My eyes! My eyes!

So I’m reading this book right now. Love the book, love the author, all things are shiny… EXCEPT

The font of the text is miniscule. A friend measured it: 4 point font.

The publisher should give out a free magnifying glass with every purchase. I know saving paper is a blessing and whatnot, but come on, this is ridiculous! I’m young, I still have 20/20, my eyes are doing just fine, and I can hardly read the freaking thing. I have to put it down more often than I’d like because my peepers start to ache. I worry that my bedside lamp isn’t bright enough. I fear that this relatively innocent chick lit is making me go blind!

The last time this happened was with a gigantically thick mass market paperback romantic thriller, whose publisher managed to fit what I’m sure was a 130k length (at least) into the standard 400 pages by shrinking the font and printing text in the gutter. I found that one difficult to read because if I held it as delicately as required in order to keep my fingers from blocking the words, the book would slip out of my hands and close. This was not a book I could read on the train — too much jostling for my precarious fingerholds. The current skinny title, however, could have easily added a few more pages. Heck, let’s go really wild and throw in an extra signature. When I first bought it, I thought the thin volume looked downright skimpy, but it turns out that the story is meaty enough, they just squish the words. My chick lits shouldn’t be hard to read. Isn’t that the whole point of chick lit? It’s entertaining? Relaxing? Fun? This book is fun, but do you know what would make it even more so?

8 point font.

Off to find some cucumber slices. My eyes hurt.