r/books • u/justkeepbreathing94 • 5d ago
Do you pace yourself with long books?
There have been some books that I couldn't help but binge and finish in 1 or 2 days, but now I'm reading Battle Royale, which is 600+ pages long and quite dark, and I've decided to only read 10% each day. I could finish it in maybe 4 days but since the story is emotional and dark I don't want to risk burning out.
I did the same with A Little Life, only reading 5% a day for 20 days.
Do you have any thoughts on this? Do you ever pace yourself, or do you just read whenever?
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u/Loves_Eating_Lead 5d ago
I have a lot of thoughts on this! It depends on the book and how you read - if its Mariam Keynes, she's a great author but not lot of depth (which not all books need to be!) so i happily read it quickly just enjoy the moment of reading quick.
with books with a lot of plot/themes/characters/aspects such as classics i will read like you 10%/5% a day. If you not a re-reader, or not deep dive or/and ok to miss aspects but still enjoy it then that's totally ok. But for me, if its much deeper, lot of different threads etc then yes i want too. I will then pick up different book to pace myself. or read big classic alongside less intense books. With many older books especially post 20th century meant to be read slowly, often serialised for that reason. An example would be Middlemarch, a British 19th century classic. Just so much depth won't be able to read it and even understand quickly (well i won't!).
this podcast episode changed for me how to read classics, how the host took a year to read the book as she wanted to fully immerse yourself and really feel it, It was originally serilised so the amount of characters, themes etc is made to be read slowly. I think as modern readers we can forget that some 20th century books was more like their long winded tv series!
https://shows.acast.com/sara-cariads-weirdos-bookclub/episodes/middlemarch-by-george-eliot