So, I have started reading and am really enjoying Dominion by CJ Sansom, but there is one thing that I am struggling with. See, for a while now I have been resorting to “Old School” reading aka, buying paper instead of electronic, but I am really wishing that I had gone the electronic route with the book. It’s a whopper! So much so that it barely fits into my handbag in the morning, and it adds a load of weight to one shoulder (picture a 40-something woman sloped to one side while walking to get the bus, and that’s just about right, lol). It’s 717 pages in length & measures: 19 x 13 x 5 cm – 5cm thick!!
Then there’s the problem with holding it to read. I don’t have overly small hands, but I find it difficult to hold this book to read. It’s the kind of book that needs to be sat on a desk to read, which in and of itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but a) I don’t have a desk, except at work & I suspect that my boss would frown upon me sitting at said desk to read while I am actually meant to be working, and b) I usually read, as previously mentioned in another post, whilst sitting on the bus for 30-40 minutes on the journey to and from work. So, since I am finding this book hard to hold it has meant that on several occasions I have chosen to stare out the window, or cat nap rather than read. Not good! Also, I sometimes suffer from a pinched nerve in my left wrist, which I have self diagnosed as a repetitive strain injury, and reading/holding Dominion has aggravated this as
So, when does a paperback book become too big? Is there such a thing as too big? Don’t get me wrong, I am sure that this particular book is exactly as long as it needs to be, but maybe there was another way of doing this? How do the publishers decide on what format a paperback is going to be in? I realise that this last sentence doesn’t make much sense to anyone but me, but what I am trying to say is, couldn’t they have gone with one of those paperbacks that are larger than a standard paperback? Like this: (apologies, this was the best example I could find)
The larger size book would have meant more words per page, therefore less pages needed, therefore thinner book. To all you authors out there, have you ever seen one of your books and thought “oh boy, that’s sorta big.”
…Surely I cannot be the only one who finds chunky books hard to read?
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