This month I’ve spent a fair amount of my free time working my way through one of the biggest books on my shelf: The Luminaries, by Eleanor Catton. At 832 pages, it’s certainly a substantial read!
As I slowly approach the end, I’ve been looking through some of the other doorstops in my collection, which all clock in at over 500 pages.
Unfortunately, so far I’ve only read half of them – but I do enjoy a challenge.
- The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood – 637 pages
- The Divine Comedy, by Dante – 735 pages
- The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami – 607 pages
- Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin – 780 pages
- The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas – 875 pages
- IQ84: Book One and Book Two, by Haruki Murakami – 623 pages
- Sherlock Holmes: The Short Stories, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – 764 pages
- Moby Dick, by Herman Melville – 634 pages
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, by Steig Larsson – 599 pages
- The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt – 784 pages
It’s interesting to see just how many of these books fall into the category of ‘classic’. Nowadays, there seem to be fewer long novels published. We have much shorter attention spans and thanks to the rise of the e-reader, publishers can compile data on how quickly we give up on the books we’ve chosen to read.
Modern epic length fiction often falls into the fantasy or historical genres, where details play a pivotal part in the story and thus extend the word count way above the average novel. Think about books like Lord of the Rings or Wolf Hall.
It can be intimidating to read a novel of that length; it’s taken me over a year to get to The Luminaries, despite it having won a major award. But epic novels can be worth the effort and the time, even if their sheer length can often prove frustrating.
What’s the longest novel on your bookshelf? Have you ever read something that would benefit from being a lot shorter?
Kristin | My Life as a Teacup says
It’s funny, I feel like all I see these days are unnecessarily long novels being published! That said though, I do enjoy a meaty read if it’s warranted. House of Leaves being one of my favorites 🙂
Amy Lord says
Not heard of that one! It is annoying when you can see that a long book could have been edited down, and been much better for it. The Twilight books are prime examples of this for me!
Sara Strauss says
I really want to read 1Q84 and The Wind Up Bird Chronicle! I’ve never read any of his work! I personally try not to read books that are really long because it takes me forever to read them and I get discouraged by that.
~Sara
Amy Lord says
You should definitely read some Murakami, he’s amazing! The first book I read of his was Norwegian Wood, which is fairly straight compared to some of his other stuff so might be a good introduction. It is frustrating when it takes ages to read something, but if I’m enjoying it I don’t mind!
Gemma says
Ahhhh I loved The Luminaries!! I had the same apprehensions before getting stuck in, but I found that once the story had my attention, the sturdy length of the book didn’t seem to bother me. I had this also with the Game of Thrones series, in fact, as I finished each one I found myself not wanting them to end!!
Shamefully, I haven’t read any of the other books on your list!! Can’t wait to see which ones you tackle next!!
Gemma
http://www.fadedwindmills.com
Amy Lord says
Thanks Gemma! Must admit, I didn’t love The Luminaries but I’m glad I read the whole thing. It doesn’t really matter how long the book is as long as you’re into it – you’re right about Game of Thrones, so great to read!
Erin @ Paperbackstash says
The longer the better when it comes to series. For standalones I prefer 400 or less
Amy Lord says
I agree, when you’re involved in a story you always want more 🙂