There is a time and place in writing for just including the relevant facts, being succinct and directed. Who wants the wandering sidebar that adds nothing, for instance? Do you like all of the political rhetoric in Les Miserables and just want to get back to the story, or are you one who enjoys that? Maybe there is a place for the irrelevant in books.
When I, personally, set out to accomplish a task I am focused and determined. I don't want to be distracted from what needs to be done. This is my biggest hurdle with writing, writing the meaningless, the distractions. In reading Emma by Jane Austen there is a character who is so talkative that she bores Emma as well as the reader. But that is the whole point! You see this character as a real person. Who doesn't know someone who is a real talker? As you read her dialogue you feel with Emma the impatience. You understand.
This adds realism to a novel. Life is not without its distractions or its mundane. For instance, dishes need to be washed and clothes cleaned, but do these add anything significant to your life story? Not likely. But add a little of these to a story and it seems more believable.
Additionally, what mystery would be complete without the irrelevant thrown in as red herrings along the way. It adds to the mystery and suspense, not knowing what squeaks and sounds are relevant to the tale.
The danger comes with utilizing this too much. If, in Emma, Jane Austen had continued for twenty pages some inane dialogue we would all lose patience and try to skip ahead or just set the book down. It certainly wouldn't be a book that has stood the test of time.
I suppose, like so much of writing (and life), the secret is in finding the balance.
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