The Longest Book You Have Read

[cacian]

please state the number of pages and the title. thanks :)
do you enjoy reading longer stories? or are you the short story type of reader?

I start:

ASSEGI- Wilbur Smith
472 pages.


I have no intention of reading anything longer then this me think. 500 would be my limit. I have a short concentration span sadly.

[scottw]

The Naked God (Night's Dawn Trilogy: Part Three), Peter F. Hamilton
1264 pages.

- Quicker and easier to read than something like One Hundred Years of Solitude though, so perhaps page count isn't the most relevant variable when estimating required attention span.

[YesNo]

I don't like starting books that are over 250 pages. My attention span is short as well. However I did read John Gardner's October Light which might have had 400 or so pages. I can't remember. And I did finish it and I'm glad I did.

I'm reading the Oxford Book of the Philosophy of Mind at the moment. It is almost 800 pages, but it is broken into many articles that can be read independently. It will take longer to finish and some parts will require rereading, but I will likely finish it this year sometime.

I tried reading Jame Joyce's Finnegan's Wake and Ulysses since I heard they were classics. Had I finished them, they would have been the longest books I ever read. Thankfully, I didn't get very far into either.

[luhsun]

Oxford textbook of medicine, 6016 pages in its current edition.. although i must confess i do skip large swathes of it, and cherry pick the important parts and refer to it as the need arises ;-)

[DieterM]

Just finished "War and Peace", French version (sadly, i don't speak Russian), and it's something over 1,500 pages, methinks. Took me 6 months because I didn't have much time to for reading. Other than that, I love books of any length, as long as they are a) fiction or historical text-books and b) captivating. Don't give a damn about something being a classic or not; never went further than p100 of Thomas Mann's Josef-trilogy (whilst being a Thomas Mann-fan, I daresay) because it was so tediously dull that he should've been shot for it. So I finished "War and Peace" because it's a wonderful read, as simple as that :-) Hey, and I recommend it to everyone! There are some French bits in it (that's the way the guy wrote it) so I guess, cacian, it would be a great read for you :-)

[kev67]

Difficult to say because some books comprise other books. Is The Lord of the Rings one book or three? Is Middlemarch one book or eight? Is the bible one book or 53?

[cacian]

Oxford textbook of medicine, 6016 pages in its current edition.. although i must confess i do skip large swathes of it, and cherry pick the important parts and refer to it as the need arises ;-)

are you studying medicine?

[cacian]

Difficult to say because some books comprise other books. Is The Lord of the Rings one book or three? Is Middlemarch one book or eight? Is the bible one book or 53?

well I think trilogies count as separate books. I gather they are not the same length?

[Vota]

I can't see limiting myself to any particular number of pages for a book. It strikes me as limiting one's potential experiences with books. Many of the world's greatest books are over 250 pages, and many over 500 pages.

The best books you never want to stop and because of that the size is not actually a hindrance, but a benefit. The whole attention span thing puzzles me because you can think of each chapter of a book as an individual piece of a whole.

[luhsun]

Was, once upon a time, cacian.

[108 fountains]

Probably the longest book I have ever read is Dickens’ Pickwick Papers at around 850 pages, and I have to say that by the end of it I wished there were 850 pages more. It is the only book I’ve ever read where I found myself laughing out loud on numerous occasions. I’m not surprised that it was one of the most popular books (if not THE most popular book) of the 19th century. It was also Dickens’ first novel, and it’s interesting to watch his writing and his sense of the art of comedy develop as he goes along. (He wrote it in monthly installments, usually three chapters per month.)

Chapter One is a feeble and forgettable attempt at a parody of a club meeting. The next few chapters are contrived, but have some hilarious moments. Once you get to Chapter 10, Dickens’ comical genius is in full bloom and remains non-stop high energy for the rest of the book. I’ll cut and paste just a short sample - there are so many great moments to choose from, but I’ll settle on a passage from Chapter 33, where Sam has written a valentine to his sweetheart and is reading it out loud to his father to seek his literary opinion:

'"Lovely creetur,"' repeated Sam.

''Tain't in poetry, is it?' interposed his father.

'No, no,' replied Sam.

'Wery glad to hear it,' said Mr. Weller. 'Poetry's unnat'ral; no
man ever talked poetry 'cept a beadle on boxin'-day, or Warren's
blackin', or Rowland's oil, or some of them low fellows; never
you let yourself down to talk poetry, my boy. Begin agin, Sammy.'

Mr. Weller resumed his pipe with critical solemnity, and Sam
once more commenced, and read as follows:

'"Lovely creetur I feel myself a damned--"'

'That ain't proper,' said Mr. Weller, taking his pipe from his mouth.

'No; it ain't "damned,"' observed Sam, holding the letter up
to the light, 'it's "shamed," there's a blot there--"I feel myself
ashamed."'

'Wery good,' said Mr. Weller. 'Go on.

[cacian]

Probably the longest book I have ever read is Dickens’ Pickwick Papers at around 850 pages, and I have to say that by the end of it I wished there were 850 pages more. It is the only book I’ve ever read where I found myself laughing out loud on numerous occasions. I’m not surprised that it was one of the most popular books (if not THE most popular book) of the 19th century. It was also Dickens’ first novel, and it’s interesting to watch his writing and his sense of the art of comedy develop as he goes along. (He wrote it in monthly installments, usually three chapters per month.)

Chapter One is a feeble and forgettable attempt at a parody of a club meeting. The next few chapters are contrived, but have some hilarious moments. Once you get to Chapter 10, Dickens’ comical genius is in full bloom and remains non-stop high energy for the rest of the book. I’ll cut and paste just a short sample - there are so many great moments to choose from, but I’ll settle on a passage from Chapter 33, where Sam has written a valentine to his sweetheart and is reading it out loud to his father to seek his literary opinion:

'"Lovely creetur,"' repeated Sam.

''Tain't in poetry, is it?' interposed his father.

'No, no,' replied Sam.

'Wery glad to hear it,' said Mr. Weller. 'Poetry's unnat'ral; no
man ever talked poetry 'cept a beadle on boxin'-day, or Warren's
blackin', or Rowland's oil, or some of them low fellows; never
you let yourself down to talk poetry, my boy. Begin agin, Sammy.'

Mr. Weller resumed his pipe with critical solemnity, and Sam
once more commenced, and read as follows:

'"Lovely creetur I feel myself a damned--"'

'That ain't proper,' said Mr. Weller, taking his pipe from his mouth.

'No; it ain't "damned,"' observed Sam, holding the letter up
to the light, 'it's "shamed," there's a blot there--"I feel myself
ashamed."'

'Wery good,' said Mr. Weller. 'Go on.

do you find it easy to read dialectal language such as Dickens'??

[Mohammad Ahmad]

I think to say the best forever ebook or book you have read
The value in the book isn't consisting on the length pages it includes but in the essence it includes, sometimes you read a short book and you find an interest.
Everyone or every educated person should read various books of different sources especially to who deals with translation and for example one day when were still students in Translation Dept. we had a written piece about birds and the thing that amazed me to find myself at a perplexing moment and how I could translate in front of all students, a type of bird I didn't know its habits that's the Cuckoo bird which destroys other bird nests, then I was failed to continue because I ain't too much acquainted with birds.
Therefore, as I think the much you read the much you learnt.
The book three months ago I have read is " Return to the marshes" by Gavin Young and I wondered how Gavin adapted himself for living a considerable period of time distantly inside the marshes and very far away of his country.
Yet there is a proverb I can't forget " Everybody's business is nobody's business" and few days ago I searched the internet to find its story, which still I remember, but I didn't find it and the story that I remember isn't the story I noticed in this forum. It is a story of a king tried to examine his nation and put a small sack containing gold under a rock stopped hindering the way of passers and no one of his nation who passed by the place had thinking to remove the rock out of the road then after discovering the truth the king said to his nation " Everybody's business is nobody's business"

[SilentMute]

Longest book I ever read was a collection of Shakespeare's works. I don't remember how many pages--for it was a while ago. I know it must have surpassed 800, because it broke the record of the longest book I had ever read. I don't remember how long it took me either. Months. It had all his plays, tragedies and comedies, as well as his poems. What I mainly remember is that I always liked everything that wasn't popular.

I read it because I thought one should read the classics. What is funny is now that I barely remember anything I read.

[108 fountains]

"do you find it easy to read dialectal language such as Dickens'??"

I would say that I don't find it difficult, but I imagine it must be really difficult for non-native English speakers.
I sometimes have difficulty with the Scottish brogue of some of Sir Walter Scott's characters.
I knew a Scotsman several years ago, a nice guy and I enjoyed his company, but I just couldn't understand him and always felt embarassed because I kept asking him to repeat things during our conversations.

[cacian]

I think to say the best forever ebook or book you have read
The value in the book isn't consisting on the length pages it includes but in essence it includes, sometimes you read a short book and you find interest.
Everyone or every educated person should read various books of different sources especially to who deals with translation and for example one day when were still students in Translation Dept. we had a written piece about birds and the thing that amazed me to find myself at a perplexing moment and how I could translate in front of all students, a type of bird I didn't know its habits that's the Cuckoo bird which destroys other bird nests, then I was failed to continue because I ain't too much acquainted with birds.
Therefore, as I think the much you read the much you learnt.
The book three months ago I have read is " Return to the marshes" by Gavin Young and I wondered how Gavin adapted himself for living a considerable period of time distantly inside the marshes and very far away of his country.
Yet there is a proverb I can't forget " Everybody's business is nobody's business" and few days ago I searched the internet to find its story, which still I remember, but I didn't find it and the story that I remember isn't the story I noticed in this forum. It is a story of a king tried to examine his nation and put a small sack containing gold under a rock stopped hindering the way of passers and no one of his nation who passed by the place had thinking to remove the rock out of the road then after discovering the truth the king said to his nation " Everybody's business is nobody's business"
I admit although I can read this it actually makes no sense whatsoever to me. I have no idea what it is saying.

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Dear Cacian; How you say that! I am amazed again.
The proverb I mentioned I learnt when I was at a second intermediate class at 1967.
Check up the forum and you will find it.
The proverb includes wisdom that the work, which should be done by all, no one take it into his account.

[Lokasenna]

I read Clarissa. It wasn't worth it.

[Poetaster]

The works of Plato, a single hardback volume that came to just over 2,000 pages.

[cacian]

The works of Plato, a single hardback volume that came to just over 2,000 pages.

did it come in chapters? and if so which was your favourite?

[PeterL]

Renaissance in Italy in seven volumes by John Addington Symonds each volume is three to four hundred pages.

[Calidore]

Difficult to say because some books comprise other books. Is The Lord of the Rings one book or three?

FWIW, Lord of the Rings was written as a single novel and split into three by the publisher.

[Clopin]

War and Peace.

[cacian]

FWIW, Lord of the Rings was written as a single novel and split into three by the publisher.

that's interesting. they never tell you that.

[Poetaster]

did it come in chapters? and if so which was your favourite?

Sort of. Republic is a classic, so I'll go with that.

[borgtrek7]

The Harvard Classics set, if you can count all those volumes as comprising one long western novel. Probably about 22-30,000 pages total.