The longest book I ever read is probably the one that left me counting the pages I had to slop through before I got to the end. At this moment Madam Bovary springs to mind running neck to neck with Titius Livy’s History of Rome. My favorite was most likely the one that ended too soon, and I was immeadiatley searching for the sequel. In this category was the original Dune and James Branch Cabell’s Jurgen.
The killer to rising expectation is when the sequel, or sequels are disapointments. For me, as a science fiction lover, Dune by Frank Herbert was one of the best of all time. Yet the many sequels all failed to match the original in any way. Luckily, for publishers and authors, not everyone agrees with me or the publishing industry would be in sorry shape.
I’ll admit to prejudice. I like the sort of protagonist who has to work things out from the beginning to the end. That’s probably why I appreciate the clueless middle aged protagonist in Jurgen, and the smart youth tumbled into strange circumstances in Dune. These were tastes I developed early when I was a teen consuming Sci Fi at the local public library. That’s right, blame the librarian for my low taste in literature. At the prompting of teachers I sampled Westerns, but the ropin’ smokin’ galoots of most of the westerns didn’t appeal.
I admit to being a great fan of a certain historical mystery series by the British writer Lindsey Davis. Something about the irreverent Marcus Didius Falco living in Vespasians Rome keeps me coming back. Solving mysteries in ancient Rome could have some interesting twists.
So with me it’s about how engaged I am rather than how long I need to engage my attention to slog through an author’s work.
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I’m sure it’s the same with others, Lou. Who would find reading a joy if the whole point was to be trapped in the pages? We want to love being held there. I think I like the first in a series better than the rest because it’s in that book when we see how far the protagonist must come from their ignorant and disadvantaged beginnings, to becoming who they are meant to be. In book two, that person has already learned the hardest lessons, so it’s not as exciting.
Fabulous bookcases, Lou. The blue sphere on top…is that mercury glass?
It was a “gazing globe” for the garden I bought at a gardening supply store.
Anyone with books on shelves is a person I want to know better. I realize we all read differently and it changes at different times of life. The fact that a person reads puts a smile on my face. I have different kind of book for different times of reading. Easy for sleep or daytime learning.
Those shelves are mostly the maritime collection on top, some carving below and a smattering of art books. I never met a used bookstore I didn’t like.
Gone With the Wind had/has 1039 pages and I liked it all the way through back when I was in 7th grade. I read T. E. Lawrence’ Seven Pillars of Wisdom back then, too. For a 7th grader, it was tough going and very British. Still, it’s one of those books I keep and keep and keep and keep (you get the idea). His abridgement of it for a bookclub, The Arab Revolt? Lost something. I don’t care how long a book as long as it earns its pages. For the contest, I often encounter long books that just straight up need editing. My first novel weighed in at 500 typed pages until I met Truman Capote in a dream one night and understood exactly what I had to do. It ended up less than half as long.
Seven Pillars captivated me when I was an Itinerant. for a while a copy of it was one of the vppoks at the bottom of the pack. His was uninteresting life story.
He was my hero from the time I was ten until, uh, never mind. A couple of years ago I read a wonderful book by Gertrude Bell, The Desert and the Sown. She was a friend of Lawrence and a truly amazing, amazing woman and explorer.
I agree with you. Dune is a masterpiece-way more than science fiction.
I think my longest is about 1500 pages, a book called A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth.