Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is: Bookstores/Libraries I’ve Always Wanted to Visit.
But I am not doing that. I actually wanted to do last week’s but then… well, I kind of forgot. I even started a post but… I blame Bookish Games. So I figured I’d just do it this week instead! No one minds, right? Right. Last week’s topic was: Longest Books I’ve Ever Read
Only… I don’t really love long books, as a rule? I get kind of annoyed with them, because they are too long. And daunting. And make me fall behind in my Goodreads goal. Or whatever, who knows. But. Sometimes I actually kind of love them? It’s rare, but I figured I’d share the ones I adored despite their ability to kill small animals if falling upon them. (Or, according to my arbitrary rules, over 500 pages.)
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness ► 602 Pages
Funny story, I had no idea that this was so long! When I read it, I’d bought the whole series on Kindle- so it was legit thousands of pages, but I had no idea exactly how many. When I finished and updated Goodreads, I was shocked to learn how long it was- which really is just a testament to how good it is!
The Host by Stephenie Meyer ► 625 Pages
Another book where I read it on Kindle the first time and had no idea how long it was! I am actually thinking this may be a very good strategy for me going forward: Ignorantly blissful, just use e-reader.
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff ► 602 Pages
This is almost a cheat, because sure it’s long, but there are pictures and charts and all kinds of fun formats that make it seem far less than its 600+ pages! (Incidentally, Gemina and Obsidio are longer, but I like this one better, so here we are.)
The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson ► 679 Pages
This was just a really good finale- and finales are scary in general- that somehow kept me interested for a lot of pages!
Genesis by Brendan Reichs ► 512 Pages
Another sequel that I flew through! The action never let up, so it seemed nice and compact- even though it wasn’t! Bring on book 3!
Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor ► 536 Pages
This is probably one of the ones on the list that did feel as long as it was, but the writing was so lovely that I could live with it!
Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray ► 503 Pages
Read this one as an eARC, therefore had no idea how long it was! I was completely hooked from the start, someone please remind me to read the sequel ASAP.
Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman ► 504 Pages
Kind of impressed with all the sequels on this list! Yet again, this didn’t seem long, because it was awesome. Plus it’s Neal Shusterman, of course it is awesome!
Sunrise by Mike Mullin ► 546 Pages
I am pleased to report that this isn’t even the last book in the series- though it was intended to be at the time! Anyway, the stakes were high and it was one of the few “finales” that wasn’t at all a letdown, woo!
Everfound by Neal Shusterman ► 514 Pages
Probably one of my favorite series-ends of ever. Also yes Neal Shusterman made the list twice, are you even surprised? You shouldn’t be.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak► 550 Pages
This one also feels long because you kind of want to cry through most of it? But it’s beautiful and worth every page, so there’s that.
Feed by Mira Grant ► 599 Pages
This was so entertaining, and even though there were a few slower parts, I didn’t expect that it was 600 pages! Again, a Kindle read. Seriously, new life plan.
Gah, Shusterman. Heart eyes. How long is Challenger Deep, anyway? (She asks as if she’s not currently using a machine that could answer that question in seconds.) I find Laini Taylor’s books to all kind of be in that “Wow, this is really long, and it’s all so gorgeous that I’m okay with it” range. And yes, I’m in love with the whole Chaos Walking series, so there could have been another thousand pages involved and I would have been fine.
Oooh good question! I read that one as an eARC too hahha. (Apparently, only 320… is it me or did it feel longer?)
I really want to read Mary’s series, but that page count leaves me a little bit skittish. Still, I’ll give book one a chance (someday) and if I like it, hopefully I won’t mind the length. I am SO not a fan of long books because I’m a turtle reader without the added pressure of more pages. 😀
…and no! I don’t mind at all you using last week’s topic. This is part of Top Ten Tuesday’s charm; those rule benders (of which I am one).
I’m not great with long books either. I counted Illuminae too even though yeah it’s kind of a cheat. I think reading giant books is much easier on the Kindle.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who counts 500 pages as long. ?A few people were laughing at me for it last week…BUT IT IS LONG!! Anything over 450 is long!! And honestly usually could be trimmed (shh I am very much into concise story telling before I lose attention). Heh. I really like doing long books via audio. For some reason it doesn’t panic me as much!? Also I don’t mind audios taking me a while whereas for physical books i gotta get them done asap so I don’t fall behind my ridiculously high achieving reading challenges.?
LOVED Monsters of Men!! But I do think it could’ve been a bit shorter.?Illuminae was perfect. STRANGE THE DREAMER COULD’VE HAD MORE PAGES, ACTUALLY FOR ONCE, ADFJASKLD. Although the UK edition is actually like 480 pages or something?? I think our font might be smaller or the book taller or something. I legit have never actually read the pages. Just listened to the audio twice. Haha. Ooh and The Gentleman’s Guide is a book I happily don’t mind that it’s over 500 pages!
Ooh, love The Book Thief and Illuminae, and I need to read Thunderhead as I loved Scythe (oh, and Strange the Dreamer, since I own it and all). I don’t usually read a ton of long books either because they can sometimes drag, but it works for some! I tend to do better when it’s a series and the books just get longer and longer – I’ll read it so I can finish the series. LOL This is true for The Lunar Chronicles.
-Lauren
The Book Thief was so good and definitely didn’t feel like it was a long one either. But yes, absolutely – long books on the Kindle are so much easier to get through.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
I loved The Book Thief and Thunderhead. I don’t avoid long books, but I tend to procrastinate them for months. I have a few giants sitting on my TBR shelf right now. I currently have no desire to read them. Someday I’ll get to the Chaos Walking books and Strange the Dreamer. Everyone seems to love those, and I feel left out.
I blame everything on the Bookish Games at this point. Cause why not? And ditto about Illuminae- there’s something about a book with charts and weird graphics that you have to turn upside down to see (imagine reading that book on a bus or train- the stares you’d get). Plus it’s a long book that flies by for that reason.
The rest of these I haven’t read. I didn’t know Feed was that long actually…
I didn’t realize some of these were so long! I really want to read the Scythe series. Illuminae is definitely a monster of a book, but the way it’s written makes it fly by. Great list!
I loved Strange the Dreamer!
I don’t usually mind long books (I did read the 725 page City of Heavenly Fire in four days) but if I read too many in a row I get exhausted. I followed up CoHF with a book under 400 pp. because I didn’t want to get burnt out.
I would never have read a lot of the LOOOONG books I read had I actually seen them. Big books are heavy and make my wrists hurt, but an eBook lets me enjoy my ignorance.
I’ve wanted to read Scythe + Thunderhead for so long, but I haven’t gotten to them yet. I prefer reading physical copies of super long books; the pages tend to contain more, so I feel like I’m making more progress. I tried to read Game of Thrones on my iPad a few years ago and just couldn’t :/
Eleanor | On the Other Side of Reality
Yikes, I didn’t realize Thunderhead was so long! I also loved Feed even though I haven’t read the sequels.
lol on this topic. I don’t mind long books if the story requires it but it really annoys me when books are just needlessly long!
E-readers are tricky for me. Sometimes they make it so I don’t notice how long a book is but sometimes I feel like I’ve been reading FOREVER and I’m only at page 20 lol I have no concept of length with them.
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
I’m also not a big fan of books over 500 pages. I figured out last week, thanks to this TTT topic, that most if not all of the Twilight books are over 600+ pages long. I read them all on my phone at the time and never stopped to think why they had 3 times as many pages as all the other books I’d read up to that point! Had I known those books were that big I don’t think I would have finished the series in the first place at that time 🙂
I loved Strange the Dreamer (rereading it before I start MON), the Book Thief and The Host. I was totally daunted by the Song of Ice and Fire GOT series so got them on audio and thats my new favourite way to read long books. I usually paint or draw while listening.
I honestly didn’t realise The Book Thief was so long before I checked my Goodreads, it did not feel that way! I can’t wait to read Thunderhead, but it probably won’t be till next summer as I can’t deal with 500+ page books whilst I’m at Uni!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/10/16/top-ten-tuesday-181/
I didn’t realize The Host was around 600 pages! I really enjoyed it while reading it and really flew through it 😀
I find it really strange that everyone always used Illuminae as an example of a long book that they flew through because I feel like for the amount of pictures in the book it should take shorter to read. I think I’m just an impatient person. I don’t actually mind books when I know they’ll be long, but when I’m promised pictures, I get disgruntled when it takes me just as long to read as it would if there were no pictures involved.
I agree that long books are easier on the Kindle, though I will say that I start to notice that I have to flip the “page” a bunch of times before the percentage goes up, and I catch on and start to stress out about it. 🙂
The only one of these I’ve read is The Book Thief which I loved so much I didn’t page count! I want to read the Patrick Ness too – one day!
The Knife of Never Letting Go series is one of my all time favorites. 🙂
Lauren @ Always Me
Wow, I didn’t realize how long Neal Shusterman’s books were. I legit just fell into them and didn’t look up until they were done. XD
Like you, I find that I don’t notice as much with Kindle books, because mine’s set to percent, so I actually don’t get to see that it’s X number pages. I just see that I’m 10% through, and that seems much more manageable and less daunting than being smacked in the face with all these pages you still have to read. xD
The Book Thief is the only one here I’ve read, but I listened to the audiobook on my commute to/from school. There were a few parts near the end that had my eyes flooding during traffic, and I probably looked like a red-eyed mess when I got to school, lol. I’m not sure if it’s any easier on the Kindle. I think it just really depends on the book for me. If it grabs me and keeps my attention, I’ll power straight through to the end. If not…meh.