Let’s Read Long Books Again

Dec 2, 2024

4 min read

By Anna Karnedy

Social media has greatly changed reading as a hobby. Thanks to BookTok and Goodreads, reading has become a race to be won. Last year, I participated in Goodreads’ ‘Reading Challenge,’ where I said I hoped to read 85 books by the end of 2023. Participating in this challenge turned reading from a relaxing and immersive passtime into something stressful and rushed. I would read a great book, only to be told by Goodreads, ‘you’re eight books behind schedule!’ Behind schedule? From what? Reading is a lifelong, enduring experience. Choosing to only read short books in order to meet some quota, or move on to the next big BookTok romance means missing out on other wonderful stories. Sometimes, it is worthwhile to choose a colossal book to have as a longtime companion. Two such books that worked in this way for me were Letters to Vera by Vladimir Nabokov and Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Both not only took months to finish, but have remained etched into me long after I reached the final page.

In 1924, the legendary Vladimir Nobakov wrote to his wife Vera, “I dreamt of you last night–as if I was playing the piano and you were turning the pages for me.” Then, in 1970, he wrote, simply, “Thank you for your call yesterday, my radiance. Love you.” The pages before, after, and in between these two notes in Letters to Vera (of which there are eight hundred and sixty-four) contain much of the same: terms of endearment, stories, compliments, drawings, inside jokes, all culminating to display an everlasting love. Even if you have never read Nabokov, or disapprove of some of his controversial work, Letters to Vera remains an intimate and romantic look at what makes a partnership last, and the importance of family.

It is not enough to jump around, read excerpts, or only read the lovey-dovey portions of this book. To get the full effect, it must be read in chronological order in its entirety. There are some long sections of Nabokov describing his day, but those sections still merit reader attention; his writing is amiable and funny, and his detail exemplifies the beauty in the mundane. Most times, he wants his Vera to be there with him, so he writes everything to her so it can feel like she is. It is worth noting that we do not get Vera’s responses, and the letters from her husband that she provided to the editors of the book censored all the terms of endearment and declarations of love. Keeping this in mind, the reader can also reflect on what it means to be a woman and a muse, and the line between the private and the public sphere. Overall, though, Letters to Vera is a testament to the power of enduring, ordinary, every-day love between two people.

Far less sentimental, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest is better described as confusing, vividly disturbing, and sometimes even pretentious. And yet hunkering down to read it is beyond worthwhile.

Taking place in a future, unnumbered ‘Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment,’ the narrative follows the goings on at a tennis academy, and a halfway house, and how both relate to an addictive videotape circulating around a dystopian America. This is a woefully understated description of the plot, but any attempt at a nuanced synopsis would take a bulletin board and yarn to complete. Even having read the book twice, I am still a little unclear on some plot points. This is because it is not the story itself that remains with the reader, but the brilliantly original characters and profound insights on human nature.

Though not all likable, spending over a thousand pages with the characters means coming to know Pemulis, Mario, Gately, Joelle, and especially Hal, intimately. Instead of having one protagonist that the reader gets to know over some 300 pages, Infinite Jest gives the reader the full realm of emotions, attitudes, and philosophies that human beings are capable of having. Wallace sketches hundreds of characters with a contradictorily effective combination of pathos and frankness. While largely a satire on technology and the entertainment industry, boxing the novel in as such is unfair. Instead, it is necessary to see the gargantuan novel as an examination of how love and meaning persevere even as our world becomes more and more absurd.

I used to put off reading certain books because they were ‘too long,’ but now I do my best to sit down and get into them without worrying about how long it will take to finish. While it can be a great experience to sit down and read a short book in one sitting, reading a book solely for the purpose of finishing it does nothing to further welcome a person into the world of literature.

By the time I finished Letters to Vera and Infinite Jest, I felt as though I had built a profound connection with each that would not be lost when I put them back up on the bookshelf. And the best part was, all the other books on my TBR were still waiting for me. Despite what Goodreads will have you believe, there is no finish line, no race to be won. Reading requires thoughtfulness, and thoughtfulness requires time. Read the long book on your shelf. It’s so worth it.

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