MetaChat - Big, fat books?

A Prayer for Owen Meany
This is the best book ever written. I'm a big Irving fan though.
The Stephenson "Baroque Cycle" series sounds like it'd appeal to you. Quicksilver followed by Confusion should take a while to read.

posted by seanyboy 27 June | 06:38

Heh. I'm about halfway through Confusion now (having already read Quicksilver). I didn't list these as among my top favorites, though, because while I'm enjoying 'em, they're not up to the Cryptonomicon joy. And I did read "A Prayer for Owen Meany", which was great, but I've actually read so much Irving (and Anne Tyler) that I guess I kind of overdosed.

posted by taz 27 June | 06:46

OK. How about The Art of Looking Sideways. This is a design book (not fiction).

posted by seanyboy 27 June | 06:59

Oh, yeah, baby! That looks delicious. Will get.

posted by taz 27 June | 07:03

A Prayer for Owen Meany
This is the best book ever written.

That's one of my very favorite books (if not my favorite), and I'm also a huge Irving fan. I couldn't bring myself to see either The Cider House Rules or whatever it was that they called the Owen Meany movie, because I held the books in such high regard. Love him.

posted by iconomy 27 June | 07:32

I think my favorite Irving is "The Hotel New Hampshire", but it may be a default setting, since it was the first book I read by him. Still... Keep passing the open windows.

posted by taz 27 June | 07:37

Infinite Jest.

YMMV immensely, since there's a lot of haters out there, but I dug it.

posted by ITheCosmos 27 June | 08:01

Well, that looks interesting. My first impression, upon reading the first page (via amazon), is kind of "Robertson Davies meets Walker Percy".

posted by taz 27 June | 08:10

Hrrmm, the reality dysfunction books (there are 6 of them, so they take a while to get through) by Peter F. Hamilton are a pretty good read if you are into SF.

posted by gaspode 27 June | 08:17

If you had enough money, wall space and time, you could get this.

posted by seanyboy 27 June | 08:37

You could try Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, a fantasy (but not that kind of fantasy) concerning the rise of English gentleman magicians in Napoleonic times. Quite unusual.

Infinite Jest hater shoutout!

posted by biffa 27 June | 08:38

I read a lot of books of all kinds. I, too, prefer big, fat books--and series--mostly because I read quickly and compulsively and so an ordinary sized book is only two days worth of entertainment for me. Science fiction was my teething fiction, and I still read it.

The most fun I've had in years was in reading Peter Hamilton's "Reality Dysfunction" trilogy (in the UK; in the US it was broken into six books). I re-read them again last year, in fact. Those have been the most enjoyable science-fiction books I've read since "The Diamond Age", which you mention.

Two big, fat science fiction books that are favorites of mine are Greg Bear's "Eon" and "The Forge of God". The latter has easily the best depiction of the destruction-of-Earth I've ever read.

If you haven't read Connie Willis's "The Doomsday Book", read it immediately. It's moderately long.

(continued)

posted by kmellis 27 June | 08:44

Buy all of the extent Kage Baker's "Company" time-travel novels, they're tremendous fun. Likewise, that brings to mind Glen Cook's "The Black Company" series, if you have a taste for dark fantasy. The latter has the virtue of being eight books or so and complete. Oh, heck, that then brings to mind Anne Bishop's "Black Jewel" trilogy, which you can buy in a single volume. That will keep you occupied.

(continued)

posted by kmellis 27 June | 09:01

Moving from genre fiction, I'd have to say that Infinite Jest was far too self-aware and smug for my taste. But among popular, contemporary American fiction I'd recommend "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" as both serious and fun.

Two big, fat nonfiction books I've hugely enjoyed have been "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and "The Discoverers".

Finally, turning to classic novels, there really isn't anything like Tolstoy's "War and Peace". It's my favorite novel, ever; and of course it's famously long.

posted by kmellis 27 June | 09:02

An Instance of the Fingerpost.

posted by mlis 27 June | 09:03

kmellis: Why doesn't it suprise me that you prefer longer books. :-)

posted by seanyboy 27 June | 09:06

Wow, I'm getting some great recommendations here. Ooohlala!

posted by taz 27 June | 09:15

This is the best book ever written. I'm a big Irving fan though.

High praise. "Owen Meany" was the last Irving book that really impressed me; I abandoned him soon after. Really, I think Irving best said what he had to say in "Setting Free the Bears"--one of its chief virtues is its economy. The following four (IIRC) books were, in their cores, better books; but they mark the beginning of an increasing self-indulgence which eventually consumes Irving's work.

Taz, you mention you like historical fiction--I've not yet read any of these, but I understand Alan Furst's novels are excellent and "Dark Star" is on my purchase list.

posted by kmellis 27 June | 09:20

Hrrmm, the reality dysfunction books (there are 6 of them, so they take a while to get through) by Peter F. Hamilton are a pretty good read if you are into SF.

gaspode posted this while I was writing my lengthy three-part comment. That two of us have now recommended this series should tell you something.

Hmm. I really can't recommend War and Peace strongly enough. I've an education built upon the so-called "Great Books", and I've read them; but you can see from my list that I grew up with genre fiction and I've always read primarily for pleasure. In that context, I want to emphasize that after the first three-hundred pages, I began to deeply enjoy War and Peace. It's the most immersive book I've read. It has the most real characters, and the most articulated view of history. It's not only a great book, but I truly loved reading it.

posted by kmellis 27 June | 09:34

I recommend Kavalier & Clay too - it's really good. If you can find anything by Jeff Noon, especially Vurt, you may like that - he's dark like Mieville.

posted by mygothlaundry 27 June | 10:07

I have read "War and Peace" a couple of times (and I'm also just generally a big fan of the Russians), and I agree, kmellis.

posted by taz 27 June | 10:12

The Gormenghast Novels - the first two are absolutely brilliant. The third is optional reading, as Peake was tragically very ill when he wrote the first draft and didn't get to finish it.

The Company - a fantastic espionage novel; huge and hugely entertaining

I second Infinite Jest, definitely. It could have used some editing, but has long brilliant sections. (The "tennis war" chapter is unbelieveable, imho.)

The Book of the New Sun series (SF) and Book of the Long Sun series (more SF) by Gene Wolfe - dense, deep, strange books. In fact, I'm one of the folks who likes the third series as well (Book of the Short Sun). They all fit together like a long, intricate, literary puzzle. Yum yum.

(Winter's Tale is possibly my favorite book of all time, btw.)

posted by papercake 27 June | 10:22

I somehow managed to get hold of the second book in the New Sun series, and was crazy to get them all... Thanks for the reminder!

posted by taz 27 June | 10:34

I prefer James over Tolstoy, myself. Portrait of a lady is probably my favorite book ever.

posted by Tacky O. Assis 27 June | 10:45

Oh, I love The Secret History. It's one of those books I can read and reread.

Never read War and Peace, but I did read and enjoy Anna Karenina - and this was years before Oprah's Book Club. : )

I've been on a mystery/thriller kick of late. One of the best of those I've read lately is The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer.

Other suggestions: The Virgin Suicides, Geek Love, Crossing California.

posted by sisterhavana 27 June | 11:06

Zelazny's complete five-book Amber series in one volume and the complete Gormenghast would keep you reading for a while...

posted by shane 27 June | 11:14

Caffeine is kicking in, so more is coming to mind. Sean McMullen - I just finished the Moonworlds books & loved them; his other stuff, set in distant future Australia is also great. I'm also reading the hard to find but worth it Tim Powers: Expiration Date & Earthquake Weather, 2 books of a loosely connected trilogy that includes Last Call, which I haven't read. Yet. I also really like Katharine Kerr (although this might belong in a guilty pleasures list) who has this whole interlocking set of 12 books set in a kind of Celtic otherworld.

posted by mygothlaundry 27 June | 11:14

(Ah, I see that was a second for Gormenghast.)

posted by shane 27 June | 11:15

If you liked Cryptonomicon, I'd recommend Stephenson's latest boat anchor, the Baroque Cycle, which is comprised of three books, all about 1000 pages, and which tell one more-or-less continuous story, with characters and themes related to those in Cryptonomicon. Not the greatest fiction ever written, but a great time-waster, and can be used for a counterweight on a forklift if necessary.

posted by deadcowdan 27 June | 11:21

oh, oh! I forgot to mention "Middlesex", which I adored ("The Virgin Suicides" reminded me!), and I'm really glad people have brought up some mystery stuff, because it's another favorite genre, especially when it's unusual (like "The Name of the Rose", and other strange mystery wonderfulness).

Really, pretty much nothing is out of the picture, but I have read most of the classics (like 18th and 19th century, etc.), so I'm not really looking for those.

posted by taz 27 June | 11:27

Stephenson's work is sometimes compared to Pynchon's. That's a bit of a stretch mostly, but you may enjoy Gravity's Rainbow.

And definitely read the rest of Gene Wolfe. Papercake, I wasn't aware that The Book of the Short Sun wasn't considered as good as the rest. Loved the whole thing (even though I mostly disagree with Wolfe on monotheism).

posted by PinkStainlessTail 27 June | 11:32

I'm not sure if it's big, fat or sufficiently highbrow for you, but I recently enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife. Really enjoyed it.

posted by blag 27 June | 11:37

Amazon UK link for GR. pardon my provincialism.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 27 June | 11:38

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel. Fat, pretty good, harry potter for adults.

posted by Divine_Wino 27 June | 11:46

PST - on the urth.net discussion list (last year, when I was re-reading the first series and then compulsively reading the rest, I came across it) and various other places there's commonly the view that the latest series is inferior. I was just as sucked in, myself.

I'm always trying to turn people on to Wolfe and Gormenghast because I know of so few people who have read them, and want to talk with people about them.

posted by papercake 27 June | 11:47

I love Gravity's Rainbow, PST! (But I have it - one of the books that survived the cut when I had to move books across an ocean.)

But this is so cool... You guys are giving me gold.

posted by taz 27 June | 11:49

mygothlaundry - Last Call is pretty cool (especially if you're a somewhat-obsessive poker player like me), but didn't end as well as it seemed to promise. I've not read anything else by him. Worth it?

posted by papercake 27 June | 11:51

papercake - yes, I really like his stuff. I'd read the other two related books, Expiration Date first and then Earthquake Weather, which really ties them all together. Caveat though - avoid Anubis Gates. He also wrote a fun book about pirates & zombies that I loved but can't remember the title of. I've read Gormenghast twice although many years back and I've never figured out if I like it or not. It has stuck in my mind though, which is a test of sorts.

taz if you haven't read him, check out John Crowley, especially Little,Big. One of my favorite books of all time.

posted by mygothlaundry 27 June | 12:05

Mystery...hmm. I can't imagine I'll recommend anything you've not already read, but I'll give it a shot. Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko novels are all excellent. Another mystery writer that comes to mind, though his books are far from big and fat, is Janwillem Van De Wetering and his Grijpstra & de Gier mysteries. Perfection. I'm sure you've read all of P. D. James.

I highly recommend Scott Turow, he's the inventor of the modern American legal thriller and ten times the better writer than Grisham.

I only recently discovered Dennis Lehane, but I've now read everything excepting "Mystic River". I think he's very good.

posted by kmellis 27 June | 12:07

If you read any horror, I only last year got turned on to Richard Layman. His books are trashy in some respects; but there's something unique in his storytelling. I'm curious to know how women respond to his books.

Back to non-genre popular fiction, a book that comes to mind which I highly recommend is Bette Bao Lord's "Spring Moon", set in late 19th century China.

If you've read "Rose", I assume you've read "Foucalt's Pendulum"? Umberto Eco is a God, isn't he?

posted by kmellis 27 June | 12:08

Oooh, yes -- Little, Big! Forgot that one. Also one of my favorites (and a book which Helprin has said was an inspiration for "Winter's Tale"). Definitely check that out, taz.

I'll have to check out more of Powers, mygoth. Thanks for the recommendation.

Right now I'm reading the final book in the Endymion series (I needed a break from reality after reading All the President's Men and The Final Days -- both of which I suggest, as well) which is also very good.

posted by papercake 27 June | 12:14

I wish the rest of the books had lived up to the quality of Hyperion. If you've not read Simmons's forays into other genres, I recommend them. He does horror nicely and unusually.

posted by kmellis 27 June | 12:19

The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. Some people I know found it to be cumbersome and bogged down in detail, but I found his writing to be so lyrical and evocative that his characters seem more like old friends that I'm currently out of touch with than mere descriptions. And his math and science (elemental and social) aspects were solid enough that it often read like an actual historical account rather than a speculative future history. Good stuff. Terrible separation anxiety when the series was done.

Yes, I'm a dork. I know this.

(I'm also loving this list as well - thanks for the idea, taz!)

posted by Frisbee Girl 27 June | 12:27

I recommend wholeheartedly Life: A User's Manual

posted by hopeless romantique 27 June | 12:28

kmellis, "Yes" on Foucalt's Pendulum, but "no", I haven't yet read most of your nice mystery recommendations (except for P.D. James). Also, "Spring Moon" sounds great, because I've read other Chinese historical novels, and it's one of my particular interests (also India).

and, guys - I can't believe I've never heard of "Little, Big"! And I definitely need to get the Gormenghast, "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel", "Kavalier & Clay", and "An Instance of the Fingerpost". Among others. I'm drooling.

(and, on preview: I have "Life: A User's manual" sitting next to my bed right now - another that I brought over!)

posted by taz 27 June | 12:31

...but I found his writing to be so lyrical and evocative

In many ways, yes. But I was disappointed in the characterization. Every character seemed like a high-functioning autistic to me.

I recently reread his Antarctica, however, and enjoyed it as much the second time around. But I was nurturing an interest in the human presence down there, so that was an influence.

posted by kmellis 27 June | 12:33

Ah. If you've not read van de Wetering, you must. Immediately. Seanyboy--point taken from your tongue-in-cheek comment about my liking of long books. But I have a tendency to most respect the things that are the hardest for me. Van de Wetering's austerity and elegance are skill and beauty made real.

Wetering's Zen brings to mind the Tao, and for the hell of it I'd like to recommend Raymond Smullyan's The Tao is Silent.

posted by kmellis 27 June | 12:42

D_W, you have me picturing a fat, adult Harry Potter.

posted by matildaben 27 June | 12:42

By the way, another book that I really, really liked was "Smilla's Sense of Snow", which I found entirely by accident (coming across it on the shelves of a used-book store) and read, and loaned out, and bought again, and loaned out, and bought again (and repeat), before anyone ever talked about it, and long before the film (quite a few years ago, now). I highly recommend it for reading in August (for those in the Northern Hemi) when you are miserable and sweltering. Also, in the "cool down by reading" category: the very incredible "Shipping News", and of course the earlier-mentioned "Winter's Tale".

I just love a cold, frosty book!

posted by taz 27 June | 12:45

lots of great suggestions here (i loved Infinite Jest--A Broom in the System is really good too.)

You must get Iron Council by Mieville--out of this world excellent.

These are not 1000 pagers, but big in all sorts of other ways and all great, i thought--Geoff Ryman's Was (esp. if you liked Wicked--it's very different tho) and the other Maguire books (except Lost, which wasn't at all as good), and Baltazar and Blimunda, and Blindness, by Saramago, The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith by Peter Carey (all of his books are wonderful), and a wonderful, but heartbreaking book--A Fine Balance by Rohinton Minstry, and White Teeth by Zadie Smith, and The Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor by John Barth...

posted by amberglow 27 June | 13:17

In many ways, yes. But I was disappointed in the characterization. Every character seemed like a high-functioning autistic to me.

kmellis, I absolutely agree - with the exception of Nadia (my personal favorite) - but KSR also prepped the readers for that precise character trait in the opening pages as he outlines Michel's thought process in examining the criterion for choosing the first hundred.

I loved their flaws as they made the characters so frustratingly real in their awkward, earnest, passionate and dogmatic but brilliant natures. Extreme levels of intellect and accomplishment don't automatically afford the same strengths in social skills or guarantee a successful dynamic. I spent no small amount of time being exasperated by them...not unlike I do with many friends and loved ones in real life. I certainly don't think it will resonate with most people the way that it did with me, but I still think it's a worthwhile read.

posted by Frisbee Girl 27 June | 13:24

He also wrote a fun book about pirates & zombies that I loved but can't remember the title of.

On Stranger Tides, it's awesome (Out of print, readily avail used on amazon), as is Drawing of the Dark (fisher king, beer, crusades, king arthur, vikings, beer) and to combine spies and Secret History/Magic, read Declare. I love Tim Powers.

D_W, you have me picturing a fat, adult Harry Potter.

Just clean up when you're done.
Kisses.

posted by Divine_Wino 27 June | 13:28

You know, I do want to say: sometimes fat books can't help themselves. It's genetic.

posted by papercake 27 June | 13:47

So Drawing of the Dark would also be connected to Earthquake Weather than right? It's more like a 4-part series than a (loose) trilogy? oooooh, goody, thanks for the news! This is how into Tim Powers I am right now (this will not make sense if you haven't read them) I wrote LA Cigar Too Tragical around my ashtray yesterday.

posted by mygothlaundry 27 June | 14:12

Mygothlaundry, sit on a potato pan otis.

Drawing of the dark isn't really connected at all, it's just that Powers is stuck on the Fisher King as a subject. His earlier stuff is more, like adventure oriented, so that is what you can expect. It's all good though. Declare rocks the box like bagels and lox, I really reccomend it.

posted by Divine_Wino 27 June | 14:26

Oh, here's one it seems nobody reads anymore that they really should: Michael Moorcock's Cornelius Quartet. It's an omnibus of four novels but it really works as one solid read (I always read it straight through anyway).

Also thirding or whatever Little,Big.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 27 June | 14:40

The Kushiel Trilogy by Jacqueline Carey. An "alternative" history set in a fictional Europe. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. Another "alternative" history, this time set in Spain. I've heard good things about his other titles but have yet to read any of them.

I also have to ditto kmellis' suggestions of The Doomsday Book and anything by Kage Baker.

posted by deborah 27 June | 14:46

deborah - Tigana (also by Kay) is fantastic. (I didn't care for the Summertree series, however.)

And, yeah, do read the Cornelius Quartet. I've never read it, but I work for the company that publishes it and we can use the sales.

posted by papercake 27 June | 15:11

oh, The Years of Rice and Salt too.

posted by amberglow 27 June | 15:28

I'm currently bogged down in the 2nd book of the Mars Trilogy (having gotten through the last part of the first book on sheer inertia) but I loved The Years of Rice and Salt.

Put me in the pro-Infinite Jest camp, BTW; although I recognize it has flaws, much of it is utterly amazing. I still like to go around referring to Les Assassins des Fauteiuls Rollants.

posted by matildaben 27 June | 16:22

Kim Stanley Robinson fans: Did anybody else find Forty Signs of Rain surprisingly dull? Like to the point where the book wasn't worth finishing?

posted by PinkStainlessTail 27 June | 16:39

some fat books are fast reads, some you have to learn to live in for a while, and then you don't want to leave because you're all use to them.

"the Crimson Petal and the White" is fat and easy to read and all in England, 1874-75, and my last fat read.
"a Suitable Boy" is very fat and dense about two families in India (my copy still with-- well that's a long story)
If anyone has read the Moorcock books he wrote for the tripping audience, i'd like to know if anyone made it past half of book two.

i remember really liking the Amber series. i also remember accidentally throwing out wolfe's phone number because i stuck it in a pack of cigarettes after he said he'd get me into clarion. fuck.

i remember finding John Varley's Titan series amusing.

"The Alienist" is set at the time of Teddy Roosevelt. I think there are sequels but i haven't read them.

"The Wind Up Bird Chronicles" is fat and i'm trying to make Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore" last right now.
i was gonna ask about translations and whether i like translated books in part because of the adjustment and formality of the language.
i think i have too many suggestions and should wait to see what everyone else says as i'm in active procrastination mode now and still feel
craptastic

pro-jest but not always in that mood. did really like broom of the system and have a story involving a reading of it in an emergency room hospital--

posted by ethylene 27 June | 17:16

The sequel i read to the Alienist (about child snatching) wasn't as good at all.

I think Broom of the System might be a better intro to Wallace than Jest.

posted by amberglow 27 June | 17:25

and i wanna be able to talk about the great ohio desert and taking the exit of Jayne Mansfield's boob.

The most annoying thing about the Alienist for me was how he'd get to some important reveal and then go off for a page about the food at Delmonico's.
now i'm all for reading about food (those pern bubbly pies should exist) but not in the middle of a plot point. (got it from a mystery junkie)

(disclaimer: read most of my scifi/fantasy while barely in the double digits)

posted by ethylene 27 June | 17:35

You're right, eth--i almost put it in my list above, but deleted it after thinking about it. It's good but not wonderful--i was underwhelmed with Jonathan Strange too.

posted by amberglow 27 June | 17:57

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

posted by matteo 27 June | 18:12

amber: but it's an entertaining read, or at least the escape i needed at the time.
what stays unimpeachably wonderful under scrunity?
it's so much about mood and timing and that amount of surrender to something other--
i so hate wasting something on the wrong mood. but sometimes a phrase or an image or a line can be worth it.
A short, deceptively readable book i love is "Lives of the Circus Animals". It's by the guy who wrote "Gods and Monsters" and so easy to read you may at first think it's like any trash read but the explorations on the different aspects of love are wonderfully artless and artful.

posted by ethylene 27 June | 18:13

Oh, you just reminded me!!!!

The Notorious Dr. August!

(i haven't read that new one yet, but Dr. August was excellent)

posted by amberglow 27 June | 18:28

"the Crimson Petal..." wasn't fantabulous but a definite reabable escape. Harry Potter is a readable reliable escape at a time i needed to escape.
I went through a Wharton phase that just made me sick of societal nitpicking for ages after.
I haven't read Cervantes and hear repeatedly i should find the mood and time for Dumas.

If you haven't read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera" or "One Hundred Years of Solitude" those are very satisfying once that last page is turned. I'm straying from fat books, but i'm thinking stuff like "Mists of Avalon" as a fat book.
"The Passion" would be a very thin book that has the last page satisfaction.

sorry, the lighbulbs keep blowing out.

posted by ethylene 27 June | 18:31

geez, ambo, now the weight of my many poverties is bearing down-- time, money, effort, resource--- phffft
i can only hope at best to be a dilettante

and is the site loading very slowlty for anyone else?

posted by ethylene 27 June | 18:41

take it out of the library, like i always do. (altho Dr. August i actually ran out and bought after reading)

posted by amberglow 27 June | 18:58

so many big bitter ha has there i'm not getting into
but now it's on the top of list of things to hassle them for
crap, i think i was suppose to pick up a book

posted by ethylene 27 June | 19:06

I'm coming late to a great thread here, but want to recommend Pynchon's fairly recent and under appreciated Mason & Dixon a historical/fantasy novel set on the 18th century colonial frontier. Its cast of characters includes a dope-smoking George Washington, A singing Ben Franklin, conspiring Jesuits setting up a world-wide communication system based on scientific principles since suppressed, and a lovelorn French mechanical duck. But it is actually a novel about friendship. Pynchon's best work since Gravity's Rainbow.

posted by LarryC 28 June | 02:08

A few more not yet mentioned: Harry Mulisch’s The Discovery of Heaven. And Gadda’s That Awful Mess on Via Merulana. And Álvaro Mutis’s The Adventures and Misadventures of Maqroll, which is cheating a little bit as it’s really seven thin books rolled up into one stout volume.

posted by misteraitch 28 June | 09:08

Discovery of Heaven is wonderful. : >

Hopeful Monsters too.

posted by amberglow 28 June | 09:24

fat book confessions:
i bought infinite jest purely for its fatness, knew nothing about it. pure fattraction drew me to it.
i keep an unfinished Gravity's Rainbow by virtue of fatness and it's passage from person to person.

fat books and beat up copies you don't have to be precious about. i love passing around books i find or inherit. that's how i finally read the Accidental Tourist. i rrreally needed a book, it was abandoned in a basement, we met completely by chance.
But then i read the Flesheaters because i liked the cover

posted by ethylene 28 June | 09:56

27 June 2005