Have any of you ever read a 1000 page book or more? If so, how was the experience?

[Tee27]

The closest I've come to reading such a long book was when I read the Twilight Series. It was so interesting that I barely notice the amount of pages.

[Nicole D.]

Gone with the Wind.It was a wonderful story so it felt too short.I will have to reread it soon.It's the longest book I have read yet.I have read a lot of series which flow by really quickly.

[Shannon]

There was an anthology I read a few years ago that was like 1100+ pages. Not sure if that counts but by the end of it I was most definitely ready for a real book with a meatier story.

[Amber]

I have read many that come close...and a handful that reach the 1000 page mark. The Lord of the Rings was so good that reading in all in one volume was easy. The Count of Monte Cristowas fantastic and I never got tired of it...but it did take a lot longer to get through. I read His Dark Materials as one volume as well and it didn't take long at all...it moved very quickly. I read both volumes of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories and it was very easy because the short stories break it up nicely. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was a good book...but not for everyone. It is dark and it has extensive footnotes...this made it harder to get through than the others. I can see it drudging on for some people. I feel like the books that are interesting are a great experience...even at over 1000 pages, I never wanted The Lord of the Rings to end.

[Chris]

was my longest (non-textbook) read, topping out at 1,312 pages. I absolutely loved the book (in my top 3 fav books) and found it certainly worthy of it's status as a must-read book for all military officers. However, it was shocking to repeatedly sit down and read a 100 or so pages and then notice my bookmark barely even moved

was another recent long one at 1,200 pages. The first few hundred pages seemed to drag on with needless descriptions, but once I got into the meat of the book it became a lot more interesting. But I was definitely aware of the amount of pages in it throughout

[Heather]

I have came close with a few of my books that I have read

[RB]

Usually it goes quite well - especially the more I like the book :)

Of long books that I've read are:
Anne Rice's "Lives of the Mayfair Witches" - the first volume alone is 1200+ pages!
George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire"
Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn Trilogy" - also here the first volume starts off with 1200+ pages!

The trick to long books is actually enjoying what you read :) and that's the trick for any book! :)

[Alondra]

I read Les Misérables at 1463 pages in paperback earlier this year. needless to say, it was not joyous. don't get me wrong, the book was well written and the meat of the story was excellent. Victor Hugo was just too overly descriptive. at least 500 pages could have been chopped out and you still would have felt the same about the book. my eyes literally glazed over during the Waterloo section... 8/

[Ellen]

This year, I read The Instructions by Adam Levin At 1030 pages, it was like seriously entering another world. But the first 6 or700 pages went extraordinarily quickly.

Thenthere's War and Peace which also clocked in over 1,000 pages but went a lot faster than Gravity's Rainbow or The Recognitions: they were both under 1,000 pages but their density made them feel longer!

I'm currently reading Infinite Jest-it's both incredibly dense and over 1,000 pages and I'm not sure I'll ever be able to finish it. It's fascinating, funny, and sad but very hard work and no end in sight.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

I read The Stand and IT by King. Both good books although I found The Stand a little overrated. To me King can shorten a lot of his stuff and make it better IMO, although I enjoy the stories sometimes they drag a bit and can be condensed.

[Joseph]

To be honest, I didn't think I had ever read a single book that was that long, but looking at my records, it turns out I have, just barely. My copy of David Copperfield has 1001 pages and having been written by the great Charles Dickens was quite an enjoyable read.

[Teawench]

I tend to gravitate towards the huge tomes in bookstores so I've read several, both fiction and non-fiction. As long as it's well done, I don't find it any different than reading a more 'normal' length book.

@Erin - I totally agree on King. It is probably one of my favorite books but even in that, there's a lot that could be cut out without taking away from the overall feel or story. He probably could have made Rose Madder into a short story or novella (as much as I hate novellas) and it would have been perfect.

[Aoibhínn]

I read two book with over 1000 pages this year - Gone With the Wind and The Witching Hour. Both great books. I wished they were longer when I got to the final page.

[Stefani]

In my experience, no matter how good the book is...over 1000 pages there's going to be large swathes of boring crap. For example, The Passage. On my Nook it was about 1200 pages. The first 300 pages were fantastic. The middle 600 pages was pretty tedious and long winded. The last 300 pages was absolutely brilliant. I still loved the book overall, but the middle of it was quite a slog.

[Joanne]

Kristin Lavransdatter was over 1000 pages. I liked the book very much, but when I read it in bed, and fell asleep, that thing hurt when it fell.

[Michele]

I've read several at 1000+. If it is a good book, it doesn't matter how long it is.

[Lawrence]

Yes, I read The Dome by Stephen King this year and it was over 1000 pages. It was my first 1000 page book and I enjoyed it very much. The book was so good that the number of pages didn't matter to me like Michele said. What a great read and adventure!!

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*]

Stefani wrote: "In my experience, no matter how good the book is...over 1000 pages there's going to be large swathes of boring crap.


Pretty much. The only exceptions being if its a series of books that would be melded together (which doesn't happen.) But with the same story and plot it just seems too long.

[Janice]

I don't remember the number of pages, but books that were pretty long were Gone With the Wind, The Stand, Pillars of the Earth, Atlas Shrugged, War and Peace, probably some of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series....
I tend to gravitate toward the thick books. If I am loving the story, I don't want it to end.

[Jill]

Two book that I have read jump to mind because I really like them. Each was close to 1400 pages long

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
and
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer

[CD]

Regularly the books I read are 600+ pages. Many of the thousand page works mentioned in this post I've read at least once if not referred to several times.

The length of a work doesn't deter me if it interests me. One can always put a long work aside
and return to it later. If the 1k work is history or reference, then notes and Bookmarks may be a necessity.

[RB]

Michele wrote: "I've read several at 1000+. If it is a good book, it doesn't matter how long it is."

+1, Yup :)

[[deleted user]]

Michele wrote: "I've read several at 1000+. If it is a good book, it doesn't matter how long it is."

Michele wrote: "I've read several at 1000+. If it is a
good book, it doesn't matter how long it is."

I completely agree.

[Veronica]

I adore the mentions of Gone With the Wind. I remember reading it as a kid, hiding in the bathroom so my mom wouldn't interrupt my reading. Didn't know it was over 1,000 pages at the time. Probably can't do that again in my mom years. The closest I came to that was Anna Karenina for a class and that was 7 years ago. If I didn't have a semester of discussions to keep me on track, I might have never finished it. That kind of epic saga, even if it only centered on 2 families in my mind, demanded the length. It was worthwhile to get to know the characters thoroughly and examine sweeping themes of love and life.

[Thom]

When I occasionally browse in a bookstore, my eyes automatically look for the thickest books. I have often thought of this and wondered why. The only answer I can come up with is: Someone spent a long time writing this long book so in just might be good; and often it is. There is a difference in one long book and a series and that is in a series the author can stop at any time as they aren't bound to a certain number whereas a long book continues to its natural end. I prefer mega-1000 page books to novellas.

[Leslie]

SACAJAWEA, by Anna Lee Waldo, was a great 1326 page read! Since it is a work of historical fiction I also learned alot. But, mostly, I enjoyed it because I was really caught up in the story. Another great work of historical fiction is Five Smooth Stones by Fairbanks (?)

[Ilean]

Author Diana Galbaldon's Outlander book series
Shogun by James Clavell
Gone with the Wind
Les Miserables
and a WW2 series I can't remember the title at the moment.

[Tee27]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and great book titles, everyone! I plan on reading at least one 1000 page book in 2013. Now,I'll have a list to refer to.

[Marc]

Don't let the number of pages scare you...it just takes more time, has more depth...good luck to what ever you choose to read!

[Tee27]

Marc wrote: "Don't let the number of pages scare you...it just takes more time, has more depth...good luck to what ever you choose to read!"
Thanks for the encouragement, Marc!

[Nelleke]

At this moment I am reading


It is really great. I never read a big book I did not like. Are there any worse big books, by the way?

[Kadijah Michelle]

I read The Pillars of the Earth. It was such a good book that I couldn't put it down. The Order of the Phoenix was almost 1000 pages, and I read that in 3 days. Like everyone keeps saying. If the story is good, it doesn't matter how long, although I like to stay in the 300 page range because I don't have the best attention span.

[Melissa]

The only two that come to mind right away are Under the Dome and The Stand. I enjoyed both of them quite a lot.

Stephen King is always a bit wordy but he didn't stray from the topic quite so much in these two books so they kept my attention and I enoyed them quite a bit.

[AndrewP]

I have read quite a few and there are still more on my bookshelf waiting to be tackled. Somewhere on here I came across the description 'long book that you will wish was longer'. That's sums up some books I have read.
Recently: The Way of Kings and Sea of Silver Light

[Karen M]

Stefani wrote: "In my experience, no matter how good the book is...over 1000 pages there's going to be large swathes of boring crap. For example, The Passage. On my Nook it was about 1200 pages. The first 300 p..."

Depends on the book. Some are good and for me, not boring.

The Annotated Sherlock Holmes
Shōgun
The Wheel of Fortune
A Clash of Kings

[Carola]

The Count of Monte Cristo was the only one so far and it was a great read. 1Q84 was close to 1000 and I enjoyed it too, but it took me much longer. I'm currently reading the unabridged version of The Tale of Genji and it's terribly slow (mostly due to the footnotes and the necessity for footnotes).

[Terri]

Game of thrones book 1 and Gone with the Wind. Both were good

[Thom]

I read 1000 plus books at every opportunity. Most of James Michener's books are in that area and I have loved them all!

[Karen M]

Thom wrote: "I read 1000 plus books at every opportunity. Most of James Michener's books are in that area and I have loved them all!"

I have Caribbean sitting on my TBR bookshelf. Although it isn't near 1000 pages the thing stopping me is it happens to be a hardcover and weighs a ton. I love James A. Michener but I am so spoiled by my Kindle. I've been reading the Song of Ice and Fire Series on it and boy is it easy on my hands.

[Thom]

Karen, you may have to adjust your reading posture to take on a hardcover Michener but I assure you that Caribbean is well worth the inconvenience.

[Karen M]

Thom wrote: "Karen, you may have to adjust your reading posture to take on a hardcover Michener but I assure you that Caribbean is well worth the inconvenience."

LOL I'm thinking I won't be reading at the table, trying hold the book up with one hand. This is definitely a two hand book.

[Melissa]

Karen M, I've been reading The Complete Vampire Chronicleswhich has her first 3 books in it. It's huge! It's been hard on the wrists, so when I get tired of reading at the table, I go to the couch and prop it up with a throw pillow :)

[Karen M]

Melissa wrote: "Karen M, I've been reading The Complete Vampire Chronicleswhich has her first 3 books in it. It's huge! It's been hard on the wrists, so when I get tired of reading at the table, I go to the cou..."

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Schnaucl]

A couple of George R.R. Martin's books are over 1,000 pages long. They could probably use a little editing. Then again, books four and five were originally supposed to be one book.

I find books that long to be physiclaly uncomfortable to read because they're so heavy.

[Karen M]

Schnaucl wrote: "A couple of George R.R. Martin's books are over 1,000 pages long. They could probably use a little editing. Then again, books four and five were originally supposed to be one book.

I find books ..."

I'm on book 3, A Storm of Swords, and there's no way I could read this series without my Kindle.

[Schnaucl]

Karen,

Enjoy! I thought book 3 was by far the best of the series so far and I'm not even remotely surprised HBO chose to split it into two seasons.

I actually just started a book that's over 1,000 pages but it's a collection of stories.

[Karen M]

Schnaucl wrote: "Karen,

Enjoy! I thought book 3 was by far the best of the series so far and I'm not even remotely surprised HBO chose to split it into two seasons.

I actually just started a book that's over 1,0..."

I've had two jawdropping shocks so far and I'm about 2/3 through the book. So far it is definitely the best.

[Heidi]

I've read quite a few in my time, many of the books mentioned above. I agree that The Stand got a bit boring in parts. The Count of Monte Cristonever did. My most recent 1,000 page read was Angels & Warriors: The Awakening and I never got bored. But there are many that drag on and on. I find that I am more tolerant of long books if they are sci fi or fantasy, because the detail is necessary and doesn't get boring (if done right!) and yet I am reading one now that is almost 3,000 pages and there are points where I am trying not to nod off. It goes into details that are complex and confusing, so it doesn't help forward the plot. Great details, but like Dickens, rather useless.

[[deleted user]]

I am rereading Aztec 10038 pages. well worth the time

[Laurel]

Tee27 wrote: "Marc wrote: "Don't let the number of pages scare you...it just takes more time, has more depth...good luck to what ever you choose to read!""

Ilean wrote: "Author Diana Galbaldon's Outlander book series
Shogun by James Clavell
Gone with the Wind
Les Miserables
and a WW2 series I can't remember the title at the moment."Hi Ilean! I'm wondering if the WW2 series you read was The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk? I loved them, and they were both quite long, especially if you combined the two volumes.