Yes. I know the difference between literary and literally. Okay? Hope we clear on that. And yes, this post is titled, “Size Matters, Literary Speaking”; no typo right there. Because, today, I’m talking about the size of the books. And also another yes, House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas, with its whopping 800+ pages, keeps on glaring at me. Y’all knows how a book glares…the cover being extra shiny and all pretty and keeps on telling that you should pick it up because it is pretty and shiny.
Pick me, pick me, pick me up.
Going back on a serious note, let’s talk all about the big, bad, books. Big books for me are anything that is more than 500 pages. I don’t care if it has illustrations on it or it’s a graphic novel. If it’s more than 500 pages, then, it’s a big book for a small girl like me.
So you know where this is going right? Confession time!
I’m afraid of big books and I cannot lie. There you go, folks!
I, being afraid of big books, is the main reason why book size matters to me. I’m sure lots of you out there are also afraid of these big, bad, books. There’s Ariel, for starters. If it’s too big, chances are I’m not gonna read them. I’m not really sure when, where, and how the fear started. I used to be that small girl who reads thick books—from Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix to Murakami’s 1Q84. You see, back then, I wasn’t this weak. Not that, I’m weak right now. You get what I’m saying right?
So it’s about time we talk about why big books are sometimes scary and how to cope with that fear. Little steps for smol girls like me. Let’s psychoanalyze (??) myself in solving this mystery of my fear for big books.
Excuses Reasons why I don’t read big books a lot
Reason #1: Big books, the destroyer of faces
Imagine, lying down, reading a book with at least 500 pages. Then, bam, you fall asleep and your book decides to do what gravity is telling it to do.
It looks okay, but I tell you, it really hurts.
The so-called book is then trying to murder my face, and myself in general. Man, my nose is already flat…Why make it flatter??!!?! And I have enough pimples in my face, I don’t need a big book bump, if that’s a thing, in my head. Thank you very much for not killing me.
Reason #2: Rarely DNF-ing books
To be fair, I don’t really DNF books. I just put them back into shelves hahaha. But anyway, what I truly mean is that I don’t want to read a book until it’s half-way done and then realize that I don’t like it. It makes me feel like a quitter. And I don’t like that feeling.
Reason #3: Content, please
Ever since I started to be serious about this blog, I’m finding more excuses to not read big books because, usually, these books require more time. And I need to review books. If I don’t have a book finished, then what content should I give you and all the other amazing people out there who were tricked to go read this post??? So yes to the average-sized books (300 to 400 pages long)
Reason #4: Goodreads challenge and my long-ass TBR.
As a competitive person, I like all my goals to be met by its deadline. This year my goal is to read at least 52 books. That’s like reading one book per week. And again, I feel like big books require more time. Which I think is not really true at all.
Gahd. Big books are such attention-seekers. Half-kidding.
It’s ironic that I think that big books require more time. This month, I’m reading at least one book per day. Hell, I read two 400-page books yesterday. And when you combine those two, that’s 800 pages read in just a day. Quick Maths! Following that logic, I can, therefore, and theoretically-speaking, can read an 800-page book in just one day.
But then again, I can read more books if I read smaller ones. And I’m making excuses for myself again.
Coping Mechanisms
And all other things I do to force myself in reading big books. Maybe some of these might work on you. Or might not. Who knows?
Tip #1: Reverse psychology
You know what, you don’t really want to read big books because of the said reasons excuses stated above. I swear. YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ BIG BOOKS. Or maybe you do.
Youuu. Dooo. Nooot. Wannnt. Tooo. Readdd. Biiiig. Boooks.
The point here is don’t read big books if you don’t want to. It will just come to you, naturally. Often times, when I force myself to read big books when I don’t want to, it makes me stuck in a reading slump. Which is way worse, I tell you. I always tell myself that reading is not a competition. Reading is a way to de-stress ourselves from the tiring days; it’s not something we do to add more stress to ourselves.
Tip #2: Mind over matter
Ok, fine. There are some times when we really need to read. For example, some of our professors add stress to our lives by technically forcing us to read. Assigned readings and all that other stuff.
When this happens, what I mostly do is to think that what I’m reading is something short. Or sometimes, I just force myself to read it. I tell myself, “Hey Bea, if you don’t do this, your grades would probably suffer,” and sometimes it works. But most of the time, it doesn’t. So head over to Tip #3.
Tip #3: Break it into chunks
If you think you’re bored reading a certain big book, maybe it’s because your brain is subtly telling you that you do not want or like the book. That or your brain needs some resting. So go break that book into bite-size chunks. And another pro-tip. Maybe give yourself a rest or a reward after reading a small part of the book. This is what I did while I was reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.
Tip #4: Do not look at the page count
Yesterday, I was flying through the pages of Aurora Burning by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I didn’t know that that book was 512 pages long. I read it in just half a day. If you don’t know what’s a big book, then what’s to fear, right? I didn’t know that book is considered to be a “big” book in my definition, so guess what, I wasn’t afraid. And man, that book was awesome as hells.
Are you a fan of big books? Or like me, do you also have a fear of big books?
And more importantly, does size matter for you, literary speaking?
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