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What was the longest book you read?
- Thread starter superberkut
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Mrs Frisby and the rats of nimh was the longest, and only book I've ever read. I think it was something like 260 pages long, and I read it in 4th grade. Now I've left school I haven't touched another book since (aside from Where's Wally, he's classic).
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I know. I tried. Got to the letter 'I', but then I had to return it.
Sage
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Long footnotes are inevitably a distraction: tedious to read and wearying to look at. Footnotes that extend to a second page (as some long footnotes are bound to do) are an abject failure of design. – Robert Bringhurst
The only reason I remembered that quote was because he used the word “abject”, which is such a great word.
The only reason I remembered that quote was because he used the word “abject”, which is such a great word.
- 24,128
- Scarfolk
- Grim10
- Are you kidding?
Gentlemen,
I'm planning to track down a copy of Ulysses by James Joyce. I have heard great things about it from my literature teacher. Have any of you read it? It's the first time in a while I've become excited at the prospect of a book.
I'm planning to track down a copy of Ulysses by James Joyce. I have heard great things about it from my literature teacher. Have any of you read it? It's the first time in a while I've become excited at the prospect of a book.
Max Powers
(Banned)
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- MelBlount
I don't really count the pages much in the books that I read, but the two longest books that I have finished in recent memory are The Iliad by Homer, and A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Both were good books, but a bit tedius at times.
The best book, not the longest, that I have read recently would definitely be Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck, though.
The best book, not the longest, that I have read recently would definitely be Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck, though.
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- GTP_Brent
I've read the bible ( didn't take it too seriously though..) I've also gone through whole Dave/Leigh Eddings production within one weekend, including Althalus and Polgara/Belgarath, both were about 700-800 pages and it didn't take more than a day..
lol, bull. ....the Belgariad, the Malloreon, Belgarath, Polgara, Rivan Codex, and Althalus, in under a day? That's at least 5500 pages.
I'm just gonna have to not believe you on that.
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- TwinTurboJay
Read "executive order" by Tom Clancy...love his stuff, a think a tad over 1300 pages, and have read the bible front to back a few times...always took A LONG time though as you can imagine.
Sage
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I would rather give myself a thousand paper cuts than read another James Joyce novel.
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- WallRunner51
Well, so far Left Behind #7, at around ~640 pages, read in 8 hours, but I am reading "The Beatles: A Biography" by Bob Spitz, and it goes to about ~930 pages, but with an extra 100 pages of notes, I've spent around 5 hours so far and I am around ~320.
From,
Chris.
From,
Chris.
Sage
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Academics will tell you he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, but I think that he took a few ideas that are good in principle and turned it all into overly complicated nonsense. There’s nothing wrong with, say, stream of consciousness – I love stream of consciousness, and think it can really add an interesting and deep aspect to writing (or comedy – Eddie Izzard anybody?) that you can’t achieve with more “traditional” techniques. But Joyce purposely obfuscated everything in such a way that comes across to me as condescension – like You have to be as smart as me to understand this. The whole point of using new techniques is to try to elucidate your point of view, but he did the opposite and used it to make his work inaccessible, which is gets academia off but just makes me angry. It just seems to me to be a bunch of drunk rambling with a veneer of self-importance.
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- SomaEightyFour
- MrVerloc
Understanding James Joyce is like trying to crack a macadamia nut open with your bare hands. Give it a go: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail
Leonidae
(Banned)
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those in bold were the ones that I did read in less than a day, and both were over 700 pages. I might have not said it clearly enough. The rest of their production took a slightly longer effort.
GilesGuthrie
Staff Emeritus
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- CMDRTheDarkLord
I've read the full uncut edition of The Stand, and I've also read Cryptonomicon (as previously mentioned). They were enjoyable however, and I wanted to read them through to see how the stories panned out.
That's the longest in page-count terms.
However, the two that stand out in terms of them dragging on and being generally s*** are Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec, which I did not finish due to abject tedium, and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which I did finish, but only out of spite to myself, because it was as needlessly obtuse as it was desperately dull.
That's the longest in page-count terms.
However, the two that stand out in terms of them dragging on and being generally s*** are Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec, which I did not finish due to abject tedium, and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which I did finish, but only out of spite to myself, because it was as needlessly obtuse as it was desperately dull.
Sage
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Perfect analysis of that POS book. Give me one hundred years of solitude instead of One Hundred Years of Solitude.
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- GTP_Duke
Well, I just finished Stephen King's The Dark Tower septology - seven books, all forming a single story; he started writing it in 1970 and finished in 2004 or so.
I began reading the first volume slightly before Christmas and just finished the last volume last night, with no real literary interruptions (other than some magazines) and no pause between volumes.
3,694 pages in toto. Entertaining, good, and worth the read. Probably not worth reading again, but I'm very glad I read it in one continuous go.
I began reading the first volume slightly before Christmas and just finished the last volume last night, with no real literary interruptions (other than some magazines) and no pause between volumes.
3,694 pages in toto. Entertaining, good, and worth the read. Probably not worth reading again, but I'm very glad I read it in one continuous go.
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