I want a damn good book for autumn (please)

The goldfinch. Also a suitable boy. Both long satisfying reads to immerse yourself in.

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned The Goldfinch. I've fond memories of curling up with it the autumn before last. It's my favourite novel.

Shantaram is my all time favourite. I almost wish I hadn't read it as nothing seems to be as good for me

And how about Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell? that should last you a while....

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl - fantastic suspenseful plot (literary book...not airport/holiday fare)

The Company - Robert Littell - CIA thriller. Long and simply superb

The Chronicles of St Mary's books are an interesting and involving read. They are not very long but there's lots of them.

Tim winton Cloud Street

Someone mentioned A Suitabke boy by Vikram Seth, which was going to be my recommendation. But also An Equal Music by him which I loved.
And The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif which was a beautiful book.

The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair is fabulous...and long

Think you might enjoy Manda Scott's 'Into the Fire' - both thriller and historical fiction - a gripping read. At 576 pages maybe not long enough for what you are looking for. If you like historical fiction, her 'Rome' and 'Boudica' series are very much longer.

Oh yes, I forgot Gillespie and I, that's a brilliant read.

Apart from those already mentioned - The Secret History - one of my favourite books.

Gilespie and I by Jane Harris
The Taxidermist's Daughter by Kate Mosse

Long and foreign... how about Belle du seigneur by Albert Cohen?

Hi OP. I love a long book to get involved in too, and all the ones you mention I have really enjoyed.

Some great suggestions above. YY to Kate Atkinson's Life after Life plus A God in Ruins, A Suitable Boy, and A Fine Balance which is one of my all-time favourites. If you enjoy A Fine Balance, also try A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman.

If you like Rose Tremain, I recommend Restoration and the sequel Merivel. Completely different from The Road Home - she is such a varied writer - but very very good.

Also Sarah Waters. Thinking about The Crimson Petal, I think you'd like Fingersmith in particular. The Paying Guests is also really good.

One of my favourites, less well known and which I'm always recommending, is The Observations by Jane Harris. Really entertaining, with a dry and funny narrative voice.

I'm just about to reread Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth, set on a slave ship in the mid 18th century.It won the Booker in 1992 and I read it shortly afterwards so I don't recall it in detail but remember being totally absorbed by it, so looking forward to that.

Another Booker winner but more recent is The Northern Clemency by Philip Hensher. Set in Sheffield during the Thatcher years, and follows the lives of two families against the backdrop of the miners' strike and general political unrest.

As you mention Brick Lane, also try Small Island by Andrea Levy. Even better IMO.

And you can't beat the Victorian and Edwardian period for big satisfying family sagas with a bit of social context to add depth. Middlemarch by George Eliot, The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett, and South Riding by Winifred Holtby are all great reads.

And of course there's always War and Peace - that would keep you company for most of the winter

Approaching Christmas and Quality Street = The Moonstone. No contest!

I am a long book lover too but they are usually on the harrowing side. Recently I've enjoyed
City on Fire, Preparation for the Next Life, A Little Life and We are not Ourselves. None are cheerful though but there is some redemption at the conclusions. Or a classic like Count of Monte Christo, Don Quixote?

I loved the books you mention, and would second Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy, that starts with Quicksilver. It's great, completely involving. The other series of books I loved is Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo series www.goodreads.com/book/show/112078.Niccol_Rising. I know it sounds like terrible romantic fiction, but actually is some of the best stuff I have ever read - not an easy read, but with the scope and complexity of nineteenth century novels. And they will keep you going for ages!

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Infinite Jest

Ken Follet - both The Pillars of the Earth and The Century trilogy. Huge tomes of books and I loved them. Very different settings.

The Dark Tower books, definitely! Or 11.22.63 and The Stand. Both long, both "lose yourself" books.

What about A Suitable Boy? Absorbing and really really long. And I really enjoyed War And Peace once I got going.

More recent books I also loved - In The Light Of What We Know is fantastic and makes you feel clever just reading it.

This Thing of Darkness is a perfect, long read.

Wilkie Collins - The Woman in White or/and No Name

A series - I always recommend Stephen King's Dark Tower but I'd save it until the weather gets a bit colder and the evenings darker! Ditto Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther books.

Dave Eggers - A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

I love long books (and the Cazalets). Some of my favourites are:

Lonesome Dove
Gone With the Wind (hadn't seen the film so didn't know the story)
The Once and Future King
Vanity Fair
David Copperfield

I have Bleak House waiting for autumn to start, going to curl up with it underneath a blanket with some hot chocolate