What's your favorite book that's over 600 pages?

Agree with Middlemarch; it’s my all-time favorite novel.

For sure Middlemarch!

Love how many people are saying Middlemarch. I loved that book.

Not a recommendation because I haven’t read it but Brothers Karamazov is on my big book list. I’m starting to think Middlemarch needs to be on there given the replies

#1 is Brothers Karamazov, but I've decided that it's hard to parse the cultural stuff to get to why it's great, so I usually recommend #2, which is like unto it, Middlemarch...

I went away for a hiking weekend in the woods with my then-boyfriend and two of his friends once, years ago. Broke my foot on the first day and spent the next three days on the deck, on my own, with a flask of tea, reading Middlemarch. One of my favourite ever weekends!

Love Middlemarch.

I have read all replies. And while I suspect it unlikely @rachsyme is actually reviewing the suggestions, I will observe that when you cut all the books under 600 pages (most), only ONE is written by a woman. It is Middlemarch by George Eliot. And it is the correct answer.

Middlemarch is a good fall/winter long book.

A person should read Middlemarch at least once, slowly, as a grown-up. And perhaps every ten years or so if time allows. (My other Big Book is Boswell's 'Life of Johnson', but I go back to that in chunks.)

Middlemarch (though I'm guessing there's a high likelihood you're already a fan!)

Middlemarch! Not least because it contains the surprisingly contemporary phrase “swamp of awkwardness” re: social anxiety.

middlemarch!! it has EVERYTHING--life, death, grief abuse, manipulation, cross-class romance, evil machinations, their defeat, polish identity, a dorky uncle with a heart of gold who attempts an ill-fated run for public office--EVERYTHING.

BLEAK HOUSE! It's funny and sad and suspenseful and heartwarming and infuriating. I loved it.

Bleak House. SO MUCH better than I thought it would be, and so much better than all the other Dickens I read in school.

Agreed. Bleak House is wonderful.

Dickens's Bleak House or Our Mutual Friend. Bleak House is my personal favorite. My undergrad students were surprised at how much they loved it when I taught it last.

I read Bleak House while doing jury duty and found it weirdly satisfying.

i read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell earlier this year and thought it was just phenomenal. great if you like page-turning intrigue, some historical fiction mixed in with some fictional magic, multi-faceted characters with complex relationships, really good writing.

I stupidly pushed through a lot of Big Books but Infinite Jest, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and House of Leaves all felt worth my time

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell! esp if you’re a fan of footnotes

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke! The right mix of Napoleonic Wars and magicians for fall

Count of Monte Cristo because it’s essentially an unending opera of Drama, Suspense, Romance, and Betrayal. Also lesbians

The Count of Monte Cristo. There is no other answer.

If you are in the mood for a classic nothing beats "The Count of Monte Cristo"

The Count of Monte Cristo. Read it during lockdown in 2020 and was totally gripped. Beforehand I thought it would basically just be swashbuckling which wasn’t insanely appealing but I was wrong - it was SO much more and so satisfying. Def try the Penguin Classics translation

Love Songs of WEB du Bois. Could not put it down. @BlkLibraryGirl is brilliant. My book group really liked it too.

Min Jin Lee's Pachinko immediately came to mind, but since you've already read it, how about The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois by Honore Fannone Jeffers?

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by @BlkLibraryGirl!! It’s a masterpiece!! 👏🏽👏🏽

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth and A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry are both unputdownable chunks (I always think of these books as a pair bc I read them close together and they're both set in India and they both chewed me up and spat me out like a good book does).

I second TAAOKAC. Just re-read it. Masterful.

ooh Kavalier + Clay is a great call

currently ploughing my way through Kavalier & Clay and loving every minute of it

Moby-Dick, that is if you like stories about obsession, madness, death, & the nature of reality that include fart jokes, snuggling with cannibals, & harpoons bursting into flames. Funny, too: “Think not, is my eleventh commandment; and sleep when you can, is my twelfth.”

Whenever this comes up at the bookstore I like to recommend SWANN'S WAY by Marcel Proust, which is way more ebullient and entertaining than we all think it is! And I'll be the 19th vote in this thread for MOBY DICK. 😄 🐳

Wooo hoo! Here for the MOBY-DICK love! So far ahead of its time in just about every respect, and gripping AF.

Haha...but I did just reread AK and it's fantastic! Otherwise, not sure how long PORTRAIT OF A LADY is, but I was surprised at how well it had aged since undergrad days. And MOBY-DICK is the best post-modern novel out there. Happy reading!

Moby Dick is amazing, but just as good on audiobook as chapters on how whit the sperm is and all the different *incorrect* taxonomies can be dull.

lonesome dove! and i'm not even big on westerns

natalie read lonesome dove in a week last month. every so often i would hear her weeping in the other room bc a character died

The very best one of all is Lonesome Dove.

Lonesome Dove is an 800 page book about cowboys on a cattle drive and it's the greatest thing I've ever read

My dad and I read Lonesome Dove together last year. Would never have picked it myself. Loved it so so so much.

2666...it's heavy and dark but much more serious, grounded, varied, and beautiful than other masterpieces whatever you read, hope you enjoy!

Yes! It’s a hard hitter for sure.

2666. riveting after you get through the strange rather slow start

Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon, with 773 pages, is a great book.

my persona faves are probably Gravity's Rainbow or Mason & Dixon (or, hell, IT), but i remember absolutely tearing through Vanity Fair.

Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon is a nice cozy fall/winter book, IMO.

I love East of Eden. It's a slow burn.

I am bad at reading big books and books older than 10 years but I kind of want to read East of Eden

you’ve most likely read this but East of Eden is fucking fabulous