tammyw Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 I have been reading this book for the past two weeks and am hitting the last 200 pages. First, I feel so sad to be finishing this book after having invested so many hours reading it. It's like I'm having to say goodbye to a family member or dear friend! (I will immediately be watching the movie again, after I finish. I must say I watched it many years ago when it first came out, and throughout the book, I had Jim Caviezel's face and voice in my head, which I loved!) Getting this close to finishing it has had such a weird effect on me! I often get sad when an amazing book ends, but this is something else! And just curious what other really long classics I should read! This copy was almost 1300 pages, and at first it seemed like such a daunting task, but now I feel like it was such an incredible investment. It's really just an incredible book. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 I don't know about excellent lol but there's always war and peace, and Anna Karenina. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Les Miserables. I loved it the first time I read it, and didn't know it was abridged. Then I read the full book. So so good. People complain about Hugo's tangents, but they are important to the story. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted August 24, 2016 Author Share Posted August 24, 2016 Les Miserables. I loved it the first time I read it, and didn't know it was abridged. Then I read the full book. So so good. People complain about Hugo's tangents, but they are important to the story. Do you have a recommended version? I ordered a copy a while back from my library but it was definitely an abridged version so I didn't read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 The Three Musketeers or Queen Margot would be obvious choices (sane author), but in no judge of "excellence" in writing. Also, Don Quixote was similarly written as a serial story. And it's long. In not done with that one yet, so no spoilers from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Do you have a recommended version? I ordered a copy a while back from my library but it was definitely an abridged version so I didn't read it. I read the Julie Rose translation. I've no idea if that is the "best." I have seen criticism that it is too modern. But, I also read that in her version the slang used by the lower classes, while modern to our ears, is more in keeping with the way those people would have actually spoken - not the same words, but the same type of words, if you know what I mean. I'm sure I'm not explaining that right. In any case, I loved it but I am no scholar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Don't want to derail this, but what about Count of Monte Cristo for kids? My son told someone his favorite author was Dickens, to which the man said his favorite book was CoMC. He's started reading it (and enjoying it) but when I read the intro, it sounded like a lot of issues were pretty heavy. He's 11 and a deep thinker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milknhoney Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Vanity Fair. I almost gave up on it because it was so long and the characters were making me so mad! But I was glad I stuck it out and finished. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madteaparty Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 (edited) Don't want to derail this, but what about Count of Monte Cristo for kids? My son told someone his favorite author was Dickens, to which the man said his favorite book was CoMC. He's started reading it (and enjoying it) but when I read the intro, it sounded like a lot of issues were pretty heavy. He's 11 and a deep thinker. My DS read this at 11 (full length in English) while also reading abridged version in French. I reread the English version a few months after him and really and truly wish I had waited to assign. There was a weird ancient family connection to some tangent of the book so that was cool to explain to him, but the orientalism stuff needs further discussion and so does the whole Bonapartist stuff, etc. DS has not covered that part of history yet and while he studied Napoleon in school in France, I think it was still over his head. I so enjoyed the book and I think I've ruined many a book for him due to assigning it at least a couple of years ahead its time...But if your DS's favorite author is Dickens, then he might be ready? I am talking about my own kid whose favorite author is JK Rowling (so, run of the mill 11 year old ;)) Edited August 24, 2016 by madteaparty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luuknam Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Der Zauberberg by Thomas Mann? Though I gave up at about page 870 out of about 970 (in my defense, German is NOT my first language). I did like the book though (when I was in high school)... I just ran out of renewals at the library. It's been translated into English as The Magic Mountain - no idea if the translation is any good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 (edited) He wrote a lot of stuff. A couple of weeks ago when I got a Kindle I was checking out his section on Gutenburg. Three Musketeers is excellent. Edited August 24, 2016 by shawthorne44 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda. I also agree with War and Peace, except I will fully admit to skimming in a few parts (like the zillion page last "chapter") where Tolstoy goes on and on and on and on and on and on about the motivations of the various parties to the battles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I think the longest ones I've read are Anna karenina and atlas shrugged. Loved them both. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calihil Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 David Copperfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausmumof3 Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I love les miserables and Anna karenina but if you like monte cristo there are heaps by Alexander Dumas - all the musketeer ones and I think the black tulip but it's been a while since I've read them. Of course in terms of long novels there is George Eliots middlemarch also Hardys novels although they can be a little harder going than Dumas - more moralising and less adventure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted August 25, 2016 Author Share Posted August 25, 2016 I love les miserables and Anna karenina but if you like monte cristo there are heaps by Alexander Dumas - all the musketeer ones and I think the black tulip but it's been a while since I've read them. Of course in terms of long novels there is George Eliots middlemarch also Hardys novels although they can be a little harder going than Dumas - more moralising and less adventure. See I found monte cristo hard enough! :) and the adventure is what I loved! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Another idea (when you're tired of reading Dumas), is to look up Classics for Boys. I meant that as genre not an official publisher or anything. It seems that at one time boy's books were loaded with Adventure, e.g. Treasure Island and girl's books with Relationships, e.g. Little Women. I loooooove Dumas, but he wrote so much I think you would get tired of him before you ran out of stuff to read. Yeah, I love the Monte Cristo book. My mom told me a story of being pregnant with me. She'd been reading that book and I'd kicked it off her tummy when she went to sleep. Her theory was that the book was too heavy. When I read it, my thought was that I'd wanted her to get back to reading it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggieamy Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Not as long but still wonderful is Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. One of my top ten books of all times and just a superb mystery. DH loves long books, when he gets home I'll ask him for recommendations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bethben Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I have read Gone with the Wind 3-4 times. I absolutely love that book. I don't know if they are classics, but the James Herriot stories are great and I'm not much of an animal person. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 What about ivanhoe? The once and future king is pretty long. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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