Must Read BIG Books 500+ Pages Long
9 Book Recommendations
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This is it—the BIG one.
Get ready.
It’s a short list for, if you’ve been keeping up with my other posts, reasons such as I’m a scaredy cat of big books.
The caveats for this list are the same as the short book, medium book, and long book lists. I featured authors only once on this list, so there are no repeats and only the first books in a series. I also only put in one manga!
You can check out the playlist on my bookshop.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
501 pages
Arthurian retelling, fantasy, growing up, magic systems
Summary:
“After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC-Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur's knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she'll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.”
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
504 pages
Historical fiction, growing up, American literature
Summary:
“Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for growing up in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn, New York demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family's erratic and eccentric behavior--such as her father Johnny's taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy's habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce--no one, least of all Francie, could say that the Nolans' life lacked drama. By turns overwhelming, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the Nolans' daily experiences are raw with honestly and tenderly threaded with family connectedness.”
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
512 pages
Historical fiction, adventure, story of stories
Summary:
“Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer's son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julian Carax. But when he sets out to find the author's other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax's books in existence. Soon Daniel's seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona's darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.”
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskall
521 pages
Historical fiction, Victorian literature, romance
Summary:
“When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the north of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of the local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man, John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction.”
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
532 pages
British literature, Gothic, strong female character
Summary:
“Raised and treated badly by her aunt and cousins and eventually sent away to a cruel boarding school, it is not until Jane becomes a governess at Thornfield that she finds happiness. Meek, measured, but determined, Jane soon falls in love with her brooding and stormy master, Mr Rochester, but it is not long before strange and unnerving events occur in the house and Jane is forced to leave Thornfield to pursue her future.”
The Girl From the Other Side by Nagabe
540 pages
Fantasy, mystery, manga
Summary:
“In a land far away, there were two kingdoms: the Outside, where twisted beasts roamed that could curse with a touch, and the Inside, where humans lived in safety and peace. The girl and the beast should never have met, but when they do, a quiet fairy tale begins. This is the story of two people–one human, one inhuman–who linger in the hazy twilight that separates night from day.”
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
581 pages
American literature, race, gender roles, classic
Summary:
“The book's nameless narrator describes growing up in a black community in the South, attending a Negro college from which he is expelled, moving to New York and becoming the chief spokesman of the Harlem branch of the Brotherhood, before retreating amid violence and confusion to the basement lair of the Invisible Man he imagines himself to be.”
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
709 pages
Horror, haunted house, mystery
Summary:
“A young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.”
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
720 pages
Mystery, ghost story, Victorian
Summary:
“Engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, Walter is drawn into the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his charming friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons and poison.”