Don’t worry, this isn’t a book tag that’s really long, it’s just a tag about long books 😉 In fact, it’s actually a really quick and simple tag! Here’s what you do:
1) Make a list of the 5 longest books you’ve ever read
2) Select 2 of the longest books on your TBR
3) Discuss
4) Tag others
Ta da! That’s it. I was tagged by Wren @ For the Love of Books, the original is from Bewitchingly Paranoid, and I’m tagging everyone who wants to join in!
Longest Books I’ve Read
In order to talk about more books/series, I’m only going to include one book from any given series even if the other books are also long.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (Hardcover) – 896 Pages
Not actually my favorite in the series (that would be Prisoner of Azkaban), but a good one nonetheless!
Fallocaust by Quil Carter(Kindle eBook) – 829 Pages
I had some issues with this book, but I thought some things were really well done, and the fact that I read a book this long in like two days says something.
Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer (Hardcover) – 756 Pages
I have to admit I don’t really remember this one at all since I read it in high school. But apparently it’s long!
The Alabaster Concordat by J. Armand (Kindle eBook) – 722 Pages
This is a book in one of my favorite series, and it didn’t feel long while reading since I was enjoying it so much!
The Soldiers of Halla by DJ MacHale (Hardcover) – 609 Pages
I read this whole series throughout middle and high school, so it’s another one I don’t really remember, but I do remember that I really liked these books.
Longest Books on My TBR
I’m sticking to physical books I own for this because my general un-owned “TBR” is impossible to go through, and I don’t actually plan on reading all those books. Also I chose three books because it’s my blog, and I do what I want.
The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume Two: Empire Decayed by Daniel Kraus (Hardcover) – 784 Pages
I just recently bought both the books in this duology from BookOutlet for a price that made me super happy, especially considering they’re huge (i.e. more pages for the money)! They sound really interesting, and I love the covers.
The Vampire Lestat (Mass Market Paperback) – 576 Pages
There are a lot of books in this series, and there are like a million different formats for each one, but some of them are 500 or 600+, and I’m currently trying to reread the series. So I just went with this one, which I am currently rereading.
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (Hardcover) – 560 Pages
I bought the books in this duology earlier this year with a gift card but still haven’t gotten around to reading them. These are really massive though in that not only are they pretty thick, the size (area) of the cover is bigger than any other book I own. I’m glad I read mostly at home because I would not want to lug this around with me!
Discussion
Honestly I’m not sure all the books I shared are even the longest ones I’ve read since I read lots of books before I ever started using Goodreads, and I don’t pay attention to what book format I mark on Goodreads, and every format seems to list a different number of pages. Not to mention, the number of pages also depends on the font size, the font style, the margins, extra stuff in the book (like previews of other books), etc. That’s why I don’t have a page count goal or pay much attention to how many pages I’ve read, as I know some bloggers do.
But anyway, when it comes to specific books, I am hesitant to read big books sometimes. Especially since I rarely DNF and will have to suffer through a longer book if I end up hating it. Then again, I’m a series person, so sometimes it’s more of a draw if I see that a standalone novel is actually really long because then it means I might actually have enough time to connect with the characters. And if a book is in a series I love, then I’ll be happy if the next book is long! So really, it just depends on the book.
The longest book I’ve read was Stephen King’s It which is over 1000 pages. Only George RR Martin comes close to that! Funny I don’t remember Breaking Dawn being as long as that. I think I’d find the twilight books too slow if I went back to them now so if I do a reread I might part with them…
WOW 1000 pages it a lot. Yeah, I didn’t remember Breaking Dawn being that long either, but apparently it is. I don’t have any desire to reread that series, but I can’t bring myself to part with my hardcover copies because it’s one of the only complete matching series sets I have lol.
Is Crooked Kingdom long? I have the duology and I’m halfway through CK – have been since January lol
I remember Outlander being really long but I avoid long books fr the most part.
For What It’s Worth
Oh my, that’s quite a long time to be reading a book lol.
Yeah, I know the Outlander books are super long, but I haven’t read them.
The Outlander books are among the longest I’ve read. I love reading long books, but they can be such a commitment. I usually can’t just read that book; I’ll break it up into sections and read other books in between!
Lol I just did that w/ The Vampire Lestat; I read halfway, read a different book, and then came back to it! It can help keep long books from dragging.
I actually love long books when I have the time for them. It’s almost like a whole series in a single book! There’s just so much more time for character, plot, and world development so everything is really rich and lovely. It does get tricky when I don’t have a lot of continuous time and it takes me 5 months to read a single book (that’s what’s happening with It by Stephen King right now). I think It is the longest book I’ve attempted. My longest read book so far (according to Goodreads stats, which, as you mentioned, are a little skewed because I don’t really pay attention to what edition I mark as read) is Inheritance by Christopher Paolini (#4 in the Inheritance Cycle series; that series that’s creepily like LOTR) which has 849 pages. I really need to finish It this year because so far, the longest book I’ve read this year was 757 pages and most of the books have been in the 300-400 page range. More page diversity!
Laura @BlueEyeBooks
Exactly! It’s more time for development, more time for me to get sucked in. That’s usually why I have an issues with short standalone books. I think reading even one book that’s 700+ pages in a year is an accomplishment! I probably don’t have much page diversity lol.
I always loved that the Harry Potter books got longer because I mean, come on! I wanted more Harry Potter! I don’t mind longer books in series for the most part, because I’m invested and I want more. If it’s a standalone, then it depends on how much I want to read it because I do tend to take longer to read longer books – I mean, that’s common sense, but you get what I mean. I feel like I read slower with longer books.
I’m currently reading Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray which is like … 600 and something pages. I’m ALMOST finished but it’s taken me a little while. I love the book though, and I’m excited to read the first one.
However, there are other books that I need (and want!!) to read but I know they will take time, so I have to plan when I want to read them – like Winter by Marissa Meyer.
On another note, Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite HP book too. 🙂
-Lauren
Yeah, when you love a series, you’re happy to have longer books! Yeah, for me it really just depends. It’s just that they’re kinda stressful because I have so many other books I want to read too, and I know the longer ones will take more time.
I didn’t realize the Libba Bray books were so long! My library has the ebooks, I plan to try them soon!
Yay PoA! Part of the reason I like that one best is cuz it has the most Lupin XD
I like long books but they can be quite the commitment, especially when they are in a series. And true, so many editions have wildly different total number of pages. Sometimes I can’t even find my exact copy with the amount of pages, haha. Sometimes I can’t really be bothered either.
Yes, a whole series of long books is def daunting because of the commitment, especially when we have so many other books to read! Bah, I can never be bothered to find my edition on GR lol.
I keep looking at Zebulan Finch at the bookstore. It looks sooo long, but something about the way it looks on the shelf draws my eye every single time!
It seriously draws my eye too! I was also kinda hesitant cuz of the length, but I just went for it and bought them lol.
I thought it would be a long tag when I saw the title. Prisoner of Azkaban was always one of my favorite Hp books too. I don’t read as many long books so the Order of the Phoenix probably would’ve made my list too, never realized it was that long. I didn’t realize Breaking Dawn was that long either, I’ve read that one as well. I did read one very long book this year Pets in Space 2, that was about 800 pages as it contained about 12 short stories.
If you’re enjoying a book it often feels less long indeed. I am never fully sure how long a book is as lots of places list different amount of pages and it also depends on font size etc how long a book is. Word count is probably a better indicator of length, but that’s so vague as I have no idea how long most books are in terms of words.
I usually feel more hesitant to start long books, but if it’s a book in a series I already started or by an author I already know I care less about the actual book size as I am pretty sure I will enjoy it anyway. before I started blogging I had less books on my to-read list and cared less about the seize then. Now there are so many books I want to read and usually don’t like to read the same book for too long for some reason.
It sounds like it’ll be a long tag, right? There are a lot of books I never realized were that long apparently! Oh wow, that’s Pets in Space one is super long. Those must’ve been not-so-short short stories lol.
That’s true, word count would be more helpful. My general rule of thumb, if I’m able to find word count but not page count, is that I avoid books less than 40,000 words, but that’s still on the short side. 60,000 is kind of standard I think (according to Google, it’s roughly 240 pages).
Oh you’re right, I think I also cared less about page count before blogging too because I didn’t have all these books on my TBR. Now I get stressed out thinking of all the other books I need to get to, haha.
Ooh this is fun, I had no idea Breaking Dawn was that long. Wow. I guess some of the HP’s get long towards the end of the series too , huh? I’ve only read the first one. 🙁
Crooked Kingdom is a bit of a chunkster too, I hope you like it more than I do! I’m a hundred pages in or so and totally bored. Can you believe it? Everyone loves this book, but I’m totally stalled out. I will go back to it at some point though…
Yeah I didn’t realize some of these books were so long either!
Aww, that sucks that you’re not liking Cooked Kingdom :-/ I haven’t started the series, so I have no clue what it’s like, but hopefully I’ll like it.
Your favourite Harry Potter books I Prisoner of Azkaban? Mine too! I think partly because it’s before Harry Potter started getting darker and sad too. Those are some long books you’ve read. I’ve definitely found longer books are easier to read in ebook format, I can’t see the number of pages left, although when the percentage moves up slowly I’m also disheartened. The longest physical book on my TBR is probably Kushiel’s Dart, that book is a beast and I just can’t face it.
It’s my favorite because the mystery around Sirius and Lupin and all that was so interesting and came together so well at the end, and also because it’s the one where Lupin gets the most screentime (he’s my favorite). Oh gosh, yeah, the slow percentage movement is almost worse, I think. I feel like I’ve been reading forever and see that I’m still on the same percentage, haha. I didn’t realize Kushiel’s Dart was so long, that’s one that I’d like to read! But of course now I’m intimidated lol.
Sorry, I obviously like spreading the intimidation around. I could show you how massive the book is… it’s huge. I’m just too lazy to go find it off of my shelf. And it is disheartening seeing the percentage stay the same, isn’t it? I sometimes have to turn it off so I don’t get distracted by it.
Lol I looked it up when you said and it’s like 900-something pages according to Amazon. So I believe you! It really is disheartening when the damn percentage never changes lol.
The longest book I read is Game of Thrones by George RR Martin!!
I haven’t read that one!
I’d also put Harry Potter and Breaking Dawn 🙂 Along with Anna Karenina, The Lord of The Rings and War and Peace 🙂
Those are definitely common ones! I’ve never read the others you mentioned, but I’ve heard about LOTR and War and Peace being big books.
I feel you with long books. I feel like I stay away from them too, because like you I rarely DNF. The longest book I ever read was David Copperfield, and I am still salty about it. I did skim. I was 10, my dad made me read this nonsense. It was weird, frankly. I think the longest I ever read by choice was City of Heavenly Fire, perhaps? I was SO bored. (Yep, just checked Goodreads, that was the longest.) It was just redundant and that is how I feel about most REALLY long books? Like they could have easily been cut down by a few hundred pages, and be JUST fine 😉
Yeah, it’s daunting knowing you might have to read 700 pages you don’t like! I had never heard of this David Copperfield book, I had to look it up because all I knew was the magician David Copperfield, haha. But yeah, that’s the thing, some long books are long for good reason, whereas others could’ve been a lot shorter with tighter editing.
Huh. I don’t remember Breaking Dawn being that long (I do remember wanting to set it on fire though lol)
I find big books intimidating. The longest I’ve read is probably The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss on my kindle which was ~1,000 pages (I also have it in hardcover, but it’s so large I’ve never read that version). I have a number of giant fantasy books on my shelves, I keep telling myself I’m working my way up to reading them.
So it’s not just me who didn’t remember it being that long, haha. I don’t really remember it at all though.
Wow, 1000 pages is a lot! But yeah, big books are def intimidating, especially when we have so many books on our TBRs.
Hey, this is the tag I brought back to life 🙂 hope you enjoyed it! Cool to see it living its own personal life now 😀
Haven’t actually read the ones you own, but of course I’ve heard about them. Actually, when a book is really long, chances are I will love it even more! Because then I get attached to the characters and sort of start living with them, beside them 🙂
Yeah that’s the thing about long books, it’s more of a chance to get invested in the characters!
Yeah agree about Prisoner of Azkaban over Order of the Phoenix. And I really loved the Six of Crows duology- hope you do too! I really agree about longer books being more intimating and I’m the same about DNFing, so it’s worse if it’s bad. But yeah, if I love it, it’s better cos I have more time to really sink my teeth into it.
Glad to see so many Prisoner of Azkaban fans out there 😀 Thanks! I’m looking forward to Six of Crows. Yes, long books are so much worse for us non-DNFers, haha.
Like you, big books intimidate me sometimes. They just LOOK so hard to get through. I have read books that are over 1000 pages, though. Epic fantasy is just that long and if I want to partake, I have no choice! 🙂
For me it’s more like, I have so many books I want to read, and I can either read four of those… or one big one. Lol. I’m not really an epic fantasy person though, so at least I don’t have to worry about that!
Oh my gosh, the Pendragon series! That really takes me back. I read them in middle/high school too, so I don’t remember much, but I did like ’em a lot. I think the longest book I’ve read is It by Stephen King (I see other commenters have also read some of his monster-length books), which I believe is more than 1,000 pages. Personally, I don’t mind long books…but I think I’d rather read a really long series of average-length books than a few really long ones!
Ahhhh someone else who has read Pendragon! I swear it’s like no one else in the book blogging community has read that one. Yikes, 1000+ is CRAZY. Yeah, a series with numerous average-length books is just kind of easier to digest, and that way you get kind of a bunch of little stories in addition to the overarching one.
oh thank you fro reminding me of HP and Breaking Dawn! Greg tag me here too and I I didn’t know what books to use! 🙂 I can’t believe I finish Breaking Dawn! LOL
Haha, glad I could help! I also got Breaking Dawn from the post of the person who tagged me 😛
I’m just like you, quite hesitant to read long books, because I’m always so nervous that I’ll end up hating it all and will have to read all the pages anyway, since I don’t like DNF-ing and always have hope that it gets better later on, ahah. I think harry potter and the order of the phoenix is one of the longest books I’ve read, alongside Winter, from the Lunar Chronicles series. I loved both, so they didn’t feel too long, but… yeah, if they’re not part of a series I love, I think I’d be nervous to get into long (meaning, over 500-600 pages) 🙂 Great post!!
The problems of being a non-DNFer lol. It definitely helps when they’re part of a series we already love! Otherwise it is usually intimidating. Thanks 🙂
Big books take commitment. And yes, Breaking Dawn is really big! I think A Game of Thrones is one of the longest books I have read myself as well. And well, the Bible, but usually questions aren’t thinking the Bible will be considered when people are answering. I like my big books but I just have to start them when I know I will be able to dedicate time to reading them.
I really didn’t remember Breaking Dawn being so big! And I think the Bible definitely counts for this if you’ve read it! Big books can be great, but yeah, I need to know I have time for them or else I’ll get all stressed out that it’s taking too long lol.
Woooah! Thank you so much for tagging my blog. I am so glad you liked this tag, it was actually a fun one for me. I like you book lists though! 😀 😀
No prob! I try to always credit/link to the creator 🙂 It was a fun one for me too!