Proust In Search of Lost Time or Remembrance of Things Past Exceptional. Probably the longest novel in a European language, but it is a novel and not a collection of stories nor a multi-volume epic, though it is usually multi-volume. :_)
"Dragon's Egg" (I think that was the title, I was in 6th rade when I read it) It was basically the full history of the inhabitants of a star/planet/comet type thing. From their evolutionary starts to their first contact with mankind. THe last bit was the weirdest when they were talking to the humans...the creature's averae lifespan was only 15 min. so some of them dedicated their entire lives to conversing with these "mysterious beings".
I've been reading Atlas Shrugged for the past two years. Currently, I'm stuck in the middle of a fifty page long speech which I have to read because it's pretty much her thesis, though you know her thesis by page 200... anyway, it's really good. Just sometimes a little hard to get through. Especially the first 200 pages. After that it gets much more interesting. Anyway...Atlas Shrugged or the Counte of Monte Cristo. I think Atlas Shrugged is longer.
Oh, Proust is beautiful... I started reading the first book about a month ago, and loved it, but I realized that if I really wanted to appreciated it, I should read it when I have more time. The whole thing though...goodness. I suppose the longest book I've read would have to be The Brothers Karamazov but it was entirely worth it because it was also the best book I've read. I'm not sure how it compares to War and Peace or The Fountainhead but both of those are going to be read very soon, I'm hoping. I have to read long books over school breaks, otherwise I don't like them as much. I like being able to curl up in my room for seven hours and do nothing but read.
Shogun and Noble House by James Clavell Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien as one volume I haven't finished War and Peace yet (I'm already in Book 2).
The Brothers Karamazov. It was only about 770 pages, but with on average over 400 words per page... it was a wall of text. Well, a very enjoyable wall of text.
Incredebly, unbelievably enjoyable wall of text, haha. Which translation did you have? I've become a slight fan of Pevear and Volokhonsky.
I LOVE the translations Pevear and Volokhonsky have done! I wouldn't read them in anything else. (unless I learned Russian!). They did some of Gogol's and the majority of Dostoevsky's famous works, as well as Anna Karenina. I'll be getting AK soon, but I've read all of the aforementioned and they seemed to carry the author's style over well. I looked at a few translations but for the most part went by the reviews. Supposedly they translated all of the little sayings and such properly, whereas the other translators just went more or less word for word. I believe there are quotes on some of them (on amazon.com) comparing the different styles.
In terms of an epic collection of novels: The Dark Tower by Stephen King - something between 3,500 to 4,500 pages Otherwise, as a single novel: The Stand: 1,421 pages
hehe, the Dark Tower rocks. probably the most original fantasy epic ever. While others have elves and dragons, the Tower has billy bumblers and the Crimson King. By far one of my favorte set of books.
The Crimson King has been used in many other Stephen King novels. The one I'm reading now - Insomnia - also mentions it.
yeh but thats the thing bout he dark tower. it draws all his other books together. Pere Calahan's in it, from Salem's Lot. along with a number of other fellas
Do you like it? It's my least favourite book of his, which means it beats Gerald's Game and Dolores Claiborne - some tough competition. I thought after the first 200 pages it became really stupid. It does introduce Patrick Danville, though. Two of the most amazing scenes I've ever read are in The Dark Tower VII, at Algul Siento (I think that's the breaker scene or Blue Heaven) and the last 200 pages of trekking to the tower. Simply excellent writing. Milamber, I'm afraid I have to diss the Thomas Covenant book(s). I found the first one really boring, but hey I didn't really give it a go I guess.
I understand where ur coming from. Thomas Covenant is heavy literature. I found i had to sit there for ages just to understand all the character's emotions and stuff. I think it's better the second time around. Easier to understand the way the characters act. Everything in the Chronicles revolves around the characters' mental conditions. the way certain people react to things seem totaly stupid when you read them but if you look closer you can understand why the characters do what they do. I consider it a masterpiece because the character depth is enormous. EDIT: Also, i like it that the people with huge amounts of power are the most vulnerable because of their guilts etc... compress all that: yeah it can be a bit boring if you dont spend time scrutinizing every sentence for deeper meanings... It's not a light read
I think the story excels well at the creative side of characters emotion. I have also found it to be comical at times, with certain things that Ralph Roberts (the main protagonist) does. I've read up to page 402, and things at this point become really interesting.
The longest novel I have Ever Read is "The Mill on The Floss", Oops that was too big for me to finish during my graduation. I never made an effort to read it all at once. Instead, I used to run away from the back door when my Lecturer started readind the story of boring protagonist and her priviledged brother.. Instead I chose to read other novels... Like "Five point someone", "Alchemist" and stuff like that. Who likes to rea the boring stuff when you have the choice of reading better options. ROFL!!!
The longest novel I ever read has to be Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. It's more than 2000 pages long, 120 chapters, and simply incredible. It has to be one of my favorite books ever.
IT has some classic scenes, I'll give it that. But I couldn't get into the story for some reason. Stephen King writes such excellent longer novels.
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. A log, to say the least, and it feels longer due to the pedantic speeches delivered by allll the main characters (one of which extends over I think 60 pages...). That being said it gave me an interesting and previously unthought of perspective, challenged a lot of my beliefs, and was (to me) a damned good story to boot. The copy I have is 1168 pages, but I wouldnt be surprised if paperback editions were longer. I also read "It" by Stephen King which I really dont even remember as being very long; it was just a very enthralling story to me and length was never an issue.