Footnotes to a Conversation, June 6, 2022
This is a relatively short edition of Footnotes to a Conversation as my thoughts (and emotions) have been circling endlessly and inconclusively this week as to where I’d like to housesit in the UK this winter. It’s dominated my thoughts, sapped my energy, and left me extremely frustrated. It shouldn’t be a difficult decision and yet I can’t seem to make up my mind. Wish me luck!
Sounds of Silence
My sister Clare is a musician and hears hummingbirds long before she seems them, while I hear nothing at all. It’s made me much more aware of what is happening around me that I may have missed. David Haskell, author of Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution’s Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction, has compiled a list for The Guardian of 10 other books about listening to nature. I’m looking forward to reading Haskell’s book as well as The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating (the title alone is enough to draw me in!) and A Sweet, Wild Note. I’ve already read and enjoyed Rooted and Earth’s Wild Music. [The Guardian]
Book Length
I’m currently reading Something to Hide by Elizabeth George. The hardcover edition runs to almost 700 pages. That had me worried initially as I tend to avoid books that are so long. But this one works. All the characters and sub-plots are interesting so I don’t find myself longing to skip over the ones that bore me. The writing is clear so I have no difficulty keeping track of who did what, when. If you haven’t yet read Something to Hide, I definitely recommend it.
I find it interesting that some authors tend to increase the length and complexity of their books as they gain experience. Elizabeth George, Deborah Crombie, and Susannah Kearsley exemplify this trait. Other authors stick to a more formulaic approach with a similar plot outline and book length. While I admire the writers who can expand their skill set to encompass more complex topics and lengthier books, I also miss the simplicity and straightforward storytelling of some of their earlier novels.
A survey in 2015 showed that the average book was 25% longer than it was in 2000. Have we been influenced by digital reading, value for money, or television box sets? One publisher asserts that it’s a sign of increased confidence: “The novel has come into its own novel-ness. There are so many demands on our attention, so many competing forms, that these novels have decided to relish being big and long, to demand that you sit in a chair, turn off your phone and devote some time to them.” [The Guardian]
A post from Penguin says 300-350 pages is the sweet spot for novels, but that a lot depends on the nature of the book. Fantasy fiction is often longer as the author needs to build a world. It’s also a question of readability. A 200-page philosophical treatise takes more time to read and absorb than a 700-page book by Jilly Cooper. In the end, the length of the book isn’t all that important: “We consume books, regardless of their size, because they captivate us and compel us to read on. The idea of the 'perfect length' itself is a work of fiction.” [Penguin]
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.
If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.