Suggest me a great long book that you couldn't put down

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Grapes of Wrath (also by Steinbeck)

The terror by Dan Simmons

Shogun by James Clavell

Lonesome dove

Oooh, The Pillars of the Earth, The Stand, and The Goldfinch are 3 of my favorites! Sounds like we have similar tastes.

Some other longer books I like are:

• the Dark Tower series by Stephen King (although the first book is a bit shorter and not my favorite of the series)
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• All the Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
• Most Brandon Sanderson books if you like fantasy, particularly the Stormlight Archive series
• the other books in the Pillars of the Earth series are pretty decent. I liked The Evening and the Morning best.

1Q84 (it’s kind of a trilogy, or 3 parts rather, put into one 1000+ pg book) by Haruki Murakami. It’s a trip for sure

Shogun. I love what you love, Shogun is the answer. You might like Joe Abercrombie too. Start with the Blade itself and enjoy the ride. Both of my suggestions are character driven great stories.

Clan of the Cave Bear.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Sussana Clarke

Don Quixote

I convinced my book group to read A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth without realizing it was the longest English language piece of fiction at the time. I loved it.

Dugeon crawler carl

Fairytale by Stephen king!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3985.The_Amazing_Adventures_of_Kavalier_Clay

KAVALIER & CLAY 600+ pages

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/30784.Best_Very_Long_Novels

Scan this list for ideas?

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

Any of Edward Rutherfurd’s books. I especially loved his “New York.” Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. The Jealousy Man by Jo Nesbo.

I have been binging this web serial called The Wandering Inn, and I cannot put it down. It has 11M+ words so far and every single chapter is engaging as hell. Its about a girl from Earth that gets isekai'd into a different world and becomes an innkeeper. She's empathetic; she's scatterbrained, stubborn, and her only real skill from Earth is playing chess. She doesn't bring crazy technology into the world, she isn't invincible, and doesn't always get her way. She's doesn't have special powers from being an victim of isekai, she's just herself. But she's an innkeeper, and inns are where stories and heroes are borne. Not because of the quality of inns of course, but because of her being her and empathizing with and befriending people who come to her inn -- unless they're jerks (but jerks can have character development too). The legend of her starts with her making her first rule of the inn: "No killing goblins."

The story has action and people don't have plot armor. People die, her enemies, her friends, heroes, immortals, even her--, actually, I won't spoil that last one. But when she rallies and endangers her friends and people around her, its because she's fighting the right cause. Sometimes monsters, but oftentimes, its to protect something or someone that people didn't want to protect or didn't think of protecting. There is action, there is slice-of-life, there is just people struggling against the world. The story is emotional as hell, the stakes are real, the character development is great, the worldbuilding is very well done, and the character personalities are never bent for the sake of story(or saving their lives). Also, some chapters belong to other characters like her friends or even someone on the other side of the world. But they're important to the story. Its 12/10, I recommend it so much.

https://wanderinginn.com/table-of-contents/

Another popular story is Worm, where our protagonist becomes a (flawed) superhero from a nobody. There are a lot of superheroes and supervillains and again, there are always consequences.

https://parahumans.wordpress.com/

Alternatively if you read Chinese, I have some recommendations but they're not as good as The Wandering Inn, and translations often lose something. Edit: For Chinese novels, I remembered this from ages ago-- The Grandmaster Strategist https://www.wuxiaworld.com/novel/the-grandmaster-strategist. Its been so long I don't remember much about it, but I think its about leading armies (and doing the right thing) in a China-oriented world/country where limited cultivation levels exists and while the story is already top tier, the translation itself is 12/10. It goes above and beyond any translated work I've seen. There may be better stories, but this is absolutely the best translated story I know of. (Long Chinese novels are super common, but I wouldn't recommend most of them as they're mostly terrible power fantasies.)

The Quincunx by Charles Palliser.

Helps, but not necessary, to have read The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins and Bleak House by Charles Dickens, as it’s an homage to them. Both these are longish books too.

The Physician by Noah Gordon

I also loved The Historian, I usually only see people complaining about it! You might like Possession by A S Byatt in that case, beautiful bookish scholar mystery.

{{Possession}} by A S Byatt

{{The Book of Strange New Things}} by Michel Faber

If you want fantasy you could join the Brandon Sanderson community
Start with the final empire

If you liked the Martian and Project Hail Mary, you might also like the Expanse series (first book Leviathan Wakes) by SA Corey! Each book is ~600 pages, but I tore through the first two in a week. The length really gives the worldbuilding room to breathe without sacrificing pacing, and there's a TON of literary elements to chew on! It's a near-future sci-fi in which humanity has settled the solar system, and it's full of politics, action, and deeply nuanced characters.

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon

Gone with the Wind

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts.

Anathem.

The magic mountain — Thomas Mann

My favorite door stoppers are written by Stephen King and James Michener. You really can't go wrong with either one.

Someone up thread suggested "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry and I agree; it's SO good.

All the Light We Cannot See East of Eden The Way of Kings A Gentleman in Moscow Cloud Cuckoo Land

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

Shogun by James Clavell. I've read it twice. It's epic for sure, but I had meals untasted, bedtime postponed, chores ignored, etc. All signs of a good book.

A little life by Hanya Yanagihara, A song of ice and fire series by George R.R. Martin

Dinasty, by Robert s. Elegant

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is long-ish and wonderful.

Anything by Edward Rutherford ☺️

If you like historical fiction The Other Boleyn Girl that took me forever and for some crazy reason I read it twice

If you enjoy Pillars of the Earth, read the entire Kings bridge Series.

World Without End, A Column of Fire, The Armor of Light are all sequels. The Evening and The Morning is a prequel

Edit: spelling

Demon Copperhead’s audiobook is around 21 hours and I tore through it. it was so good.

Same with Under The Dome by Stephen King, holy shit, I still think about that one.

Try the Stormlight Archives - each book is around 1200 pages

Or any books in a series for that matter should feel like a long book right?

Shōgun

Anything by James Michener!

Shōgun by James Clavell
Great writing, great characters, what a journey
It may feel like a chore for the first 100-200 pages but it's WORTH IT

War and Peace by Tolstoy holds up. I read it a couple of years ago and didn’t want it to end. There is no one like Tolstoy.

Insomnia by Stephen King is awesome!

‘I Am Pilgrim’ by Terry Hayes. I decided to dig in and let myself be entertained through some unbelievable scenarios. But regardless, I could not put this book down. I am a slow reader, and it is a thick book and I think I finished it under a month.

Infinite Jest

The Power Broker

Gotham: History of NY through 1898

War and Peace

Centennial by Michener

Another vote for the goldfinch

darn it i was gonna say The Stand hahaha

ok so technically it’s a trilogy so it’s 3 books but, Stephen King’s Bill Hodges trilogy; Mr. Mercedes / Finders Keepers / End of Watch.

again yes i know it’s three, but i personally ploughed through them all in less than a week because i could not stop so honestly they’ve blurred together as one giant one in my lil brain haha

Lonesome Dove

The Parsifal Mosaic by Robert Ludlum

THE STAND by Stephen King -- the author's cut is over 1,000 pages.

Swan Song by Robert McCammon!!

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series (Douglas Adams) Books by Kurt Vonnegut, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Gone with the wind

The Secret History by Donna Tartt. My favorite!

1Q84.

1041 pages The Incas by Daniel Peters. One of my favorite books of all time

Bones by Kelsey Speer

Fall of Giants!

Ash: A Secret History, by Mary Gentle, is both a door stopper and a mind blower.

The Nights Dawn trilogy by Peter F Hamilton is about 1000ish pages in each book. His world building is incredible and it does get very bizarre in some places. But, be warned, it has one of the worst endings I've ever read. It's the epitome of deus ex machina. Apart from that, it's a fun, imaginative read with some very original ideas.

Satori by Don Winslow and Shibumi by Trevanian.

Christine by Stephen King!

Given the shorter books you’ve enjoyed, you could give the sci fi Red Rising series by Pierce Brown a try. The first three books are shorter - fairly average 250-400 pages I believe. But then the next three books are all very chonky (700-1000 pages each). They also get more intense in the action and political intrigue.

Horns - by Joe Hill

If you like Stephen King books, there’s a good chance you’ll like this book. It was written by his son. Although they have different writing styles, Joe’s may not be as refined; I found it very difficult to put this book down.

Dawn of Wonder--Jonathan Renshaw

Cryptonomicon by N Stephenson

Best SciFi writer alive in my opinion and this is one of his best works. Also wrote a long historical fiction series based in Late 1600s into early 1700s called Baroque Cycle

Sheltering Sky was kinda long iirc. I have not read it but The Brothers Karamazov is also one highly touted. I shouldn’t comment, I have no clue how long there are. Apologies.

There are two sequels to Pillars. Haven't read them yet but just bought the second.

If you like Stephen King giving The Dark Tower series try would probably be solid. It’s not like starting a new book each time because it’s all one long story. Fair warning, he was still a relatively new writer when the first of the series “The Gunslinger” was published, and by King’s own admission, it is a lot of words to tell about not much happening-a LOT of readers give up after that one but KEEP GOING, that one is the shortest of all the books (I think around 200-225 pgs is all) and the next book “The Drawing of the Three” takes off like a shotgun blast and doesn’t let go of you.

I too love a long book and the favorites you list are top tier!

“1Q84” by Haruki Murakami. It was my first Murakami book & got me hooked on his work. I haven’t read all of his novels yet, but nearly every one that I’ve picked up I’ve liked/loved.

Sorry I don’t have any recs, but if you have the time, what are your thoughts on The Count of Monte Cristo? I’ve been looking into it and wanting to purchase it lately but would like some thoughts on it

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Sarum

I love the Outlander series. Reading it now.

“I know this much is true” by Wally Lamb

Super Powereds by Drew Hayes. It’s a super hero series. 4 books but all extremely long. The audible version of each book is like 40-60 hours each 

The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell about a Nazi sociopath in the Caucusus region.

The Power of One by Bryce Courteney It is remarkable

Atlas Shrugged Clan of the Cave Bear - an awesome series

Wayward pines

Any of John Michener's books. They are loooooong and fun to read.

* Each book from the Game of Thrones series

* Each book of the Stormlight Archive (Way of Kings) by Brandon Sanderson

* Each of the 16 books in Robin Hobbs series about Fitz & the Fool

* Shogun by James Clavell

Also liked Monte Cristo and The Stand from your list.

Beach music by pat conroy i believe is the author, pat something lol, like 700 pages, amazing read

Brothers by Yu Hua

Read the first law trilogy, I promise you won't be let down

The way we live now, Anthony Trollope.

Really loved his way of describing characters and their thoughts, so captivating. I suggest a handful of different books often, but this is my favorite.

{{A Brief History of Seven Killings}} by Marlon James

Shogun by James Clavell

I'm currently reading All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It's very good. 544 pages.

Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Covenant of Water

Gone with the wind. Last 2 Harry Potter books. A little life.

The Love Songs of W. E B. Du Bois by Honoree Fannone Jeffers

That whole wonderful family was so real that I grieved their loss when the book ended. I would read 10 more books about them. I want to know what they're doing now.

1Q84

The Magus by John Fowles. Just when you think you know where it’s going, it goes somewhere deeper. And a total page turner.

{I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe} I loved everything of it.

Road to the underfall

Bleak House.

Shogun, Shantaram, Cryptonomicon

OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon

Thessaly, Jo Walton

An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

For historical fiction: gates of fire by Stephen Pressfield. The story of the 300 Spartans, Told much better than how the movie told it

Madeleine Thien's Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Amor Towles's A Gentleman in Moscow

By far, two of my favorite books from last year.

The Instructions - Adam Levin

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver

Lonesome Dove

The Terror

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton or something by Joyce Carol Oates?

If you like fantasy The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu is 4 books long, each one longer than the first, they are door stoppers. Great reading.

Then there is The Five Warrior Angels by Brian Durfee. 3 book series. Each is a door stopper and a fantastic read.

Shogun or any James Clavell novel

Anything by Dan brown, the Robert Langdon novels

Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon

it was long but soooo worth it, that book was crazy

I'm not huge on big books but I checked my storygraph for 500+ pages books and the two I really considered unputdownable were Uzumaki by Junji Ito Good As Dead by Holly Jackson (book 3 in A Good Girls Guide to Murder)

Shantaram

Try non fiction. The Civil War by Shelby Foote is a book I could not put down. In fact I read it twice (so far.) Three volumes at about a thousand pages each. It is history but he writes it like a novel. I learned a lot...each time.

Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe (not Tom Wolfe) - published in 1929 is one of the most outstanding books I have read in my life. This is not a really good book - it's a really great book. Thomas Wolfe was a genius. He unfortunately died in his late thirties so his career was comparatively brief but his talent was mind-boggling. If you read this book you will be forever grateful to me - believe me.

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China is another book I highly recommend. It relates the lives of 3 generations of Chinese women beginning in the time of war lords.

Not the longest, but longer than the average novel: Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver

Sharon Kay Penman does a lot of absorbing and lengthy books about historical England. Well researched and engaging.

The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn by Tyler Whitesides

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

1. Gap Creek
2. Wizards First Rule
3. She's Come Undone
4. Grapes Of Wrath
5. Black House 6.Flowers In The Attic

The Source by James Michener

The Ministry for the Future Kim Stanley Robinson

Oh! And Kristin Lavransdatter by Segrid Undset

I really like Devil in the White City. It's non-fiction but reads like fiction. I don't remember how long it is, but probably just a bit longer than a typical novel.

The priory of the orange - Samantha Shannon

Demon Copperhead

War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

A little Life

Aztec

Any Tom Clancy novel, but Patriot Games is my favorite.

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, Hyperion by Dan Simmons (I really liked the others in the series as well), and East of Eden by John Steinbeck

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray.

650 pages (so not quite Ken Follet level, but still a chonker of a paperback) but absolutely didn’t feel like it was 650 pages. Read it in about 4 days before and after work

On a whim I got And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks and I got through it in one weekend. I found it to be a page turner. Its Jack Kerouac and William S Burroughs before they actually made it as the famous writers we've heard and read.

Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon if you want some high fantasy. It's not super action heavy or fast paced but if you like dragons and believable romance it's a good pick

The Fountainhead, I’ve had it on my bookshelf for a few years and just recently decided to dive in. I’m absolutely in love with this book and it has become one of my all time favorites! My recents list is very similar to yours, just recently finished the 1st Pillars book and read Monte Cristo for the first time just prior to the fountainhead.

The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas (père).

It's a bit meandering due to its publishing history (it was written as a serial novel), but it's phenomenal.

If you like Pillars of the Earth, know that there are 4 other books in the series, although none of them live up to the original.

The Tale of Genji - I really loved it.