Started The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

I'm not overly excited about starting Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling which in my mind I've nicknamed Depression are US so I decided to take a short break and started The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley.  This remains one of my favorite books from adolescence.  I, of course, related to the largely misunderstood Aerin and really was as lonely as she seemed to be in the book as I had a very difficult time making friends.  Having said that, in my 50s, I'm obviously much more settled by I still enjoy the simple, fun story.  

When I pick up this book I'm often left wondering why books have become so big?  It is a lovely complete story at 227 pages but sitting next to Stalking Darkness seems to be undersized.  I find I miss shorter books.  You could feel accomplished by reading one in a day even if you only had a couple of hours and they were much easier to hold and carry.  When I was a teen I could get 6 or 7 in my always oversized purse and never run out of reading material even if it turned out I didn't like a particular book.