So I'm going through my catalogs for the upcoming season, just looking to see what's up, what's on the way, what I need to get excited about, and I run across the new Stephen King title, Under the Dome. So far, so much like normal; King usually releases a novel in the fall (last year's Duma Key was exceptional, by the way). Then I paid a bit closer amount of attention to some of the fine print: Simon & Schuster's tentative page count is 1,136 pages. Let's spell that out, draw out the impact a little: one thousand, one hundred and thirty six. How about a little comparison? Roberto Bolano's 2666, for example: 867 pages. David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest - in paperback, which traditionally makes books longer? 1079, including bibliography, appenices, etc. Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & M. Norrell, a book so big they had to split it into two volumes upon paperback release: 846. Only the great doorstop of 20th century literature - Atlas Shrugged - beats out King's proposed page count, and that just barely, at 1168. No, one more: in paperback, King's own The Stand creeps ahead, at 1,141. |
Next SigningClaire Datnow
will be signing
 Wednesday
February 15
1:00 - 3:00 pm Little Professor Bookclub |
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Stephen King Really, Really Likes Wordsposted Apr 26, 2009 2:12 PM by Little Professor [ updated Apr 26, 2009 2:25 PM ] |