hmm… I’ve read all Tom Clancy’s novels and several of them are well over 1000 pages… “The Stand” by Stephen King might be the winner though. I think the paperback version of that was almost 1500 pages.
I’ve read a bunch of Clancy, but not all (there are some I just can’t get through). I need to read The Stand, as apparently it was referenced quite a bit in LOST.
I read The Stand twice, the original in the 70’s and the second ‘unedited’ edition, which was longer in the 90’s. I also read most of all his other books.
I have also read most of all the Tom Clancy Books, not that I exactly wanted to, but when he released Without Honor about John Clark, I keep thinking I know this character. John Clark was a very minor character in many of the other books. For instance he was a driver for Jack Ryan in one book. I don’t think he had any lines, but just the mention. For some reason it made me mad that Clancy had ‘planted’ this in the other books and pulled all of those references into this interesting tale. I was driven to re-read the books to find eery reference to Clark.
I read the major Ann Rand books, Fountain Head, Atlas Shrugged.
John Clark is a pretty major character in a lot of the books! He shows up first in Clear and Present danger, running the whole Colombian black ops end of things, and his parts get bigger from there on… That’s why it was so cool to get the back story in “Without Remorse,” at least for me 😀 Interesting that you read them the other way around.
I loved Without Remorse—and I think I read it right after I read Clear & Present Danger in which JC has a major secondary role.
Of course, I didn’t really enjoy the character of John Clark as much until the film adaptation of The Sum of All Fears came out and Liev Schreiber was cast in the role. Now, I see John Clark in a completely different, non-Willem Defoe way.
I can’t get past Ben Affleck’s butchering of Ryan to even remember what Clark was like. Affleck as Ryan, for me, is worse than Dafoe as Clark. And I hated him as Clark. He totally ruined Clear and Present Danger for me.
I would imagine that the longest novel I have read would be either Bleak House or Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. I checked them out of the library so don’t have them here to see how long they really are. I’ve also read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, Pretense by Lori Wick, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. All three of those are pretty long also.
Yay! Chapter four in the new book. Things are progressing well. 🙂
I would say that some of Michael Phillips books in the Secret of the Rose series are pretty thick books. I agree with Sylvia, Pretense by Lori Wick is pretty thick also. I just checked Dawn of Liberty by Michael Phillips and it has 605 pages. I am sure that there are thicker books besides those.
And I was thinking about that, but then I realized that if I look at the number of hours on the unabridged audio book, HPOOTP is 27 hours, I can get a better comparison rather than looking at thickness or page count.
For example, some other “thick” books I’ve read (actually read, but this is how long they are on unabridged audio): The Mammoth Hunters (Jean Auel): 28.5 hours Without Remorse (Tom Clancy): 27 hours Little Women: 19 hours A Game of Thrones: 34 hours
So I’d have to say that my longest (recent) read is A Game of Thrones. But though I can’t find an unabridged audio version online for comparison, I’ve also read John Jakes’s North and South and Love and War, which I would imagine would each be up in the high twenties or thirties if they had been put out on unabridged audio—because those are long books!
According to Amazon, the retail trade paperback version of Outlander is 656 pages, while the retail trade paperback version of GWTW is 960 pages. I’d say GWTW wins!
Outlander may be only 656 pages, but the unabridged audio of book 5 of the series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, is 57 hours and 15 minutes! Gone with the Wind is 49 hours and 7 minutes.
I did a little bit of research on that book in college and was surprised to learn that LMA’s version of Little Women, published in 1867, originally ended after Chapter 23, with Meg’s engagement to Mr. Brooke. That book was such an immediate success, her publishers requested a sequel, so what we now consider the “rest” of the book was published in 1869 as Good Wives. They weren’t published as one complete volume until 1880, and it’s my understanding that overseas, it’s still published as two separate books—because it is so long!
Longest book I every TRIED to read was Les Misearables. Couldn’t finish it, I kept gettin bogged down in all the battlefield scenes about Napolean. I need the condensed version because Victor Hugo was WORDY!
Warsaw Requiem by Brock and Bodie Thoene was pretty long, I’ve read all of that series. Excellent books!
WR is 544 pages, according to Amazon. In mass market size, Les Mis is 656 pages. But 656 pages with an author who is too detail oriented and in love with his own words can seem like 1312 pages!
HP and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest, clocking in at 870 pages in the paperback version. (Half-Blood Prince is 652, DH is 784, and Goblet is 752.)
Would you count The Lord of the Rings as one book? If not that, then probably the longest of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series is the longest book I’ve read. Not sure which is the longest. Probably the 5th or 6th in the series. I’m pretty sure one of her books came close to 500,000 words, although if I recall correctly a conversation years ago with her about this, Outlander itself was just under 200,000.
He originally wanted to publish it all as one volume, but I’d say since it comes in three separate books, I’d consider them three separate books in a series, not one long book.
As far as the Outlander books . . . I can understand one single stand-alone book needing 500k words. But this is a series. How can there possibly be nowhere to break a book before it gets to 500,000 words?
The Oulander books – the later ones anyway – are way too long. They get longer and wordier with each installment. And I say that as someone who read all of them and will go right out and read the next one when it comes out. 😛
Actually, Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead probably tops the list at 880 pages, I’ve read all of his and they can be fairly long. Legend of the Celtic Stone by Michael Phillips was on the long side too but very good. Love Celtic literature.
Longest I’ve ever read is most definitely a Clancy novel. Whichever one before Executive Orders that’s the longest. And I’ve read Rainbow Six. That might actually be the longest one I’ve read. My mass market paperback of Executive Orders is every bit of 3 inches thick.
Cardinal of the Kremlin is my favorite though, and I really want to read his new one. New characters, and a former SEAL to boot! I’m a total sucker for SEAL’s. Wonder why he has a co-author for this one though…
I love Lori Wick’s Pretense. Nearly 800 pages in that one.
KayeDacus.com
War and Peace.
LikeLike
That one scares me just to look at it.
LikeLike
I always think of Linus. Or is it Charlie Brown that tries to read it?
LikeLike
hmm… I’ve read all Tom Clancy’s novels and several of them are well over 1000 pages… “The Stand” by Stephen King might be the winner though. I think the paperback version of that was almost 1500 pages.
LikeLike
I’ve read a bunch of Clancy, but not all (there are some I just can’t get through). I need to read The Stand, as apparently it was referenced quite a bit in LOST.
LikeLike
War and Peace
LikeLike
Did you actually enjoy it, or was it something you just had to do?
LikeLike
I read The Stand twice, the original in the 70’s and the second ‘unedited’ edition, which was longer in the 90’s. I also read most of all his other books.
I have also read most of all the Tom Clancy Books, not that I exactly wanted to, but when he released Without Honor about John Clark, I keep thinking I know this character. John Clark was a very minor character in many of the other books. For instance he was a driver for Jack Ryan in one book. I don’t think he had any lines, but just the mention. For some reason it made me mad that Clancy had ‘planted’ this in the other books and pulled all of those references into this interesting tale. I was driven to re-read the books to find eery reference to Clark.
I read the major Ann Rand books, Fountain Head, Atlas Shrugged.
LikeLike
John Clark is a pretty major character in a lot of the books! He shows up first in Clear and Present danger, running the whole Colombian black ops end of things, and his parts get bigger from there on… That’s why it was so cool to get the back story in “Without Remorse,” at least for me 😀 Interesting that you read them the other way around.
LikeLike
I loved Without Remorse—and I think I read it right after I read Clear & Present Danger in which JC has a major secondary role.
Of course, I didn’t really enjoy the character of John Clark as much until the film adaptation of The Sum of All Fears came out and Liev Schreiber was cast in the role. Now, I see John Clark in a completely different, non-Willem Defoe way.
LikeLike
Yeah I never thought Willem Defoe was a good actor to play that character
LikeLike
I can’t get past Ben Affleck’s butchering of Ryan to even remember what Clark was like. Affleck as Ryan, for me, is worse than Dafoe as Clark. And I hated him as Clark. He totally ruined Clear and Present Danger for me.
LikeLike
I would imagine that the longest novel I have read would be either Bleak House or Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. I checked them out of the library so don’t have them here to see how long they really are. I’ve also read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, Pretense by Lori Wick, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. All three of those are pretty long also.
Yay! Chapter four in the new book. Things are progressing well. 🙂
LikeLike
I have both BH and LD here at home, and, you’re right, they are very long.
I also have N&S and JE, and both seem about average length. Have never read more than one or two books by Lori Wick, but I know she wrote some epics!
LikeLike
I would say that some of Michael Phillips books in the Secret of the Rose series are pretty thick books. I agree with Sylvia, Pretense by Lori Wick is pretty thick also. I just checked Dawn of Liberty by Michael Phillips and it has 605 pages. I am sure that there are thicker books besides those.
LikeLike
I didn’t know Michael Phillips’s books were that long!
LikeLike
My mom’s copies of The Secret of the Rose series are each at least 3 inches thick. And so good! One of his best.
LikeLike
His books are EPIC! 🙂
LikeLike
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. (Is that what prompted today’s question, by the way?)
LikeLike
Yeah, sort of.
And I was thinking about that, but then I realized that if I look at the number of hours on the unabridged audio book, HPOOTP is 27 hours, I can get a better comparison rather than looking at thickness or page count.
For example, some other “thick” books I’ve read (actually read, but this is how long they are on unabridged audio):
The Mammoth Hunters (Jean Auel): 28.5 hours
Without Remorse (Tom Clancy): 27 hours
Little Women: 19 hours
A Game of Thrones: 34 hours
So I’d have to say that my longest (recent) read is A Game of Thrones. But though I can’t find an unabridged audio version online for comparison, I’ve also read John Jakes’s North and South and Love and War, which I would imagine would each be up in the high twenties or thirties if they had been put out on unabridged audio—because those are long books!
LikeLike
Gone with the Wind
LikeLike
Never could make it through that one!
LikeLike
Each of the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon, Gone with the Wind, hmmm, never really counted the pages but they’re THICK!
LikeLike
According to Amazon, the retail trade paperback version of Outlander is 656 pages, while the retail trade paperback version of GWTW is 960 pages. I’d say GWTW wins!
LikeLike
Outlander may be only 656 pages, but the unabridged audio of book 5 of the series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, is 57 hours and 15 minutes! Gone with the Wind is 49 hours and 7 minutes.
LikeLike
LITTLE WOMEN. I read it in my teens and it was a thick book.
LikeLike
I did a little bit of research on that book in college and was surprised to learn that LMA’s version of Little Women, published in 1867, originally ended after Chapter 23, with Meg’s engagement to Mr. Brooke. That book was such an immediate success, her publishers requested a sequel, so what we now consider the “rest” of the book was published in 1869 as Good Wives. They weren’t published as one complete volume until 1880, and it’s my understanding that overseas, it’s still published as two separate books—because it is so long!
LikeLike
Longest book I every TRIED to read was Les Misearables. Couldn’t finish it, I kept gettin bogged down in all the battlefield scenes about Napolean. I need the condensed version because Victor Hugo was WORDY!
Warsaw Requiem by Brock and Bodie Thoene was pretty long, I’ve read all of that series. Excellent books!
LikeLike
WR is 544 pages, according to Amazon. In mass market size, Les Mis is 656 pages. But 656 pages with an author who is too detail oriented and in love with his own words can seem like 1312 pages!
LikeLike
Which ever Harry Potter novel is the longest. I’ve read them all.
LikeLike
HP and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest, clocking in at 870 pages in the paperback version. (Half-Blood Prince is 652, DH is 784, and Goblet is 752.)
LikeLike
Herman Wouk’s “The Winds of War” or “War and Remembrance,” whichever is longest. I’ve actually read both more than once!
LikeLike
The Winds of War is 896 pages and War and Remembrance is 1056. I think W&R is the winner there!
LikeLike
Would you count The Lord of the Rings as one book? If not that, then probably the longest of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series is the longest book I’ve read. Not sure which is the longest. Probably the 5th or 6th in the series. I’m pretty sure one of her books came close to 500,000 words, although if I recall correctly a conversation years ago with her about this, Outlander itself was just under 200,000.
LikeLike
He originally wanted to publish it all as one volume, but I’d say since it comes in three separate books, I’d consider them three separate books in a series, not one long book.
As far as the Outlander books . . . I can understand one single stand-alone book needing 500k words. But this is a series. How can there possibly be nowhere to break a book before it gets to 500,000 words?
LikeLike
The Oulander books – the later ones anyway – are way too long. They get longer and wordier with each installment. And I say that as someone who read all of them and will go right out and read the next one when it comes out. 😛
LikeLike
I’d probably count them as one book, since I first read them in a big fat omnibus edition. But that’s just me! 🙂
LikeLike
Actually, Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead probably tops the list at 880 pages, I’ve read all of his and they can be fairly long. Legend of the Celtic Stone by Michael Phillips was on the long side too but very good. Love Celtic literature.
LikeLike
Those both sound great!
LikeLike
Longest I’ve ever read is most definitely a Clancy novel. Whichever one before Executive Orders that’s the longest. And I’ve read Rainbow Six. That might actually be the longest one I’ve read. My mass market paperback of Executive Orders is every bit of 3 inches thick.
Cardinal of the Kremlin is my favorite though, and I really want to read his new one. New characters, and a former SEAL to boot! I’m a total sucker for SEAL’s. Wonder why he has a co-author for this one though…
I love Lori Wick’s Pretense. Nearly 800 pages in that one.
LikeLike