The length of books

There are some books that are too long. There are some books that aren't long enough. I am usually dealing with one of these quandaries, but this month I am dealing with a new one: too many long books. While I enjoy lengthy novels, reading seven of them at once is...tiring. Les Miserables, The Lord of the Rings (very slowly), Doctor Thorne, Middlemarch, North and South, The Life of Charlotte Bronte, and The Three Musketeers. I thought twice about starting The Count of Monte Cristo or The Moonstone. To supplement these very long books, I am also reading several very short ones: Bath Tangle, Cranford, Northanger Abbey, and A Blunt Instrument. I prefer having many books going at once—it adds variety and allows for different reading moods—but usually I only have five or six. From some circumstances, though, more is required. My pile of books-I-am-reading is looking overwhelming...I must off to finish a couple to make it more palatable.