Don’t you miss those days when you were in school and you used to finish big fat books in a single day? I know I do. No kidding, I used to read 600 pages long books in a day and all my friends would whisper rumors about how I actually ate books. Anyway, those were the golden days. Now my attention span has grown smaller and most big books terrify me.

If I were to make a list of books I’ve been putting off they’ll probably all be 500+ pages.
It’s scary, okay. Why is it scary? Because I’m afraid to commit to such huge books, not knowing whether I’ll even like them or not. Because now I’m more concerned about the number of books I read and my ever-nagging TBR with hundreds of books demanding to be read. It’s a stress I try not to take but I’m no superhuman, it keeps creeping up on me.
And I’ve realized that one way to keep my fear of big books at bay is reading them e-book format.
First off, you can’t see how thick books are in the e-book format. Seriously, half my struggle is knowing that the book is thicker than my wrist like wow, we’re crossing a limit there. It’s hella intimidating. Plus some books are tall and thick which is really the scariest combination. But with e-books you can take it one page at a time.
Sure, sometimes it shows you a thousand pages in e-format but I know that page numbers in e-books are irrelevant. Sometimes 5 pages of the e-book make one physical page so that makes me feel more accomplished. Also sometimes on certain apps you only see the amount of time you can finish reading the chapter in so there’s no anxiety regarding the pages!
I often feel that even though I’m engrossed in a book I kind of keep checking how many pages are left. But with e-books I just keep swiping through the pages and I kid you not once I finished a book just like that and wondered if some pages were missing. It’s crazy!

Oh and I don’t have to break the spines of fat books or struggle to read the words that dip into the spine when I’m reading an e-book. Seriously, you can’t tell me you’re a reader and haven’t struggled with handling a thick book. I’m not particularly fond of breaking spines but I have to when I’m reading such big books because otherwise it really interferes with my reading and I get frustrated.
So yes, those are all the reasons why if I want to read thick books I usually prefer the e-book format. Plus if you’re travelling they don’t add to the luggage so it’s basically a smart decision all over 🙂

So, this is shorter than my normal posts but I really wanted to see if I’m the only one who prefers reading fat books in e-book or audiobook format. What do you think?
What are some thick book you are intimidated by?
Do you disagree with any of my points? Or are you just a person who isn’t scared of big books?

This is a good point! I’m conflicted because I prefer to physically feel a book in my hand but also I do think I read e-books quicker and they’re easier to hold… The dilemma!
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Ahhh ikr! I love holding books in my hand but dear gods, I’ve been reading Percy Jackson and the Greek Heroes which is a massive hardback and so difficult to handle! It’s so freaking heavy as well so yeah it’s quite a dilemma!
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I don’t really decide here, I do agree with your points, but the smell of the new book and its feel is keeping me going, but if it’s a course\study related book I prefer e-book there
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Ah yes. I do love the smell of books as well so I usually buy the medium or small sized books and read bigger books on e-readers. If I end up liking them a lot I purchase them because then I’m no longer intimidated by the size.
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I actually prefer reading big books in a physical format because it makes me feel more accomplished as I get through it, if that makes sense. I also keep getting distracted when using an e-reader in general so I’m biased towards physical books, and the distraction would surely be more during a bigger book.
Oh, also, I keep looking at how much time it’ll take for me to finish the book when using an e-reader and getting frustrated by it.
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Ahhh it does make sense. Oh yeah I guess if you have a kindle reader it’s less distractions but I get your points.
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This is a very interesting discussion! I personally do not like reading e-books because I cannot see my progress. I prefer reading big books in a printed format – at the beginning might be frightening, but then you start seeing the progress and it gets better and better. This applies if the story is captivating, of course 🙂
However, I also understand your point that not seeing the huge book might make it more appealing for readers 😀
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Thank you! Ah yes some people have been saying the same, that there’s a sense of accomplishment when you go through such a big book. Haha yes, sometimes if the story is a bit slow in the beginning I really struggle, which is why sometimes I’ll read big books in e-format and then buy the physical copy if I like them 😛
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Lots of interesting points made here. I personally read more e-books than physical books these days because of space constraints on my bookshelf, but if I had a *ahem ahem* library of my own, you can bet I’ll never look at an e-book again! My retention ability shoots down by 110% when I’m reading on my phone.
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Thank you!
Haha same, I mean I just spent half an hour trying to find space for this humongous new book I have cause my bookshelves are overflowing
Ahhh that does make sense! I personally don’t have much attention problems. I would love a huge library but if it has too many unread books I would probably get stressed over it, hehe.
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Ebooks and audiobooks make it better! Yes, in audiobooks the time feels like a lot but if I somehow manage to not look at that, it goes by pretty quick and is enjoyable. Very relatable post!!
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Omg yes, sometimes I’m like 10 hours of audiobook?? But then I increase the speed so it lessens plus yeah, time can honestly fly if the book is good.
Thank you, Sumedha 🙂
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This is a really accurate post! I tend to fly through books when I read on my ereader in opposite to physical books. A book that intimidates me is To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini 🙈
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Omg that’s hugeee I was going to buy it but got too intimidated haha
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Hahahaha I read a partial arc for it in august and I was sooo excited for the whole book but now I’m just intimidated sos
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Thank you! Oh my god yes I’ve seen pictures of how big that book is and WOW. For me, I have the Starless Sea on my TBR and it’s huge plus there’s the controversy of how people either hate or love it which scares me even more…
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Omg it has nearly 500 pages!! I get that it is daunting, especially if it’s a hit or a miss.. 500 pages is a lot if it then ends up not being good 😩
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Big or small, any kind of books, I just can’t imagine not reading ebooks anymore. It’s been almost a decade now and I’ve just gotten so used to them, I frankly find it very hard to hold on to a physical book and read anymore lol 😂
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I laughed when I saw the title of this post, because just the other day I DNF’d an ebook when I realized I was only 30% in and the hardcopy edition was over 600 pages. I couldn’t believe I still had so much more to go… I felt the opposite way re: progress – I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere and maybe I would have felt different if I could see that I had actually flipped some physical pages. But I generally avoid things over 400 pages to begin with, so I think the conclusion is whether ebook or physical, long novels are a hard sell for me 😛
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Ahh yes that makes sense too. Some other readers have said it makes them feel better to be able to see what progress they’re making.
Haha yes, long books are a hard sell for me too unless they’re very compelling or by an author I love 🙂
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I don’t find myself too intimidated by big books, but I’m weird and I like to hold bigger books physically so that I know where I’m at. But I definitely think that reading them in e-book format could help the focus be on the story and not on how many pages are left. Great post! 🙂
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Ah no you’re not weird, a lot of readers have commented that they like to hold big bools and see how much progress they’ve made 🙂
Thank you, I’m glad you liked the post!
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[…] at Not Just Fiction talks about how she’s able to tackle big books by reading them in e-format. She provides great points on why it works for her and brings the discussion to us. I find myself […]
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[…] Does the E-book Format Make Big Books Less Daunting? by Not Just Fiction […]
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Ahh I’m so late excuse me but this is super interesting; for me while I find that big books are daunting in physical format I actually feel like I will never ever finish ebooks hence being too scared to start them ahah, I guess I’m just not that into reading on screens?
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Ahh that makes sense! I know a lot of people don’t do well with reading on screens so going with a physical book is the best.
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