Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

With reading challenges, it's really easy to get caught up in the short, quick books that will keep you on pace for the year. However, this also means we sometimes ignore those long tomes on our shelves. This week, you have an incentive to pick up that doorstoper who has been waiting patiently for you to read it.

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Suggestions:

26 Long Books Worth Your Time
50 Best Contemporary Novels with 500+ Pages
17 Books Long Enough to Get You Through a Pandemic (lol)
Long Books Worth Every Minute
6 Epic Nonfiction Books
15 Long YA Books That Are Worth Finishing
GR Listopia: Big Fat Books Worth the Effort

ATY Group Listopia

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Optional Questions:
1. What are you reading for this category?
2. How long was this book? What was your criteria for picking a book for this prompt?
3. What long book would you recommend to others?

I just picked a book I thought was long and i think most people would consider 1000 pages long It

I tend to get twitchy about books that are 600+ pages long so I have quite a lot of neglected doorstoppers. I haven’t officially decided yet what I’ll read for this prompt.

I have numerous ones to choose from but a few I planned to read this year and don't think I will get to. It's still possible, though!

The Good Soldier Švejk- 752 pages
War and Peace - 1392 pages! Hmmm, maybe not.
Middlemarch- 904 pages
The Luminaries- 848 pages

I have a lot to choose from also but will probably read one of these:

Bleak House - 989 pages (I try to read one Dickens a year)
The Luminaries - 848 pages (on my shelf for too long)
The Forsyte Saga - 872 pages (reading in another group)
Shirley - Charlotte Bronte 624 pages (reading in another group)
The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray - 576 pages (new in 2021! and I love her books)

My criteria for long reads is 500+ pages, but for this prompt I'm going to read the longest book on my owned TBR, The Crimson Petal and the White, which is 922 pages. I do a long-reads side challenge for myself every year to make sure I'm reading at least a handful my longer books each year, so I have a couple other long books slotted throughout the challenge.

Some long books I've read that I would recommend are (pages may vary slightly by edition):
Lilith's Brood: Contains the complete series Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago - 752 pages
The Golem and the Jinni - 819 pages
The Inheritance Trilogy - 1,462 pages
The Count of Monte Cristo - 1,276 pages
The Lord of the Rings - 1,184 pages
Outlander - 840 pages (all books in this series are long)
The Chronicles of Narnia - 767 pages
House of Leaves - 736 pages
American Gods - 674 pages
The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Volume I - 672 pages (there's also a Volume II)
Battle Royale - 610 pages
Illuminae - 608 pages - this is a "quick" long read. the other 2 books in this trilogy would also count
East of Eden - 602 pages
The Heart's Invisible Furies - 582 pages

I'm going with the longest on my TBR, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, at 1614 pages. I also have a lot of other long books to fill other prompts. Lots of pages in 2021!

I loved The Luminaries when I read it last year! Highly recommend!

I unintentionally picked up a loooong book today: Under the Dome. Long story short, I'm planning to read it in a few weeks when I'm in Maine because it's set there (I like to read books set in locations I'm visiting). I didn't realize it's such a chonk at 1074 pages under I found it on the shelf! I debated it but said YOLO and picked it up.

EDIT: I JUST noticed the "long story short" and totally didn't intend that pun.

Troubled Blood is 944 pages, 32 hours on audio but as a fan of the series, (Cormoran Strike) I found it flew by. You need to read the series in order though and this is book 5.

I have Shōgun and The Agony and the Ecstasy and I think A Suitable Boy in my basement. I have The Winthrop Woman on audio.

I have two options for this book, both of which I already have. The Luminaries (834 pages for my paperback) because I have owned it for a long time and just not read it (glad to know you really liked this @Emily!). OR Grant (1,074 pages for my HC edition) because I started it when it came out, liked it, and then just stopped reading it.

As for recs for others (I went with 550+ pages), I second Kristina's recommendation for The Count of Monte Cristo. Others that I liked and page count:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - 1,006 pages
4 3 2 1 - 866 pages
The Brothers Karamazov - 796 pages
Wizard of the Crow - 768 pages
The Fate of Africa: A History of Fifty Years of Independence - 752 pages
The Three Musketeers - 736 pages
Elizabeth I - 672 pages
Wolf Hall - 653 pages
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - 639 pages
Invisible Man - 581 pages

my criteria for 'long' book is 500+ pages but for an actual challenging amount, i'd say 700+ is pushing it for me.

i'd love to read the longest book on my tbr just for the sake of the challenge but it's The Count of Monte Cristo. i very rarely read classics but i read & loved a retelling of this book so it's on my tbr. i think i'm going for The Priory of the Orange Tree or The Secret History instead since i actually own it.

there are quite a few 2021 releases which i have my eye on too, like

A Dark and Hollow Star by Ashley Shuttleworth
Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
We Free the Stars by Hafsah Faizal

I'm setting my limit at 700+ pages for this prompt because I haven't managed one of those size books this year, which is kind of a bummer. From my TBR, here's what I have:

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon (848 Pages)
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed (798 Pages)
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin (748 Pages)
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (720 Pages)

Of some mentioned here, I loved Anna Karenina (although I read it using Serial Reader and kind of skipped some of the more boring farming parts lol) and The Luminaries. Gone with the Wind also has some major nostalgia for me and I love to hate book Scarlett better than movie Scarlett. I also read The Heart's Invisible Furies this year and it was one of my favorites (although it falls below my threshold for "long", it was definitely one of my longer books of the year).

As someone who usually thinks long books are longer than they need to be, I enjoyed The Priory of the Orange Tree.

That's good to know, Ellie. Every year, it seems like I have one or two books that pop up on every list. This year, it seems like I am destined to read The Priory of the Orange Tree and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Both keep coming up on my possibilities for so many different prompts.

I'm going to read Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I organized my tbr by page count and picked the first one that interested me. Google says 782 pages. For long books I recommend Game of Thrones, Priory of the Orange Tree, or Shadow of Blood and Bone.

For this prompt I'm going to read A Feast for Crows
It's the longest book on my TBR, 1060 pages.

Any book from "A Song of Ice and Fire" would work for this prompt.
I'm currently listening to Troubled Blood and I really like it, but like Robin said, you should really read the series in order.
Other long books I've read and enjoyed:
Magpie Murders - 608 pages
Seveneves - 880 pages
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 760 pages

Emily wrote: "Every year, it seems like I have one or two books that pop up on every list. This year, it seems like I am destined to read The Priory of the Orange Tree and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Both keep coming up on my possibilities for so many different prompts."

i've noticed that with my planning too! this year for me it's Strange the Dreamer

I sorted my TBR after page numbers and here is the top seven choices for me:

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon 1087 pages been lying in my TBR piles for ages/years
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett 887 pages the same has been in the TBR pile for ages
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 878 pages Started reading in my late teens and liked it but never actually finished it. Maybe now is the time
The Sun Sister by Lucinda Riley 847 pages many pages but usually an easy read, at least the previous ones in the series have been
Som pesten by Hanne-Vibeke Holst 847 pages interested in this book by a Danish author. Don't know if I am up to it though, it is about a pandemic....
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin 819 pages It feels like I am one of few that has not read this series yet. Maybe it is about time
11/22/63 byStephen King 795 pages Heard many good reviews about this one

Not an obvious choice yet for me but will probably be one of the above.

annie wrote: "Emily wrote: "Every year, it seems like I have one or two books that pop up on every list. This year, it seems like I am destined to read The Priory of the Orange Tree and The Long Way to a Small, ..."

What do you have down for Strange the Dreamer?! It's on my bookshelf so I want to make sure I slot it in somewhere.

I too sorted my TBR by page count and decided on The Historian. But then I remembered I've had It in paperback forever and have never tackled it, so this may be the year.

I'm going for what I think of as the ultimate long book: War and Peace (1,392 pages).

That said I just found out that The Count of Monte Cristo (1,276 pages) is also really long (I had only seen the abridged version) so that's definitely a contender. I read a ton of fantasy this year and want to knock out some classics.

Some other options I had on my list were Dune (661 pages) and The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (732 pages)

Here are my options, all of which have been on my "tbr soon" shelf for too long:

The Way of Kings - 1258 pages
The Priory of the Orange Tree - 827 pages
A Little Life - 816 pages
Sleeping Beauties - 720 pages
NOS4A2 - 720 pages

Long books I have read and loved, all 700 pages or more:

The Stand
It
The Name of the Wind
Kushiel's Dart
11/22/63
The Terror
The Fireman
House of Leaves
The Talisman

For anyone who is dreading reading something long, I recommend trying an audiobook! That way you can listen in bits and pieces while doing other things, and a great narrator can draw you in and make the time speed by. I'm particularly partial to Stephen King on audio (as you can tell from my lists) because his style is so conversational.

Ooh yes, and you can also speed up the playback time. What I also try to do for super long books is to both listen and read, I did this for Centennial which I used for a PS prompt this year. It's 50 hours long but between listening at 1.5x speed and reading on my Kindle when not listening, I got through it a lot faster.

The Stand and 11/22/63 are both fantastic books, and I also really liked Under the Dome.

emily, i have it down for

- a book related to 'in the beginning...'
- a book related to the lyrics for the song 'my favourite things' from the sound of music
- a book that fits a prompt suggestion that didn't make the final list
- a book set in a made-up place
- a book related to a word given by a random word generator
- a book posted in the aty best book of the month threads
- a long book
- a book with elements of magic

it could also count for 'a book with a monochromatic cover' depending on how strictly you interest the prompt

i know there are books that probably fit in even more categories but it's the one that kept coming up for me

Thanks annie!!

I was planning on reading Fall of Giants by Ken Follett with a friend, and it's 985 pages, so two birds with one stone, it will work for this as well!

And for something long to recommend to other people - I agree with Sarah and Nancy about Stephen King's 22.11.63. And I'm reading The Stand next month, so I hope it's just as good!

i must admit when I first saw this prompt I was petrified. My first thought was to use a WC. But then all the spooky talk got me thinking of Stephen King hence I came up with it. I have ended up with a bit of a King craze.
It long book
Cujo ensemble cast
Christine magic
The Running Man future
that said I am still balking at the length and may end up adding picture books for balance

I am currently struggling through The Count of Monte Cristo and ugh! it's soooo long!! The only thing getting me through it at this point is John Lee reading the audiobook. My goal is to be done by Dec 31st. I started it in March.


I'm not really a fan of long books, I almost always think they could have been edited down. So I'm going to define this category very liberally. Life After Life, at 531 pages, might be it for me.

Kathryn wrote: "And for something long to recommend to other people - I agree with Sarah and Nancy about Stephen King's 22.11.63. And I'm reading The Stand next month, so I hope it's just as good!."

I have read a large portion of King's work and The Stand is top 5 for me. I loved it.

I'm going to read the tetralogy The Master of Hestviken by Sigrid Undset and count it as one book.

This was a tough decision, because I have hardcover copies of Sarum: The Novel of England and Shantaram taking up a huge amount of real estate on my bookshelves and would like to get those read and gone. Maybe I'll read one yet in 2020.

For me a long book would be 750+, but it depends on the genre. I distinguish between "slow" and "fast" books - I can read a long fast book like a thriller in a few days, but a long slow book of the same number of pages might take a few weeks. It also depends on how many words they print on each page, of course!

A few long books I can recommend:

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (a trilogy, but read as one book)

The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone (biographical novel about Michaelangelo)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Hawaii by James A. Michener

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Anyone else find it interesting that most long books are written by men?

Kelly wrote: "Anyone else find it interesting that most long books are written by men?"

I have 20 long books (600+ pages) on my listopia. Fourteen are by female authors. So my options are more heavily weighted to women.

dalex wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Anyone else find it interesting that most long books are written by men?"

I have 20 long books (600+ pages) on my listopia. Fourteen are by female authors. So my options are more hea..."

If I dropped down to 600 pages, there'd be a lot more women included on my list too - just seems like all the really long ones on my list have been written by men! The books on my list from 500-750 pages are about 50/50.

Kelly wrote: "Anyone else find it interesting that most long books are written by men?"

I would absolutely chalk this up to there being more "powerhouse" male authors that a publisher would have a hard time saying no to. Publishers do not want to publish super-long books most of the time. It's more expensive and can cause serious issues when the books are translated - that's why you'll see ultra-long fantasy books published in two volumes in some countries.

I'd also say genre is a factor. You don't see a lot of really long romance novels - fantasy doorstoppers are much more common. And sadly, for many years, fantasy was heavily male-dominated.

Sarah wrote: "Kelly wrote: "Anyone else find it interesting that most long books are written by men?"

I would absolutely chalk this up to there being more "powerhouse" male authors that a publisher would have a..."
Thhat is true I also think books used to be longer which was in an era where most books period were written by men. As someone who is battling for gender parity this year ( currently 18 all) i am keeping close eye on the gender.

I will probably read The Goldfinch and maybe a very short one for the short book.

My first choice is Winds of Winter...if it is ever finished!

Second choice is War and Peace and third The Brothers Karamazov. I have a weird love/dread relationship with Russian Literature. I voted for this the prompt just so I would have some encouragement to tackle these two books that have been on my TBR list for a while. I may also use the Serial Reader app to chunk these up so that I can stay on schedule while knocking out this prompt.

read House of Leaves or anything by this author https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

for the moment i am going with the longest book I have on my big books shelf London

but i might be tempted to buy the next Mark Z. Danielewski Hades

1. What are you reading for this category?
Longest book I own - A Little Life
2. How long was this book? What was your criteria for picking a book for this prompt?
I had picked the book before finding a prompt to fit it into. It's 720 pages *gasp*
3. What long book would you recommend to others? For me, a long book is anything 500+ pages. So, any Donna Tartt, Life After Life, I Know This Much Is True, The Heart's Invisible Furies, Everything You Need, Lanark, Pachinko or Alias Grace

I think this is the year I'll finally read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (1007 pages).



A few recommendations off my shelf:

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
It by Stephen King
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Angie wrote: "I think this is the year I'll finally read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (1007 pages).



A few recommendations off my she..."
Way of Kings is my favorite book. I hope you enjoy it.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

1. What are you reading for this category?
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

2. How long was this book? What was your criteria for picking a book for this prompt?
632 pages. My idea of a long book is over 500 pages.

3. What long book would you recommend to others?
The Forgotten Garden
Anna Karenina
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Goldfinch
The Thorn Birds

506pgs

I just started A Promised Land. Over 700 pages, very readable so far.

Jkmays wrote: "I just started A Promised Land. Over 700 pages, very readable so far."

Ooh, good idea, as I definitely want to read/listen to that this year. I will do the audio read by Obama.

1. What are you reading for this category? This was the perfect excuse to finally tackle Hawaii.
2. How long was this book? What was your criteria for picking a book for this prompt? 937 pages, I double dipped and used it for the Pop Sugar prompt - The longest book on my TBR.
3. What long book would you recommend to others?
I'm currently reading A Discovery of Witches, which is excellent.

1. What are you reading for this category?
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

2. How long was this book? What was your criteria for picking a book for this prompt?
928 pages. I typically prefer short books, but this series has been on my list for awhile and I decided this was the year to dig in. This was the longest out of the first four books - I believe the fifth is longer, but I'm taking a bit of a break before reading it since this series has already monopolized the better part of two months.
3. What long book would you recommend to others?
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon would be the long book I read last year - it was a good solid fantasy.

1. What are you reading for this category? Children of Blood and Bone
2. How long was this book? What was your criteria for picking a book for this prompt? Had to be over 500 pages; this one was 531
3. What long book would you recommend to others? Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II (history), Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life (biography), The Moonstone (mystery)