Can you have too much of a good thing?

I’ve got two books on the go at the moment and coincidentally am experiencing the same problem with both: they’re too long although neither is a bad book.

I’m about half way through Michael Connelly’s The Lincoln Lawyer which runs to 12 CDs (just over 14 hours). It follows the plight of Mickey Haller, a 40-something defence lawyer in Los Angeles. There’s a big case where Mickey is defending a rich person who’s been accused  of assaulting a woman and there are a lot of other cases along the way. I’m quite engaged by Mickey and the big case has just gotten to a crucial point which I am very curious to see resolved. But, and it’s a big but, the thing is dragging like a wet weekend. I can’t believe the amount of detail included (long descriptions of meals eaten and every item of clothing someone is wearing etc).

I’m about a third of the way through the print version of Stephen Booth’s Blood on the Tongue. This one weighs in at 632 pages. The third in a series featuring DC Ben Cooper and DS Diane Fry who operate in England’s Peak District. A Canadian woman wants the local war-time crash of her grandfather’s plane to be re-investigated 57 years after the incident occurred and an unidentified man has been found in the snow. Both cases are at least mildly interesting and Ben Cooper is a character who has the potential to be someone I would like. But, and again it’s a big but, this one is dragging even more slowly. I’m at page 184 and I’d only need the fingers of one hand to count the important plot developments. But I can tell you what everyone’s wearing and describe in some detail the shops in the high street of the local town.

It’s not a length issue precisely, I recently listened to Child 44 which was also 14+hours long and I loved it so much I’d have been happy for it to go on longer. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed both the Stieg Larsson books that have been translated to English so far and they were nearly as long as Booth’s. It’s more an issue of the lack of a red pen during the editing process.

Normally I don’t have a problem stopping a book if I’m not enjoying it but in both these cases I’m quite interested in the stories.

I’m just not sure I’m interested enough to slog through the minutiae both have incorporated, especially with so many titles giving me come hither looks from my TBR shelves.

Sigh.