In terms of word count and page count, what was the longest book you've ever read?
For me, it was Charles Dicken's "David Copperfield".
For me, it was Charles Dicken's "David Copperfield".
The Longest Book You've Read
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The Stand and IT, by Stephen King. Not sure which one is longer, but both are well over a thousand pages.
Child of the Phoenix by Barbara Erskine.
Twice.
Or the later Jamie & Claire books by Diana Gabaldon.
Twice.
Or the later Jamie & Claire books by Diana Gabaldon.
Stephen King's The Stand (wait, did I actually finish that one?) and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. Those ones are up there with the longest books I've read.
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When I was 13 I read James Michener's Hawaii, which IIRC was 613 pages. I don't think I've read anything longer since.
Mine was a Michener, too, but names flee from my memory when I reach for them. Seven hundred and some pages. I don't usually read hge books, actually.
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I'm thinking The Count of Monte Cristo. My edition has over 1,000 small print pages. Long in length, but also long-winded, I'm afraid.
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The Count of Monte Cristo is one of them. But the one I am currently reading is Under the Dome by Stephen King
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Probably one of the Malazan books, there's some epic doorstoppage in the series. At least two of them are 1200+ pages in mass market paperback edition. I don't even want to know how long the last two are going to be...
Tie between The Three Musketeers and Le Miserable. The actual Three Musketeers that I read was 7 volumes. It included the story of the Man in the Iron Mask as well and the last book even seemed incomplete, suggesting Dumas wasn't really ready to let it go.
Le Miserable, that one just felt long (all those chapters dumping background info about characters who got shot in the next chapter. Wondering what Hugo's chances were getting published today.)
Little fun fact: Alexander Dumas wrote for weeklies and got paid by word count. That's why all his books are so long unedited. I remember the original Count of Monte Cristo had a sub plot that was a carbon copy of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and took up 200 pages at least.
Le Miserable, that one just felt long (all those chapters dumping background info about characters who got shot in the next chapter. Wondering what Hugo's chances were getting published today.)
Little fun fact: Alexander Dumas wrote for weeklies and got paid by word count. That's why all his books are so long unedited. I remember the original Count of Monte Cristo had a sub plot that was a carbon copy of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and took up 200 pages at least.
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Either The Stand, Anna Karenina or one of the later "Earth's Children" books by Jean Auel. I can't locate the latter two at the moment to check.
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Pillars of the Earth and World Without End (both clocking in at over 1k*) both by Ken Follett. Ulysses was just under one thousand as well, but that took me like three months to finish. ugh.
*pages, not words. smartypants.
*pages, not words. smartypants.
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire unabridged, which was somewhere around 3500-4000 pages.
Some of the longest I initially thought of were The Brothers Karamazov, Moby Dick, and The Count of Monte Cristo. I did read the entire Bible straight through a couple of years ago, but I don't think that counts since technically it's composed of a bunch of books and we're not counting series.
Anyway, a quick look at Amazon.com says Shogun runs 1210 pages in paperback. So I think that takes the cake for me.
Anyway, a quick look at Amazon.com says Shogun runs 1210 pages in paperback. So I think that takes the cake for me.
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I seem to remember Moby Dick being shorter, but I haven't read it in ages so I don't remember lol.
I guess mine would be The Stand and Shogun. I keep thinking there was another thousand pager, but I can't for the life of me think of what it is right now. I've got the Romance of the Three Kingdoms on my desk at work waiting for me to finish my editing so I can tackle something that intensive. Put the two volumes together and it's right up there.
Oh yeah! The Witching Hour. I didn't even really like that one very much. All I can really remember are incredibly long descriptions and lots of sex. I'm kind of amazed I made it all the way through, honestly.
I guess mine would be The Stand and Shogun. I keep thinking there was another thousand pager, but I can't for the life of me think of what it is right now. I've got the Romance of the Three Kingdoms on my desk at work waiting for me to finish my editing so I can tackle something that intensive. Put the two volumes together and it's right up there.
Oh yeah! The Witching Hour. I didn't even really like that one very much. All I can really remember are incredibly long descriptions and lots of sex. I'm kind of amazed I made it all the way through, honestly.
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