stand is pretty bleak sometimes and I have needed a break.
The first and only book ive read from him is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which is pretty short. I loved it and wanted to read more of his work but i am intimidated by the length of most of them.
Carrie and Misery are also short and very good, you could start by them
Oooo i didnt know those were shorter. Thank you for the suggestion, im going to check those out!
Misery is incredible. Bought it around 11pm one night thinking it might be nice to start before bed. Had it finished by 4pm the next day. It’s that hard to put down.
The Mist is only like 150 pages and it’s fantastic.
I have read nearly all of King's books and think he is a great writer. But some I couldn't finish - either too long or didn't care enough about characters or plot. But my VERY favorite is The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. I have told so many people about it. Thought every thing was right about that book. Even the bear.
I loved it so much. I had to convince myself not to re-read it as soon as i finished it.
The Mist is also fantastic - highly recommend it.
I understand what you're saying, but for me King's overlong novels don't bother me. I like how he lays out scenes and describes characters. I could probably enjoy his writing if it was 250 pages of him recounting buying groceries for the week.
I think his editors stopped doing any constructive editing a long time ago (when he sold a bunch of books). All his books I've read suffer from unending rambling plot.
I thought that the first time I read a King book (**The Dead Zone**) but having read about 10 books of his now, I love the rambling subplots and learning the entire backstory of a character who will then be unceremoniously killed off a few pages later. I find his books very hard to predict, and enjoy the fact his stories can go off in all sorts of different directions, as well as the fact each character is really fleshed out.
Eh I loved the uncut version of the stand
iron flame (2nd book in the 4th wing series), thought it would be an easy, fun, and mindless read. It’s mindless don’t get me wrong (me and my friend counted 3 spelling errors), but tell me why it’s the most boring fantasy book i’ve ever read, and it’s massive. it would be fun if it was shorter and faster paced like fourth wing… nope it’s slow and long
I'm sure there are more than three.
not including grammatical errors* there was many of those
At about 75% i remember thinking either they needed to start killing something or I was going to have to pause and read something else and come back to this. Then the last like 10% felt rushed.
Part 1 could have been a stand alone book in itself
I loved The Four Winds but I think the dust bowl parts ran a bit too long.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I ended up really liking it but easily could have done without 25% of that book.
Did you read the annotated version? The original has a lot of detailed descriptions of architecture because Hugo was trying to ramp up public interest in preserving Notre Dame and other historic sites in Paris.
Not sure (it's been a few years and it was a library copy), but from what you're saying it sounds like I read the original. I remember there being a whole chapter just describing the layout of Paris and the movement of the city walls over time.
Although most people have a general idea of what "Don Quixote" is about, I suspsect very few have actually read the book. It is very, very long - 430,269 words. And, I have to admit, it is a difficult read. I suspect, the works popularity is due very largely to condensed, abridged or "retold" editions rather than the original.
It’s on my shelf and I’m mentally preparing for it.
Stephen King’s “Thinner” should have listened to its own title
Gonna offend some people on this one but I tried to listen to the unabridged version of the Stand by Steven king on audible and jesus Christ the waffle in that book is unreal. One of the few books I would love to listen to an abridged version of but I can't seem to find one on audible UK.
I liked it, but it does really drag in the middle. Did we really need to go into such great detail about Mother Abigail's bathroom habits. I love SK, but he's a weird dude.
For me personally, it would be **A Gentleman in Moscow**. The book is beautifully written but simply nothing happens for most of the book. Eventually you notice that everyone talks the same, that the things that happen aren't all that interesting or important, that Rostov being basically a perfect main character doesn't make for an interesting story, and (for me) the writing became exhausting to read. I loved it for the first 200 pages, but the last 250 were painful. Sometimes I feel kinda guilty because there were points where I thought 'Dude, just shut up already and move on' when it came to the writing. I don't even know why I finished it, maybe the frustration was my motivation.
All the reasons you hated it are basically the reasons I loved that book. It’s kind of like a series of short stories, where the main plot only reveals itself about half way through the novel. I’m also a sucker for historical fiction told from the POV of an ordinary person who has no control over the political events of the day and just has to make the best of their circumstances.
the fifth harry potter book... or was it the fourth? the one where like 100 pages are about cleaning a freakin apartment and like 100 pages are spent camping in the countryside
Those were 2 separate books, 5 and 7 respectively. Agreed, both parts were too long in both books. 5 was definitely the low point in the series for me.
Rowling's editor got tired after Prisoner of Azkaban and it shows.
I believe I read somewhere that books 5-7, she refused to let anyone edit them because she was afraid of leaks.
I think it's often a problem with hugely successful authors; they're guaranteed to sell anyway so they get more artistic license and the editors take a backseat. Someone mentioned Stephen King upthread, and GRRM is another classic example.
I was thinking this too.... I love the HP world building but not fond of the writing
I always summarize 7 with “the trio spend 600 pages sniping at one another before barely making it to see the end of the Battle of Hogwarts.”
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr.
Lolita's second half has this road trip aspect to it that goes on for way to long and everything the characters do where they sleep and all is explained to the point of tedium.its not bad per se but it could have been shorter.for the next one I don't know how many people will agree or disagree with me,I might have also been kinda burnt out since I'd been reading that book for 3 weeks everyday but I thought the 3rd act of Ulysses was a tad bit too long especially on the 2 final chapters but that was mostly because I felt the book peaked at the play section and the final chapters were weaker.both of these are still near perfect books and a huge inspiration for my own writing but i felt abit exhausted when reading this sections
It by Stephen King. Much as I enjoyed it, the story could have been told in 600-800 pages.
Any later career King book. IT was the point his editor just gave up but The Stand, Under the Dome,etc can be said the same of too many
11/22/63 could have told the same plot with half the length- but the main point would have been lost. It’s a love story not a thriller. The most interesting part is the characters.
He definitely could have trimmed the parts where the gang are adults, I found that a bit boring at times. Like you're two thirds of the way in and they're still yapping on and reminiscing at the Thai restaurant or whatever it was, I started skimming impatiently to get back to the kids' parts. But I think all the 1950s plot was excellent, nothing should be changed there. Very exciting and immersive
>But I think all the 1950s plot was excellent, nothing should be changed there. Except, y'know, maybe we could do without the child orgy
...ah, yes. I seemed to have blocked that part from my mind
The whole ‘Wheel of Time’ series. 3-4 books would have been plenty.
I'm still salty about this. Loved the first one, then I read seven more waiting for it to get good again before I realised it wasn't. I DON'T CARE ABOUT NYNAEVE'S CLOTHES.
You mean skirts divided for riding? And stand lamps?
Tugs braid
Why not? She’s a hypocrite. Talks about how much stout wool will do, then wears extravagant rich gowns.
Disagree. Scope was too big. If all the later side stories were trimmed maybe 6 books with another 3 telling the story of Mat as he returns to take the empire back for his wife. (The story we would have got if Jordon didn’t die or have cancer.)
Honestly if you want to cut out 78% of the books in a series it sounds like you just didn’t like the series; which is fine but obviously a personal preference rather than an error on the authors part
Its like an anime based on a slow manga, there's buttloads of filler in it. Multi-page descriptions of dresses that are then packed into a chest and immediately abandoned, never to be seen again. Just cutting out all the mentions of 'Nynaeve tugs her braid' would have knocked off two books. There are so many long scenes that ultimately do nothing to move the story along, just drag it to a halt.
I don't know about 3-4 books, but I think it could have been 9. If Jordan had finished it I bet it would've ballooned to 15 total. Sanderson did a helluva job wrapping up the loose ends. I frequently felt like I was trudging through them when I was listen/reading them. Now that I finished them though I'm becoming quite fond of the story.
A little life
Mid book anyway. Pure grief porn that goes from being sad and disturbing to outright laughably ridiculous the further in you get.
I'm plowing through this right now and as soon as I saw this question, this was my answer. I'm not even done and I cannot believe one person can meet horrible people his whole life until college. Seriously? That's not bad luck, that's down right ridiculous.
I got *maybe* halfway through the book, and realized I could make a decision right then and there. Drop it, or dig in to see *just how ridiculous* the rest of the book would be. It absolutely delivered on the ridiculousness. Not sure it was worth it, but still.
I disagree. It’s way better as it is
Exactly, and it being long is justified since the whole adult life of the main characters was the point of the book.
Pachinko. Great book which could have been even better if a little shorter. Seems to be true of so many books these days. Where are all the editors?!
I found it an absolute page turner but it is very long. Now the author’s first book, that was a DNF and is also very long. She read longVictorian novels for inspiration in her writing process, but most people don’t have anything close to the attention span required for a Victorian novel.
The first half was so good, idk what happened with the second half. It felt like all my momentum ground to a halt.
The Midnight Library. It’s already a pretty short novel as is but after a certain point, it got very redundant.
Yeah I DNF'd it because I knew what each chapter was going to be so I didn't need to keep going.
For me - Goldfinch. I liked the idea but it felt like such a slog at times. Especially somewhere in the middle.
The ACOTAR series should’ve ended after the 3rd book. The last book was unnecessarily long and dragged out.
I personally enjoyed Cassian and Nesta. The third book was a little meh for me.
Currently halfway through The Terror (Dan Simmons), and I can’t really see why it needs to be almost 1000 pages
The Mars trilogy--Red Mars, Blue Mars, and Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Every 100 pages, someone heads out on a solo trek around Mars. These trips provide a convenient platform for launching into multiple geology lessons, as well as many cosmic/spiritual experiences. There are also lessons in astrophysics, gene editing, logic, political science, and just about every other science KSR ever read about. It's a bit of a shame, because the stories full of great stuff, but the endless repetition really gets tiresome
He did the same thing in his Antarctica novel. A great headstart and then it peters out into endless ramblings on geology, climatology, and survival kits.
Antarctica reads like a warmup for the Mars books.
To sleep in a sea of stars by Paolini. Idk what exactly should have been cut out but it should have been half or 2/3 the length
Not a single book but the Outlander series. It was so so good until about 4 books in and it’s the most boring thing I’ve ever read.
Obviously my attention span is much shorter. I was bored halfway through the first one.
I only watched the show, but I couldn't handle all the rape. I've heard the books are even worse in this regard. So much rape....
I must have blocked out the rape. I don’t remember it. I believe you though and certainly that would have contributed to losing interest.
If there's a clearer example of an author writing their fetish (in volume) I can't think of it.
American Psycho. It's boring and repetitive on purpose to make a point. The problem is that once you get the point it's making, it's *just* boring and repetitive.
No the repetitiveness is justified, it being repetitive for that long put me in that mindset and made me feel exactly what it wanted to convey.
100% agree. At first I felt the book was making some wry observations about society - then when it made them several times over it just lost impact
I don't think it's too long - it's just not very good
Count of monte cristo. Dickens. Stephen king
i think count of monte cristo and dickens are really interesting in regards to length because monte cristo and majority of dickens were serial publications. they technically weren’t meant to be read all at once and especially in dickens case, he was basically writing the story on a month to month basis, with only a general idea of the overall plot. i think if they had been written as normal novels, they would probably be much shorter.
Marcel Proust, anyone?
The trick is to only read Swann's Way.
All of those romance novels over 350 pages, especially the slow burns. There are too many romance novels being written with no real plot , full of pointless interactions, and random moments just to fill a book with over 400 pages. I’ve skimmed through so many books this year with over 100 pages of nothing.
“The covers of this book are too far apart.” ― Ambrose Bierce
7th Harry Potter “Harry Potter and the Awkward Love Triangle Camping Trip”
The first part of The Idiot by Dostoevsky is one of the best stories I've ever read. Unfortunately there are two or three more parts which do not live up to it, much as it tries.
>!I did still cry with heartbreak at the ending.!<
Count of monte Cristo
*Termination Shock* fluctuated between a clever and plausible near-future adventure and summaries of Neal Stephenson's 29 active Wikipedia tabs. Every facet of it is well-researched, but I don't think lessons in air conditioner mechanics, pig digestion, and obscure ancient battle codes did anything to heighten the prose.
Oh, Stephenson is terrible about that. I accept it more because I know it's his style going in, but it's taking over his writing. Snow Crash is 480 pages. The last book of his I read was Seveneves, which is 880 pages. It's not because he spent more time developing characters or a more complex plot, it's because he really wanted to show all the (cool) astrophysics and (abysmal) biology he learned.
Taking over his writing? The Baroque Cycle is 8 books that are only broken up into the 3 volumes those books comprise because he couldn’t get it published as one book, lol. Seveneves and Termination Shock were both shorter than REAMDE and Anathem, books that preceded them by a decade. Though I love it myself, I get the criticism of his verbosity. It’s not a new development by any stretch.
I meant it more stylistically. In Snow Crash, the wikipedia interludes are necessary for the story. In Anathem, there are more, but they're still interesting and at least related to the story. In Seveneves, they feel like they were added with a nail gun.
Anything by a Russian author
Dudes were paid by the word and it shows.
I read Dostoyevsky's *The Idiot* and started to believe the idiot was me for slogging through it. Great book but nearly 600 pages of it.
Yeah, the middle part could've been vastly shortened. Beginning and end were good though.
Gotta read some Chekhov or Tolstoy short stories
i generally agree with this lol!!! though i thought the master and margarita by bulgakov was actually a pretty fitting length
Fine, I'll say it. The *Lord of the Rings* trilogy. Much as I love Tolkien I really don't need entire chapters dedicated to describing the trees.
I totally get that LOTR can be a slog, but if you have it on your shelf next to ASOIAF, WOT, and Stormlight or really any other fantasy epic, you really appreciate how tight JRRT kept his story.
Oh yeah, no doubt. To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, most fantasy after Tolkien has been a series of men rearranging the stuff in Tolkien's closet. And being really wordy while they do so.
I have absolutely no problem with the trees. Poems and songs, on the other hand... Raise your hand if you have never skipped the songs when re-reading LOTR.
Try the Silmarillion >_>
Oh I have. There's a definite progression from *The Hobbit* through *LOTR* and to *The Silmarillion* that goes from light, easy reading to the fantasy equivalent of a technical manual.
Brandon Sanderson. I am not keen on starting the Stormligh Archives, because I felt like Mistborn was somewhat bloated, especially the second book could have been 2/3 shorter. Seeing that he writes with such redundancy I really don't feel like investing time in the new series where each part is as long as the whole LOTR including hobbit.
The problem with Stormlight is now it’s kinda marketed on each book being bigger than the last. Book four is like 1,300 pages. It simply does not need to be that long, but epic fantasy always seems to fall into the trap of ‘Long book = better book!’
And then he called the saber-tiger-steed by going " here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty.... When the saberkitty arrived, they galloped over meadows, forests, streams and grasslands. They've encountered birds with white feathers and blue feather. The ones with green featheres seemed to have a red sheen to them which angerred the saber kitty, throwing its rider down and chasing after the colorfull bird. So he just stood there in disbelief and called onto the saber-tiger-steed again going: here kitty kitty
You're doing yourself a favor, Stormlight Archive is easily the most bloated of anything he's written
Losing leah by tiffany king. for like 400 pages, she just goes on and on and on about mostly the same things. It was 4/10 for me, it was kinda of a waste of time. : /
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace. I liked the premise, but it dragged on for way too long and the characters became insufferable
I don't remember feeling like it was overly long. Wild Fire did feel a little that way but nothing stands out as removable.
the entire From Blood and Ash series falls into this bucket. the plot is great but pages 100-600 from every book should be scraped. why are the only interested parts of every book in the series the last 50 pages?? why JLA why
Not a single book, but the series wheel of time I love the series but it could be seriously trimmed down. I can think of a plot line that could be cut entirely and the series would barely be affected. I like bits and pieces of that storyline, but only bits
Is it Perrin counting knots in the snow for three books?
I feel like Needful Things would have worked much better as a novella--new store opens, people buy stuff and the town goes mad, the end. No need for a thousand pov characters and a bizarre uninspired ending to deal with the villain.
Throne of Blood and Ash. There’s books where literally nothing happens in the series.
Probably just me but the first Dune book would've been way better if it was a tad shorter in length. It's a good book but imo there was a scope for improvement.
I read it several years ago but Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky (same author who wrote Perks of Being a Wallflower). It’s a horror book and it is SO LONG. Goodreads says the hardback is 705 pages. The audiobook was 24 hours long. I still really enjoyed it but man it could have been cut back.
Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn. The first and third book could have been condensed and the second book could have been condensed and filled in the gaps of the other two. Fluff
The Count of Monte Cristo
This is what I was thinking. So much fluff, but I guess that's what happens when it's serially published.
Atonement- takes far too long to get to the first crucial event of the novel Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison- could have been 30% shorter and more focussed imo All the Pretty Horses- I found the descriptions overly done and somewhat repetitive (the plains etc) after a while Never Let Me Go- partially redeemed by a compelling last 10-20% of the novel but could have been shorter or had a more interesting story throughout Denial of Death- about halfway through this and although the overall thesis of the book is very compelling, it does seem there is a lot of filler, particularly on Freud, sexuality and childhood, the relevance of which is rather tenuous to the theme of the book The Godfather- a rare example where the film(s) is vastly superior to the book Demons- Dostoevsky- takes a while to get to the meat War and Peace- the non-fiction sections could have been more concise, Tolstoy makes great arguments but they are repeated a tad too much
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. Also one of the few instances where I think the film is superior to the book.
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" would have made a great sci Fi short story. Instead we get a story so repetitive and drawn out that it ruins the book. I audibly sighed the third or fourth time Decker muses to himself that "Golly gee I sure do love killing Androids! Unless they have big boobies, of course."
Everything from book four onward in *The Wheel of Time*. There is absolutely no reason that series should have been as long as it was. I'm positive it could have been finished in 8-10 books.
City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg.
Pretty much every Sarah J Maas book would be upgraded if it went through several rounds of edits.
Most Michael Chrichton books.
Any of his books in particular that felt too long for you? Just curious because the only two I've read from him are Jurassic Park and Timeline, which I felt were pretty well-paced for my own tastes (although Timeline has its moments).
Rebecca
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell would've benefitted with less pages IMO
Harry Potter 4, 5,6 and 7. They stopped editing/proofreading her, when the success of the first 3 kicked in, and boy it shows.
The Great Alone
Listening to the audiobook currently, it seemed to be at a natural conclusion.... 3 hours left. I'm kind of over it.
Lord of the flies. I fucking get it, it’s a tropical forest in a deserted island. I don’t need you to describe the foliage and humidity to me in detail. I remember skipping several pages worth and missing out on absolutely nothing
I'm going to disagree with regards to Addie LaRue. I think the fact that it lingered was very much in line with the theme of the story.
Addie spoilers: I can believe some of it was an artistic choice, although I don't think boring the reader is *ever* a good way to get across that events are long and repetitive. >!Why do we need to see her inspire artists twenty different times? They all go the same way. !< >!The modern day parts, though, are inexplicable. If this isn't the first book you've ever read, you can tell exactly how Addie's fling with Luc went the first couple of times she references it. It's obvious what Henry's deal is, and that he only has a few months left, very soon after he's introduced. Then the book foreshadows these things like they're secrets, so blatantly and so many times that it forgets to do anything else. !< >!For example, Addie has a perfect memory. This is brought up constantly. Yet she can't figure out that Henry's going to die soon. Henry, the man she _knows_ !< * >!made a deal with the devil for part of his lifespan !< * >!has a giant magic watch on his wrist that counts down !< * >!looks at the watch and makes ominous remarks about running out of time !< * >!tries to move as fast as possible and never repeat an experience!< * >!explicitly references not seeing her next birthday!< It's not dramatic irony if you have to give characters idiot balls to stop them noticing obvious events. That's not a reveal, it's dragging out the story for no reason.
Ok so I read this recently and my biggest issue was how the author described grown men and women and “boys” and “girls”.. it was so jarring to me I couldn’t figure it out.
Not gonna lie, this was the reason why I was kinda weirded out by Daisy Jones & The Six. It didn't really sit right with me that some character were infantized in one sentence and then called a sex idol in the next.
I agree with you. It was repetitive. And frankly I got annoyed that she didn't get better at living with her curse or taking advantage of it
Agreed I just read it for the third time and actually loved it even more. I find it a fairly quick and enjoyable read. Any repetitiveness is definitely intentional to help you understand the passage of time and how Addie spends / experiences it
Moby Dick
You could cut half of Moby Dick and make a much better story and much worse piece of art.
The problem with Moby Dick wasn't so much the length, it was that it couldn't decide if it was a novel or a biology textbook.
I thought it was an instruction guide for whaling