# Recommend a lengthy, enjoyable paperback novel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076 "2008-05-29T22:01:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/41 "2008-05-30T07:15:34Z")
_Vanity Fair_. Sometimes you will find yourself forgetting that the characters aren’t real people. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/42 "2008-05-30T09:09:37Z")
If you didn’t like the Culture books then I suggest _the Algebraist_, I think that is Bank’s best non-Culture book. Another one, _Dissolution_ by CJ Sansom set in 16th century England at the time of the reformation. It’s one part murder mystery, two parts historical drama (and if you like it there are some sequels which are also good). Do you like Gore Vidal? I’ve only read one of this books, _Julian_, but I really enjoyed it (historical drama set in the late Roman period, massively scathing wit). Otherwise I think _the poisonwood bible_ would be a goodun, it’s meaty and should keep you going for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/43 "2008-05-30T09:46:38Z")
The original _Dune_ is long, epic, and generally not bad, IMHO. _The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts_ is one of my perennial favourites, as is the _Red Dwarf_ omnibus… ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/44 "2008-05-30T10:27:08Z")
Ella Leffland’s **The Night, Death and the Devil** is a 700 page novel based on the life of Hermann Goering. It’s very readable and true to the known facts, but allows Leffland the novelist’s ability to speculate on inner thoughts and the undocumented events that make up much of the life of even the most famous (or infamous, in this case). ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/45 "2008-05-30T11:02:58Z")
_Sarum_ by Edward Rutherford tells the history of Salisbury, England over about 1,000 pages through the eyes of a few families. I’m rereading it now and in it you catch glimpses of Britain being separated from the continent at the end of an ice age, the building of Stonehenge and why it was built, the Roman occupation of Britain and Boaddica’s revolt, and Viking raidss, and that’s just in the first half of the book. Later in the book, Salisbury Cathedral is build by a descendent of the man who designed Stonehenge. I’ve double-checked your requirements, and I think it should do. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/46 "2008-05-30T11:50:19Z")
If you liked **Watership Down** , you have a taste for fantasy. I’d recommend **The Once and Future King** by T.H. White – Superb treatment of King Arthur that manages to be faithful to Medieval conceptions and modern sensibilities. It’s the basis for both the musical Camelot and Disney’s “Sword in the Stone”, but neither manages to quite capture the spirit of the book. It’s a GREAT read, and it’s estill in print. (Actually, Disney’s movie is based on White’s The Sword in the Stone, a free-standing book that he extensively rewrote when he made it the first book of TOAFK. You’d have to look harder to find it.) If you like it, go on to his **The Book of Merlyn** , which was supposed to be the last “book” of TOAFK, but was excised, and not published until after White’s death. I think you can still get this one, too. > [@](#): > > Do you like Gore Vidal? I’ve only read one of this books, Julian, but I really enjoyed it (historical drama set in the late Roman period, massively scathing wit). If you like **Julian** , which I recommend, too, then try **Creation** — the nephew of Zoroaster travels to India and meets with Gautama Siddhartha’s disciples, then on to China to meet Confucius (!) More engaging and interesting than it sounds, believe it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/47 "2008-05-30T12:16:29Z")
The Company series, by Kage Baker. Start with _In the Garden of Iden_. Stop with _The Life of the World to Come_ and make up your own ending. Maybe read _The Children of the Company_ sometime before or after _The Graveyard Game_. Decent length reads in and of themselves, and especially awesome and long when combined. I’d also recommend Emma Bull’s _The War for the Oaks_ and Robin McKinley’s _Sunshine_. Mostly because I _really_ enjoyed those, and we seem to have similar tastes given the above lists. They’re lighter reads, though. ---
**Author:** ![Lunar\_Saltlick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/977dab/32.png) [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/48 "2008-05-30T12:29:05Z")
_Solomon Gursky Was Here_ - Mordecai Richler (his best novel, and a relatively long one at about 500 pages). _A Hero of Our Time_ - Mikhail Lermontov (shorter novel, good for one x-country flight; really rips along). \*Slayground \* and _Butcher’s Moon_ - Donald Westlake, writing as Richard Stark. The two novels go together (BM taking place several years after Slayground). A total of about 500 pages for the two. Writing as Richard Stark, however, Westlake’s prose is incredibly tight, and it won’t take long to get through these two. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/49 "2008-05-30T12:35:54Z")
If you like intelligent historical fiction you could try the both the \*Lymond \* and _Niccolo_ series by Dorothy Dunnett. Well written and impecably researched they introduced me to areas of 16th and 15th century history I hadn’t even thought about. With six and eight books in the two series and each book of a very solid length, you would have a lot of reading there. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/50 "2008-05-30T12:52:45Z")
Herman Wouk: The \*\*Winds of War \*\* and **War and Remembrance**. Two amazing works of historical fiction set during World War II. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/51 "2008-05-30T14:04:32Z")
I’m thoroughly enjoying [Hy Brasil](http://www.amazon.com/Hy-Brasil-Margaret-Elphinstone/dp/1841952478/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212154247&sr=1-7) by Margaret Elphinstone just now. It’s set on the little visited island of Hy Brasil (well, it was known as Friesland when it was a British colony) where a travel writer of sorts goes there to write the first the first guide to the island and gradually discovers layers of secrets, some dating back centuries… I’ve read a couple of her other books as well and enjoyed them; _Voyageurs_ & _Light_. And I’ve just bought another couple of her books in case they go out of print… ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/52 "2008-05-30T14:37:57Z")
Since you’re a bit of an Anglophile, I’d recommend _Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell_ by Susanna Clark. It’s an alternate history England during the Napoleonic Wars where “English magic” makes a revival. Intricate but not too dense, and the plot keeps a pretty good pace. ---
**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 30, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/53 "2008-05-30T14:56:42Z")
I just read The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers and I’m running about recommending it to people. I think it would be perfect. > [@](#): > > [close] Author Tim Powers evokes 17th-century England with a combination of meticulously researched historic detail and imaginative flights in this sci-fi tale of time travel. Winner of the 1984 Philip K. Dick Award for best original science fiction paperback, this 1989 edition of the book that took the fantasy world by storm is the first hardcover version to be published in the United States. In his brief introduction, Ramsey Campbell sets The Anubis Gates in an adventure context, citing Powers’s achievement of “extraordinary scenes of underground horror, of comedy both high and grotesque, of bizarre menace, of poetic fantasy.” > > The colonization of Egypt by western European powers is the launch point for power plays and machinations. Steeping together in this time-warp stew are such characters as an unassuming Coleridge scholar, ancient gods, wizards, the Knights Templar, werewolves, and other quasi-mortals, all wrapped in the organizing fabric of Egyptian mythology. In the best of fantasy traditions, the reluctant heroes fight for survival against an evil that lurks beneath the surface of their everyday lives. Actually, it’s more interesting than that review makes it sound. It reminds me of Jack Finney’s time travel stuff…hey, have you read Jack Finney? ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076/54 "2008-05-30T16:13:30Z")
Let me suggest _Towing Jehovah_ by [James Morrow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Morrow) , although it’s not 500 pages, it sounds like it’s up your alley. I’ll also suggest _Gun, with Occasional Music_ by [Jonathan Lethem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Lethem). Also perhaps not quite as long as you want, but it’s really unique. Finally, in the “weird things happening to ordinary people” category, I’ll nominate _House of Leaves_ by [Mark Z. Danielewski](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Z._Danielewski) . This book is a complete mindfuck. I’ve never read anything quite like it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-lengthy-enjoyable-paperback-novel/451076.md?page=2)