To ask for recommendations for a really long amazing book?

[theotherfossilsister]

Something I can immerse myself in. I like historical fiction (Wolf Hall and BUTB, The Crimson Petal and the White, All the Light We Cannot See) but open to anything big and brilliant and immersive.

Oh I also love The Cazalet Chronicles which were recommended on here, and really enjoyed I Claudius despite thinking it would be dry (it wasn't dry.)

Any recommendations please?

The Kingdoms - Natasha Pulley’s latest. I really enjoyed it, Napoleonic Wars with a twist, beautiful writing. I read it in under a week, which is quick for me!

I love the author John Irving. A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favourites.

Loved the Book Thief by Markus Zuzak.

And I've also enjoyed quite a few Jodi Picoult books, she's amazing at creating characters and scenarios that you get totally caught up with.

Also really liked Eleanor Oliphant is totally fine, but that's maybe not a long book!

The love songs of W.E.B Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers. It's a big book but just brilliant.

Iain Pears "An instance of the finger post". Told from 3 different viewpoints, murder & the Civil War. Great book

Helen of Troy by Margaret George

Yeah, don't read A Little Life if you want an enjoyable read. It's like reading about someone being repeatedly hit on the head with an anvil, then being run over by a juggernaut only to be treated in hospital by Hannibal Lector.

The Winds of War by Herman Wouk. It’s 1,000+ pages long and completely immersive. I missed it so much when I finished it. Luckily, there’s a sequel (War and Remembrance, also 1,000+ pages). It’s set before/during WW2, following a US family in Europe.

Also highly recommend The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning. Again set before/during WW2, in Europe.

I love all the books you mentioned in your OP, so think we have similar tastes.

The Forsyth Saga - a trilogy

The witching hour by Anne Rice teeny bit slow to start with but fabulous

I've never read Lanark by Alasdair Gray but it's long and highly rated! It's on my to read list.

Ok sorry not rtwt but the stand Stephen king and cloud street Tim winton.

Christodora.

Wally lamb

wild swans

i am pilgrim

morgans run

roots

gone with the wind

grapes of wrath

Great book.
Also “Empire Falls” by Richard Russo

C J Sansom's Shardlake books, set in the Tudor era, the first is Dissolution

I loved The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffernegger

Not sure if it exactly fits the brief but I loved Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles. Circe was really enjoyable too.

Please listen to me - do not ever read A Little Life. You are right to be scared. It’s the worst book ever.

The Eighth Life (For Brilka) by Nino Haratischvili is an amazing and very long book. It's set in Georgia and follows a family from the beginning of the twentieth century to the early twenty first century.

The Count of Monte Cristo or Pillars of the Earth

Where the Crawdads Sing

Hawaii by James Michener
is long and historical but a great read! v dramatic!

He also wrote “tales of the South Pacific” which was the basis for the story in the musical

Not a long read tho?

Agree with this!

also all of Sharon Kaye Penman books…all very chunky and fascinating historical fiction…in particular Sunne in Splendour

Manda Scott’s Boudica series…four deep books, in both senses, that I read every couple of years. Rich, satisfying and beautifully written.

If you want more recent history, then I would recommend ‘A Brief History of 7 killings’ by Marlon James. I assumed a lot of the details (including the end) were fictitious - unbelievably they aren’t!

These all sound amazing, thank you. I'm going to definitely try them though may steer clear of A Little Life. A colleague who's opinion I trust said she hated it passionately, although weirdly she's reading the next one which I don't understand.

I see The Deptford Trilogy upthread and would add The Cornish Trilogy (and even The Salterton Trilogy). Why yes I do like Robertson Davies.
If you like Science Fiction Iain M Banks Culture novels are intricate and original.

Different Iain Banks but The Crow Road is a good/long book too.