Longest book you've ever read (Bible doesn't count)

[rocklobster]

What's the longest book you've read? Don't say the Bible, for two reasons:
1. It's too easy of a dodge. This is a Christian site.
2. The Bible's really more like a collection of books.
This also goes for anything else that's collected into one book. So if you've got a collection of Shakespeare plays and sonnets, don't include it.
For me, it would be Under the Dome by Stephen King or maybe Brisingr by Christopher Paolini.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I can't think of many. These may be the only ones:

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Stand by Stephen King

[Ante Bellum]

If I ever finish it, The Brothers Karamazov. Otherwise, I think Order of the Phoenix (Page count wise, I don't count LotR because it's more than one book.)

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

No. LotR is one story.

[bigsleepj]

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Don't say the Bible,

You know, I will be honest and admit that I've never actually read the whole Bible. Some of those minor prophets still elude me.

If I ever finish it, The Brothers Karamazov. Otherwise, I think Order of the Phoenix (Page count wise, I don't count LotR because it's more than one book.)

Wow, I waas thinking these same two. The Brothers is definately worth two reads, tho. In fact...

[ich1990]

The longest book I have read is my Calculus textbook at about 10".

By page count, that title would go to The Lord of the Rings at 1216 pages. The Divine Comedy's 752 pages felt much longer, though.

[ShiroiHikari]

LOTR, and Stephen King's IT.

[uc pseudonym]

Because The Lord of the Rings was written as a single novel, it is going to be the longest book for a lot of people. It comes in at 450 000 words. Even Gone With the Wind, which I always remembered as being lengthy, is only 420 000 words.

That seems like a lot, but if you look into this there are books written that are millions of words long. As much as I enjoy epics, there is indeed something to be said for brevity. The longest work that I'm likely to complete is Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen, clocking in at somewhat over three million words.

For the record, the Bible is about 770 000 words.

[Valkaiser]

Probably LoTR.
The longest I remember at the moment is The Cryptonomicon at 918 pages.

[Cognitive Gear]

Probably LOTR.

However, I remember the unabridged Don Quixote and Les Misérables being quite long. I don't have a copy of either handy to look up the pagecounts, sadly.

EDIT: Amazon tells me that Don Quixote is 992 pages, and that Les Misérables is 1280 pages. No indication on word count, despite google searches.

[Roy Mustang]

War and Peace, both the hardback edition 1,225 pages and the paperback issue that is 1,475 pages.


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[Nate]

I read Three Kingdoms which is around 2300 pages long.

Man that was a good book.

[rocklobster]

Guess I should add Les Miserables then.

[the_wolfs_howl]

I'm actually tied. The Lord of the Rings is 1008 pages (minus the appendices) in my publication, and book 4 of the Wheel of Time series, The Shadow Rising, is 1008 pages (minus the glossary). Soon, however, my record will be broken, as I am now reading the sixth book of Wheel of Time, which has 1010 pages.

[ChristianKitsune]

Shogun I think it was like 1300 hundred pages in the paper back I had...but the font was TINY. @_@
It was a really good book, had a great twist at the end
Then its probably LOTR!

[Winry]

The longest one I am seeing on my shelf right now is A Storm of Swords (Book 3) by George R.R. Martin at 1128 pages.

[Htom Sirveaux]

The longest I've read was Stephen King's The Stand. Great book, but it took me over a year to read because I kept putting it down an picking it up again. One of King's best works no doubt, but I'd never read a beast like that again.
I tried to read IT, but I got about 300-some pages in and kept looking at how much farther I had to go and eventually just gave up. It's really good (what I read, anyway), I just wish it wasn't so long.

Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves is only about 660 pages (minus the index) but it feels really long, at least the first time through. It's one of those books that shoulde read twice. The first time there are bits that tend to drag on and seem almost superfluous, but the second time you get a lot more out of it in many ways.

[Bobtheduck]

I'm gonna be embarassed to say this, but it's Order of the Phoenix for me. I'm just not the biggest reader in the world, though I should be. Every writer should be an accomplished reader.

I read Three Kingdoms which is around 2300 pages long.

Man that was a good book.

Three Kingdoms as in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"?

The combination of long and translated from old text would kill me. I have a hard enough time getting through the Bible, but a romanticized (well, I'm assuming) history of China?

I've also thought about reading Journey to the West, but feel held back for similar reasons, except that AT LEAST JttW is fantasy, so it shouldn't be quite as boring, but still... Old Chinese text translated into English, all those names to keep track of, a freakishly long book... The thought is terrifying.

You know, I will be honest and admit that I've never actually read the whole Bible. Some of those minor prophets still elude me.

I think the only thing I haven't read now is the torah past the beginning of Leviticus, and 2 of the MAJOR prophets. I'm nearly certain I've read all the 12. It's Isaiah that's the difficult one out of the Prophets. Of course, the most difficult thing to read in the whole bible is the Torah post the middle of Exodus.

[Nate]

Three Kingdoms as in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"?

Yeah yeah. Three Kingdoms is the original novels that the RoTK games were based on. As well as a few other games.

It's pretty long, but I enjoyed it, despite some awkward phrasing (and the typos). Keeping track of the characters was, admittedly, a bit hard. However, I've been playing Dynasty Warriors games for a good portion of my life, and believe it or not that really helped me keep track of about 80% of the characters in it.

And it's not the entire history of China, just from the beginning of the fall of the Han Dynasty and the Yellow Turban rebellion to the establishment of the Jin Dynasty...so it covers about 96 years, give or take.

[Bobtheduck]

Yeah yeah. Three Kingdoms is the original novels that the RoTK games were based on. As well as a few other games.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_three_kingdoms

I wasn't thinking you were talking about the games. Just like Journey to the West has gone by a few titles in various translations, so has Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

It's pretty long, but I enjoyed it, despite some awkward phrasing (and the typos). Keeping track of the characters was, admittedly, a bit hard. However, I've been playing Dynasty Warriors games for a good portion of my life, and believe it or not that really helped me keep track of about 80% of the characters in it.

And it's not the entire history of China, just from the beginning of the fall of the Han Dynasty and the Yellow Turban rebellion to the establishment of the Jin Dynasty...so it covers about 96 years, give or take.

Ah, 96 years. So more like the Torah than the entire Bible (well, Exodus and on, anyhow)

Provided I don't die or lose brain power or memory or my sight or anything, I'll read it eventually. I'll also read Journey to the West, and Tale of the Genji (which would arguably be more difficult, since no one is named and the story is incomplete) and War and Peace and a bunch of other classic novels.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I'm currently slowly battling my way through The Brothers Karamazov right now...

[That Dude]

LOTR was way up there, along with "The Complete Works Of Josephus." Though I don't know if they count or not...I think that the average book for me clocks in between 300 to 800 page count.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

I'm currently slowly battling my way through The Brothers Karamazov right now...

You are in for a treat, good sir. That work is probably the single greatest Christian novel ever written.

[GeneD]

Lord of the Rings and Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. The latter felt much longer.

[Lord Omberus]

The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by Sir James George Frasier.

This thing was HUGE. Like sixteen inches by twelve, with 1200 pages. And the print was TINY.

Eminently interesting though. I encourage everyone to read it.

[Alcuinus]

Probably Great Expectations... the original ending was better than the published one. :|

[AnimeGirl]

I'm not sure what the longest book I've ever read would be (alot of the stuff I read are actually pretty short). But I'd have to say, probably, Frank Peretti's "Hangman's Curse" I believe it's the biggest book I own that isn't a collection, and to some of you people, not all that long. XD!!

[Mimiru14]

I'm pretty sure Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has to be the longest book I've read.