I was inspired by Simon Savidge to look at the biggest books on my TBR! Much like him, I am intimidated by big books and it is very rare that I will add a book over 500 pages to my TBR. I read A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara recently which is 720 pages, and while I have mixed feelings about it, it didn’t take me nearly as long to read as I anticipated. That has encouraged me to finally pick up some of longer books. These are just a few of the ones that I am interested in. I would love your recommendations!
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
# of Pages: 771
Can you believe I have not read anything by Donna Tartt? From what I know about her books, I have a feeling I will love them! I have both The Goldfinch and The Secret History on my TBR and I really do want to get to them soon. The Goldfinch seems to have mixed reviews and I think that might be why I have been hesitant in the past to read it, even though I have a feeling I will love it. For those of you who have read it, what did you think?
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
# of Pages: 648
Kate Morton is another author I have never read, which is ridiculous considering how much I love historical fiction. The Forgotten Garden has so many amazing reviews on Goodreads and it sounds incredible. She has written a lot of other well-loved and lengthy books but I do not know much about them. I would love to know if you have read any of her books and which one is your favourite?
The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
# of Pages: 582
John Boyne wrote one of the most heartbreaking books that I have ever read, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. The Heart’s Invisible Furies was one of my most anticipated books last year but the size of it has stopped me from actually reading it. I have seen a lot of fantastic reviews for it lately and that has definitely given me the push I have needed to finally get to it. I am determined to read this one in August!
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
# of Pages: 544
The Poppy War has been everywhere lately and I just had to read it! You may have noticed that I do not talk about fantasy a lot on my blog and that is because it is a genre that has always been so hit and miss for me. I have a feeling that The Poppy War will be the book that reminds me just how great fantasy books can be!
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
# of Pages: 1037
I have been wanting to read Gone With the Wind for years but it is over 1000 pages!!! So many people have told me it is worth it so I need to just sit down and finally read it. I have also never seen the movie so it might be interesting to read it and than watch the movie. This is the one book on the list that I am still completely intimidated by!
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
# of Pages: 601
John Steinbeck wrote my all time favourite book, Cannery Row, and I can not believe I have not yet read East of Eden. I know that so many people say that this is his best novel and maybe I am just not read to read a book that is better than Cannery Row? I know that sounds completely ridiculous and I just need to read it already!
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
# of Pages: 546
I remember The Poisonwood Bible being really popular when it first came out and I have always been intrigued by it but never made the time to actually read it for whatever reason. It sounds like the kind of historical fiction book that I love. I want my historical novels to be slow-paced, descriptive, and full of memorable characters.
The Forgotten Garden is such a quick read. I loved it! I also love Gone with the Wind, which I have read 2 or 3 times. Everything by Kingsolver is good. I so want to read The Hearts Invisible Furies. It sounds so good.
Awesome! It is so good to know you loved both The Forgotten Garden and Gone With the Wind! I hope we both get to The Heart’s Invisible Furies soon!
Big books are definitely intimidating! I used to read them all the time… Now I don’t have as much time to read so it’s always tough to put aside so much of it for ONE book when I could be reading 2-3 OTHER books!
That is exactly how I feel!!
I think the biggest book on my tbr might be It by Stephan King… I think Halloween will bring me to have to try and read it.
I always go back and forth on whether or not I want to read It. Now that is a BIG book and I am so scared of clowns!
The Forgotten Garden is one of my all time fav books! It’s a really thick book, but I read it really quickly. It’s one of those books that pulls you in easily.
That sounds perfect. I love books like that!
Then I bet you’ll love it!
Gone with the Wind is one of my favorites, I’ve read it several times. It is definitely worth it! And Kate Morton is one of my favorite authors, so I would recommend The Forgotten Garden, too.
That is really good to hear! Those seem to be the two books everyone in the comments is telling me I need to read!
I am so confident that you are going to love The Heart’s Invisible Furies and East of Eden!!! In both cases I thought they were going to take me ages to get through but I read them each in under a week. The Poppy War and The Poisonwood Bible are fantastic as well. The Secret History is one of my all-time favorite books but I still haven’t read anything else by Donna Tartt, but I think I’m finally going to read The Goldfinch later this month!
Those are the two I am most sure I am going to love as well! I am so happy you enjoyed The Poppy War as well because I’m picking it up soon. Can’t wait to see what you think of The Goldfinch!
Gone with the Wind is such an amazing book! I found that it reads pretty quickly, so even though it’s such a huge book, it doesn’t feel like it while you’re reading it. I hope you enjoy it!
That makes me so happy to hear! You’re not the first person to tell me that so I am now super motivated to finally pick it up!
I love East of Eden – when I started reading it I thought it would take me much longer to get through than it did. And I am in the love camp when it comes to The Goldfinch. The latter half (third?) of the book is more slow-going but still enjoyable, in my opinion (The Secret History is also on my TBR still so I can’t compare the two).
I know that East of Eden is going to just blow me away! I have heard so many amazing things about Donna Tartt. I can’t believe I haven’t read anything by her yet!
Great post idea! Big books tend to sit on my shelf longer than smaller books, though I am reading Assassin’s Quest (Robin Hobb) at the moment, which is 836 pages long.
Thank you! That is definitely the case for me as well. I have heard amazing things about Robin Hobb but big fantasy books intimidate me the most! I hope you are enjoying it!
I am! This is the last of the trilogy and they gradually got bigger – these are really good books though, so definitely worth the time and effort. The character building is so good. I would thoroughly recommend these!
Gone with the Wind is one of my favourite novels! I hope you get a chance to read this gem. It is definitely worth it!
That’s great to hear! I am definitely more motivated to read it now that so many people have told me it is a favourite!
Kate Morton is a fantastic author. I love all of her books. Hope you enjoy them too. ☺️
That makes me even more excited to read her books! Do you have a favourite?
The Forgotten Garden was the first of hers that I read so that will always be my favourite. They are all so good though. She has a way of dragging you in from the beginning and keeping you guessing the whole way through.
That sounds exactly like what I look for in a book! I see she has a new novel coming out this year too which sounds really good!
Fab post! I’m intimidated by big books too but have just finished the Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle that was just over 500 pages!
Thank you! I have been wanting to read that one too! I didn’t realize it was that long!
It doesn’t feel like it that length as it’s so good!
East of Eden is really good! I have The Poisonwood Bible on my TBR as well lol
I know I will love East of Eden! Poisonwood Bible has been on my tbr for ages! Hopefully we both get to it one day. 😋
Great post, I recently finished The Poppy War and feel in love with it 🙂
Yay! I am really excited to read that one!
I quite enjoyed The Goldfinch, but I didn’t fall in love with it. I actually loved The Secret History by Donna Tartt more than I did the Goldfinch. I haven’t read Gone With the Wind, and I’m not sure whether I’ll ever get to it because it’s so intimidating!
I have a feeling I will probably enjoy The Secret History more as well. I’m more intrigued by it that’s for sure! So many people in the comments are saying Gone With the Wind is one of their favourites and it doesn’t feel long when you’re reading it. I am more inspired to pick it up than I was before I posted this!
That’s so encouraging!
Kate Morton is a great author, it won’t feel like a big book, the pages fly by! The House at Riverton is another one I enjoyed by this author.
That is great to know! I will have to look in to that book too!
The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all-time favs! It’s been a while though and I’ve really been wanting to reread that one 🙂 I must admit I didn’t like The Poppy War as much as people have. Could be high expectations. I hope you enjoy them all!
That’s great to hear about The Poisonwood Bible! I will try to go in to The Poppy War with lower expectations! It has been really hyped lately.
Gone With the Wind is my all-time favorite read, and I have probably read it over a dozen times, so I definitely recommend it! I haven’t read The Goldfinch, but it’s on my TBR, but I just finished The Secret History a few weeks ago and loved it, so I think you would like both her books. East of Eden is another fav and so is The Poisonwood Bible! The rest of your books are on my TBR, so I think they are great picks. I love big books, but I don’t read them as often as I used to! I hope you love them all!
That’s amazing! I am totally convinced that I need to read Gone With the Wind! I have heard such amazing things about The Secret History. I really want to start to embrace bigger books!
I think you should too! I read it the first time when I was probably 11 and for some reason, I would read it every summer after that while I was a teenager, and I guess I’ve read it a few times as an adult. You should see my Christmas tree, lol. My husband says it’s an homage to Scarlett. It has all those Hallmark Gone With the Wind ornaments on it, and I have her front and center, lol. I just read A Little Life this summer too, and I liked The Secret History a lot more (I like A Little Life too but it was so depressing). They are a lot to take on, but I sometimes feel like I read them faster if the writing is amazing.
Omg I love that! I love when people have Christmas trees that reflect their personalities! I am happy to hear that you preferred The Secret History. I also thought that A Little Life was too depressing and had some other issues with it! I completely agree with you- if the writing is amazing I can breeze through a book!
Me too! We’ve got Harry Potter ornaments and all kinds of other themed ornaments on the tree. It makes it fun I think. I definitely did. I almost stopped reading A Little Life, but I carried on. Donna Tartt just has a way with words. She’s a very elegant writer.
I have Harry Potter ones too! And lots of bookish and cat ornaments! I enjoyed the first half of A Little Life but it all became too much. I am going to make Donna Tartt a priority!
I love it! We have cat ones too (and dogs)! My husband was an Air Force pilot, so he has a collection of planes. And I think we now have every Disney movie character between my 3 kids. I have to try and stay out of Hallmark at Christmas! Exactly! I definitely didn’t love it as much as I thought I would. I hope you enjoy her (if you read The Goldfinch first, I’ll be anxious to know what you think)!
The Goldfinch and The Heart’s Invisible Furies are both on my TBR as well. I highly recommend The Poisonwood Bible and Kate Morton’s novels. I think my favorite of hers would have to be The House at Riverton, but I don’t think you can go wrong with any of them!
That’s great to hear! Someone else also said that book was there favourite Kate Morton novel! I will have to check it out too!
Hope you enjoy it!
I literally just bought The Forgotten Garden because I was in the mood to read some historical fiction! I’m starting it now although only a few pages in. Hopefully we can both read and enjoy it!
Oh yay! I am excited to see what you end up thinking about ti!
East of Eden is a favorite of mine!. And The Goldfinch is worth the read in my opinion. Although its long, it never felt that it was dragging to me. I was really impressed with it. I pretty much liked The Goldfinch and The Secret History equally. Totally different stories but both so beautiful
I know I am going to love East of Eden! That is great to hear! I have heard so many amazing things about Donna Tartt’s writing.
Ahh, I really want to read Gone With the Wind! I’m kind of scared, though.🙈I think the biggest book I have ever read is The Order of the Phoenix, I believe it’s the longest Harry Potter and the longest book in general that I’ve ever read.
Me too! Gone With the Wind is such a big book! That’s definitely one of the biggest books I have read as well!
The Poppy War and The Poison Wood Bible are both on my TBR too! Hopefully I can get past the daunting page count and actually pick them up some time soon. I hope you enjoy them and all the rest!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy them too!!
I’ve never heard of the The Forgotten Garden before but it sounds amazing and right up my alley. And it seems to be on sale on Amazon so I think I’ll pick it up! 🙂 And I’ve been recommending The Poppy War to people who don’t normally like fantasy, because it’s so rooted in real-life events that it almost feels like historical fiction. Fingers crossed it works out for you!
Awesome!! I really hope you enjoy The Forgotten Garden! That is really great to hear about The Poppy War because fantasy isn’t my favourite genre but I love historical fiction!
Same, I’m always avoidant of books over 500 pages even when I’m really interested in the subject! The only one of these I’ve read is Gone with the Wind and I did feel like that one flew by.
I’m definitely going to need to read Gone With the Wind!
I definitely recommend Gone with the Wind! I read it last year and I really loved it. It’s big, but super readable for for a classic. In my opinion, it was definitely worth the time it took to read 1000+ pages. ☺️
That’s great to hear. Gone With the Wind is the one book on this list that pretty much everyone has told me I need to read. I guess that means I just have to!
Yes!! 😆
Whew, these are for sure some big tomes! I have most of these on my TBR like Poisonwood, East of Eden, and Goldfinch, but god knows when I’ll get to them. And I want to read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas sometime! I watched the movie, and it was TRAUMATIZING. Like, that ending. 😳
Those are three books that have been sitting on my TBR for ages! Ah that ending. It gets to me every single time!
Bigger books always scare me, haha. I tend to stray away from them. I do have quite a few on my TBR list though that I would like to read one day. I usually gravitate toward audiobook format for larger books.
I have just started getting in to audiobooks and I have been meaning to read bigger books that way as well but when I see a book is over 20 hours even that intimidates me!
Fun post! The longest book on my TBR is The Stand by Stephen King at 1,153 pages… followed by It, also by King, at 1,090 pages 😅
The only Stephen King I have on my TBR is A Long Walk because it’s under 400 pages! His other books are so long!
They’re soooo long! I started off with one of his shorter books cause the idea of delving into something overs 500 pages always daunts me
I also have The Goldfinch on my TBR, I seem to by shying away from long books these days. Maybe I need to dive in during the winter, when I can be all cozy and read on the weekends.
There is something about the winter that is perfect for longer books! I am kind of looking forward to it!
Me to the summer allergies are ridiculous this year with the forest fire smoke. This is the first time in a long time I am looking forward to snow.