The biggest book that you have ever read

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Kasuya
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby Kasuya » 2009-08-10, 20:18

Die Blechtrommel von Günter Grass.

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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby KingHarvest » 2009-08-11, 2:04

War and Peace by Tolstoy, Les Miserable by Victor Hugo, and Against the Day are all the books I've read that are over 1,000 pages (and I'm currently reading Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and Imperial by William T. Vollman that are also well above 1,000 (also, also I'm currently reading a collection of Orwell's essays that is 1,400 pages long)).

For 8-900 pages I've read Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, Europe Central by William T. Vollman, The Recognitions by William Gaddis, and The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky. Probably some fantasy/sci-fi novels this long as well when I was younger, but I don't remember.
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby Argon » 2009-08-11, 23:01

The biggest book that I have ever read besides the Bible is 'The Lord of the Rings'. I am now reading it again, it is one of those books that has to be read several times before you can really get the full depth and understanding of what J R R Tolkien [ortray in his mystical world of Middle Earth.

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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby Sol Invictus » 2009-08-12, 8:39

I used to be a bit obsesed with idea of reading BIG books when I was little :) but I realy don't remember - probably something with around 1000 pages, books don't tend to be bigger than that

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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby loqu » 2009-08-12, 10:18

Argon wrote:The biggest book that I have ever read besides the Bible


wow, have you read the whole Bible? Isn't it, like, huge?
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby ILuvEire » 2009-08-14, 6:38

I read the unabridged version of The Stand by Stephen King, but I don't have the book with me, so I'm not sure about the actual page count.
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby densou » 2009-08-18, 22:18

one of Tom Clancy's books, definitely .... but no clue on which one (I should check out their length) - I read them a loooong ago
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby Centrismo » 2009-08-19, 19:56

The biggest book i have read is 100 Years of Solitude.
anyways, I don't like big books, because when i start i think that i will never end so i usually don't read them.
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Re: Difficult books

Postby TaylorS » 2009-10-25, 2:51

Patricia wrote:
Weldal wrote:In English the most difficult was "The adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.


I totally agree with you. I think it's one of the few books of which I read only a few pages and then put it down. I never leave books unfinished, but this one was way too much for me. :(
I hope you keep trying! Huck Fin is near the top, maybe even at the top, when it comes to American English literature. A truly excellent story.
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby TaylorS » 2009-10-25, 3:00

A Study of History by English historian Arnold J. Toynbee. Longest written work in the English language. Got all 12 volumes at a garage sale a few years back. A must have for history buffs.
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby angi11 » 2013-10-08, 14:55

The biggest book I have ever read... Shogun; definitely Shogun (by James Clavell). 1632 pages in less than a week. It really got me

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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby ling » 2013-10-08, 16:32

The Stand, by Stephen King
The Bible, by various drug-addled authors
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby Yasna » 2015-10-03, 21:14

Has anyone read The Mahabharata, unabridged?
Ein Buch muß die Axt sein für das gefrorene Meer in uns. - Kafka

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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby vijayjohn » 2015-10-03, 22:45

Not me. Probably the biggest book I've ever read would be this textbook on US history.

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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby mauw » 2016-01-10, 22:12

The discovery of heaven (De ontdekking van de hemel) by Harry Mulisch. First book that comes to mind.

About 900-950 pages I think, but it feels like 100 pages. So yes, I do recommend this book ;)
Feel free to correct my mistakes :partyhat:

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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby linguoboy » 2016-01-11, 2:48

mauw wrote:The discovery of heaven (De ontdekking van de hemel) by Harry Mulisch. First book that comes to mind.

About 900-950 pages I think, but it feels like 100 pages. So yes, I do recommend this book ;)

Was it really that many? I would've said half that. (A hundred pages? Even watching the film doesn't feel like a hundred pages!)
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby mauw » 2016-01-11, 8:45

linguoboy wrote:
mauw wrote:The discovery of heaven (De ontdekking van de hemel) by Harry Mulisch. First book that comes to mind.

About 900-950 pages I think, but it feels like 100 pages. So yes, I do recommend this book ;)

Was it really that many? I would've said half that. (A hundred pages? Even watching the film doesn't feel like a hundred pages!)


Yes, really that many. The dutch edition is 905 pages. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/194 ... n_de_hemel
Feel free to correct my mistakes :partyhat:

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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby linguoboy » 2016-01-11, 14:29

mauw wrote:Yes, really that many. The dutch edition is 905 pages. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/194 ... n_de_hemel

I didn't think it was significantly abridged, but the English translation I read (http://www.amazon.com/The-Discovery-Heaven-Harry-Mulisch/dp/0140239375) clocks in at only 736.
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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby mauw » 2016-01-12, 9:08

linguoboy wrote:
mauw wrote:Yes, really that many. The dutch edition is 905 pages. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/194 ... n_de_hemel

I didn't think it was significantly abridged, but the English translation I read (http://www.amazon.com/The-Discovery-Heaven-Harry-Mulisch/dp/0140239375) clocks in at only 736.


I guess the translator needed less words in English to write and make clear what Mulisch wrote in Dutch. The English language has more words than Dutch does, so maybe a group of dutch words could be translated by using only one single word that simply doesn't exist in Dutch. That, or just more words stuffed on one page in the English version.
Feel free to correct my mistakes :partyhat:

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Re: The biggest book that you have ever read

Postby Johanna » 2016-01-13, 1:44

mauw wrote:
linguoboy wrote:
mauw wrote:Yes, really that many. The dutch edition is 905 pages. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/194 ... n_de_hemel

I didn't think it was significantly abridged, but the English translation I read (http://www.amazon.com/The-Discovery-Heaven-Harry-Mulisch/dp/0140239375) clocks in at only 736.

I guess the translator needed less words in English to write and make clear what Mulisch wrote in Dutch. The English language has more words than Dutch does, so maybe a group of dutch words could be translated by using only one single word that simply doesn't exist in Dutch. That, or just more words stuffed on one page in the English version.

It could also be that English has shorter words in general, 'I've gone' takes up less space than 'ik heb gegaan' after all.
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