# Recommend a good book for a 10 hour train ride **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2006, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660 "2006-08-07T07:36:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/1 "2006-08-07T07:36:46Z")
I am leaving Thursday night on a 10-hour train ride to meet my girlfriend in Arizona. I am not expecting to be able to sleep, so I need a good book to pass the time. I would like a book that is long enough to keep me reading for the full 10 hours (or close to it). My interests are Sci-Fi fantasy (and yes I have read lord or the rings AND a song of ice and fire) and general modern fiction though I would not rule out a mystery or non-fiction book as long as they turned out to be a page-turner. I read Shogun on a plane flight to Australia and that was great. Mostly I am looking for a nice fluffy page-turner that is also LONG, 4 or 5 hundred pages might be the minimum page count, something in the eight hundreds would be preferred. My only problem would be that while I want something light, I also want it to be good. No DaVincie code type books. I am also not generally a fan of police procedurals, but other crime fiction is A-OK. So what do you guys think, you got a good quality page-turner that will last me 10 hours? ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/2 "2006-08-07T09:46:49Z")
How about some Neal Stephenson? [Cryptonomicon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060512806/sr=8-2/qid=1154943817/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-1464800-6320718?ie=UTF8) is Science Fiction-esque and a mere 1168 pages. Long enough? ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/3 "2006-08-07T11:08:24Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > How about some Neal Stephenson? [Cryptonomicon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060512806/sr=8-2/qid=1154943817/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-1464800-6320718?ie=UTF8) is Science Fiction-esque and a mere 1168 pages. Long enough? He’s the official book recommendation of the Dope. I was going to come in and suggest the same. Why not (re)acquaint yourself with some classics of sci-fi? Get two or three books of the **Foundation** or **Dune** or **Ender** series? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/4 "2006-08-07T11:24:21Z")
_Atlas Shrugged_ has some stuff about trains in it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/5 "2006-08-07T12:37:00Z")
If you haven’t read anything by John Irving, this is a good time to start. I’d recommend Garp, Owen Meeny, or Hotel New Hampshire. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/6 "2006-08-07T14:56:16Z")
I vote for _Anna Karenina_. It has trains. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/7 "2006-08-07T15:10:16Z")
One or more of the following, depending on how quickly you read: [Perdido Street Station](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345459407/sr=1-1/qid=1154963152/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8936713-4058503?ie=UTF8&s=books) by China Mieville [The Brothers K](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055337849X/sr=1-1/qid=1154963205/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8936713-4058503?ie=UTF8&s=books) by David James Duncan [Watership Down](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743277708/sr=1-2/qid=1154963259/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-8936713-4058503?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Richard Adams [The Magus](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440351626/sr=1-1/qid=1154963304/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8936713-4058503?ie=UTF8&s=books) by John Fowles [Declare](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380798360/sr=1-1/qid=1154963383/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8936713-4058503?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Tim Powers ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/8 "2006-08-07T15:18:59Z")
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. [Lord Foul’s Bane](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345348656/104-3667808-7833510?v=glance&n=283155), [The Illearth War](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345348664/ref=pd_sim_b_2/104-3667808-7833510?ie=UTF8), and [The Power That Preserves.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345348672/ref=pd_sim_b_2/104-3667808-7833510?ie=UTF8) And for the ride home, you can read the 2nd Chronicles. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/9 "2006-08-07T16:01:53Z")
And I swear I didn’t see Skald’s Thomas Covenant thread before posting this. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/10 "2006-08-07T17:44:41Z")
> [@Tapioca Dextrin](#): > > How about some Neal Stephenson? [Cryptonomicon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060512806/sr=8-2/qid=1154943817/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-1464800-6320718?ie=UTF8) is Science Fiction-esque and a mere 1168 pages. Long enough? I have a question about Cryptonomicon. I haven’t read and Neal Stephenson because William Gibson did a fairly good job of turning me off to cyberpunk, I liked Nuromancer, but everything else bored me to tears. I haven’t really tried any other cyberpunk though. I think my problem is that I am not a huge tech or math person. How critical is it that I understand the math in Cryptonomicon? It is a book that I have been thinking about reading for a while (along with Snow Crash) but haven’t pulled the trigger on because everyone talks about how math heavy his books are, cryptonomicon in particular. What do you think, would I be able to follow and enjoy the story even though my geekiness doesn’t have that techo bent? Thanks to everyone who has tossed in a suggestion so far, keep them coming please. I will probably bring along my copy of Dune as a back up in case the main book doesn’t pan out, (great suggestion **Only Mostly Dead** ) but I would love to find a new something as a plan A. (I have read most of the other suggestions, except for Atlas Shrugged and the Thomas Covenant books. I just finished the Fountainhead though and don’t feel I need any more Rand in my life at the moment, and Donaldson’s writing style doesn’t seem to lend itself to a single sitting, plow through it, reading session.) ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/11 "2006-08-07T17:46:52Z")
This is going to be weird coming from me as I am a big fan of sci fi and fantasy, but I recommend _Gone with the Wind_. Why? It is a really good book, even if it’s not up your alley. It’s the kind of book that, if you’re not a fan of the genre, you only want to read once. But most of all, it’s a book you want to finish all at once; you can’t put it down until it’s done. I read it overnight once…never picked it up again but it was enormously entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/12 "2006-08-07T17:48:32Z")
I need to not post from work anymore, I end up not proofreading and posting semi illiterate ramblings. Sorry about that. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/13 "2006-08-07T17:54:30Z")
I like long books by Michener (_Hawaii_ was an especially good one) and _Rutherfurd_ (my favorite of his is _Sarum_, which is about southern England). They both write books about a particular place, and the story covers many years & generations of people living in that place. Lots of good history & description of the places. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/14 "2006-08-07T18:04:58Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > One or more of the following, depending on how quickly you read: > > [The Magus](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440351626/sr=1-1/qid=1154963304/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8936713-4058503?ie=UTF8&s=books) by John Fowles I read this on the train the last time I visited DC. Damn near through myself off at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/15 "2006-08-07T18:10:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Damn near through myself off at the end. Is that good? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/16 "2006-08-07T18:15:10Z")
> [@Gadarene](#): > > Is that good? 🙂 Yes. Books that fill me with the urge to take my own life are usually very good. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/17 "2006-08-07T18:19:42Z")
You might try [Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582344167/sr=1-1/qid=1154974426/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9858404-9954338?ie=UTF8&s=books) It may take you longer than ten hours to read, but if you enjoy it as much as I did, you’ll find that a plus. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/18 "2006-08-07T18:21:57Z")
I loved _Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell,_ though it’s not universally considered a page-turner. It is, however, long. Otherwise, the 3-in-1 omnibus of Pullman’s _His Dark Materials_ might do the job. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/19 "2006-08-07T18:35:31Z")
Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is, in my opinion, a very underappreciated fantasy series. And it’s long. The individual books are The Dragonbone Chair, The Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower. For non-fiction, The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in 20th Century Physics by Crease and Mann is a great book. It’s a very indepth description of everything that happened in particle physics and quantum theory from the years before Planck up to the awarding of the 1978 Nobel Prize. However, it is quite biographical and historical in its story, concentrating on the actual people who did things and how one discovery leads to another, so you don’t have to be a physics freak to follow the book. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660/20 "2006-08-07T18:59:07Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > You might try [Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582344167/sr=1-1/qid=1154974426/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9858404-9954338?ie=UTF8&s=books) It may take you longer than ten hours to read, but if you enjoy it as much as I did, you’ll find that a plus. Wow, that books sounds great! I am not sure if it is single sitting reading or not, the reviews on amazon call it alternatly “slow and tedious but rewarding” and “lightweight reading without real substance”. So I am not sure which it actually is. Do you think it is the type of book that can be read for hours on end? I will pick up a copy either way though. Nice recommendation, thanks. Keep the recomendations comming, I am putting together a list of candidates to take with me to Barnes and Noble after work today. I figure I should have 4 or 5 solid options in case they don’t have one in stock. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-good-book-for-a-10-hour-train-ride/367660.md?page=2)