Why so little time?

[easol.livejournal.com]

I'm a little fuzzy on the time passing during the first nine or so books, but I've noticed that with the last several AB books, time is CRAWLING. As in, it takes a whole book to get through a twenty-four hour period, most of which are pretty close together chronologically.

This has also led to the books apparently stll remaining in the eighties. Not just cuz of the clothes, but the lack of references to so-common-you-can't-swing-a-dead-cat-without-hitting-them items, like cell phones and iPods.

Any idea why this is?