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Long novels or short novels?

I prefer to read novels, but as to the length it should have meaning. A lot of words that are there to take up space and contribute nothing of importance to the story is just a waste of paper. I like to see the characters and the plot well-fleshed out and resolved by the end, unless it is meant to be one of those cliff-hanger endings. I like those a great deal.
 
Peder said:
I tend to like long novels, and series even better. If a good novel never ended it would be just fine with me.
Peder
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I agree. I do tend to gravitate towards series as well because if the characters are convivial, who would want it to end? :cool:
 
I generally prefer shorter books, meaning 500 pages or under. This is because I read a lot of fantasy, and thus 500 is something of a minimum.
 
Length doesn't matter to me. It's content. I could read a really short novel but if the author makes me feel for the characters and makes me sad when the novel ends, then it's a great accomplishment. But I notice that with long novels the characters go more into depth and you delve into their lives more and feel like you're a part of them. You can't really do that in a short novel but you can feel attached to the characters just the same. Then again a long novel might be just as boring as a short one.

I have not come to a descision on this.
 
Either, depending on the mood I'm in. Sometimes I just feel like picking up a really long book, so I can get settled into a long story. Of course content matters as well - I won't read a long novel just for the sake of it, if the story does nothing for me.
 
Long or short. No real preference except to say: If a novel is going to be long the author needs to justify it with a compelling story line and characters you fall in love (or hate) with. Of course defining what is "long" is another argument altogether. When I get to the last fourth of a book I want to say, "Oh no! It's comming to an end" and not "God am I ever going to get through this."
 
I like books that fall somewhere in the middle. I find that even when I story is very good if it's to long I tend to start losing interest but I don't care fore short stories much either about when I get interested they're over. Difficult I know:rolleyes: I have found a couple of long series that I've liked Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and Otherland by Tad Williams.
 
One too-long book I read recently was Kushiel's Dart. It could have been quite an excellent book if it had been made a trilogy instead of a book. But there was simply too much happening in one volume!
 
It depends. I think most stories that are truly intriguing require a minimum of 250 pages, but one or two authors get away with it. (Ray Bradbury's novels were usually fairly short.) But if it's 500 pages of an author droning on and on, you just want to die...or kill the book. That's always good. But yeah, in general I prefer longer books, although I'll occasionally opt for a short one.
 
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