Let's Discuss: Font Size

 

So this question will be more for my "real" book readers since with ebooks you can adjust things like font and font size. But I was about to pick up another fantasy read when I saw how teeny tiny the text was and thought...maybe not just yet.

Font Size

How much does font size effect your reading? Coming from a real book reader where you can't adjust things, which I know, I know, THIS is the benefit of ereaders. But I still can't get used to them. I like knowing my page length so I can internally pace myself with my reading speed and I can't do that with an ereader. Yes, they can apparently track your reading speed as well, but I've found my kindle to be grossly inaccurate at times with their ETA. 

So for the sake of this matter, let's just ignore ereaders and their benefits.

When you see a book has a smaller font size and smaller line spacing how likely are you to pick it up? Say it's an author you love or a book you're dying to read? Are you likely to pick it up right after reading another epically long fantasy book...when the new book is another epically long fantasy book? Same genre at least, and when I say "epic" I am just describing size and not actual epic fantasy as a genre.

I had just finished a 400+ page fantasy read and the font size was actually pretty standard but since I read it over the holiday week and then some, my reading time was cut drastically so I didn't get to devote the time I wanted to it. So it took me way longer to read than normal. When I picked up my next planned read, I saw that it was under 400 pages but the font. Was. So. Tiny! And I just thought...that's going to take me longer to read since there are more words on the page and the line spacing is just as small as the last book I read with normal size text.

And I just thought...I need a little break from fantasy for the moment before I dive back into this kind of length and storytelling. Granted, when I say I "need a break," I really am talking about maybe 1 or 2 reads. It's only 2 reads this time because I want to finish off a series and thought let's just do this now instead of after that planned read. I'm still reading a branch of fantasy even! I just felt like the fantasy world I was about to dive into might be too much for me to handle with that size text and my reading speed. It's a weird situation. I know I don't read fast and with small text I just felt like a quick break was just the thing I needed!

So I suppose my question is, in a roundabout way, has a book's formatting ever had you postponing when you want to read it? I have put off loooooong books for when I know I can devote good time to it. It's why I am sooooo behind in Jennifer L. Armentrout's books and still a book behind in SJM's Crescent City series.