What’s the longest book you’ve ever read? Yesterday I finished my all-time longest. 1350 pages long….the entire epic trilogy that is Mark Chadbourn‘s AGE OF MISRULE, which I read in its British omnibus form. Next year Pyr will be releasing the trilogy in simultaneous spiffy new editions, and I’m working up thumbnails for those covers.
Breaking news — I’m happy to say that I’ve agreed with Solaris to illustrate the cover for Mark’s new novel THE LORD OF SILENCE, which will be a 2009 release in the UK and US. Printing out the manuscript right now and looking forward to more Chadbourn greatness. š
Hmm, that’s a good question! Not sure offhand if it’s Cryptonomicon, something like North & South by John Jakes, or any selection from GRRM’s Song of Ice & Fire. Those are all at least in the 1100s or longer, I think. Now I’m curious….
Hi, D —
Yeah, I read Dan Simmons’ THE TERROR for pleasure several months ago. Great read, but that kicked my ass. Almost 800 pages there, but I had to read that in tiny chunks over months. Read King’s THE STAND way back when. That was a fatty. Since the AGE OF MISRULE reading was for a job, it went quicker, but I’m a slow reader so it still took me several weeks (again interspersed between several simultaneous cover jobs).
Hmmm. doesn’t the longest book you’ve ever read depend on the size of the pages, the size of the typeface, & the size of the leading? You can get lots of words in a small typeface on large pages.
I have no idea what the longest book I’ve ever read was. I never really pay attention to the number of pages in a book, although I have noted on occasion that some books I thought were long actually turned out to be only half “book” and the rest appendixes.
Definitely right, Christine. Word count is the true barometer. Not sure how many words in AGE OF MISRULE, but judging from the omnibus’ tiny margins and tiny point size, it’s gotta be way up there.
Thankfully, I’m betting Pyr’s new editions will be much more reader-friendly. š