# I need a fat, page-turner book(s) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377 "2009-05-05T01:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/41 "2009-05-05T12:14:13Z")
I’d echo the support for Clavell’s \*Tai Pan \*and \*Noble House \*(in that order) as you’ve enjoyed _Shogun_. \*Noble House \*in particular is enormous! If you enjoy intelligent historical fiction you could try Dorothy Dunnett’s two long series. The six Lymond books (set across 16th century Europe) and the eight Niccolo books (set in the 15th century). Each individual book is pretty long and complex - you won’t read each one in an afternoon so they should keep you busy! ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/42 "2009-05-05T12:15:09Z")
I had to find out what happened next in **The Historian**. On reflection, it’s a bit silly, but it definitely qualified as a page-turner for me. In a similar vein of dredging up family history through books and research, there’s **The Ghost Writer** by Harwood, which is most notable for some fantastic nested short stories, and **The Thirteenth Tale** - very gothic and made for bibliophiles. \*\*The Gone Away World \*\*is really interesting and fun. It meanders a lot, but that’s good if you’re trying to stretch out your reading. Plus I know lots of people finish it and start reading it again immediately. Personally, it’s taking me forever to get through **Vanity Fair**. It’s good, but I just can’t whip through it. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/43 "2009-05-05T13:06:24Z")
> [@wunderkammer](#): > > About half of this series is swashbuckling or sweet birth-of-science geekery, but the rest is some really convoluted political machinations that will have you wanting to keep a notepad with all of the characters, their aliases and titles, and connections between them. > > It’s great once you put some effort into it, but also kind of a big commitment. The first time I read it, I took the books on a family camping trip with no alternate reading material, and it was basically a waste of time. I read it, but since the overarching plotline was so convoluted and I was reading with a “lazy beach book” mentality, I kept getting lost–cool things happened, but their significance was totally unclear. Next time around, I took it in slowly and had some fluff reading on the side, and the experience was infinitely more satisfying. I love the Baroque Cycle, but I do agree its a convoluted read. On the plus side, however, a good portion takes place in Germany (Leipzig, Hanover, a few other places) so you could visit the places that you’re reading about… ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/44 "2009-05-05T13:06:47Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I loved [The Name Of The Wind](http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicles-Day/dp/0756405890/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241520995&sr=1-1). However, we’ve waited more than two years for book two and they have pushed it back (without telling when it will be released.) Another vote for this! Fantastic read. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/45 "2009-05-05T13:06:51Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > \ It didn’t do it for me, because it spent too much time on the love story, and not enough on the bits that interested me more. And I’ve loved plenty of books that are “fiction from a female point of view in which there is a love story.” > > But that’s just me. I just wanted to mention that, since I like a lot of the books the OP lists, and for whatever reason Outlander wouldn’t be the one I’d want to be stuck with for 3 months. anything by Lois McMaster Bujold. she has fantasy, sf, a sf comedy of manners, sf romance…she has 2 series, one set in a universe like our historical universe, with 5 gods who are rather capricious, the second series is set in what is a post apocalyptic society except instead of modern america it was post apocalyptic a mage society with great golden cities. She has a sf universe that is set about a thousand years or so in the future based around a planet settled by russians, french and greeks that was isolated by a shift in the wormhole jumps but is now back to being accessable. That story arc involves one main family - and has stories ranging from military adventure through murder mystery through a comedy of manners in the style of 1800 britain. They also all come as ebooks and audiobooks. If you want a brief taste try [Mountains of Mourning](http://www.webscription.net/p-622-the-mountains-of-mourning.aspx) it is a short story introducing Miles VorKosigan, the protagonist of the majority of the sf series. If you have no problem reading ebooks, [webscriptions.net](http://webscriptions.net) is Baen Books ebook online function, they have a free library you can read online or download in a bunch of NON DRM formats. They have over 100 books in the free library so you can see if you like that particular authors style. Actually, I can highly recommend getting a PDA or ebook reader and going electronic. There are literally thousands of legally available books [and hundreds of thousands of illegally available usenet book files] in every subject matter you can think of. I recommend mobipocket, i have it on my PC and read and sort books on my PC, and load them into my moto 9m, mrAru’s treo and our kindle. I can fit several hundred books on the chip in my phone=) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/46 "2009-05-05T13:21:38Z")
You might be pleasantly surprised at how many German bookstores sell books in English. I was in Dresden in 1995, and while maybe 1 in 10 people on the street spoke some English, lots of people were studying and every bookstore I went into had an English section. Still, you’re wise to be prepared in any case. May I recommend some [Guy Gavriel Kay](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/guy-gavriel-kay/)? There’s the original ‘Fionavar Tapestry’, though I like all of his books. Herodotus has been a constant companion of mine for many years. It isn’t everyone’s idea of a page turner, but I love it and have worn out my first copy. ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/47 "2009-05-05T13:52:18Z")
Where are you in Germany? Most German book stores have an English book section, although the prices are a little bit more than what you might be used too. [Amazon.de](http://Amazon.de) also has English books, but you might need a friend to navigate the website for you. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/48 "2009-05-05T14:13:17Z")
> [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](#): > > I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb Thanks for not making me be the one who brings this book up! I feel like people are getting tired of hearing me push it… > [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](#): > > She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb This one I wasn’t as crazy about, but his new one, The Hour I First Believed, definitely belongs in this thread. **autz** , if you haven’t read Gone With the Wind, that’s a great one too! _off to inspect **IATL** ’s other recommendations_ ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/49 "2009-05-05T14:13:49Z")
L. E. Modesitt, Jr. and the Saga of Recluce books. They’re nice and thick and he tells a good story. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/50 "2009-05-05T14:54:31Z")
Tolkien’s _The Lord of the Rings_, of course. Deservedly a classic. Gary Jennings’s _Aztec_ is a great big historical novel about the fall of the Aztec Empire, as seen by a peasant who rises to become a translator in the court of Montezuma, seeing all levels of Aztec society along the way. Lots of adventure, sex, intrigue, combat, diplomacy, politics, exploration, etc. I re-read it every four or five years with great pleasure. Another vote for George R.R. Martin’s _A Song of Ice and Fire_ series. Damned big and damned good. My two other favorite Martin books are _Tuf Voyaging_, a wonderful sf quasi-satire about power, ecology and overpopulation, and _Fevre Dream_, a thriller about vampires along the Missippippi before and just after the Civil War. Hamilton’s _Night’s Dawn_ trilogy is big and very, very good, but stumbles badly at the very end, IMHO. Still worth a read. I’ve really gotten into John Scalzi lately. He writes great military sf - clever, funny and page-turning. Start with _Old Man’s War_ and, if it hooks you like it hooked me, go from there to _Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony_ and _Zoe’s Tale_. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/51 "2009-05-05T15:19:45Z")
Well, dangnabit, my recs have already been mentioned: _The Lord of the Rings_,_Kristin Lavransdatter_,_Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_. Two other long series I really really enjoyed, but are a little “heavy”, so I always hesitate to recommend: The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell, and The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/52 "2009-05-05T15:20:26Z")
I don’t see it recommended yet, so I’ll chime in with _A Suitable Boy_ by Vikram Seth. It is the longest single book I own (as opposed to my omnibus edition of the _Hitchhiker’s Guide_). It follows a few families in India in the 1950s, through romances and marriages and politics and all sorts of things. I really liked it, and it will definitely keep you occupied for a while. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/53 "2009-05-05T15:26:45Z")
It’s more contemporary history, but “Conspiracy of Fools” is very much worth reading, and quite interesting. After 100 pages I was in awe thinking “How does this mess possibly get 600 pages _worse_?” ETA: Another vote in favor of Outlander, I loved it, and have zero tolerance for soft porn. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/54 "2009-05-05T15:32:16Z")
Swan Song, by Robert McCammon. Post apocolypse survival similar to The Stand. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/55 "2009-05-05T15:33:52Z")
Another vote for _[The Name of the Wind](http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicles-Day/dp/0756405890/)_ (672 pp), and ditto being very impatient about the sequel not coming out yet! _[The Lies of Locke Lamora](http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Locke-Lamora-Scott-Lynch/dp/055358894X/)_ (752 pp) and its sequel _[Red Seas Under Red Skies](http://www.amazon.com/Red-Seas-Under-Skies/dp/0553588958/)_ (784 pp) go very fast. Another case of series-interruptus, though. You can get several Lois McMaster Bujold titles as omnibuses. _[Cordelia’s Honor](http://www.amazon.com/Cordelias-Honor-Lois-McMaster-Bujold/dp/0671578286/)_ (608 pp) is a good one to start with. Bujold is one of my very favorites, especially in hero/military sci fi mode (e.g., Miles Vorkosigan stuff, which \*Cordelia’s Honor \*begins). Her two more recent [fantasy](http://www.amazon.com/Curse-Chalion-Lois-McMaster-Bujold/dp/0380818604/) [series](http://www.amazon.com/Beguilement-Sharing-Knife-Book-1/dp/0061139076/) are also good. Robin Hobb is a notorious brick-maker. The covers of her paperbacks are much more garish and mass-markety than I think they should be; I think she’s a pretty nuanced, subtle, unexpected writer. I’ve deeply enjoyed the [Farseer trilogy](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Farseer+Hobb&x=0&y=0) (464/675/757 pp), the [Tawny Man trilogy](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Tawny+Man+Hobb&x=0&y=0) (688/736/928 pp), the [Liveship Traders trilogy](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Liveship+Hobb&x=0&y=0) (832/864/816 pp), and the [Soldier Son trilogy](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Soldier+Hobb&x=0&y=0) (624/752/704 pp) (though I understand many of her fans didn’t like that last one so well). Connie Willis’ _[Passage](http://www.amazon.com/Passage-Connie-Willis/dp/0553580515/)_ has 780 pp in paperback. The rest of her stuff is not so long, but deliriously good, especially _[The Doomsday Book](http://www.amazon.com/Doomsday-Book-Connie-Willis/dp/0553562738/)_ (592 pp) and _To Say Nothing of the Dog_ (512 pp). Great history mixed with science fiction. Another vote for Guy Gavriel Kay: the omnibus of the [Fionavar Tapestry](http://www.amazon.com/Fionavar-Tapestry-Summer-Wandering-Darkest/dp/0006479502/) is 792 pp. _[Tigana](http://www.amazon.com/Tigana-Guy-Gavriel-Kay/dp/0451457765/)_ is 688 pp. Note that this author frequently writes fantasy with very thinly disguised but well-researched European history in it; most of it takes place in some other world with two moons, but there are nonetheless recognizable [medieval French](http://www.amazon.com/Song-Arbonne-Guy-Gavriel-Kay/dp/B001OMHSB2/), [Moorish Spaniards](http://www.amazon.com/Lions-al-Rassan-Guy-Gavriel-Kay/dp/0060733497/), [Vikings](http://www.amazon.com/Last-Light-Sun-Northland/dp/0451459857/), etc. in various volumes. The Fionavar Tapestry starts on Real Actual Earth before moving to an alternate reality, but his others are all in-universe. He notes in several acknowledgments that he’s writing historical fiction in a fantasy wrapper, though. _[Acacia](http://www.amazon.com/Acacia-War-Mein-Book/dp/0385722524/)_ (753 pp) by David Anthony Durham, who usually writes straight-up historical fiction, is a great fantasy work. Its [sequel](http://www.amazon.com/Other-Lands-Acacia-Book/dp/0385523327/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241535075&sr=1-2) is due in September! I adored _Anathem_ (will be 1008 pp in [paperback](http://www.amazon.com/Anathem-Neal-Stephenson/dp/006147410X/), but only available as [hardback](http://www.amazon.com/Anathem-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0061474096/) for now) by Neil Stephenson, but like his Baroque Cycle, it takes some work. A less glossary-intensive one of his, originally under a [pen name](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Bury) with his uncle, is _[Interface](http://www.amazon.com/Interface-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0099427753/)_ (641 pp). That’s politics and intrigue with just a dash of near-future sci fi. You can get C.J. Cherryth’s [Faded Sun trilogy](http://www.amazon.com/Faded-Sun-Trilogy-Kesrith-Shonjir/dp/0886778697/) as an omnibus (784 pp). She’s got [other](http://www.amazon.com/Morgaine-Saga-Daw-Book-Collectors/dp/0886778778/) [omnibuses](http://www.amazon.com/Chanur-Saga-C-J-Cherryh/dp/0886779308/) too, though I haven’t read them yet. I liked the Faded Sun. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.J._Cherryh#Genres) describes it as “military science fiction” but I think I’d call it more political/cultural or world-building than military. Ditto the posters above on finding too much formulaic-ness in Diana Gabaldon. I really wanted to like her books, but didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![CCYMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/87869e/32.png) [@CCYMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CCYMan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/56 "2009-05-05T15:42:33Z")
> [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](#): > > I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb > She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb > A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe > Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe > The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber > ^All ‘bricks’ ,as I call huge books, that I really enjoyed. You might also pick up the Chronicles of Narnia. I have all seven in one paperback volume, it took me a good part of the summer to finish and it brought me back to childhood. I second the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy. This is funny, because I’m reading “A Man In Full” right now, and thought of it when I saw the title thread. And I got it precisely so it would last until our next trip to the library, since last time I ran out of reading material too soon. I also read both of these Wally Lamb books that Lorax recommends. I really liked “I Know This Much Is True,” but the other one not so much. My wife is reading “World Without End” that many of you have suggested, and we call it “Book Without End.” ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/57 "2009-05-05T16:03:31Z")
Hey, Dung Beetle, I didn’t know there was a new one, thanks! WRT She’s Come Undone, it has a lot to live up to. If it were by an unknown, it would be lauded. I considered putting I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe on my list, but it pales in comparison to some of his other works. It was a page turner, though. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/58 "2009-05-05T16:07:17Z")
[quote=“CCYMan, post:56, topic:495377”] This is funny, because I’m reading “A Man In Full” right now, and thought of it when I saw the title thread. And I got it precisely so it would last until our next trip to the library, since last time I ran out of reading material too soon. QUOTE] You go to the library every three days?! That’s how fast I went through that one. In fact, I’m going to start it again when I finish Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. I can’t recommend that yet, as I just started the second book, but there’s lot’s of Dopers who love it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/59 "2009-05-05T16:19:52Z")
I go to the library every Saturday when I’m in town. I hardly ever have any overdue charges because I know my books are due on some later Saturday, and can renew or renew 'em that day, as necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377/60 "2009-05-05T16:50:05Z")
> [@autz](#): > > I’m going to be in Germany for 3 months and won’t have ready access to books in English. I want to take with me a couple of real page-turners with enough heft and length to keep me satisfied. Where in Germany are you going to be? Virtually any large city has either English-language book stores or book sellers who also carry English books, especially if it is a university city; and Amazon delivers easily within Germany, if you have a fixed address. Not that I would deny you the right to stock up on hefty tomes beforehand, but you’re not headed to Mongolia’s deserts here… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-a-fat-page-turner-book-s/495377.md?page=4)