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  1. katina

    katina Banned Contributor

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    The longest book you have ever read

    Discussion in 'Discussion of Published Works' started by katina, Apr 18, 2019.

    and was it worth it/good?
     
  2. Moon

    Moon Contributor Contributor

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    American Gods. It was okay. Main character got dubbed "Blandman" by me after a few chapters.
     
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  3. katina

    katina Banned Contributor

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    Hi there Moon liking your avatar.
    Why blandman?
    Not to worry about spoilers I would not reading it
    anytime soon. ;) :p
     
  4. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    Maybe Cryptonomicon, which is somewhere north of 410K words. Next is probably one of the Malazan books, many of which get close to 400K.

    Yes, they were all good.
     
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  5. katina

    katina Banned Contributor

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    Just out of curiosity why were they all good?
     
  6. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    The unredacted version of Stephen King's The Stand.

    Was it worth it? Sure. King still had ideas to process at the time, and the breadth of the story arguably merited its length. He's known for being longwinded and indulging levels of detail and ancillary character building that doesn't always make sense or pay off, but in The Stand I think it works.
     
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  7. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    Ah--well, I'd have to get into the characteristics of each book. Cryptonomicon--sprawling, funny, engaging, strange. Typical Neal Stephenson. The Malazan books are epic tomes with interesting events and characters, also somewhat unusual and prone to asides. They're fun.
     
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  8. Shenanigator

    Shenanigator Has the Vocabulary of a Well-Educated Sailor. Contributor

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    If we're including non-fiction, it was Larousse Gastronomique, an oversized hardcover of 1030 pages of small print, which I read cover to cover.
     
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  9. Night Herald

    Night Herald The Fool Contributor

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    Easily The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by E. Gibbon, weighing in at 1,1 million words spread across 700 pages. But that's non-fiction.

    For fiction, it might be Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. It certainly has the highest page count at 1328, and a word count of roughly 420k.

    And yes, both are worth reading, if you're into ancient history and High Fantasy respectively. Words of Radiance (everything by Sanderson, really) isn't really my brand of Fantasy, but I enjoyed it well enough. I might pick up the sequel at some point.
     
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  10. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    The Count of Monte Cristo (abridged 634pgs).
    It was pretty good, and interesting.

    Though I have one Trilogy in a single book that is
    966 pgs. that I have yet to read. So I will let you know
    how it was. :p
     
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  11. almostvoid

    almostvoid Member

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    I read that book. It started off promising but I did not go along with the story later -- it seemed to petre off into unconvincing meanderings----I think putting 'American' in front of anything makes me suspicious.
     
  12. almostvoid

    almostvoid Member

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    Gibbon is great. His style evocative.
     
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  13. almostvoid

    almostvoid Member

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    Thomas Mann's Zauberberg [Magic Mountain]--- the great man does waffle on. One part he describes a record player and takes four pages of monumental verbosity that has then won him acclaim. The only one of the family of writers is Klaus Man and his Mephistopheles. But that is not very long.
     
  14. katina

    katina Banned Contributor

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    Did you enjoy it?
     
  15. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    The King James Bible. It may not have actually been the longest, but it sure seemed like it.
     
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  16. Iain Sparrow

    Iain Sparrow Banned Contributor

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    Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. (782 pages)

    The magic and whatnot was a bit trite, and the dialogue sometimes tedious. In the end, it was a little like reading Pride and Prejudice, but with magicians, and a body count. I will tell you though, the characters stuck with me long after I finished the book. And that rarely happens.
     
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  17. Night Herald

    Night Herald The Fool Contributor

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    Absolutely. It has aged very well.
     
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  18. Shenanigator

    Shenanigator Has the Vocabulary of a Well-Educated Sailor. Contributor

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    I did. It gave my cooking a stronger foundation, and I still refer to it.

    Still pondering the original question. I've read a lot of long novels, but none of them stand out as being the "longest". When I finally get through a Tolstoy (tedious because I'm dyslexic), it will probably be one of those.
     
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  19. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    longest as in word wise, The Host by Stephanie Meyer. Didnt seem all that long. I devoured it! I liked it more than the Twilight Saga, tbh. Sure it had flaws and a Bella-esque main character, but I guess I was just more in to aliens and the "end of the world" vs. vampires and werewolf high school drama (I think I was in middle school or early HS when the book came out).

    Longest book as in density and the feeling like it took FOREVER to get through would be Heart of Darkness. Its literally only 78 pages, but I felt like it was like 600! i'd fall asleep, wake up and still hate life. I'd read a whole page and not remember anything and have to go back and reread it! It took me a while to get through it and I still don't remember anything other than its about a guy who goes to the Congo and starts to rethink his life because things go to crap.
     
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  20. Moon

    Moon Contributor Contributor

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    Wait, I take back my vote. Stephen Kings It is the longest book I've ever (attempted) to read, but found myself sleeping on. Until one day I ended up dropping it on my nose and gave up.

    Since the title says read and didn't speicfiy finished I'll go with that book.

    No I didn't enjoy it.

    Because it was boring to me.

    Because, because.

    Hope that answers all questions. :p
     
  21. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    The Woman who Lost her Soul is a very long and amazing story. It was a Pulitzer finalist a few years back. It's over 1k pages but well worth the read.
     
  22. Shenanigator

    Shenanigator Has the Vocabulary of a Well-Educated Sailor. Contributor

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    That's a good point. In that case, mine is Anna Kerenina, which I've attempted to read three times but keep getting stymied by the similar character names. Otherwise, I think I'd like it just fine.
     
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  23. Moon

    Moon Contributor Contributor

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    I'm wondering what a story where all characters have the same name would read like. 10/10 would most likely throw against the nearest wall in confusion.
     
  24. Shenanigator

    Shenanigator Has the Vocabulary of a Well-Educated Sailor. Contributor

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    They may not be identical, but they're similar enough that my dyslexia perceives them that way and drives me nuts...which is frustrating, because I enjoy the settings, plot, and amount of detail. And then there are the footnotes...

    That book is my Everest, and I will conquer it one day. (ETA: Pulled the book off the shelf just now, and I see that on my last attempt I stopped at page 262 of 817.)
     
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  25. Moon

    Moon Contributor Contributor

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    You can do itttttttt.

    [​IMG]
     
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