I’m going on hols soon, and I’m looking for a book to take with me. I think I’ll be doing quite a lot of reading, as there’ll be nothing else to do (we’ll be in the wilds of Mongolia 🙂 ), plus it’s been a while since I’ve read a proper good long book, the kind that you can get lost in and not want to end.

Previous big books wot I have readed and enjoyed:

– Lonesome Dove (and the rest of the series)
– American Gods
– Wolf Hall/Bring up the Bodies
– East of Eden/Grapes of Wrath

I like stuff with a strong narrative and likeable characters, if it gets too artsy I’m not a massive fan (f’rinstance, One Hundred Years of Solitude)

So, whaddyagot?

11/22/63 – Stephen King
Guy goes back in time to kill Lee Harvey Oswald but time pushes back.
It’s a little weird but not horror at all.

Hyperion Omnibus – Dan Simmons if you like Sci Fi
The Terror – Dan Simmons if you don’t… 🙂

War and Peace.

Seriously. It’s epic. Once you get past the slow(ish) start and all the confusing Russian names it’s a brilliant and engrossing story.

Failing that the Fire and Ice Series (Game of Thrones) are good – even if you’ve seen the TV show they’re a good read because there’s a lot more in them.

Sc-Fi? The Expanse series, starting with Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey. Great stories – a real space opera.

the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Sounds arty, it’s about the fall of the Han dynasty at the end of the 3rd Century and it is the Great Work of Chinese literature. It’s also one of the best books I’ve ever read, strong characters not always easily defined as good or bad, plotting and intrigue a-plenty and brutal violence. 2 big’gish volumes with the background here on Wiki
There is a free kindle version but it reads like an academic text book. the Moss Roberts translation is a faster paced easier read version with plenty of footnotes outside the body text if you want to read them. The books cover 30 years of civil war with one decisive battle filmed as Red Cliff if you want a (Chuinese language with subtitles) taster. [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfgBYreWHMo[/video]

A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving. Suspend reality, go with the story. Beautifully brought together in the last pages – so clever. Funny, poignant and moving in equal measure….and 600 pages long.

Ooh – BigButSlimmerBloke reminded me..
Shogun – James Clavell is worth a go, despite the poor ending.

I’d say one of Ian M Banks books if you like sci-fi. There isn’t much of The Culture series that has to be read in order (though a handful of bits make more sense if you do) – ‘Surface Detail’ is a big hefty lump.

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes was a good read.

Atlas Shrugged – that’ll keep you going….

Cheers all.

War and Peace.

Tried it, couldn’t get on with it (and same goes for other Russian stuff that I’ve tried, Anna Karenina for example).

Leviathan Wakes looks interesting

Romance of the Three Kingdoms Moss Roberts translation

Would that be this??

The Dark Tower series.

One of my favourites. Occasionally gets pretty weird in bits though.

or A Song of Ice and Fire ( GoT) if you’ve not read them.

More long Stephen King suggestions, given your “read and liked” list.

The Stand (the original length version – 1st edition was cut down because the publishers said as written, they’d need to price it at $xx.99 because of the printing costs and he wasn’t famous enough to sell at that price

The Dark Tower series (all 7)

T’other Stephen King series…….Dark tower?? Glass tower? could be Oxo for all I know!!
Long time since I read it bit odd but equally quite engrossing..I think 😕

I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes was a good read.

But not long. And kinda like The Da Vinci Code in that the short chapters keep you ploughing through it.

Infinite Jest is looong. And it feels it too…
Alistair Reynolds does a good line in quite long space opera sci-fi, if you like that kind of thing

Yeah wot ^^^ they said!

Fair point on Pilgrim, I just remember the book being fairly chunky

Ooh – Great North Road by Peter Hamilton. I enjoyed that.

Currently reading – Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama
Link: http://amzn.eu/eArHiMm
Big, fat, absorbing read.

These are good and will keep you going.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/87225-latin-american-trilogy

I think I recommend them on every STW book thread, but the Red Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson seem to fit the bill here pretty well. Long, sci-fi, but also a bit of political intrigue. Very good stuff.

Red Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley

Thanks for the recommendation.

Just bought it on Amazon. 😉

Everyone should read Catch 22.

The Autumn of the Patriarch by Gabriel García Márquez.

Considering your destination, I’m going to recommmend the Khan Series by Conn Iggulden.

Some good recommendations above, though some fall a bit short on the “doorstop” test IMO. If you want something chunky and worthwhile I’d recommend
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay – Michael Chabon
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
The Honourable Schoolboy – John LeCarre, good even as a standalone but better if you’ve read Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Or take a loaded Kindle.

Considering your destination, I’m going to recommmend the Khan Series by Conn Iggulden.

Can’t get on with Conn Iggulden’s writing myself but that reminds me – Book 1 of The Mongoliad is good, though I got bogged down about a third of the way in to the second one. Written by a bunch of people, which worked for me to start with, less so in Book 2.

Currently reading Jerusalem by Alan Moore – enjoyable so far and definitely long!

Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson) and the follow up Baroque Cycle books are long and involving.

I was going to recommend Neal Stephenson too, but not the Baroque Cycle ones as I just didn’t get on with them. Hardly any cycling mentioned at all.

Anathem, Snow Crash, Reamde and Cryptonomnicon were all good.

oops double post

Romance of the Three Kingdoms Moss Roberts translation

Would that be this??
No, that’s a graphic novel. This is the novel (pt 1)

Just to give a +1 to the sci-fi series, Dan Simmons Hyperion, seemingly endless (in the good way, obviously) but never boring, & the expanses series is very good too.

Musashi: An Epic Novel of the Samurai Era by Eiji Yoshikawa

Richard Morgan – Takeshi Kovacs trilogy and Dark Defiles trilogy. Great sci-fi and epic fantasy. Brilliant world building and really well written.

Ian Banks – Culture books. Always worth a read.

Wool Trilogy – can’t remember the author.

CJ Sansom – Shardlake series (a bit like Wolf Hall) and Dominion.

I am just re-reading Laurie Lee As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, great for reading when you’re travellling: it’s about him setting off from his Gloucester village, walking through Spain and ending up getting involved in the Spanish Civil War. Plus one for Cloud Atlas, a book that’s really stayed with me: a real affirmation of being fully human (hope that doesn’t sound too poncy). A lovely offbeat book, probably out of print, Three Against The Wilderness, Eric Collier. An English guy packs in being a trainee solicitor in England,emigrates to Canada, sets up home in British Columbia with his ‘Indian’ wife and son (it was ok to say that then) and basically lives off the land, happily, for the rest of his days. Amazing accounts of living in -50 c. conditions. Not sure why you want ‘one big book’: it’s a high risk strategy as you’ve found with War and Peace. Hemingway (Moveable Feast) and Steinbeck always a banker in my opinion. Avoid the russkies, except perhaps Chekhovs short stories.

Dickens? Pickwick Papers would suit I think. More Steinbeck obviously, but you’re looking at shorter novels. Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday share characters so could be read as a continuous story. Wonderful reading and lighter in tone than the books you mention.

Why stick to one book?
Take ‘The Brentford Trilogy’ (all nine of them) by Robert Rankin.

Wheel of Time series – a snoozefest after the 4th book. Well I gave up.

Fire and Ice Series

Tricky if you’re after likeable characters 😉

The Bryant & May series by Christopher Fowler

+1 Laurie Lee although start with Cider with Rosie if you have not read it yet.

Historical fiction – read the Flashman series by George McDonald Fraser – my favourite character, comfort read and companion through life’s trials.

Hornblower by C.S. Forester is enthralling.

Sci-Fi – I would go for The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. Fits your epic requirement and is beautifully written. Lyonesse by Jack Vance also great.

It would be worth seeking out some stories set where you are travelling. I loved Steinbeck whilst travelling around the USA. Cannery Row was probably my favourite.

If you want epic start with Patrick O’Brian’s series book one Master and Commander.

+1 to the above and the next 19 books…

Cloud Atlas
The Perfect Spy

If you’re really up for it, A dance to the music of time, or Proust…