Big books are great if they're good books. Problem is that a lot of books are not engaging enough to sustain a reader through a long read. There are a few books I've tried and DNFd The Paying Guests A Little Life If a book is written well, you don't notice its length.
Jacqueline McMenamin Totally agree on the big books need to be more engaging to the readers and then the length of the book become less relevant ! But then “engaging” is so subjective, I finished A Little Life within just few days which is very unusually to me.
i dont mean to be offtopic but does someone know a way to log back into an Instagram account? I was dumb lost the account password. I appreciate any assistance you can give me
5 ปีที่แล้ว +1
Wow, so impressed that you will read Ducks, Newburyport! I'm too intimidated, not so much by the 1000 pages but by the fact that the whole thing has only 8-sentences... And Shawn gave me Fall On Your Knees earlier this year, really looking forward to it. Never read anything by this author. And Blonde, yes, fantastic book, been meaning to re-read it for quite some time.
Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky (~800 pages) is the book that's taken me the longest at two weeks. I generally finish large books in the same timeframe as other books. I read Crime and Punishment in a day and Underworld by Don DeLillo (~800) in three days
Derek Oh I see. 😊 I wish I had the ability to read that fast. I used to be able to read books that way. Unfortunately, I can’t do it anymore...I fall asleep too easily.
I also did "The Brothers Karamazov" in two weeks last year, reading under trees in a glorious spell of British weather. You may disagree, but for me the first half was a thinly veiled excuse for Dostoevsky to rabbit on using his characters as mouthpieces. Then, in a major gear change, he cranks up the power and the final 400 pages flew by.
@@tonybennett4159 Dostoevsky uses all of his works as discussions, or "rabbiting on." He portrays vastly different opinions through different characters giving more or less equal weight to the ideas that he agrees with and the ones that he doesn't.
No love for Pynchon, Barth, Coover, Gaddis, Gass, Irving? Damn, I must be olding. . . . I loved The Ducks and spent nearly the entire month of June reading it. Too big to carry at times, so that slowed me down. My strategy with doorstoppers is to try to read them everyday, even if it's only 20 pages, especially with intergenerational things. I actually keep track of my progress with little notes just to remind and motivate myself. I also like to read at least one other book that is completely different from the doorstopper: non-fiction, memoir, short stories. . . .
I have Blonde on my shelves. It’s very interesting to hear about JCO’s process of writing it. I have a couple Wally Lamb’s on my shelf that are fairly intimidating and didn’t realize Prairie Fires, which I also have, is a chunkster.
Every summer I choose a big chunky immersive read that I work on for several months along side my regular reading. This summer it was The Count of Monte Cristo. I commit to a couple of chapters a day and find this works really well for me. I have to continue reading other books as well or I would get bored with just one story over such a long time. This is a wonderful experience, especially if you are really enjoying the book, but even if you find the book quite average, there is still a great sense of accomplishment when you are done. I have never regretted the time I dedicate to this project when I am done.
I just recently finished Barkskins and my approach was to force myself to read at least one chapter a day. It was all about commitment, knowing that if I just managed to read that tiny portion every day, I would eventually reach the end. Worked fine most of the time, though sometimes I was so gripped by it I had to read more than just one chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and there are some (gory) scenes that will stay with me for a while. However, because of the way it ended I'm still wondering whether or not reading it was worth my time. My number 1 read of the year is a mammoth, Eiji Yoshikawa's "Musashi", the Finnish translation being 1010 pages long. So worth the lenght and I wish it had been longer...
I have read big books like Lonesome Dove, The Stand, big biographies of Lyndon Johnson, Winston Churchill, Harry S Truman. I have War and Peace on one of my shelves.
Glad I found your channel definitely spoke my mind about reading big books. I have a couple that I want to read but the size is what is keeping me from doing that
Strange I would say the average Novel length would be 350 to 400 pages. It must be from reading so much genre fiction as well as literary. Would love to read Barkskins too .
Maybe it's just the books I read tend to be more around the 250 mark. Over 500 pages just gives me pause and want to say "Am I ready to commit to this?!" 😂
There's something lovely about reading such big books, but as a fellow book nerd, I 100% get it!! Also for booktube it doesn't leave you a lot to talk about if you've read 1 book all month!! The ones I'm keenest to read from my tbr are The Goldfinch, Lacuna, Labyrinth, A Little Life & A People's History Of The United States. Great video ☺️
Right? So glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. I loved The Goldfinch and The Lacuna so would highly recommend. And I remember reading sections of A People's History of the US in college and finding it very good!
Hello Eric, I've been watching many of your videos lately and enjoying them a lot! This year I've been choosing my huge books on audio and listening to them on transport or while walking the dog. That way I can get a couple of hours per day, without taking time from other reading, and was able to complete 'A La Recherche du temps perdu' over the summer, which definitely wouldn't have happened without the recording!
Last year I read 1Q84 and loved it! It was sitting on my shelves for 8 years! Another long book is Crime and Punishment, which has been waiting since the 90’s: it has 30 pages missing in the middle, a publishing error!
I'm reading "Ducks, Newburyport" too and loving it but it has the unusual problem that you just have to stop in the middle of a sentence and be VERY careful to mark your place! I have it as a download from the library and am very aware that I have a limited time to read it. I'm not sure I will make it and that is making me ANXIOUS! I also have Iain Pears "Arcadia", Halldor Laxness' "Independent People" and Diana Cooper's Autobiography waiting on my bedside table, which is starting to buckle under the weight of words - lovely.
You are so right about the book nerd anxiety Eric :-) Now that I think about it I used to read a lot more of the bigger books when I was in my 20s and early 30s, these days they just seem to sit on my shelf waiting for me to get around to them "one day". I do remember reading Soul Mountain many years ago and it being a bit of a struggle, I will be interested to see what you think of it. I'm off to have a look at my bigger books and choose one to get started with today. Thanks for the prompt!
At the risk of repeating myself, and everybody else in this comment section, I loved this video! :-) In no particular order… Peg and I will soon embark on a year-long buddy read of Uwe Johnson’s Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl (approximately 1,500 pages) - a mammoth tome translated from the German, consisting of diary entries. We’re going to start on August 21, the date the novel opens in 1967, and read the diary entries for each week until we come to the end of the novel at the end of August in 2020! :-). Loved Crime and Punishment (and Bros Karamazov) and especially Fall on Your Knees of the ones you discussed. I didn’t think Barkskins was successful as a whole, but I loved half of it (the indigenous family’s narrative). Soul Mountain was a bail - good luck with that one! I’m interested in both literary biographies. I think I want to re-read Stead’s The Man Who Loved Children especially since I recently learned that either from Doris or Adam - that there was a special Americanized version of it and I can’t remember which one I read 15 or so years ago. I acquired Ducks, Newburyport myself (for the record, before the Booker long list was released) and look forward to getting to it one of these days, probably not until next year. Currently doing Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa on audio and it’s also a major tome. OK, enough. :)
Last year, I read The Goldfinch which is rather large and I was highly intimidated by it. I’m also a very slow reader. The way I decided to tackle it was to read 30 pages a day, an amount I knew I could handle, and once I read the 30 pages, I’d try to get to the end of the section. Some days I read more, some days I only read the 30 pages I set for myself, but I managed to make it through. If only I could convince myself to do that for other large novels haha!
I'm Polish and I do appreciate and love the fact that you chose Wiesław Myśliwski's novel! And I would also add "Here I Am" by Jonathan Safran Foer to the list
You should read the outlander series. There are 8 books so far and they are all huge. The 9th book is coming soon. Every book held my attention. Can t wait for the 9th and 10th books.
Your videos bring an extra positive energy in my days. Thank you! Age and maturity have made big books alluring to me. I just bought The Brothers Karamazov and The Count of Monte Cristo and can't wait to start with them soon.
I`ve read a number of long novels over the years. I`d recommend some of the classics like 'Great Expectations', 'Middlemarch', 'The Lord of the Rings', and 'War and Peace', and 'The Helliconia Trilogy' by Brian Aldiss. More recent examples would be 'Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell' by Susanna Clarke and 'The Baroque Trilogy' by Neal Stephenson. The latter is a very long story at somethng like twenty seven hundred pages, but well worth it. I`ve also just re-read the shorter 'The Name of the Rose' by Umberto Eco. I tend not to worry about the length of time it takes me to read it. I don`t think of the other books I could be reading, I concentrate on the novel to hand, though recently I have tried reading of two or more novels simultaneously.
A few big books that have held my interest to the last page were: The uncut The Stand, Forever Amber, David Copperfield, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Crimson Petal and the White.
Fall on Your Knees by Ann Marie MacDonald. Swoon. Loved it, definitely needs a re-read! And thanks for bringing up some others that I've added to the TBR!!
TheLiterary Hoarders One of my own personal goals is to read all of the books on the Oprah’s Book Club. I have been looking for a copy of this one from second hand stores as I imagine it would take me longer than the allotted library time.....maybe I will just have to give in and order it so I can get started. I am now very intrigued!
I've had Blonde on my shelves for over a decade and I think you encouraged me to move it up my priority list. I love how you describe Marilyn as Norma Jean's drag act. Fall On Your Knees also sounds fascinating--I had forgotten about that book and it's on my TBR now! I enjoyed aspects of A Fraction of the Whole but being honest, I think it could have used some judicious editing. With Barkskins, I found I was really intrigued by one of the two family lines the story follows, but every time it switched to the other I felt myself begin to drag. Will be interested in seeing what you think of them!
Oh, I am LOVING DUCKS! It is more immersive the more I read (at a pace of 50 pages a days which is about as much as I can take in between thinking about it🧐). Looking forward to your review!🙋♀️📚
Yes, I can relate. I used to be excited by a big book but now with so many others to read, I feel daunted by it. I have a few big books I'm putting off until....just until I feel like im getting thru three smaller ones first or until it's a lazy frozen winter month, I've found that small books can fascinate and make me fall in love with characters (example: Tin Man) and so now the magnificance of doing that in a small book is a real treat.
I recall reading A Little Life during a period of big, personal change. I had to put the book down so often (and start reading something else) that I almost didn’t want to pick it up again. I had to stop and start over a long period, protracting my time in a complex and tragic set of narratives. If I had not carried on, I would have missed out on one of the most exquisitely crafted and sympathetic books of recent memory. This reading experience informed me to commit to only one book at a time (after getting over the initial judgement hurdle of whether to read beyond the threshold at which you make such decisions) because you never know what sort of journeys and world you will fall into with any novel, let alone a “big one”. I now find that I get through any novel faster (not for speed reading purposes) and can recall more content and consider more issues raised. All that said, if you can manage straddling worlds, audio books are a good source to balance reading lists while considering and completing a “big”, physical copy of a novel. Good luck with your “book nerd” endeavour! P.S. Blonde has been on my TBR for some time, too.
Luckily, I developed a love for tomes too heavy to lift as a young girl, so that has never been a deterrent. Every once in awhile you even run across a really, really big book that still doesn't seem long enough:)
I try to read a big book over the summer months, this year so far I have failed but last summer read The Count of Monte Cristo and it was wonderful.... I have lots on my TBR I just need to get through so I'm sticking with the shorter books so I can give them to charity before I move (20 pages to go of Slaughterhouse 5 - I've enjoyed it but find I can't read much at a time)
Blonde sounds amazing!! I used to be really interested in Marilyn Monroe when I was in high school but haven't really revisited that interest in ages, and Blonde sounds like the perfect way to fall back into it. Stone Upon Stone has been on my radar since Kamil's video as well, and also Soul Mountain (or Chinese literature more generally) has been something I've been wanting to get into as well! (By the way, Xingjian is pronounced "shing dzyen"!) But another Nobel Laureate has a different huge book on my bookshelf that has been waiting to be read for many more years... that is Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter, a cycle following a 14th century Norwegian woman and her family in the countryside of southeastern Norway.
JCO said when she was researching the novel she watched or rewatched all of Marilyn's films and found it really poignant watching her development as an actress. I think her vulnerability really comes through since she had such stage fright and that's probably part of the reason a lot of us relate to her films while also enjoying them as comic or dramatic entertainment. Thanks for the pronouciation correction. I knew I got it wrong and should have looked it up before filming! And wow, I'd love to that Undset epic too but... when will I ever have the time?!?! :)
Steve Toltz is one of those books on my shelf that I want to re-read because it was so good! Was so disappointed by Barkskins, the novel got away from the author as they tried to capture too much, subsequently lost the forest through the trees!!!
I love books, but I have ADHD and often find it difficult to get through complete works, especially long ones. Despite that, my most memorable reading experiences have been mostly long novels. My faves are Byatt's Possession, Kafka on the Shore, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Lord of the Rings.
Yes, fat books can be a mixed blessing, but when they work, they just flow. "Middlemarch" and Manzoni's "The Betrothed" were a sheer pleasure to read. "Life and Fate" more demanding but so rewarding, "The Alexandra Quartet" ditched after the first book (too pretentious). I'm still undecided about Dostoyevsky : he wastes a lot of time overtly pushing his personal philosophies. "Stone Upon Stone" is, of course a Kamil recommendation and I thought it was fantastic. I enjoyed "A Fraction of the Whole" very much, but found "Soul Mountain" a bit of a slog. I'm just finishing "The Overstory" (excellent), and you will be very pleased to hear that "A Book of American Martyrs" will come next. Waiting in my TBR are Pamuk's "The Museum of Innocence", Cather's "The Song of the Lark", and Naipaul's "A House for Mr Biswas".
If the book is good no problem. But if it's a slog DNF. Have started Ducks, Newburyport. I'm doing the 20 pages a day tactic. Blonde is on my TBR as well and I'm reading A Book of American martyrs it's just over 700 pages. Barkskins is sooo good! I'm also reading A House for Mr Biswas which is really good. I commit to reading a certain number of pages a day. I read shorter books along side. Works perfectly.
I've noticed that I have stopped reading big long books in the past few years and other entertainment (namely youtube, facebook and netflix) has filled that gap - and not sure if I'm ok with that.... A big literary bio I have wanted to read forever is Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee (and actually all the Bio's Lee has written). My strategy, especially for a long novel, is to focus on it and get through it. If I try to break it up and read other things at the same time it inevitably gets put aside unfinished. For long non-fiction books I go with audio and then if it's really really good I will buy a physical copy to read again and catch all the references and notes I've missed on audio. Big books I recommend: Vanity Fair - it's awesome! The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson and A S Byatt - both The Children's Book and Possession. I've been meaning to re-read all of these... but like you say - it's the time needed!
Crime and Punishment is one of my favorites. I need to finish The Count of Monte Cristo, but I'm not even half-way. I gotta read War & Peace, Don Quixote, Dune, reread IT and Gone with the Wind. So many, especially classics. The Stand, East of Eden, The Priory of the Orange Tree, Fall of Giants, and Pillars of the Earth. Bigger book fantasies are a little easier, but not by much. Watching your video reminded that I wanted to look up tips for reading bigger books.
Must reads: Don Quixote, Moby Dick, the Idiot, Crime & P, Demons, and The Goldfinch! I’d LOVE to re-read War & Peace someday too, but, well... sigh 😞. So many books, so little time. 📚
Hello! I’ve used August to crack some long books (around 400 words and above for me). Alternating between Neil Mukherjee’s The Lives of Others, Mario Vargas Lisa’s The Feast of the Goat. If I get bored between them, not going for a short literary fiction (like you said it could distract) and trying other genres - fantasy for the summer. As a rule I don’t leave any books unread on my shelves for more than a year and if I have too many unread books, I ban myself from buying - I find that spurs me on to read even challenging books, as I will have a list of books I am dying to buy. I do love big books when they work. You sink into that world and feel as if you know the characters. But it’s so easy normally to pick up smaller books.
Hi! Thanks for this video! I am drawn to large novels too. Murakami's 1Q84 was an interesting one, which led me to Proust's In Search of Lost Time because one of the characters in 1Q84 is trapped in an apartment building and she decides to read that novel. So far I have read Swann's Way (vol.1) and In the Shadow of Young Girl's in Flower (vol.2). It is definitely an undertaking. I would consider In Search of Lost Time a large novel because each book picks up where the previous one left off and focuses on the same character, the unnamed narrator. My favorite long novel is by far War and Peace. It is an epic story. I never would have imagined picking it up but 2 of my friends decided to read it, which really motivated me to want to read it too. As far as large books on my to read shelf, Soul Mountain is actually there! It looked super intriguing. I also have The Tale of Genji I have been wanting to read for a long time now. I believe it is the 1st novel ever written, so that entices me. I also have the Cairo Trilogy by an Egyptian novelist which sounded good. The Complete Chronicles of Conan (the Barbarian). The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which I believe is what Lawrence of Arabia is based on. 11/22/63, which is about time travel and trying to stop the assassination of John F Kennedy. And A True Novel, which is an adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights set in post-war Japan. As far as my strategy I usually will decide to tackle the big read at the start of Summer and see if I can finish it by the end. Usually it will take longer sometimes a year. War and Peace took me a year to finish I believe.
I have meant to read several long books, including: “War and Peace,” “Les Miserables,” “The Magic Mountain,” “Atlas Shrugged.” Also, I’d like to read all of Proust’s “In Search if Lost Time.” I believe he considered it as one long novel. Whether or not I read other, shorter books while I’m reading a long one depends on the long book: if it’s really good I don’t feel the need to insert any “intermissions” while reading it. 😂😂❤️ That might sound stupid but hopefully you know what I mean. LOL I read “A Little Life” in just a few days, I loved it so, and didn’t pick up any other books to read during the time I was reading it. I believe I have that Isherwood biography you mention. I have not read it though. I tend to purchase more books than I can get around to! I’m also going to hopefully get around to “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt soon! I love her work but couldn’t get into that one the first time I tried. Maybe I will this time. Her novel “The Secret History” is one of my, perhaps (?), THREE favorite novels of all time (the others being Cather’s “My Ántonia” and Wharton’s “Ethan Frome”). Sorry for such a LONG message! I figure it’s apt, though. ❤️😂❤️😂❤️👍🏻 - Adam
The Magic Mountain is not really worth it... imo it's very ambiguous (on purpose) and it's literally ABOUT a colossal waste of time. Up to you but when I read it as a senior in college I thought it was incredibly well-written but it has not stuck with me at all.
It's so interesting how if something grips us we'll read it quickly no matter how long it is. I definitely had that with The Goldfinch and read it in only a few days. Hope you have more success the second time around. I love long messages! Thanks!
When it comes to big books I'm less worried about how long it will take me to read and more worried if I have the time and energy to really focus on it. With large books there tends to be more going on so I like to be honed in on it.
I am currently 1/3rd through An Executioners Song which is over 1000 pages and whilst I am enjoying it I have put it down for a few shorter books and then will get back to it. I find books that have different sections work well for mixing with other books. I have many big books to read including Blonde, Crime & Punishment, Fall in Your Knees and all the big classics on my shelves waiting. I have also just ordered Ducks. I find big books more memorable and rewarding if they are good. I have high hopes for Ducks. 🤞
That's an interesting collection, Eric! I'm curious about 'Ducks'. Crime and Punishment scared me so far just by its first page - the language in Classics, LOL. Maybe I'll look into that again. For me, the longest I've read was a library book, "Six Four" by Hideo Yokoyama. A police procedural, crime-ish novel. I had that anxiety you mentioned too because it was such a thick book. I was apprehensive if I could read it in time before it's due date. The method to reading big books, I realized was to go in with a relaxed mind. Like dipping your toes into a deep lake. And then take a deep breath as you swim slowly into each sentence, one stroke at a time. I finished Six Four within a week or two. But then, the story was good and so was its pacing. And oh take plenty of breaks. It's a big lake of words, after all. XD Hope to hear more of your adventures in reading those books, Eric! Oh, I'm your new subscriber. XD
Great list! I haven't read any of these, though I am half tempted to get Ducks just because of how crazy it seems! (On the other hand, the whole thing being a giant run-on sentence with no paragraphs makes the length extra intimidating!) For my own long books TBR, I've had Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on my shelf for forever. More recently acquired, but still intimidating, are A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, The Luminaries, and Anna Karenina. Still, I do seem to be attracted to long books, I guess because I like the idea of sinking deeply into a novel's world. As far as good long books (> 500 pages) I've read recently, I really enjoyed All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, and The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King. My strategy for getting through a long book depends on how engaging it is. Like you said, it can take a long time to get through one, and longer if I'm reading something else at the same time. If it's a long book that is kind of a slog or takes a lot of mental energy to get through, I'll read it in parallel with easier or shorter books so that I don't have a whole month (or however long) of reading time that I dread. However, if I get sucked in by an amazing-but-long book, I will just read only that until I get through it. My goal at this point in my life is to make sure I look forward to reading time!
I love having the time to read a long book. I recently read Tombland by CJ Sansom. I just read it at every opportunity which is how I tackled Barkskins and how I tackle most books that I enjoy. If I find that I’m reading other books it’s because the book I am supposed to be reading isn’t holding my attention sufficiently. I’m going to read the Ducks book as soon as I’ve finished the book I’m reading now.
I‘ve been wanting to read Les Miserables for ages, but I feel like it would take me a decade. Another big book on my list is 4321 by Paul Auster. A while ago I read A Little Life, and that was definitely worth the time! And one of my favourites is Anna Karenina, which is also quite dry at times and took a few weeks to read, but it is wonderful.
Big books are something I get so excited about, the thought of starting a big book and getting stuck into it excites me but for some reason I never seem to want to start them once I own them. haha. I think the big book that's highest on my TBR would have to be The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber, I've always been so intrigued by the synopsis but between the pressure I'm putting on it and the size I wonder if I will ever pick it up haha A Fraction of a Whole is something I keep seeing in stores and almost purchasing!
I don't feel like you should avoid big books because they take time to read. I mean, you will be picking up a new book after reading a book either way and the sense once done with a big book is worth it. When I read Infinte Jest last summer, I read it for an hour every day and then read other books on the side which really helped. Also I have so lasting memories of reading that book and other big books like Anna Karelina, It, The Luminaries etc.
I'll be starting 'Ducks' (which I actually have on Kindle, so I don't have to carry around that behemoth!) as soon as I finish the new Rushdie (the 9th of the Booker longlist for me). My fave BIG book is 'A Suitable Boy' by Vikram Seth (almost 1500 pages), which I want to reread soon, and highly recommend. Other BIG ones I have on my shelves I need to get to: War & Peace (of course); Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson; Women & Men by Joseph McElroy; Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young; the Ram Chandra Trilogy by Amish Tripathi...
It’s an interesting issue! Previously I’ve always been a one-book-at-a-time person, and read that book straight through, but have always been defeated by some writers - notably Dickens. However, he wrote for serialisation originally, and his chapters tend to be short, so I decided to read Bleak House one chapter per day, first thing in the morning with my breakfast. I actually really enjoyed the whole experience - and I got to read other books at the same time. I tend to read 19th century books this way, non-fiction, and some long contemporary fiction - I read both The Luminaries and A Little Life like this, Luminaries because it was difficult to get into at first and Life because I was worried about being triggered. Usually if I really get into the book I’ll abandon the 30 page a day rule and just read straight through. But what it has taught me is that I can read several books at once without worries about losing the plot, etc. I’m reading Pickwick Papers now, and have Sturgis’s Oscar and Ducks, Newburyport on my tbr pile. I really fancy JCO’s Blonde at some point too 😊
Yeah, some authors like Dickens are easier to put down for a bit. But that's a good strategy. I definitely felt that challenge of getting into the Luminaries too but once I was in I was in so deep. I'd like to read Dickens again at some point and glad you're reading Oscar.
One thing that helped enormously with "The Luminaries" (and any other book if it comes to that) is if you are familiar with the setting of the story. NZ's wild western coast of the South Island is so atmospheric, and also helped me the appreciate "The Bone People".
Great video Eric! I'm currently almost halfway through A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. 688 pages of very small print. I'm struggling but still persisting! It's a pretty amazing book though.
It really is amazing! I love that novel. Especially Nina's story of self-transformation over the length of it and the clever way the novel's title only takes on its true meaning towards the end.
Thanks for video post. Ibrahim Nasrallah's Time of White Horses is worth the time and effort. It has been sitting on the shelf for 4 months as I dreaded the length bit when I finally got into it I read it in less than a week. Very gripping: I cannot recommend it enough. A saga of Palestine...
I loved huge books so large when I was younger. Now the problem is I have to borrow most books from the library due to financial tightness and know I can't get them read at a decent pace and returned in time.
Big Books I am working through right now include Les Miserables, Gulag Archipelago, Stephen King's IT, Stephen King's The Dark Tower, Once and Future King, Einstein by Walter Isaacson and Game of Thrones. Big Books I have completed include Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. I have other big books I am working through, but those are non fiction and are too many to mention here.
I have quite a few books on my "500+ page" tbr. I've been doing an okay job of keeping up with reading them. Last year I was able to read one a month and I'm trying for the same goal this year. 🤞 Of course, now I have a couple more added on after watching this video. 😂
I appreciate it when big books have shorter chapters. I struggle committing to bigger books even though I know they have so much more to offer than shorter books.
I just finished A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - took 3 weeks. It had been on my shelves since 1996 when it was shortlisted for the Booker but I was inspired to get it down by Supposedly Fun who recommended it a few weeks ago. I bought Ducks last week so I hope it's not on the shelves for 23 years!
Just received Blonde today after your recommendation in an earlier video. Looking forward to starting once I finish the currently available Booker longlist.
My fav 500+ pagers so far: A World Undone (Meyer), Wives and Daughters (Gaskell), War and Peace, Our Mutual Friend, Little Dorrit, Martin Chuzzlewit, and Bleak House (Dickens) Middlemarch (Eliot) and East of Eden (Steinbeck)
Eric Karl Anderson - I loved East of Eden. It’s a moving multigenerational saga with some very interesting father-son themes and one of the most interesting and enigmatic female characters in all of literature.
I loved Soul Mountain, and Blonde. In the throes of Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter currently, which I also love. Originally written in three volumes, but often published in one volume. Hermione Lee's biography of Edith Wharton is brilliant.
oh and usually, I read other things while I'm reading a big book. I'm not following this advice at the moment, reading a 900+ pager and nothing else, and yeah, it's frustrating (also this book is kind of plotless so that doesn't help!! Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson)
I'm kind of scared to go through my unread books and find out just how long some of them are... pretty much everything I read is via Kindle so you don't really have much indication of how "big" a Kindle book is until you look at the page count in the file or look at the Amazon page for it. So I was a bit disconcerted to start on Wilkie Collins' Woman in White the other day and find it's 700-odd pages... yikes. I know I've got a few thousand-plus pagers in there, but by far the longest is the whole Mahabharata, which is a bit over 6000 pages over 10 volumes. If/when I ever get around to *that*, it will be the biggest book I'll have ever read (twice as long as the edition I have of Gibbon's Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire that weighs in around 3000 pages) or expect to read. When the hell I'll ever find the inclination to actually read the thing is another matter, of course...
I learned in writing a manuscript that the average adult novel is over 120,000 words. The publishers count words not pages. 250 words on a page. The average book of 120,000 words with 250 words on a page is 480 pages.
Out of Dostoevesky's Big 4 (5, if you include The Adolescent), I thought Crime and Punishment was his weakest. A much better one was The Idiot that illustrates the impossibility and grotesqueness of Christian love on earth, the burden of love that Christ placed on us, but still remains the goal that we should all strive towards. Haunting and heartbreaking ending.
I read Middlemarch as an audiobook, which was I think 36h long. I really got that feeling like you said, of getting to spend a lot of time with the characters. I spent pretty much a whole month reading it, but it was also so worth it! The book was really good. Have you read it?
One or actually two big books that Ive had on my tbr for about two years is Sherlock Holmes The Complete Novels and Stories volume 1and 2 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.I plan to read these two volumes while also reading a romance novel and some audio books.I think it will be easy because its like reading a bunch of short stories,so hopefully i will get to it soon.
I am reading now The Casual Vacancy by J.k.Rowling .. its about 600 when its translated to Arabic..its really boring 🥴 i feel that i am stuck i may read small books as companion to this one
Great video!! I recently finished reading the century trilogy by Ken Follett. It took me 6 months to finish all the books but it will be worth yout time :)
I generally have to finish a book the week I start reading it. I pick new books on Mondays and it messes me up if I have not finished by sunday no matter how long or slow 👯👯😨
Big books are great if they're good books. Problem is that a lot of books are not engaging enough to sustain a reader through a long read.
There are a few books I've tried and DNFd
The Paying Guests
A Little Life
If a book is written well, you don't notice its length.
That is very true
Sadly true! It's quite a tall order to engage a reader for several hundred pages!
Jacqueline McMenamin Totally agree on the big books need to be more engaging to the readers and then the length of the book become less relevant ! But then “engaging” is so subjective, I finished A Little Life within just few days which is very unusually to me.
@Uri Leppard It really is.
i dont mean to be offtopic but does someone know a way to log back into an Instagram account?
I was dumb lost the account password. I appreciate any assistance you can give me
Wow, so impressed that you will read Ducks, Newburyport! I'm too intimidated, not so much by the 1000 pages but by the fact that the whole thing has only 8-sentences... And Shawn gave me Fall On Your Knees earlier this year, really looking forward to it. Never read anything by this author. And Blonde, yes, fantastic book, been meaning to re-read it for quite some time.
Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky (~800 pages) is the book that's taken me the longest at two weeks. I generally finish large books in the same timeframe as other books. I read Crime and Punishment in a day and Underworld by Don DeLillo (~800) in three days
Do you have a job? How do you manage this?
@@Sasha0406 I have a 9-5 which leaves 5:30-12 for reading or anything else. I also don't have TV.
Derek Oh I see. 😊 I wish I had the ability to read that fast. I used to be able to read books that way. Unfortunately, I can’t do it anymore...I fall asleep too easily.
I also did "The Brothers Karamazov" in two weeks last year, reading under trees in a glorious spell of British weather. You may disagree, but for me the first half was a thinly veiled excuse for Dostoevsky to rabbit on using his characters as mouthpieces. Then, in a major gear change, he cranks up the power and the final 400 pages flew by.
@@tonybennett4159 Dostoevsky uses all of his works as discussions, or "rabbiting on." He portrays vastly different opinions through different characters giving more or less equal weight to the ideas that he agrees with and the ones that he doesn't.
No love for Pynchon, Barth, Coover, Gaddis, Gass, Irving? Damn, I must be olding. . . . I loved The Ducks and spent nearly the entire month of June reading it. Too big to carry at times, so that slowed me down. My strategy with doorstoppers is to try to read them everyday, even if it's only 20 pages, especially with intergenerational things. I actually keep track of my progress with little notes just to remind and motivate myself. I also like to read at least one other book that is completely different from the doorstopper: non-fiction, memoir, short stories. . . .
That's a good plan! Glad you think Ducks warrants its length. I'm reading it now and loving it.
Seems is Ducks is worth the time!
I have Blonde on my shelves. It’s very interesting to hear about JCO’s process of writing it. I have a couple Wally Lamb’s on my shelf that are fairly intimidating and didn’t realize Prairie Fires, which I also have, is a chunkster.
I've always meant to read Wally Lamb. A funny coincidence is that my older cousin was good friends with Wally Lamb growing up.
Every summer I choose a big chunky immersive read that I work on for several months along side my regular reading. This summer it was The Count of Monte Cristo. I commit to a couple of chapters a day and find this works really well for me. I have to continue reading other books as well or I would get bored with just one story over such a long time. This is a wonderful experience, especially if you are really enjoying the book, but even if you find the book quite average, there is still a great sense of accomplishment when you are done. I have never regretted the time I dedicate to this project when I am done.
I just recently finished Barkskins and my approach was to force myself to read at least one chapter a day. It was all about commitment, knowing that if I just managed to read that tiny portion every day, I would eventually reach the end. Worked fine most of the time, though sometimes I was so gripped by it I had to read more than just one chapter. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing and there are some (gory) scenes that will stay with me for a while. However, because of the way it ended I'm still wondering whether or not reading it was worth my time.
My number 1 read of the year is a mammoth, Eiji Yoshikawa's "Musashi", the Finnish translation being 1010 pages long. So worth the lenght and I wish it had been longer...
That's a good strategy and interesting you felt that way about the ending!
Wow, not heard of Musashi. I'll look it up! Thanks.
Big books are scary but some of them are actually REALLY good like that big "mother quacker" 😂😂 I hope you enjoy that book and the others!!
Thanks! 😄
I have read big books like Lonesome Dove, The Stand, big biographies of Lyndon Johnson, Winston Churchill, Harry S Truman. I have War and Peace on one of my shelves.
Glad I found your channel definitely spoke my mind about reading big books. I have a couple that I want to read but the size is what is keeping me from doing that
Thanks and welcome!
Strange I would say the average Novel length would be 350 to 400 pages. It must be from reading so much genre fiction as well as literary. Would love to read Barkskins too .
Maybe it's just the books I read tend to be more around the 250 mark. Over 500 pages just gives me pause and want to say "Am I ready to commit to this?!" 😂
There's something lovely about reading such big books, but as a fellow book nerd, I 100% get it!! Also for booktube it doesn't leave you a lot to talk about if you've read 1 book all month!!
The ones I'm keenest to read from my tbr are The Goldfinch, Lacuna, Labyrinth, A Little Life & A People's History Of The United States.
Great video ☺️
Right? So glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. I loved The Goldfinch and The Lacuna so would highly recommend. And I remember reading sections of A People's History of the US in college and finding it very good!
Hello Eric, I've been watching many of your videos lately and enjoying them a lot! This year I've been choosing my huge books on audio and listening to them on transport or while walking the dog. That way I can get a couple of hours per day, without taking time from other reading, and was able to complete 'A La Recherche du temps perdu' over the summer, which definitely wouldn't have happened without the recording!
Last year I read 1Q84 and loved it! It was sitting on my shelves for 8 years! Another long book is Crime and Punishment, which has been waiting since the 90’s: it has 30 pages missing in the middle, a publishing error!
I'm reading "Ducks, Newburyport" too and loving it but it has the unusual problem that you just have to stop in the middle of a sentence and be VERY careful to mark your place! I have it as a download from the library and am very aware that I have a limited time to read it. I'm not sure I will make it and that is making me ANXIOUS! I also have Iain Pears "Arcadia", Halldor Laxness' "Independent People" and Diana Cooper's Autobiography waiting on my bedside table, which is starting to buckle under the weight of words - lovely.
How coincidental you posted this today! I just started reading War and Peace (finally!).
Oh wow! I've always wanted to read it. Hope you enjoy it! 📚
I'd be interested to see what you think : Natasha is a fantastic, vibrant creation, but I found the men in her life a bit wet, to be honest.
You are so right about the book nerd anxiety Eric :-)
Now that I think about it I used to read a lot more of the bigger books when I was in my 20s and early 30s, these days they just seem to sit on my shelf waiting for me to get around to them "one day". I do remember reading Soul Mountain many years ago and it being a bit of a struggle, I will be interested to see what you think of it. I'm off to have a look at my bigger books and choose one to get started with today. Thanks for the prompt!
At the risk of repeating myself, and everybody else in this comment section, I loved this video! :-)
In no particular order…
Peg and I will soon embark on a year-long buddy read of Uwe Johnson’s Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl (approximately 1,500 pages) - a mammoth tome translated from the German, consisting of diary entries. We’re going to start on August 21, the date the novel opens in 1967, and read the diary entries for each week until we come to the end of the novel at the end of August in 2020! :-).
Loved Crime and Punishment (and Bros Karamazov) and especially Fall on Your Knees of the ones you discussed. I didn’t think Barkskins was successful as a whole, but I loved half of it (the indigenous family’s narrative). Soul Mountain was a bail - good luck with that one!
I’m interested in both literary biographies. I think I want to re-read Stead’s The Man Who Loved Children especially since I recently learned that either from Doris or Adam - that there was a special Americanized version of it and I can’t remember which one I read 15 or so years ago.
I acquired Ducks, Newburyport myself (for the record, before the Booker long list was released) and look forward to getting to it one of these days, probably not until next year.
Currently doing Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa on audio and it’s also a major tome.
OK, enough. :)
I'm impressed by your ambition! That sounds really interesting.
Last year, I read The Goldfinch which is rather large and I was highly intimidated by it. I’m also a very slow reader. The way I decided to tackle it was to read 30 pages a day, an amount I knew I could handle, and once I read the 30 pages, I’d try to get to the end of the section. Some days I read more, some days I only read the 30 pages I set for myself, but I managed to make it through. If only I could convince myself to do that for other large novels haha!
Ahhh big books are THE BEST. That Joyce Carol Oates is going on my big books list.
I'm Polish and I do appreciate and love the fact that you chose Wiesław Myśliwski's novel! And I would also add "Here I Am" by Jonathan Safran Foer to the list
Fall on Your Knees was phenomenal. It is on my re-read list.
Yes! 🙌
You should read the outlander series. There are 8 books so far and they are all huge. The 9th book is coming soon. Every book held my attention. Can t wait for the 9th and 10th books.
Oh interesting! Thanks!
Your videos bring an extra positive energy in my days. Thank you! Age and maturity have made big books alluring to me. I just bought The Brothers Karamazov and The Count of Monte Cristo and can't wait to start with them soon.
Thank you! Yes, the Alma classics are beautifully done. Hope you enjoy these epics!
I`ve read a number of long novels over the years.
I`d recommend some of the classics like 'Great Expectations', 'Middlemarch', 'The Lord of the Rings', and 'War and Peace', and 'The Helliconia Trilogy' by Brian Aldiss.
More recent examples would be 'Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell' by Susanna Clarke and 'The Baroque Trilogy' by Neal Stephenson. The latter is a very long story at somethng like twenty seven hundred pages, but well worth it. I`ve also just re-read the shorter 'The Name of the Rose' by Umberto Eco.
I tend not to worry about the length of time it takes me to read it. I don`t think of the other books I could be reading, I concentrate on the novel to hand, though recently I have tried reading of two or more novels simultaneously.
A few big books that have held my interest to the last page were: The uncut The Stand, Forever Amber, David Copperfield, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Crimson Petal and the White.
Fall on Your Knees by Ann Marie MacDonald. Swoon. Loved it, definitely needs a re-read! And thanks for bringing up some others that I've added to the TBR!!
It's sooo good!
TheLiterary Hoarders One of my own personal goals is to read all of the books on the Oprah’s Book Club. I have been looking for a copy of this one from second hand stores as I imagine it would take me longer than the allotted library time.....maybe I will just have to give in and order it so I can get started. I am now very intrigued!
I've had Blonde on my shelves for over a decade and I think you encouraged me to move it up my priority list. I love how you describe Marilyn as Norma Jean's drag act. Fall On Your Knees also sounds fascinating--I had forgotten about that book and it's on my TBR now! I enjoyed aspects of A Fraction of the Whole but being honest, I think it could have used some judicious editing. With Barkskins, I found I was really intrigued by one of the two family lines the story follows, but every time it switched to the other I felt myself begin to drag. Will be interested in seeing what you think of them!
Oh, I am LOVING DUCKS! It is more immersive the more I read (at a pace of 50 pages a days which is about as much as I can take in between thinking about it🧐). Looking forward to your review!🙋♀️📚
Oh wonderful! So glad to hear you're enjoying it. Encourages me to be more dedicated to reading it.
Yes, I can relate. I used to be excited by a big book but now with so many others to read, I feel daunted by it. I have a few big books I'm putting off until....just until I feel like im getting thru three smaller ones first or until it's a lazy frozen winter month, I've found that small books can fascinate and make me fall in love with characters (example: Tin Man) and so now the magnificance of doing that in a small book is a real treat.
I recall reading A Little Life during a period of big, personal change. I had to put the book down so often (and start reading something else) that I almost didn’t want to pick it up again. I had to stop and start over a long period, protracting my time in a complex and tragic set of narratives. If I had not carried on, I would have missed out on one of the most exquisitely crafted and sympathetic books of recent memory. This reading experience informed me to commit to only one book at a time (after getting over the initial judgement hurdle of whether to read beyond the threshold at which you make such decisions) because you never know what sort of journeys and world you will fall into with any novel, let alone a “big one”. I now find that I get through any novel faster (not for speed reading purposes) and can recall more content and consider more issues raised.
All that said, if you can manage straddling worlds, audio books are a good source to balance reading lists while considering and completing a “big”, physical copy of a novel. Good luck with your “book nerd” endeavour!
P.S. Blonde has been on my TBR for some time, too.
Luckily, I developed a love for tomes too heavy to lift as a young girl, so that has never been a deterrent. Every once in awhile you even run across a really, really big book that still doesn't seem long enough:)
You had me at"mother quacker" 😂😂 but I'm not reading that one. Just started Oscar on my Kindle.
Yay Oscar!
I try to read a big book over the summer months, this year so far I have failed but last summer read The Count of Monte Cristo and it was wonderful.... I have lots on my TBR I just need to get through so I'm sticking with the shorter books so I can give them to charity before I move (20 pages to go of Slaughterhouse 5 - I've enjoyed it but find I can't read much at a time)
Blonde sounds amazing!! I used to be really interested in Marilyn Monroe when I was in high school but haven't really revisited that interest in ages, and Blonde sounds like the perfect way to fall back into it. Stone Upon Stone has been on my radar since Kamil's video as well, and also Soul Mountain (or Chinese literature more generally) has been something I've been wanting to get into as well! (By the way, Xingjian is pronounced "shing dzyen"!)
But another Nobel Laureate has a different huge book on my bookshelf that has been waiting to be read for many more years... that is Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter, a cycle following a 14th century Norwegian woman and her family in the countryside of southeastern Norway.
JCO said when she was researching the novel she watched or rewatched all of Marilyn's films and found it really poignant watching her development as an actress. I think her vulnerability really comes through since she had such stage fright and that's probably part of the reason a lot of us relate to her films while also enjoying them as comic or dramatic entertainment.
Thanks for the pronouciation correction. I knew I got it wrong and should have looked it up before filming!
And wow, I'd love to that Undset epic too but... when will I ever have the time?!?! :)
Steve Toltz is one of those books on my shelf that I want to re-read because it was so good! Was so disappointed by Barkskins, the novel got away from the author as they tried to capture too much, subsequently lost the forest through the trees!!!
Interesting!
I love books, but I have ADHD and often find it difficult to get through complete works, especially long ones. Despite that, my most memorable reading experiences have been mostly long novels. My faves are Byatt's Possession, Kafka on the Shore, The Count of Monte Cristo, and The Lord of the Rings.
Yes, fat books can be a mixed blessing, but when they work, they just flow. "Middlemarch" and Manzoni's "The Betrothed" were a sheer pleasure to read. "Life and Fate" more demanding but so rewarding, "The Alexandra Quartet" ditched after the first book (too pretentious). I'm still undecided about Dostoyevsky : he wastes a lot of time overtly pushing his personal philosophies.
"Stone Upon Stone" is, of course a Kamil recommendation and I thought it was fantastic. I enjoyed "A Fraction of the Whole" very much, but found "Soul Mountain" a bit of a slog.
I'm just finishing "The Overstory" (excellent), and you will be very pleased to hear that "A Book of American Martyrs" will come next. Waiting in my TBR are Pamuk's "The Museum of Innocence", Cather's "The Song of the Lark", and Naipaul's "A House for Mr Biswas".
If the book is good no problem. But if it's a slog DNF. Have started Ducks, Newburyport. I'm doing the 20 pages a day tactic. Blonde is on my TBR as well and I'm reading A Book of American martyrs it's just over 700 pages. Barkskins is sooo good! I'm also reading A House for Mr Biswas which is really good. I commit to reading a certain number of pages a day. I read shorter books along side. Works perfectly.
Yep, words to live by!
So glad you're reading A Book of American Martyrs. Hope you enjoy it!
I've noticed that I have stopped reading big long books in the past few years and other entertainment (namely youtube, facebook and netflix) has filled that gap - and not sure if I'm ok with that.... A big literary bio I have wanted to read forever is Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee (and actually all the Bio's Lee has written). My strategy, especially for a long novel, is to focus on it and get through it. If I try to break it up and read other things at the same time it inevitably gets put aside unfinished. For long non-fiction books I go with audio and then if it's really really good I will buy a physical copy to read again and catch all the references and notes I've missed on audio. Big books I recommend: Vanity Fair - it's awesome! The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson and A S Byatt - both The Children's Book and Possession. I've been meaning to re-read all of these... but like you say - it's the time needed!
Crime and Punishment is one of my favorites. I need to finish The Count of Monte Cristo, but I'm not even half-way. I gotta read War & Peace, Don Quixote, Dune, reread IT and Gone with the Wind. So many, especially classics. The Stand, East of Eden, The Priory of the Orange Tree, Fall of Giants, and Pillars of the Earth. Bigger book fantasies are a little easier, but not by much. Watching your video reminded that I wanted to look up tips for reading bigger books.
Must reads: Don Quixote, Moby Dick, the Idiot, Crime & P, Demons, and The Goldfinch! I’d LOVE to re-read War & Peace someday too, but, well... sigh 😞. So many books, so little time. 📚
Hello! I’ve used August to crack some long books (around 400 words and above for me). Alternating between Neil Mukherjee’s The Lives of Others, Mario Vargas Lisa’s The Feast of the Goat. If I get bored between them, not going for a short literary fiction (like you said it could distract) and trying other genres - fantasy for the summer. As a rule I don’t leave any books unread on my shelves for more than a year and if I have too many unread books, I ban myself from buying - I find that spurs me on to read even challenging books, as I will have a list of books I am dying to buy.
I do love big books when they work. You sink into that world and feel as if you know the characters. But it’s so easy normally to pick up smaller books.
Hi! Thanks for this video! I am drawn to large novels too. Murakami's 1Q84 was an interesting one, which led me to Proust's In Search of Lost Time because one of the characters in 1Q84 is trapped in an apartment building and she decides to read that novel. So far I have read Swann's Way (vol.1) and In the Shadow of Young Girl's in Flower (vol.2). It is definitely an undertaking. I would consider In Search of Lost Time a large novel because each book picks up where the previous one left off and focuses on the same character, the unnamed narrator. My favorite long novel is by far War and Peace. It is an epic story. I never would have imagined picking it up but 2 of my friends decided to read it, which really motivated me to want to read it too.
As far as large books on my to read shelf, Soul Mountain is actually there! It looked super intriguing. I also have The Tale of Genji I have been wanting to read for a long time now. I believe it is the 1st novel ever written, so that entices me. I also have the Cairo Trilogy by an Egyptian novelist which sounded good. The Complete Chronicles of Conan (the Barbarian). The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, which I believe is what Lawrence of Arabia is based on. 11/22/63, which is about time travel and trying to stop the assassination of John F Kennedy. And A True Novel, which is an adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights set in post-war Japan.
As far as my strategy I usually will decide to tackle the big read at the start of Summer and see if I can finish it by the end. Usually it will take longer sometimes a year. War and Peace took me a year to finish I believe.
I have meant to read several long books, including: “War and Peace,” “Les Miserables,” “The Magic Mountain,” “Atlas Shrugged.” Also, I’d like to read all of Proust’s “In Search if Lost Time.” I believe he considered it as one long novel.
Whether or not I read other, shorter books while I’m reading a long one depends on the long book: if it’s really good I don’t feel the need to insert any “intermissions” while reading it. 😂😂❤️ That might sound stupid but hopefully you know what I mean. LOL I read “A Little Life” in just a few days, I loved it so, and didn’t pick up any other books to read during the time I was reading it.
I believe I have that Isherwood biography you mention. I have not read it though. I tend to purchase more books than I can get around to!
I’m also going to hopefully get around to “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt soon! I love her work but couldn’t get into that one the first time I tried. Maybe I will this time. Her novel “The Secret History” is one of my, perhaps (?), THREE favorite novels of all time (the others being Cather’s “My Ántonia” and Wharton’s “Ethan Frome”).
Sorry for such a LONG message! I figure it’s apt, though. ❤️😂❤️😂❤️👍🏻
- Adam
The Magic Mountain is not really worth it... imo it's very ambiguous (on purpose) and it's literally ABOUT a colossal waste of time. Up to you but when I read it as a senior in college I thought it was incredibly well-written but it has not stuck with me at all.
It's so interesting how if something grips us we'll read it quickly no matter how long it is. I definitely had that with The Goldfinch and read it in only a few days. Hope you have more success the second time around.
I love long messages! Thanks!
War and Peace and Crime and Punishment were good. Liked Crime and Punishment best. Les Miserables is killing me slowly.
When it comes to big books I'm less worried about how long it will take me to read and more worried if I have the time and energy to really focus on it. With large books there tends to be more going on so I like to be honed in on it.
I am currently 1/3rd through An Executioners Song which is over 1000 pages and whilst I am enjoying it I have put it down for a few shorter books and then will get back to it. I find books that have different sections work well for mixing with other books. I have many big books to read including Blonde, Crime & Punishment, Fall in Your Knees and all the big classics on my shelves waiting. I have also just ordered Ducks. I find big books more memorable and rewarding if they are good. I have high hopes for Ducks. 🤞
That's an interesting collection, Eric! I'm curious about 'Ducks'. Crime and Punishment scared me so far just by its first page - the language in Classics, LOL. Maybe I'll look into that again.
For me, the longest I've read was a library book, "Six Four" by Hideo Yokoyama. A police procedural, crime-ish novel. I had that anxiety you mentioned too because it was such a thick book. I was apprehensive if I could read it in time before it's due date.
The method to reading big books, I realized was to go in with a relaxed mind. Like dipping your toes into a deep lake. And then take a deep breath as you swim slowly into each sentence, one stroke at a time. I finished Six Four within a week or two. But then, the story was good and so was its pacing.
And oh take plenty of breaks. It's a big lake of words, after all. XD
Hope to hear more of your adventures in reading those books, Eric! Oh, I'm your new subscriber. XD
Great list! I haven't read any of these, though I am half tempted to get Ducks just because of how crazy it seems! (On the other hand, the whole thing being a giant run-on sentence with no paragraphs makes the length extra intimidating!) For my own long books TBR, I've had Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on my shelf for forever. More recently acquired, but still intimidating, are A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, The Luminaries, and Anna Karenina. Still, I do seem to be attracted to long books, I guess because I like the idea of sinking deeply into a novel's world.
As far as good long books (> 500 pages) I've read recently, I really enjoyed All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, and The Back of the Turtle by Thomas King.
My strategy for getting through a long book depends on how engaging it is. Like you said, it can take a long time to get through one, and longer if I'm reading something else at the same time. If it's a long book that is kind of a slog or takes a lot of mental energy to get through, I'll read it in parallel with easier or shorter books so that I don't have a whole month (or however long) of reading time that I dread. However, if I get sucked in by an amazing-but-long book, I will just read only that until I get through it. My goal at this point in my life is to make sure I look forward to reading time!
I love having the time to read a long book. I recently read Tombland by CJ Sansom. I just read it at every opportunity which is how I tackled Barkskins and how I tackle most books that I enjoy. If I find that I’m reading other books it’s because the book I am supposed to be reading isn’t holding my attention sufficiently. I’m going to read the Ducks book as soon as I’ve finished the book I’m reading now.
I‘ve been wanting to read Les Miserables for ages, but I feel like it would take me a decade. Another big book on my list is 4321 by Paul Auster. A while ago I read A Little Life, and that was definitely worth the time! And one of my favourites is Anna Karenina, which is also quite dry at times and took a few weeks to read, but it is wonderful.
4321 is on my TBR as well.
Big books are something I get so excited about, the thought of starting a big book and getting stuck into it excites me but for some reason I never seem to want to start them once I own them. haha. I think the big book that's highest on my TBR would have to be The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber, I've always been so intrigued by the synopsis but between the pressure I'm putting on it and the size I wonder if I will ever pick it up haha
A Fraction of a Whole is something I keep seeing in stores and almost purchasing!
Big books that I have read are Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth and Fall of Giants as well as Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo
I don't feel like you should avoid big books because they take time to read. I mean, you will be picking up a new book after reading a book either way and the sense once done with a big book is worth it. When I read Infinte Jest last summer, I read it for an hour every day and then read other books on the side which really helped. Also I have so lasting memories of reading that book and other big books like Anna Karelina, It, The Luminaries etc.
I'll be starting 'Ducks' (which I actually have on Kindle, so I don't have to carry around that behemoth!) as soon as I finish the new Rushdie (the 9th of the Booker longlist for me). My fave BIG book is 'A Suitable Boy' by Vikram Seth (almost 1500 pages), which I want to reread soon, and highly recommend. Other BIG ones I have on my shelves I need to get to: War & Peace (of course); Anniversaries by Uwe Johnson; Women & Men by Joseph McElroy; Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, by Marguerite Young; the Ram Chandra Trilogy by Amish Tripathi...
It’s an interesting issue! Previously I’ve always been a one-book-at-a-time person, and read that book straight through, but have always been defeated by some writers - notably Dickens. However, he wrote for serialisation originally, and his chapters tend to be short, so I decided to read Bleak House one chapter per day, first thing in the morning with my breakfast. I actually really enjoyed the whole experience - and I got to read other books at the same time. I tend to read 19th century books this way, non-fiction, and some long contemporary fiction - I read both The Luminaries and A Little Life like this, Luminaries because it was difficult to get into at first and Life because I was worried about being triggered. Usually if I really get into the book I’ll abandon the 30 page a day rule and just read straight through. But what it has taught me is that I can read several books at once without worries about losing the plot, etc. I’m reading Pickwick Papers now, and have Sturgis’s Oscar and Ducks, Newburyport on my tbr pile. I really fancy JCO’s Blonde at some point too 😊
Yeah, some authors like Dickens are easier to put down for a bit. But that's a good strategy. I definitely felt that challenge of getting into the Luminaries too but once I was in I was in so deep. I'd like to read Dickens again at some point and glad you're reading Oscar.
One thing that helped enormously with "The Luminaries" (and any other book if it comes to that) is if you are familiar with the setting of the story. NZ's wild western coast of the South Island is so atmospheric, and also helped me the appreciate "The Bone People".
Great video Eric! I'm currently almost halfway through A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. 688 pages of very small print. I'm struggling but still persisting! It's a pretty amazing book though.
It really is amazing! I love that novel. Especially Nina's story of self-transformation over the length of it and the clever way the novel's title only takes on its true meaning towards the end.
That book is amazzzzzing!
Thanks for video post. Ibrahim Nasrallah's Time of White Horses is worth the time and effort. It has been sitting on the shelf for 4 months as I dreaded the length bit when I finally got into it I read it in less than a week. Very gripping: I cannot recommend it enough. A saga of Palestine...
Thanks for the recommendation!
I loved huge books so large when I was younger. Now the problem is I have to borrow most books from the library due to financial tightness and know I can't get them read at a decent pace and returned in time.
Big Books I am working through right now include Les Miserables, Gulag Archipelago, Stephen King's IT, Stephen King's The Dark Tower, Once and Future King, Einstein by Walter Isaacson and Game of Thrones. Big Books I have completed include Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. I have other big books I am working through, but those are non fiction and are too many to mention here.
I have quite a few books on my "500+ page" tbr. I've been doing an okay job of keeping up with reading them. Last year I was able to read one a month and I'm trying for the same goal this year. 🤞 Of course, now I have a couple more added on after watching this video. 😂
Thankyou Eric , I’m reading luminaries and I also want to read Blonde. I love big books 📖also I ordered Ducks Newburyport
Yes fall on your knees is brilliant. Also enjoyed 'the way the crows flies' by same author. Highly recommended
I appreciate it when big books have shorter chapters. I struggle committing to bigger books even though I know they have so much more to offer than shorter books.
Short chapters is key I think. Ducks is proving to be a particular challenge since there are noooo breaks! Eek.
@@EricKarlAnderson good luck with it.
I just finished A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - took 3 weeks. It had been on my shelves since 1996 when it was shortlisted for the Booker but I was inspired to get it down by Supposedly Fun who recommended it a few weeks ago. I bought Ducks last week so I hope it's not on the shelves for 23 years!
Just received Blonde today after your recommendation in an earlier video. Looking forward to starting once I finish the currently available Booker longlist.
Oh wonderful!
Stone Upon Stone is on my list a few years now!
Great video (like always). But can we TALK about your channel picture and how I’m just noticing the greatness of it now!?!
Haha! Yeah, it was taken a while ago when I was at a pool with cool blue lighting.
I love big books!! ♥
My fav 500+ pagers so far:
A World Undone (Meyer), Wives and Daughters (Gaskell),
War and Peace,
Our Mutual Friend, Little Dorrit, Martin Chuzzlewit, and Bleak House (Dickens)
Middlemarch (Eliot) and
East of Eden (Steinbeck)
Out of those I’ve only read Bleak House and Middlemarch. I really need to read East of Eden.
Eric Karl Anderson -
I loved East of Eden. It’s a moving multigenerational saga with some very interesting father-son themes and one of the most interesting and enigmatic female characters in all of literature.
@@misselder1 I'm sure I'll love it as I have other novels I've read by Steinbeck.
I loved Soul Mountain, and Blonde. In the throes of Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter currently, which I also love. Originally written in three volumes, but often published in one volume. Hermione Lee's biography of Edith Wharton is brilliant.
Lonesome Dove sits on my shelf and stares at me filling me with guilt :)
Read that beast! :)
I miss Kamil!! I'm surprised how many people are tackling Ducks. I'm just waiting for it to come out here...
oh and usually, I read other things while I'm reading a big book. I'm not following this advice at the moment, reading a 900+ pager and nothing else, and yeah, it's frustrating (also this book is kind of plotless so that doesn't help!! Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson)
@@LauraFreyReadinginBed Slip in a short story now and then!
I'm kind of scared to go through my unread books and find out just how long some of them are... pretty much everything I read is via Kindle so you don't really have much indication of how "big" a Kindle book is until you look at the page count in the file or look at the Amazon page for it. So I was a bit disconcerted to start on Wilkie Collins' Woman in White the other day and find it's 700-odd pages... yikes.
I know I've got a few thousand-plus pagers in there, but by far the longest is the whole Mahabharata, which is a bit over 6000 pages over 10 volumes. If/when I ever get around to *that*, it will be the biggest book I'll have ever read (twice as long as the edition I have of Gibbon's Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire that weighs in around 3000 pages) or expect to read. When the hell I'll ever find the inclination to actually read the thing is another matter, of course...
I learned in writing a manuscript that the average adult novel is over 120,000 words. The publishers count words not pages. 250 words on a page.
The average book of 120,000 words with 250 words on a page is 480 pages.
Oh interesting! Maybe I mostly come across shorter novels. Anyway, I guess over 500 is still considered long by that standard.
Out of Dostoevesky's Big 4 (5, if you include The Adolescent), I thought Crime and Punishment was his weakest. A much better one was The Idiot that illustrates the impossibility and grotesqueness of Christian love on earth, the burden of love that Christ placed on us, but still remains the goal that we should all strive towards. Haunting and heartbreaking ending.
Ducks, Newburyport will go home with the Booker this year
I found your channel today and I loved it; even subscribed to it. Greetings from Brazil. 😊
Thank you!
I read Middlemarch as an audiobook, which was I think 36h long. I really got that feeling like you said, of getting to spend a lot of time with the characters. I spent pretty much a whole month reading it, but it was also so worth it! The book was really good. Have you read it?
I have! I love Middlemarch. Oh Dodo! Isn't that her sister's nickname for her?
@@EricKarlAnderson Yes it is! :)
One or actually two big books that Ive had on my tbr for about two years is Sherlock Holmes The Complete Novels and Stories volume 1and 2 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.I plan to read these two volumes while also reading a romance novel and some audio books.I think it will be easy because its like reading a bunch of short stories,so hopefully i will get to it soon.
I am reading now The Casual Vacancy by J.k.Rowling .. its about 600 when its translated to Arabic..its really boring 🥴 i feel that i am stuck i may read small books as companion to this one
Great video!! I recently finished reading the century trilogy by Ken Follett. It took me 6 months to finish all the books but it will be worth yout time :)
I generally have to finish a book the week I start reading it. I pick new books on Mondays and it messes me up if I have not finished by sunday no matter how long or slow 👯👯😨
Christina Stead is wonderful. I would also recommend A Book of American Martyrs from one of our national treasures, Joyce Carol Oates.
I loved A Book of American Martyrs!
Great video!
Thank you!
Infinite Jest has been lying around for quite a while..
At 3:31 I had to read for school & I had to DNF but I hope you will enjoy it
What about Norman Mailers The Executioners Song?
I started Soul Mountaina decade ago, five chapters after i was bored to death.
HAha!
Hi, who is the actress saying "hello"? 😁
It's Judy Holliday from the film Born Yesterday where she plays a gangster's wife that learns the joys of reading. 😄📚
Thomas Pynchon: Against the Day
Reading War and Peace now :-)
I tip my hat to you! I've yet to climb that literary mountain. :)
@@EricKarlAnderson enjoying it so far!
A suitable Boy
Books do not provoke anxiety son. You must be biplolar.