| Like people, novels come in different sizes. With the rise in obesity, I don’t know what the average size of a human being might be, but I do know that the average for a novel is around 300 pages or 100,000 words – although it varies between genres, just as the average for a person can vary across countries. As a fairly small person, I’m nevertheless sometimes surprised to encounter a member of the same species who is two or three times the size of me. I suppose we have some kind of “standard” in our heads. Is it the same with novels? |  |
Of course, a novel should be exactly the length it needs to be, no more, no less. But when, to take an example from these outliers I’ve plucked from my bookshelves, The Heart’s Invisible Furies contains almost four times as many pages as Evening Primrose, I start to wonder what’s going on. I could class the latter as a novella, although I don’t think the publisher did and I’m not aware of any similar word for a novel that’s super long.
I picked out these ten novels because I enjoyed them all, but generally I tend to prefer average-sized books. Too short, and it might not stick in my mind, especially if there’s no overnight sleep between reading periods. Too long, and – unless it’s really good – I start fretting about all the other books waiting on my TBR shelf. Even so, I’m not sure this is logical. So what about you? Do you have a preferred length for your fiction fix?
I picked out these ten novels because I enjoyed them all, but generally I tend to prefer average-sized books. Too short, and it might not stick in my mind, especially if there’s no overnight sleep between reading periods. Too long, and – unless it’s really good – I start fretting about all the other books waiting on my TBR shelf. Even so, I’m not sure this is logical. So what about you? Do you have a preferred length for your fiction fix?
 | A range of sizes among the eleven books I’ve featured this month on Annecdotal. Click or tap on the image for any reviews you might have missed. |
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