BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi All,
I'm totally obsessing about all of the things I have to do before I leave for my big trip (6 months), and I need a good LONG book.
I read Pillars of the Earth, loved it - and I want something around the same size (1200 pgs.).
I'm interested in most topics if they are well written, and a little humor never hurt anyone. This summer I really enjoyed David Sedaris and Christopher Moore - but am willing to experiment.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Alex

war and peace?

les miserables???

i don't like super super super long books...

the crimson red and the white was ad decent read...around 800 pages?

Long books - well, I definitely can't guarantee you'll like these books because stuff like this is so subjective, but the following are long (and a few are personal favorites!) -- none of them are humorous though!!!

Portrait of a Lady - James
East of Eden - Steinbeck
Middlemarch - Eliot
David Copperfield, Old Curiousity Shop, almost
every other Dickens novel
Les Miserables - Hugo
Atlas Shrugged - Rand
Crime and Punishment, The Idiot - Dostoyevsky
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy

Oh...and you can carry a couple of Robert Jordan books along (fantasy series), which are long too. And fun!

Have fun!

quote:

Originally posted by Eowyn218:

Portrait of a Lady - James

funny you mention this one, I am reading it right now for class, I'm on chapter 3 heh. Not something I would pick up on my own, but I'm really liking the lady of the title, Isabel, Ms. I-Value-My-Independance! Mrs. Touchett is great too, she lives in Italy and travels abroad, and returns to England to see her husband for a month or so out of the year heheheh more humor and strong women here than I expected!

seems like a good choice for an independant woman traveller... only ~650 pages tho

Older titles:

"Innocents Abroad" Mark Twain
"The Drifters" James Michener
"The Milagro Beanfield War" John Nichols

All should be available in used paperback, cheap.

My "10 not-so-obvious favorite travel books" list:

1. The Road To McCarthy' by Pete McCarthy
2. 'Driving Over Lemons' by Chris Stewart
3. 'Extra Virgin' by Annie Hawes
4. 'Italian Neighbours' by Tim Parks
5. 'Snowball Oranges' by Peter Kerr
6. 'The Wrong Way Home' by Peter Moore
7. ‘The Sex Lives of Cannibals : Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific’ -- by J. Maarten Troost
8. 'An Unexpected Light' by Jason Elliott
9. 'Take Me With You : A Round-the-World Journey to Invite a Stranger Home' by Brad Newsham
10.'The Hotel on the Roof of the World' by Alec Le Sueur

The Stand- king

It'll keep you busy for a while. And you can reread it and you'll find new thing's almost every time.

E.

Some of the historical fiction novels are quite long, including James Clavell books. I found those good while traveling as they give you some understanding of the region as well. The Travelers Tales books are quite long, but are made up of short sections, which is kind of the best of both worlds if you're going to a specific place and want to read about it.

Wow!
Thanks for all the responses. I'm heading to the book store with all my new info!! You guys rock.

If you want something that's not as grave and serious as some of these suggestions, you should try 'A short history of nearly everything' by Bill Bryson. It's a huge book and we all know how funny Bill Bryson's wry, sarcastic humor can be!

Plus, it is mad long.

I echo War & Peace, but not anything by Mr Boring--oh, I mean Henry James. Sorry, Lynn. But Tolstoy...you can never go wrong with Tolstoy. And Dumas. Count of Monte Cristo (good AND long), Three Musketeers (good and only slightly shorter, plus it's amusing), etc.

Will think about other selections. I read Long Books habitually, so I'll go check my shelf.

have fun with Drop City, TC Boyle. counterculture, great characters, funny, buncha idiots, phonies, idealists, hippies, survivalists, dreamers, heroes, race, alaska, anti capitalist...

As so many classics have been listed, I'm amazed that The Brothers Karamozov isn't among them. That may be the greatest novel ever written.
Still, I'd echo the T.C. Boyle recommendation. Or a fabulous read with a number of references to literature, art, and history is The Art of Travel, which I really enjoyed.

Str8trippin,
What about a series of books? I'm thinking of the Marcus Didius Falco detective series. He is a private infomer (investogator) in Ancient Rome around 70 a.d. from the lower to middle class. The best part is, he travels all over the Roman Empire. London as a back water barbarian state, Espana, Gaul, north Africa, Petra in the Middle East and, of course, Rome. On most of these adventures his spirted girlfriend and Senator's daughter Helena Justinia comes along. A great series full of humor, adventure and mystery. I'm completly addicted. The first book in the series is called "Silver Pigs".

Otherwise, the rest of the people here have mentioned some pretty great books. I'm sure you'll find something to read.
Jet

If you're lookin' for funny, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving: the VW scene is hysterical!

A Confederacy of Dunces by John O'Toole

Shampoo Planet by Douglas Coupland

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
Beloved by Toni Morrison
the essays of EB White
and if you like David Sedaris,
try Fraud by David Rakoff

Steinbeck - definitely Steinbeck. His work is incredible. Grapes of Wrath then East of Eden. Epic and beautiful.

I would also recommend Don Quixote. I just finished it and, as clasics go, it's Funny. Amazing how many of the classics just aren't funny.

Sex Lives of Cannibals is the funniest thing I have ever read. Not all that long. I am actually using it for an English class I am teaching.

there are few long and short here
short stories
for whom the bells toll*********
sun also rises***********
island in the stream....anything by hemingway
rum diaries
east of eden
trinity by leon uris

Crime and punishment by Dostovesky
Anna Karenina by Tolstoi
Body and Sould by Frank Conroy
Pursuit of Happiness by Douglas Kennedy

I used to work at a bookstore so please feel free to contact me for book recommendations

Jeanne

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