A reader recently asked:
Why do novels have page numbers? Seems odd considering they’re not reference books.
My reply:
Novels have page numbers so readers can reference the text, compare notes, and share juicy quotes with each other.
For example: when I was a freshman in high school it would have been reckless to speak out loud about a certain scene in The Godfather, involving Sonny Corleone, a bridesmaid, and some explicit descriptions none of us could quite believe. But when my friends and I were crammed in my family’s station wagon, being driven to the movie by my mom, we could giggle and whisper to each other, “Think they’ll show Page 72?”
(Note: they did.)
