Happy Tuesday, book friends! I’m sitting here with Azula curled up next to me, excited to dive in to another Top 5 Tuesday post!
Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Bionic Bookworm, now hosted by Meeghan Reads. If you’re interested in participating, check out their blog to get the details and the prompts for each week. This week’s topic is “thicc books” so we’re looking at the chonkiest books I own.
This is an interesting one because I’ve noticed over the years that many of the books I read trend around roughly the same length (320 pages or so). Okay, let’s dive in!
The Lord of the Rings (Deluxe Edition) by JRR Tolkein
I have an edition of LOTR that combines all three books into one massive tome, and I’m relatively confident it’s the thickest fiction book I’ve got in the house. In total, this one is 1216 pages and I am forever grateful my version is a paperback.
The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism
This is the largest book I think I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve held onto it ever since my college lit major days because it’s just so impressively huge that I can’t possibly get rid of it. It has a whopping 2848 pages and is hardcover.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
I read this book last year and it’s one of the longest books I’ve read in recent memory. I was surprised how quickly it went, given its size. It clocks in at 544 pages.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The first from my TBR cart, which I am definitely not putting off because it’s thick. Not at all. It’s 496 pages and my version is the Book of the Month hardcover, so it’s hefty.
The Hour of Land by Terry Tempest Williams
Read this one in grad school for a nature writing course and it was by far my favorite book we read for that class (not counting H is for Hawk, which I’d already read twice by the time it was assigned). This one is 416 pages and I’d like to reread it some day, since I don’t think it got my full attention during grad school.
And there we have it, the thickest books on my shelves! What are some of the thickest books you’ve read?
Your Book Friend 
I do not read long or thick books because I lose interest or get frustrated, sad I know. I have read or listened to a few over 400 pages and that was tough. I need to see which ones I will put on my list today.
I definitely don’t read nearly as many long books now as I did when I was younger. There are just so many books to read that they have to really be worth it to spend so much time on a single book!
I agree.
Project Hail Mary goes quick, I promise!
Good to know! I’m hoping to get to it this year!
I have to really invested in a story to read books over 500 pages but I appreciate that some can be well done. I read LOTR but that was enough for me and didn’t continue the series. Interesting post!
I like to keep my books under 400 pages these days (I read contemporaries pretty much all the time. They don’t need to be too long). I read Lord of the Rings as a kid. All the longest book I read were fantasies (excluding the Bible)
Fantasy definitely tends to trend longer and I don’t read it as often these days either!
So what’s taking up the 10 million pages in Anthology of Theory & Criticism?
A bunch of lengthy literary theory and criticism essays in impossibly small font, if my memory from college serves me lol
I like to listen to longer books vs reading them. I find I have more patience for a long book on audio instead of in print. Could be that it’s because I don’t have a physical reminder of how large the book is!
I definitely get that! Sinking into a nice long audiobook experience is so nice.
I have heard so many say how great of a book Project Hail Mary is. That’s definitely a book I hope to read at some point.
As far as books with lots and lots of pages that I want to read, but haven’t yet, is the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. I heard that’s it a great series, and when I found out it’s going to be adapted I got the first two books. I was going to get the rest of the series, but when I saw how many pages all the books had I figured I just get the first two books to start with, lol.
I’ve heard rave reviews of Project Hail Mary as well. See ACOTAR everywhere but somehow didn’t know it was going to be adapted! I hope you enjoy the series when you get into it