[Jumbo Frendie]

I was wondering what is the average length of a book you will purchase. My minimum would probably be about 300-350 any shorter than than that and id finish the book to quickly.

Personally i enjoy longer books wat about you?

[Draig]

I like to read shorter books in between the longer ones :p

[Taruni]

Both are fine...it depends on the book itself, its theme and the quality of the writing...

[Iskaral Pust]

Short. I've nothing against long books, but in my experiance more short books are good books than long ones - simple as that.

[redgriffin]

Maters what mood I’m in at the time

[Nevyn]

I prefer well written books. Honestly, a book with ten pages that is well written can tell a far greater story than one with six hundred. A good example is Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword. 208 pages of story. Not filler of some kind or a description about what shoes the villian was wearing, but an engaging story from start to finish! On the other hand there have been books like Perdido Street Station 800+ pages, that for me, seemed to get better the more I read.

The lenght of the book isn't as important as what is in it. I'd rather quality over quantity anyday :)

[The Master™]

Depends on the author and the story... I've read books with 200 pages and enjoyed those "quickies" and then I've read books with over 1000 pages and enjoyed those too... Think I prefer a LONG book... Especially that is part of a trilogy/saga!!! :D

[Murrin]

Yup, depends almost entirely on how good the book is. A good book I'll read at whatever length. I used to read a lot of larger (700+ pages) books, but now there's an even mix from the big fat ones down to the 300-pagers.

[Yobmod]

I read books of all sizes from short stories and novellas, to novels, and 5000 page series.

My preferred length would be a small to medium sized novel tho, between 200 and 400 pages long.

I find most long books (ei 700 pages) and series to be over filled with waffle and padding, and that even the good ones have usually made all the interesting points in the first few hundred pages. As always there are exceptions.

Do people that mostly read long series not find that they read fewer different stories? I've read over 20 Gene Wolfe books (including 5 short series) that works out to 10 different stories / settings. Whereas the 17 Eddings books (i was young and foolish!) i've read are only 5 stories if being generous, counting stories with same characters and setting as seperate. I find that annoying, as i want diversity in my reading.

[Randy M.]

I prefer well written books. Honestly, a book with ten pages that is well written can tell a far greater story than one with six hundred. A good example is Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword. 208 pages of story. Not filler of some kind or a description about what shoes the villian was wearing, but an engaging story from start to finish! On the other hand there have been books like Perdido Street Station 800+ pages, that for me, seemed to get better the more I read.

The lenght of the book isn't as important as what is in it. I'd rather quality over quantity anyday :)

This pretty much sums it up for me, too. I read very few books over (approx.) 500 pages because it's an investment in time and attention that I don't always have to give. Very few books of that length look to be all that well written, anyway.

So, being a somewhat slow, painstaking reader, I prefer books under 350 pages. There's at least the implication that such a novel has been written and rewritten, crafted so that the story has been compressed into the fewest words needed for the greatest effect. That's what I like.

Randy M.