Nominated as one of americas bestloved novels by pbss the great american read. From shakespeares shortest play the comedy of errors 1,787 lines to his longest. This is a list of the novels over 500,000 words published through a mainstream publisher. Meet the college junior behind the longest fan fiction ever. Check out the popular childrens books that encourage kids to be nice. King talked to time about his top 10 biggest books, reflecting on the circumstances under which they were written and the critical reception that they received. In the image above the blah story books taken from prleap.
I do hate to disagree, however, history tends to nullify this answer. The list of books and their page counts was supplied by kings office and refers to the american hardcover editions. Ferdowsis great aim was to revive the ancient persian culture, mythology and language after the invasion of the islamic caliphate of the arabs. I think i just wrote and had published the largest singlevolume history book ever. Full of aptly and hilariously named characters such as the jersey. But savoring a book of, say, 800 pages or longer is a project. Did grossman set out to write the worlds longest book. One of those assignments where the teacher drills the fact into your brain that this is not an assignment to start at the last. It sold tens of millions of copies in eighteen different. The longest home runs in mlb history bleacher report. In 977 ad, a persian poet named ferdowsi began on a grandiose poetic journey that. I love a long book that i can really get into, so i decided to compile a list of the longest novels ever written. This surprised me because hed never given me a deadline for it. Rated the longest novel ever by the guinness book of world records, theres no doubt that prousts masterpiece could quite easily double up as a mightily effective doorstop, with volumes clocking up nearly 1.
My french edition of harry potter and the order of the phoenix is the longest book i. The subspace emissarys worlds conquest is currently over. We take a look at ten of the longest plays he wrote and find out just how many lines each of them has shakespeare play. The 15,145page, singlespaced fantasy manuscript called the story of the vivian girls, in what is known as the realms of the unreal, of the glandecoangelinian war storm, caused by the child slave rebellion by henry joseph darger jr. The following is an excerpt from s best of the web written by the editor, james taranto. Kings latest, under the dome, is his third longest novel ever. The novels mentioned above are some of the longest books ever written, which allow the reader to stay immersed in the stories and live the characters for a great amount of time.
The english translation is remembrance of things past or in search of lost time. Mark mcgwire, 487 feet 1998 mark mcgwires monster home. A glorious mess in a career of glorious messes, pynchons longest and. The longest novel ever published was written in the 1600s. It was in fact larger but the publishers managed to convince him to shed a. The life of me, and dont be mistaken, its going to be the best damn book youll ever read, tremendous, and youll never believe it but i wrote every word, im serious, you cant believe it, i cant make it up. The stunning national bestseller now features an illuminating discussion with sister souljah her secret thoughts on creating the story that. Its recorded by guinness as the longest book ever written. The count of monte cristo at 375,695 words and 1,276 pages in the penguin classics english translation is one of the longest books ive read. These books are rather long but never tedious, and will take the reader on unparalleled journeys which will likely be remembered for the rest of his or her lifetime. The popular romance of chinese dynasties by cai dongfan.
If a writer wrote 10,000 words a week, which isnt too taxing, thats 2,000 words for five days, then it would take one full year to write a book like. Poor fellow my country by xavier herbert this is the longest australian novel ever written at. Whats the longest paper youve ever written in one night. The first book in the if you give series, published in 1985, has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Traditionally, artamene ou le grand cyrus, has been considered the longest novel, but has.
Apr 15, 2020 there have been some truly massive books written over the years. Top 10 longest novels in the english language listverse. Once youre done reading about the worlds longest novel, check out some of our more recent articles or have a look at our notable posts, listed in the right sidebar. Jul 05, 2014 faulkners longest sentencesmack in the middle of absalom, absalom. Polgara the sorceress is the longest book i have read in english at 754 pages.
This would put him in the feasible discussion for the longest roundtripper ever. And i thought the stand was long its only 1168 pages. Published in 11 volumes and 1080 chapters 1040 chapters by cai dongfan, the last 40 chapters by xu jinfu, this historical novel includes 6 million chinese characters. The 7 longest books in american history america fun fact. No doubt frank, the number one proust scholar in america from little miss sunshine would have read this even though its 1. An enclyclopedia with 11,095 volumes and 22,877 chapters. Yes, it is a book about a british army sniper who holds the record for the longest confirmed kill but it is more than that. May 16, 2016 years ago, two new yorker articles told the story of a harvard dropout who claimed to be writing the longest book ever. It, however, isnt even close to being the longest book ever written. Its a piece of lore that after mitchell wrote joe goulds secret he never wrote another story. Ten of the worlds longest books for reading addicts.
The second part of his work won international awards as soon as it was published and with them, an international reputation. There have been some truly massive books written over the years. Proust produced the first volume of his volume masterpiece in 1912 it was first published in 19. Years ago, two new yorker articles told the story of a harvard dropout who claimed to be writing the longest book ever. As i did more research, i realized that there were many issues i had to take into consideration when deciding what to include on this list. It is a military history of a world war ii battle called kursk. The life of me, and dont be mistaken, its going to be the best damn book youll ever read, tremendous, and youll never believe it but i wrote every word, im serious, you cant believe it, i. In the middle of november of 2005, my editor emailed me and asked me how the book was coming along. Jul 18, 2017 if you love to laugh then youre in luck, because weve gathered 50 of the funniest books of all time on this cantmiss list. At 1,349 pages 1,488 pages softcover and 591,552 words, the book is one of the longest novels ever published in a single volume in the english language. Ferdowsis great aim was to revive the ancient persian culture, mythology and language after the.
Originally published between 1649 and 1653, the novel is known to be the longest french novel ever written,095 pages in the original. From a typical boy to a former sniper plagued by ptsd you are a witness to every step of his journey. Cold comfort farm, by stella gibbons published in 1932 in satirical response to romantic rural literature popular at the time, stella gibbons cold comfort farm is a rollicking read about flora poste, a broke 19yearold metropolitan orphan who decides to impose herself upon her remote farming relatives, the starkadders. The book is written by a python script which was in turn written by john fish. Forster wrote his novel a passage to india after multiple trips to the country throughout his early life. Yes, the book, that thing that the comedy world has watched him obsess over like a. All records listed on our website are current and uptodate. A sequel, to be called a suitable girl, was due for publication in 2017. Mar 07, 2015 this resulted in the creation of the epic which in persian is called shahnameh or translated the book of kings, the longest poem ever written in history.
The guinness book of world records uses the character count to measure booklength, and this french novel spanning seven volumes holds the guinness world. The book was published in 1924 and follows a muslim indian doctor named aziz and his relationships with an english professor, cyril fielding, and a visiting english schoolteacher named adela quested. The longest literary works ever written mental itch. There was a 17page long form book analysis assigned in my ap english class a couple of years back and we were given about two months of time to read a 400500 page book from some approved list and turn in the paper. This resulted in the creation of the epic which in persian is called shahnameh or translated the book of kings, the longest poem ever written in history. Psalms is the longest book of the bible see what the longest book actually is. The 25 best childrens books ever written readers digest.
According to a 1983 guinness book of records, this monster once qualified as literatures longest at 1,288 words, but that record has long been surpassed, in english at least, by jonathan coes the. A true classic of world war ii history, the longest day tells the story of the massive allied invasion of normandy on june 6, 1944. Mike donovan, 57yearold standup comedian, southie guy, history nut, is ready to publish his book. It was death match, the third book in the blood bowl series i wrote for games workshops black library. Faulkners longest sentencesmack in the middle of absalom, absalom. Journalist cornelius ryan began working on the book in the mid1950s, while the memories of the dday participants were still fresh, and he spent three years interviewing dday survivors in the united states and europe. While a classic, i feel it could probably have done with a bit of an edit in some of the middle sections. He studies computer science and computer maintenance. The top 10 longest plays shakespeare ever wrote from shakespeares shortest play the comedy of errors 1,787 lines to his longest.
The longlost story of the longest book ever written. The virginians william makepeace thackeray, 185759. For a full list of record titles, please use our record. It took up,095 pages spread over 10 volumes, with over two million words, and a french name which is the reason why were not even bothering to write it out for you. Originally published 164954 in ten parts, each part in three volumes, artamene is generally attributed to. Rated the longest novel ever by the guinness book of world records. Nov 09, 2009 kings latest, under the dome, is his third longest novel ever. In joe goulds teeth, jill lepore tries to answer that question. A suitable boy is a novel by vikram seth, published in 1993. No book that size is perfect, because excess is kind of the point.
Aug 16, 2017 a suitable boy by vikram seth which is an amazing piece of literary work and personally i consider his lifes masterpiece is simply magnanimous. Over the years, there has been some controversy over what constitutes the worlds longest novel. Jun 04, 2014 the longest novel ever published was written in the 1600s. Its the only book of this list that i have read a little from. Its theme of involuntary memory is repeated through the course of following the narrators life, from childhood. And in his spare time, he writes the longest work of fan fiction ever composed. Oct 02, 2014 eddings wrote two 5 book series and two histories. Traditionally, artamene ou le grand cyrus, has been considered the longest novel, but has lately been surpassed by at least one novel, or two depending on the criterion used to determine length. Watch more videos for more knowledge what was the longest book ever written. We take a look at ten of the longest plays he wrote and find out just how many lines each of them has. As of 2020 the novel was still unpublished a suitable boy is set in a newly postindependence, post. The 7 longest books in american history america fun fact of.
There are fifteen volumes published, each of which is approximately 800,000 words long. The longest book ever written the longest book ever written is called yongle dadian. Though the epistolary novel a novel in the form of letters written by one or more characters was most popular before the 19th century, alice walker became a champion of the style with her 1982 pulitzer prize and national book awardwinning novel the color purple. A suitable boy by vikram seth which is an amazing piece of literary work and personally i consider his lifes masterpiece is simply magnanimous. In 977 ad, a persian poet named ferdowsi began on a grandiose poetic journey that would take him 33 years to complete. An apocryphal story claims that thackeray once confessed to douglas william jerrold that the virginians was the worst novel he ever wrote, while jerrold replied, no. This task ended up being much more complex than one would think a list of longest books. Sep 08, 2017 what was the longest book ever written.
Set in the postcivil war american south, the novel follows a young african. The longest day is a book by cornelius ryan published in 1959, telling the story of dday, the first day of the world war ii invasion of normandy. The guinness book of world records gives the honor to marcel prousts elephantine remembrance of things past, weighing in at 9,609,000 characters including spaces. The coldest winter ever by sister souljah goodreads. It was really a scroll of parchment, titled early days by mary houston. From the dark and dry to the witty and wry, from the fictive to the factual, from travel logs to comedic blogs, this extensive collection of humor both classic and new inclu. It is the longest japanese novel and also one of the longest ever written. If you like what you see, subscribe to our rss feed.
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