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The Book Club :
Ideas for very long, very involving books?!

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Laura28 ( member #28997) posted at 9:50 AM on Tuesday, August 13th, 2013

Hi

I'm a prolific reader and have always loved James A Michener.

From Wikipedia:

James Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping family sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories. Michener was known for the meticulous research behind his work

I loved the fact that so many of his stories were based around real events and people.

The Source, Centennial and Hawaii are my favourites. All are around 1000 pages!!!! So they'l keep you busy!!

Married 42yrs Me BW 68Yrs Him F?WH 70yrs OWzero 1988 EA?/PA? Gaslighted. Dday May 28 2010. OW1 1994(6mths PA, EA 16+ years). OW2 2002(8yrs PA). OW3 2009(1Yr PA). Others?? Status: Not Divorcing..but.."You can't unfuck 'em"

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solus sto ( member #30989) posted at 11:01 PM on Saturday, August 17th, 2013

Cast another vote for East of Eden by Steinbeck.

And I agree, too, with I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. (I read She's Come Undone by Lamb first, and was amazed at how well he wrote female characters. That's another great read, but not very long.)

I love almost everything Larry McMurtry. The Lonesome Dove series will keep you reading for a long time, and I especially love the Moving On/Terms of Endearment/Evening Star trilogy (for which there is allegedly a new book coming). Moving On was his first book, not published until after others gained popularity. I adore it. I don't re-read many books, but there's something about it that I just love. His character development is wonderful.

Another loooong historical novel I loved was And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer.

BS-me, 62; X-irrelevant; we’re D & NC. "So much for the past and present. The future is called 'perhaps,' which is the only possible thing to call the future. And the important thing is not to let that scare you." Tennessee Williams

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purplejacket4 ( member #34262) posted at 6:19 AM on Monday, September 2nd, 2013

Billed as a young teen series but its very good: The Chronicles of Pyrdain by Lloyd Alexander. It's based on the mythology of the Welsh people.

The Book of Three

The Black Cauldron (not like the Bad animated movie)

The Castle of Lyrr

Taran Wanderer

The High King

I've retread this series between seven and ten times.

Me: BS 50
Her: FWS 53 (both family med MDs; together 23 years)
OW: who cares (PhD)
Dday: 10/11: 11/11 TT for months; NC 8/12
Limboconsiliationish
"band aids don't fix bullet holes" Taylor Swift
I NEVER mind medical ???

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Walking ( member #40102) posted at 1:49 PM on Monday, September 2nd, 2013

Lots of good ideas. You might want to look at the Goodreads site. It's awesome for readers and recommendations too.

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OnAnIsland ( member #34319) posted at 10:04 PM on Thursday, October 10th, 2013

Hillary mantel Cromwell series: wolf hall, bringing up the bodies

D-day: Christmas 2011
D-day 2: 3/28/2013

Married for over 15 years
2 beautiful sons

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Maya Angelou

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Gottagetthrough ( member #27325) posted at 10:22 PM on Thursday, October 10th, 2013

winds of war followed by war and remembrance (800 page book and 1300 page book. so good I read them both in one week =) )

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ISPIFFD ( member #26367) posted at 4:52 PM on Friday, October 25th, 2013

I loved the fact that so many of his stories were based around real events and people.

The Source, Centennial and Hawaii are my favourites. All are around 1000 pages!!!! So they'l keep you busy!

^^^^^^Definitely Michener!!

Just about every novel starts with the beginning of the earth, so there's lots of history going on. And the characters are incredible. LOVED Hawaii - still one of my all-time favorites! Loved Centennial! Really, anything he wrote, but those two especially.

[This message edited by ISPIFFD at 10:53 AM, October 25th (Friday)]

I'm done here; sick of 2 x 4s

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stroppy_wanadoo ( member #11224) posted at 9:39 PM on Wednesday, April 9th, 2014

Late late late to the party, but I have to recommend The Dovekeepers. Long book, challenging read with weaving story lines, historical (biblical times)... just so good.

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phmh ( member #34146) posted at 1:18 AM on Thursday, April 10th, 2014

Now would be a great time to start some Marquez since there's likely to be mention of him in the news lately.

I loved "Love in the Time of Cholera" and have "100 Years of Solitude" in my to read queue.

Me: BW, divorced, now fabulous and happy!

Married: 11 years, no kids

Character is destiny

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Merlin ( member #30221) posted at 3:08 PM on Thursday, April 10th, 2014

If you're at all curious about Australia, Robert Hughes "The Fatal Shore" is excellent and riveting.

"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A bird will fall frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself." D. H. Lawrence

Her: WW/57 Me: BS/63 24yrs M
3 great kids, now 22, 20, 17 b,b,g
D-Day 8/14/08, D 1/13/11

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plainsong ( member #37826) posted at 2:57 PM on Monday, April 28th, 2014

I always go back to the Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel and the Tolkien books (Hobbit and Fellowship of the Rings. I like upbeat books about good people, which I find these both to be. Clan has a strong, loving woman as heroine. It is historical fiction about interaction between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons. The Tolkien books are better than the movies.

Me, fWW
Him, fBH (sisoon)
Dday, 12/22/2010
I use capital letters for emphasis, not yelling.
Reconciled and healing.

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WarpSpeed ( member #32051) posted at 9:48 PM on Sunday, May 18th, 2014

Fantasy:

The Wheel of Time: 14 books @ 800 pgs. each. Very involved, 30 good guys, 30 bad guys.... complex! But unlike the Game of Thrones it is finished!!

This definitely fits the long and involved description at about 10,000 pages. I've read twice. Once over the 20 years it took Jordan (and Sanderson) to write it and when the last book came out I read it all again straight through.

True story, I was talking with my son who I got into this series and said "Man I hope Jordan doesn't die before he finishes". About a year later he passed. Sanderson wrote the last three installments.

Terrific "book". As you can imagine it drags from time to time but there are some great characters and and a very involved story.

[This message edited by WarpSpeed at 3:49 PM, May 18th (Sunday)]

Me: BS (58) Her: fWW (57)Married 28 years
2 awesome sons graduated college in 2015
She left Jan 2010, She filed Mar 2010, Div final May 2010, She shared it was an A July 2010, Remarried Aug 2010

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sisoon ( Moderator #31240) posted at 10:34 PM on Sunday, May 18th, 2014

Paul Scott's Jewel in the Crown series,4 very good novels of Brits in India beginning during WW II and going forward to Partition.

fBH (me) - on d-day: 66, Married 43, together 45, same sex apDDay - 12/22/2010Recover'd and R'edYou don't have to like your boundaries. You just have to set and enforce them.

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sisoon ( Moderator #31240) posted at 8:43 PM on Friday, May 30th, 2014

Hey, Violetta! Did you pick up any of the books people have suggested? What did you think?

fBH (me) - on d-day: 66, Married 43, together 45, same sex apDDay - 12/22/2010Recover'd and R'edYou don't have to like your boundaries. You just have to set and enforce them.

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veronique12 ( member #42185) posted at 7:21 PM on Friday, June 27th, 2014

Peter Carey's books are pretty much all great: Parrot and Olivier in America--loved that one, set in the backdrop of the French and American Revolutions. I'm re-reading Carey's Jack Maggs now.

The Signature of All Things, by Elizabeth Gilbert. (It's so different from her book Eat, Pray, Love.)

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Happy reading!

BW, D-Day: 11/29/13 (4 month EA discovered); 12/19/13 (discovered was also PA); TT thru 2/14
Married: 2001; Together for 20 years
2 beautiful young kids

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bbee ( member #17840) posted at 10:43 AM on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2014

I second Michener. Also, Leon Uris. Exodus, Mila 18, Trinity, QB VII.

This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Hamlet, Act I, Scene 3

Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.

All's Well That Ends Well, Act I, Scene 1

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