Looking for book recommendations over 800 pages

HLS · 05-09-2024, 11:27 AM

I am looking for big chunky book recommendations that are NOT classics. Not Stephen King, not Sarah J Maas or Brandon Sanderson for I have all of those. Any genre is ok. 2024 is the year I decided to knock out some intimidating books. I do like High Fantasy like Priory of the Orange Tree(already read)

JSWolf · 05-09-2024, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HLS

I am looking for big chunky book recommendations that are NOT classics. Not Stephen King, not Sarah J Maas or Brandon Sanderson for I have all of those. Any genre is ok. 2024 is the year I decided to knock out some intimidating books. I do like High Fantasy like Priory of the Orange Tree(already read)

I can highly recommend the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series by Tad Williams. They are 3 large b1ooks. The pages listed are from the current paper editions.

The Dragonbone Chair (672 pages)
The Stone of Farewell (608 pages)
To Green Angle Tower (1104 pages)

I also recommend Otherland by Tad Willaiams.

City of Golden Shadow (720 pages)
River of Blue Fire (624 pages)
Mountain of Black Glass (656 pages)
Sea of Silver Light (864 pages)

Shōgun by James Clavell (1312 pages)

Anathem by Neal Stephenson is (937 pages)

Dazrin · 05-09-2024, 05:35 PM

Some that I enjoyed:
Robin Hobb's Farseer / Realm of the Elderlings series (the first couple are not this length but several are)

Some non-fantasy works:
Cryptonomicon or Seveneves - Neal Stephenson
Pandora's Star & Judas Unchained (and the other Commonwealth books in general) or (standalone) Great North Road - Peter F. Hamilton
I enjoy the first few Jack Ryan books too (up through ~Rainbow Six)

Before I went through my list I thought I had a lot more. It turned out that a lot of them were just Brandon Sanderson (or Wheel of Time which I assume you've read) and some Stephen King.

HLS · 05-09-2024, 08:00 PM

I read cryptonomicon and seveneves. great books!

hildea · 05-10-2024, 02:07 AM

Shelley Parker-Chan's duology: She who became the sun and He who drowned the world, two books of ~400 pages each.
China in the 1300s with some supernatural elements, about the peasant rebel who became the founder of the Ming dynasty.

Julie Paradise · 05-10-2024, 04:11 AM

Ken Follett: Never

DrNefario · 05-10-2024, 06:14 AM

Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry - Western, I think my paperback was 960-odd pages

Ash: A Secret History - Mary Gentle - Historical Fantasy with a twist. Great. Sometimes split into 3 in the US, but it's one book of over 1000 pages.

Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey - Another semi-historical fantasy, with sexual content not to everyone's taste. I seem to remember the first book was over 900 pages (although looking at isfdb the page counts are all over the place, hardcovers down in the 700s).

I believe most volumes of the Malazan Book of the Fallen are over 800 pages. A lot of people really love it, but I read the first one and kind of hated it.

JSWolf · 05-10-2024, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Julie Paradise

Ken Follett: Never

That's only 546 ePub (Adobe) pages.

Julie Paradise · 05-10-2024, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That's only 546 ePub (Adobe) pages.

Well ... so which page count is the official number one would refer to?

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/al...pictureid=8450

I have taken the print version with 817 pages as a base, is that wrong then?

JSWolf · 05-10-2024, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Julie Paradise

Well ... so which page count is the official number one would refer to?

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/al...pictureid=8450

I have taken the print version with 817 pages as a base, is that wrong then?

The question is, how large are the margins and line-height? Also, is it a trade paperback? It could be that it's not really 800+ pages and it's the overly large settings that make it such. It may be 817 pages in print, but it it no way feels like and 800+ page book.

issybird · 05-10-2024, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It could be that it's not really 800+ pages

Of course it is. It's a book and it's got over 800 pages. QED.

I find that Adobe epub pages tend to be bigger than most paper novels, although they can be smaller than serious nonfiction. Don't get me wrong; I like Adobe numeration because of its consistency and it was a sad day for me when kepubs went to screen = page, but it's just another measure. No one handed out Adobe epub pages on top of the mount.

What about front matter? What about notes and indices? Surely for consistency those need to be separated out, also.

Sometimes things are a combination of good enough/just for fun/don't matter and you should just roll with it. As with Justice Potter Stewart's definition of pornography, we all know a doorstop when we see on.

HLS · 05-10-2024, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry - Western, I think my paperback was 960-odd pages

Ash: A Secret History - Mary Gentle - Historical Fantasy with a twist. Great. Sometimes split into 3 in the US, but it's one book of over 1000 pages.

Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey - Another semi-historical fantasy, with sexual content not to everyone's taste. I seem to remember the first book was over 900 pages (although looking at isfdb the page counts are all over the place, hardcovers down in the 700s).

I believe most volumes of the Malazan Book of the Fallen are over 800 pages. A lot of people really love it, but I read the first one and kind of hated it.

I heard about Lonesome Dove. i am on the fence with that one. not sure if i would like westerns

Karellen · 05-10-2024, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The question is, how large are the margins and line-height? Also, is it a trade paperback? It could be that it's not really 800+ pages and it's the overly large settings that make it such. It may be 817 pages in print, but it it no way feels like and 800+ page book.

Not sure why you felt the need to call out the recommendation by @Julie Paradise when most of your suggestions don't hit 800 pages either.

Yea, "pages" is completely misleading for all the reasons you state plus more.
I ignore page counts and solely focus on the word count to judge the size of the book and how long it will take to read.

SteveEisenberg · 05-10-2024, 06:15 PM

Any genre is OK?

The most readable author of long biographies might be Robert Caro. Try Amazon’s free sample of The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power.

You could also check out William Manchester.

haertig · 05-11-2024, 01:06 AM

Since you did say "any genre" ...

The only thing I have of that size is The Bible. It fits your "intimidating" requirement (for many people at least), but might fail on your "no classics" requirement, depending on your thoughts on religion.

Another one that I have that is not quite 800 pages, but getting close is The Ashley Book Of Knots. Known in knot tying circles as "ABOK". Knots are numbered, e.g., the simple "Square Knot" is ABOK #1402. There is general text, knot descriptions, and tons of hand drawn illustrations. Intimidating, yes. It's quite the tome. A classic? In the knot tying world - yes, outside of that group - probably totally unknown.

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05-09-2024, 11:27 AM	#1
HLS Wizard Posts: 2,071 Karma: 15107670 Join Date: May 2017 Device: Sage, Scribe, Boox Note 2 Plus, iPad Pros and Samsungs S6,S7,S8	Looking for book recommendations over 800 pages I am looking for big chunky book recommendations that are NOT classics. Not Stephen King, not Sarah J Maas or Brandon Sanderson for I have all of those. Any genre is ok. 2024 is the year I decided to knock out some intimidating books. I do like High Fantasy like Priory of the Orange Tree(already read)

05-09-2024, 05:35 PM	#3
Dazrin Wizard Posts: 2,669 Karma: 74333633 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: PDXish Device: Kindle Voyage, various Android devices	Some that I enjoyed: Robin Hobb's Farseer / Realm of the Elderlings series (the first couple are not this length but several are) Some non-fantasy works: Cryptonomicon or Seveneves - Neal Stephenson Pandora's Star & Judas Unchained (and the other Commonwealth books in general) or (standalone) Great North Road - Peter F. Hamilton I enjoy the first few Jack Ryan books too (up through ~Rainbow Six) Before I went through my list I thought I had a lot more. It turned out that a lot of them were just Brandon Sanderson (or Wheel of Time which I assume you've read) and some Stephen King.

05-09-2024, 08:00 PM	#4
HLS Wizard Posts: 2,071 Karma: 15107670 Join Date: May 2017 Device: Sage, Scribe, Boox Note 2 Plus, iPad Pros and Samsungs S6,S7,S8	I read cryptonomicon and seveneves. great books!

05-10-2024, 02:07 AM	#5
hildea Wizard Posts: 1,285 Karma: 65533396 Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Norway Device: PocketBook Touch Lux (had Onyx Boox Poke 3 and BeBook Neo earlier)	Shelley Parker-Chan's duology: She who became the sun and He who drowned the world, two books of ~400 pages each. China in the 1300s with some supernatural elements, about the peasant rebel who became the founder of the Ming dynasty.

05-10-2024, 04:11 AM	#6
Julie Paradise Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 574140 Join Date: May 2024 Location: Berlin Device: KindlePW Scribe Palma Poke5 NovaAir2 NA3C TUC Max2 TabX A6X2	Ken Follett: Never

05-10-2024, 06:14 AM	#7
DrNefario Wizard Posts: 2,138 Karma: 11676050 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: Kindle, Kobo Touch, Nook SimpleTouch	Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry - Western, I think my paperback was 960-odd pages Ash: A Secret History - Mary Gentle - Historical Fantasy with a twist. Great. Sometimes split into 3 in the US, but it's one book of over 1000 pages. Kushiel's Dart - Jacqueline Carey - Another semi-historical fantasy, with sexual content not to everyone's taste. I seem to remember the first book was over 900 pages (although looking at isfdb the page counts are all over the place, hardcovers down in the 700s). I believe most volumes of the Malazan Book of the Fallen are over 800 pages. A lot of people really love it, but I read the first one and kind of hated it.

05-10-2024, 06:15 PM	#14
SteveEisenberg Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,189 Karma: 39854870 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: near Philadelphia USA Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)	Any genre is OK? The most readable author of long biographies might be Robert Caro. Try Amazon’s free sample of The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power. You could also check out William Manchester.

05-11-2024, 01:06 AM	#15
haertig Wizard Posts: 1,804 Karma: 26951450 Join Date: Sep 2017 Device: PW3, Fire HD8 Gen7, Moto G7, Sansa Clip v2, Ruizu X26	Since you did say "any genre" ... The only thing I have of that size is The Bible. It fits your "intimidating" requirement (for many people at least), but might fail on your "no classics" requirement, depending on your thoughts on religion. Another one that I have that is not quite 800 pages, but getting close is The Ashley Book Of Knots. Known in knot tying circles as "ABOK". Knots are numbered, e.g., the simple "Square Knot" is ABOK #1402. There is general text, knot descriptions, and tons of hand drawn illustrations. Intimidating, yes. It's quite the tome. A classic? In the knot tying world - yes, outside of that group - probably totally unknown.

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