I've often had a book recommended to me and
I've gone to check it out, only to learn
that it's the first book in a 40-book series,
each one the size of the Greater Atlanta
Telephone Directory. Maybe it was a mistake
growing up as an Asimov fan, whose skinny
books didn't let things like characterization
or description get in his way of his plot.
"Bob, the ship's captain, entered in the
Engineering Room," would be a typical
Asmovian sentence that gave both
characterization [Bob's a captain] and
background description [there is a ship with
an Engineering Room, and presumably
interesting things will happen there].
Too right. The last time I counted the number of books I have on my shelves to read, it was up to 44. But that was a year ago, and I've only added a few new books, so it's probably down in the 30's. Or not. I now remember that "a few books" includes at least four role-playing game books, which would be justifiable if I actually played any role-playing games. But, hey, I just like reading rpgs, and maybe even whipping up a character or two for the heck of it.
The other book was Delta Green: Dark Theatres, which is a collection of really excellent short stories, in that ichor-filled Lovecraftian/Conspiracy vein. Oh, and then I reread I Am Legend, just because it's so damn good.
Back to my point, many of the books that I have yet to read are novels; a few are history books, military or otherwise, and others are short story collections. I'm not a particularly fast reader; I enjoy savoring a good turn of phrase. I reread passages to make sure that I'm picturing the setting just right, and I like to match the sound of the dialog to my idea of the characters. So I really like short stories, since, as Neil Gaiman once said, if you don't like one, just flip a few pages and you've got another one. Except that he said it in a better way, I think, and while wearing black.
So I share Mr. Marsh's resentment of books that are too damn long and aren't any good (which was the point of his article), and end up wasting time better spent reading...well, better books or stories. When I was younger, I used to get the urge to read a really long book, partly just for the hell of it, partly because I thought that a big book would have to hold a huge, ornate, wonderful story. And for some books and series of books, this was true. Just looking at the fantasy genre, I loved Lord of the Rings; I loved Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. But I felt utterly cheated by the whole Shannara nonsense. Fortunately, I was only starting the third book when I realized that Terry Brooks was using the same story and only changing character names. And he managed to get away with it for something like nine novels. Bravo, you stinking hack.
(End of part 1)