The biggest book that you have ever read

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kibo
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Les Misérables

Postby kibo » 2004-03-20, 19:04

Queen Ehlana wrote:I don't like the sound of "abridged." I read the whole thing and loved it.


I'll give it a shot. I don't think I'll have time to read the complete version.


Queen Ehlana wrote:I haven't seen the film, but I know it can't do this book justice. :)


You're so right. Rarely can a film based on a book be as good as the book.
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In most cases, but...

Postby Weldal » 2004-03-20, 23:15

Bugi wrote:Queen Ehlana wrote:
I haven't seen the film, but I know it can't do this book justice.


You're so right. Rarely can a film based on a book be as good as the book.


I agree, in most cases this happens exactly in this way, but I think that some movies came close: "Sense and sensibility", "Gérminal" and "Anna Karenina", for instance, in my opinion, of course... :)
Later, when after I start and finish to read "Les Misérables I will post my comment about it... :wink:

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Postby Gong Sun Hao Ran » 2004-04-23, 14:03

I'll start with a not-so-relevant statement first.
I saw "Anguish Languish". Gosh, it was such work! However something DID occur to me - so
Ladle Rat Rotten Hut
is actually
Little Red Riding Hood!
Sounds awkward in the Anguish Languish text.
For the big books now. The thickest book I've ever finished reading was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I have not finished the Lord of the Rings (didn't have time).
As to the most difficult book I ever read, it was "War and Peace". I borrowed it and tried to read it, but the small text of the the edition I had loaned from the library kept me off course. Eventually I could not follow anymore and the book was eventually returned. I will next time however try to read it again.
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Postby CaCTuS » 2004-04-23, 22:33

Well I have read "Lord of the Rings", which is pretty long, but I don't know how it compares with the famous "War and Peace" and other books in length...

Juno

Postby Juno » 2004-04-25, 5:23

Lord of the Rings if you count the three divisions as one book, is then probabably the longest book that I have read. Personally I love Tolkien's work especially in this book. I found the Simillarion somewhat difficult to get into, but if you enjoy the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings its a great read. Almost the Bible of Middle Earth. Great books! :D

Romanini

Postby Romanini » 2004-04-25, 11:13

I did read Memórias postumas de Brás Cubas .

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The book and the movie...

Postby Weldal » 2004-04-25, 12:54

Romanini wrote:I did read Memórias postumas de Brás Cubas .


I read "Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas" many years ago and I liked it very much. Then, a few years ago I went to the cinema to watch the movie with the same title and I also liked it very much...

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Postby Nukalurk » 2004-04-25, 13:01

This is really a strange thread. I can't remember what size all the books have I've read in my whole life. But maybe I can find here some proposals what I could read next. ;)

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Postby rdamniel » 2004-08-10, 0:57

Gosh... as I can see, the biggest book everyone has ever read it's "Lord Of the Rings", and, since I don't want to be different... this is also the biggest one I've read. No wonder why the films were so famous... But since Lord of The Rings have three books, I could say that Harry Potter's Five books should be considered as one also... and so this should be the biggest book (collection) I have ever read. Of course I know it does not count ... :D

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Postby ekalin » 2004-08-10, 17:55

rdamniel wrote:But since Lord of The Rings have three books, I could say that Harry Potter's Five books should be considered as one also... and so this should be the biggest book (collection) I have ever read. Of course I know it does not count ... :D


No. The Lord of the Rings is one work, originally published in three volumes for editorial reasons. Today it is possible to find the whole book in one single volume, but there are still three-volume editions to match the way the book was originally published.

The Harry Potter series, however, consists (up to now) of five different works, each published individually.
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Postby Emandir » 2004-08-12, 6:09

Ekalin a écrit :
No. The Lord of the Rings is one work, originally published in three volumes for editorial reasons. Today it is possible to find the whole book in one single volume, but there are still three-volume editions to match the way the book was originally published.


Exactly. And you must know that Tolkien was first quite reluctant to the idea of three books, which he made and named when the editor asked him to do so...
Language is the best way men have found to misunderstand each other. Lycodoxos

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Postby Guillem » 2004-08-14, 14:09

Emandir wrote:Ekalin a écrit :
No. The Lord of the Rings is one work, originally published in three volumes for editorial reasons. Today it is possible to find the whole book in one single volume, but there are still three-volume editions to match the way the book was originally published.


Exactly. And you must know that Tolkien was first quite reluctant to the idea of three books, which he made and named when the editor asked him to do so...


Actually, they are six books in three volumes of decreasing size (two in each of them) :) Obviously that's not very important, because phisically there are just three books, and the plot is followed generally in a lineal way, so it's a continuous story.
I'm sorry, I just felt like being picky :wink:

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Postby Guillem » 2004-08-14, 14:10

I forgot to mention the Appendix, which is book 7, I sawy it in an English edition (not sure...) which was divided in seven parts ;)

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Postby Giraffa » 2004-08-30, 21:44

I've read "War and Peace" of course, and "Lord of the rings"... "Middlemarch" by D.Eliot looked formidable and so did Russeau, "Julia, or New Eloisa" and some other books. I was to read "Jean Kristoph" by Romen Rollan but didn't do it :) It consists of 4 books...
But the book which I liked really much but which was extremely difficult for me to read was "Salambo" by Flober. It isn't thick, it's about 300-450 pages, I don't remember... But I had been reading it for about 2 weeks when I was free and had time to read! It's a long time for me... That text was the Text! The material length of the book isn't the thing that really matters... I spent about a busy week on Middlemarch (about 900 pages), it was rather easy to read.
Ah, btw "The brothers Karamsovy" by Dostoevskij are also rather long, but once I read them in two or three nights - I had to. Don't repeat it though - I had a terrible headache after that :)

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Postby Geist » 2004-08-31, 13:41

I think the longest single book I've read was "The Count of Monte Cristo", by Alexandre Dumas (one of my favorite writers :D), at 1360 pages, or something like that.
Das ganze Meer verändert sich, wenn ein Stein hineingeworfen wird.
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Postby Intrigued Linguist » 2004-09-25, 17:37

Mine is 三国演义, the English version tho, Romance of Three Kingdoms. My version was 2333 pages, with notes. Right now I'm reading Shogun, my second longest at 1152 (I think).

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Postby Antiguan Spice » 2004-10-25, 3:34

Intrigued Linguist wrote:Mine is 三国演义, the English version tho, Romance of Three Kingdoms. My version was 2333 pages, with notes. Right now I'm reading Shogun, my second longest at 1152 (I think).


Romance of the Three Kingdoms is my longest as well. I had to read it after I played the Video games lol :)

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Postby bioblood » 2004-11-24, 22:50

some people were saying something about difficult books... if i may add 2 cents...

I found some of CS Lewis nonfiction to be incredably difficult. Well, maybe only one in particular = Abolition of Man. Yikes! Talk about the thickest british idiom, i couldnt follow a page. He uses latin phrases nonstop like i know them, then says something in greek. Real convient for this 21st Century American Youth.

Hrm, other technical theological works involving concepts such as epistemology and ontology and other philosophical considerations i have found difficult also.

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Do series count?

Postby Guest » 2004-12-13, 23:29

In a single book, the longest I have read is no more than a thousand pages, but if a book series read in sequence counts, I'm running on nearly six thousand I think. (Roughly 600 pages per book times 11 books.)

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Re: Do series count?

Postby ekalin » 2004-12-14, 18:18

Anonymous wrote:In a single book, the longest I have read is no more than a thousand pages, but if a book series read in sequence counts, I'm running on nearly six thousand I think. (Roughly 600 pages per book times 11 books.)


... yet you do not tell us what is that series...

Alas, not even your name.
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