My current reading challenge is to read at least twelve 800+ page books this year.
And since I’ve already gotten some favorite reads from this group, I’d love to hear your recs. So far this year I’ve read Lonesome Dove, Shōgun and The Priory of the Orange Tree. Lonesome Dove was my favorite of the three.
Fiction or nonfiction, but if it’s nonfiction, I’d say make it either narrative style, investigative or maaaybe something in the popular science genre. Doesn’t have to be “literary,” whatever that means. I do often do hybrid listening/reading since I have a work commute, so if any of your big book faves have a good audio version, feel free to mention it!
Obviously 800 is an arbitrary cutoff, but it’s my arbitrary cutoff.
(I’ve already read War & Peace, Count of Monte Cristo, The Brothers Karamazov, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter & The Bible, so not looking to repeat any of those)
Thanks!!!!!
by FaceOfDay
29 Comments
Read Malazan, you’ll hit your goal in a single series.
And I cannot lie
You other authors can’t deny
Robert Caro – The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
A biography of the city panner Robert Moses, responsible for much of the modern driving infrastructure and many of the public works in New York. It’s over 1000 pages, and it’s riveting. I never thought that city planning and the business of roads could involve so much villainy.
William T. Vollman – Fathers and Crows
Technically volume 2 of an ongoing (and likely to never be finished) series called Seven Dreams, about encounters between Native Americans and Europeans. You don’t need to have read volume one to understand it, this book (and all the other books in the series) are able to stand alone. The book is about the encounters between the Northwestern Indian Confederacy and White settlers (mainly the Jesuits) during the 18th century. It’s got quite a lot of detail about Catholic theology and Native American mythology, Vollman’s a great researcher.
Pillars of the Earth
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth is my favorite (it is 1300 pages)
Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard
Anathem by Neal Stephenson.
Raptor by Gary Jennings
Gone With the Wind
Neal Stephenson knows how to write big books, like Cryptonomicon and Reamde.
Roots by Alex Haley
It by Stephen King is around 825, I think.
At this point, you’ve gotta do Moby Dick! It’s a classic big book!
It’s… not the best book ever, I won’t lie. But it’s quite fascinating. It’s got such in depth discussion and knowledge of the sea and whaling, as well as, segues about religion, society, and life itself.
Be prepared for lots of tangents, in depth almost non-fiction passages about whale biology, and a quest for vengeance that encapsulates the age-old battle of man vs nature.
Question, have you tried the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan? 14 books, and the average page count is around 800.
The Luminaries by Catton is amazing, and probably something you’d enjoy based on your reads
4321 by Paul Auster
Bubblegum by Adam Levin
The Instructions by Adam Levin
Night Sleep Death the Stars by JCO
The Dying Grass (or Fathers and Crows) by William T Vollmann
Against the Day by Pynchon
The Invented Part by Fresán (first of a trilogy, and a dear favorite of mine)
Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright
Underworld by DeLillo
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
A Fine Balance by Mistry
The Cairo Trilogy by Mahfouz
XX by Rian Hughes
A few of these fall a bit short of 800 pages but are worth your time and you’ll feel invested in them.
And you cannot lie
Anna Karenina
Forever Amber by Kathleen Winsor is the longest book I’ve read at 972 pages. It flies by, too. It was considered very racy in the 1940s, not so much today.
Edward Rutherford has a number of historical fiction books that number over 800 pages.
11/22/63 by Stephen King is also over 800.
Cutting for Stone, The Covenant of Water (both Abraham Verhese)
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (just under 800 pgs)
11/22/63
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Executioner’s Song
The Naked and the Dead
Both by Norman Mailer
Edit: TN&TD is 736 pages, my bad
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke is delightful fantasy, way higher quality than most of what’s written nowadays.
Caribbean by James Michener
Joseph and His Brothers, by Thomas Mann. About 1500 pages. Not gonna lie, it took me a while to get into it, but it was worth it in the end. And yes, it is the story of the coat of many colors, all the way down to Joseph saving his brothers from famine. That story is like… 10 pages or so in Genesis. So Mann obviously embellishes a tiny bit.
Matterhorn and Deep River by Karl Marlantes
It, Under the Dome, and 11/22/63 by Stephen King
Swan Song by Robert Mccammon
Shogun by James Clavell (also Tai Pan andNoble House)
A Brief History of Seven Killing by Marlon James
Don Quixote
I really liked
4321 by Paul Auster
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Brothers Karamazov?