Top Ten Tuesday

#TopTenTuesday: Say Hello to My Chonky Friends!

Dini @ dinipandareads71 Comments

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week’s topic is: Books with a High Page Count (Share those doorstop books!)

I don’t know if this is a silly question but is there an agreed upon or fixed number of pages that’s needed to be considered a ‘high page count’? Is it for any books over 400 pages or is it from 600 pages and up? I’m going to be straight-forward today and I’ll list books with as high a page count as I can find on my Goodreads list, and I’ll list them in reverse order (because that’s how I’ll be filtering them in my search, lol). These books are a mix of read and TBR. I’ve also tried not to repeat authors or list books that are not the firsts in a series. Let’s just say I’m kind of surprised by some of these page lengths because I didn’t realise some books were this chonky. 👀

Now without further ado, let’s say hello to my chonkiest friends!

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas — 1,276pgs
Under the Dome by Stephen King — 1,074pgs
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson — 1,007pgs
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke — 1,006pgs
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett — 976pgs

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami — 944pgs
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt — 867pgs
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon — 848pgs
The First Binding by R.R. Virdi — 821pgs
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch — 722pgs

Are any of these chonkies on your TBR or have you read them? How many pages is the chonkiest book you’ve read or that you have on your TBR?

71 thoughts on “#TopTenTuesday: Say Hello to My Chonky Friends!”

  2. Over the years I’ve read loads over 400 pages. I think the longest was Child of the Phoenix by Barbara Erskine at 950 pages. In the last few years I would suggest the following

    1 Mirage by Camilla Lackberg 551. In fact the whole trilogy of Cult and Trapped

    2 Cold Truth by Toni Anderson 506
    3 Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts 431
    4 Concealed in Death by JD Robb 402
    5 Atlas by Harry Whitaker and Lucinda Riley 763
    6 Essex Dogs by Dan Jones 432
    7 Overboard by Sara Paretsky. 432
    Gill

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  4. I tend to think of ‘big’ books as anything over 500 pages – although having said that, everything on my TTT list this week is over 600 pages, purely because I managed to find 10 of that length or longer that I wanted to list!

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  5. I generally think that anything over 600 pages counts as a really chunky read. I’m currently reading Sanderson’s Oathbringer which is 1282 pages long!! I have a sneaking suspicion that the next two might be even longer though 😳

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    • 600 is definitely a hefty chonk! I think I always think of 500+ as chonks or at least 550 and up, but I see why people would say 600+. Honestly, this Sanderson series is SO intimidating because of how chonky all the books are 😂 I have heard that they’re worth all those pages though, so that’s something but oof, that’s the main reason I haven’t picked it up yet! I hope you’re enjoying it 🙂

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  7. I have a copy of the Lies of Locke Lamora on my shelf and it doesn’t look like it’s a 700+ pages book… I need to check whether it’s because they make the font smaller for my edition (I hope not 😭) or if it’s really 700 pages but I just never noticed it 😅

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    • I have the mass market that I got from Periplus and it definitely doesn’t seem like 700+ pages, so I was kind of shocked about that too. I don’t actually remember what font size the text is but I’m worried now that it will be very small 🥲

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    • Fair enough! That’s a good point though—I guess what one person considers a chonk could be different from someone else. I personally say 500 or 550+ but others in the comments have said 400+, 600+, etc. Fantasy defo has a lot of chonks but so do the classics! 🫣

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    • Oh, I’m so glad to hear that! It has intimidated me for a very long time and I always look at it and think “maybe now?” but it never actually happens. Looking forward to giving it a go at some point still though 🙂

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  12. For me, books over 500 pages qualify as doorstoppers. From your list, I’ve read The Lies of Locke Lamora and yup, it FELT 700+ pages to me. I have The Count of Monte Cristo on my TBR, and I’m hoping it doesn’t feel as long! (It didn’t make my TTT this week, though, because I don’t own a copy yet and I stuck with owned TBR books this time.)

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    • Yeah, I agree with that. I think I’ve always thought 500 or 550+ are proper chonkers! I was actually really surprised that Locke Lamora was 700+ pages because when I recall my physical mass market (which I can’t actually find now), it does not look or feel that long! …And when you say it FELT all those 700 pages, does that mean you didn’t enjoy it? Haha 🤭 Monte Cristo is an intimidating beast but if there’s one classic that I hope to tackle in the coming years, this would be at the top of the list! I hope it doesn’t feel as long as it is either.

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      • I do agree that the physical mass market paperback of Lacke Lamora didn’t feel like 700+ pages. I think that’s partly thinner paper than some of the MMPs have. But yes… I only enjoyed small sections of the Locke Lamora plot. I liked the flashbacks best, and that part took up a small part of the page count. The present-day stuff where the main plot was didn’t interest me much.

        I’m thinking about reading Monte Cristo this winter, but we’ll see!

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  15. Oh! I forgot about The First Binding!! That is definitely a door stopper and so is the second book!! I can’t believe I forgot about Priory because I didn’t read it that long ago. lol. The Way of Kings!! ❤

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      • Honestly, I have no idea. I think it was similar in size.. still insanely huge. It was good though.. interesting enough to continue! It is intimidating as all get out. I had an ARC of the second so it forced me. haha

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  19. Jonathan Strange very nearly made my list, and I did include Count of Monte Cristo. I included The Stand by King, so I didn’t include any others. Under the Dome is an underappreciated King novel in my opinion. IQ84 is one I need to read.

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    • I think I chose Under the Dome, even though The Stand is actually also on my TBR, is because I wanted to at least have one more chonk that I’ve read on my list today 🤣 Especially since so many are actually still on my TBR, haha. IQ84 is quite an intimidating chonk (hence why it’s been on my TBR for years now) but I hope you enjoy it whenever you give it a go!

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  20. Priory and Locke Lamora are on my list to read… someday. Jonathan Strange may be on there as well; I can’t remember. If not, it probably should be! Sanderson is also on my TBR list, but I’ll start with the less intimidating Mistborn, especially since the Stormlight Archive isn’t complete yet.

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    • I will also read them… Someday! I actually sampled the audiobook for Locke Lamora the other day and it was so good that I wanted to keep reading so maybe that one day will come sooner rather than later. 🤭 I’ve been meaning to re-read Mistborn but I do agree that’s probably a better place to start Sanderson rather than going straight for the massive chonks! 😂 I hope you enjoy them!

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  21. I’m with you, Dini. I didn’t realize that I had read 9 books with over 600 pages. I saw the movie Count of Monte Cristo and the mini-series for Pillars of the Earth, so won’t be reading them. I do have The Goldfinch on my TBR, but who knows if I’ll ever read it. I wasn’t sure what constituted a chunky book either, but did the same as you to come up with my list. I have a lot in the 400 – 500 pages, which really surprised me.

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    • Fair enough, Carla. I actually read a Manga for Monte Cristo, which is what made me want to pick up the original but I don’t know when I’ll be getting to it cos it’s so intimidating! I also totally forgot there was a mini-series for Pillars but I also recently found out that there’s a game for it too! Very cool 🙂 I feel like a surprising number of books are 400-500 pages, and I feel like these days it’s increasingly common (especially in certain genres like romance fantasy)!

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    • Fair! I think I’m still leaning towards the 500-550+ range but I am reading a surprising number of chonksters this year. I wonder if that opinion will change in the years to come 🤭 I do love books that around the 250-350 range though and always delight when I find shorter reads. I feel like so many books these days are 400+ pages, especially in certain genres like romance fantasy, and oof, it can be tiring 😂

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  32. Love your title for this one!! I generally consider 500 plus to be big I suppose 🤔 too many fantasy novels fall between the 400-500 mark for me to generally count them I guess.

    I’ve only read Priory out of these but a lot of the others are on my TBR. I’m desperate to try Jonathan Strange and I’ve heard so many incredible things about Locke Lamora. I honestly had no clue The Goldfinch was chunky though. I guess that’s what happens when you add books to your TBR without seeing them in print 😂

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    • Hehe, thanks! I had a good giggle with the title 🤭 I think 500 or 550+ is the range I also think about when I consider a book a chonkster. There are so many of those these days, even more than before I feel! Although the classics definitely rank high on the chonksters list as well.

      I’m also desperate to try Jonathan Strange as I’ve also heard lots of good things about it. I don’t know when I’ll read it but I did recently get the audiobook version narrated by Richard Armitage (whose voice I love) so maybe that will give me more motivation to pick it up sooner rather than later, haha. Ah, yes. The trickiness of the ebooks! Ngl though, it’s kinda lovely to not know what chonks you have heading your way when you pick them up! 🤣

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      • You do seem to get a fair few of them these day although I’m definitely not complaining as I love a long book… in theory anyway. If they’re not as good as you’d expected but not so bad that you feel the need to DNF them then they can become a chore. But generally I love a book with a high page count.

        Oh wow I didn’t realise he narrated audiobooks. Definitely sounds like a good version of the book to go with though. I hope you enjoy it. Honestly I think what throws me most with ebooks is not knowing what the font size is like in the print version. Because I’ve had the odd book where I’ve thought ‘I’m loving this, why do I seem to be making such slow progress page count wise’ only to later check it out in store and think ‘that’s why!!’ when I’ve seen the font 🙈

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