Chunky Books!

There is something uniquely appealing - to me - about chunky books.

I know this is not always a popular opinion and, if you get stressed out (or triggered in any way) by the size of the book, please feel free to ignore this post and/or use this post only for inspiration in case you are looking to challenge yourself.

I wanted to curate a list of books, with at least 800 pages, diverse in genre. If you have other recommendations and/or genres to dabble with, feel free to add your recommendations down below!

Let’s start with the Classics; there are a few books that are quite long.

There’s The Count of Montecristo by Alexandre Dumas; this is the definition of a revenge story.

There is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, a story of human mystery, like the title suggests.

Last but not least, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, one of the first historical fiction stories ever told (and I have a personal soft goal to read it before the end of the year).

Continuing, with one of my favorite genres, Fantasy, there are plenty of options in this categories.

Dragon Mage by M.L. Spencer is a story unfolding in a new world, with cool dragons and a fascinating magic system.

There are Of Darkness and Light and Of War and Ruin, books 2 and 3, in the Bound and the Broken series by Ryan Cahill belong to the chunky books list; the series focuses on a more traditional fantasy setting and plot; it is wonderful when one can follow this wonderful adventure.

We continue with a trilogy, where every single book of the series belong to the chunky books category: The Five Warrior Angels by Brian Lee Durphy, with The Forgetting Moon, The Blackest Heart and The Lonesome Crown. A very underrated grimdark fantasy series!

There is another option for chunky books, with Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey; this book starts the Phedre's trilogy; this is also the only book in the series that belongs to the chunky books categories.

And one more suggestion is the Darkwater Legacy series by Chris Wooding, a more traditional fantasy that is focusing on rebellion and a coming of age story with a very interesting and complex world building! Both books in the series comply with the chunky title requirement: The Ember Blade and The Shadow Casket.

There is are two connected series The Fatemarked Epic series and the Kingfall Histories by David Estes which include chunky books, especially in the Kingfall Histories. I would actually love to start the series this year so let’s see how we get there.

Last but not least, the four books published in the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson also belong to this category; this is an epic series in the Cosmere, complex and wonderful in its world building and depth and breathe of the plot. The books so far are The Way of Kings, Words of Radiance, Oathbringer and Rhythm of War.

There is another wonderful genre that like to dabble in longer books, historical fiction.

First and foremost, Shōgun by James Clavell, telling the story of an Englishman who lands in Japan, a country that, at the time, did not see many foreigners.

There is one of my personal favorites of all time, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, beautiful book, a story about magic in Victorian England. It is just whimsical.

There are a lot of books that I have not read yet but are on my TBR (at some point): one is the western story by Larry McMurtry called Lonesome Dove; and the other is the story of Russia by Edward Rutherford, with Russka. He also wrote several historical fiction stories focusing on cities, like New York, London and Paris.

Last category which is an author as he tends to write books that are quite long, every single time: Ken Follett!

One is his recent political thriller called Never; it might be triggering but it is quite interesting.

He also published The Century trilogy, with Fall of Giants, Winter of the World and Edge of Eternity, focusing on the history of Europe starting from World War I to the events following World War II.

Last but not least, his Kingsbridge series, another work of historical fiction starting with The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End and A Column of Fire so far (there should book four, The Armour of Light that will be published later in 2023). This work of fiction focuses on England in the 12th century, and - at least in its first book - focuses on building a cathedral.

These books are quite long and there are plenty of great stories being told here. I love the feeling of starting with one of these adventures, including those stories that are told in multiple books. In fact, this interest goes hand in hand with my love for long series!

Any other suggestion, both in terms of genres and books in genres already included here, are more than welcome!