Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week a new theme is suggested for bloggers to participate in. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want. Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to The Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
This week’s topic is Books with a High Page Count
The ones you could use for arm workouts as well as reading marathons. Some of these were slow-burn loves, some I devoured faster than I thought possible, but all of them are worth the wrist ache.
🧪Mira Grant – Feed
Zombies + blogging + political intrigue = a book that’s both propulsive and unexpectedly hefty. Honestly feels like it should weigh less, given how fast you tear through it.
👑 Dan Jones – The Plantagenets
History, but make it drama. Kings, betrayal, messy family feuds — the original long-running fandom wank, with footnotes.
🦅 Matthew Reilly – Temple
A novel that doesn’t believe in brakes. Reilly’s doorstop is like watching someone speedrun Indiana Jones with extra explosions.
💔 Marian Keyes – This Charming Man
Proof that contemporary fiction can sprawl. Dark, funny, devastating — and long enough to move in and redecorate your head.
🌞 Sharon Kay Penman – The Sunne in Splendour
The Wars of the Roses as epic fic. Every POV shift feels like another 20k chapter in a beautifully written slowburn.
🌫️ Marion Zimmer Bradley – The Mists of Avalon
Arthurian myth retold from the women’s side. A feminist fanfic remix the size of a cinderblock, complete with lore deep-dives.
❄️ Jean M. Auel – The Plains of Passage
Cavepeople, ice age travel, and survival fic on maximum hard mode. Auel never met a landscape she couldn’t describe for five pages.
🌪️ Margaret Mitchell – Gone With the Wind
Problematic fave but an undeniable juggernaut. A shipping war disguised as a historical epic.
🕯️ Anne Rice – The Witching Hour
Southern Gothic + family curse + Rice’s unparalleled ability to make a paragraph last a geological age. Atmospheric and indulgent.
☠️ Stephen King – The Stand
The quintessential long apocalypse novel. Pandemic fic before pandemic fic, complete with sprawling ensemble cast and fandom-level debates over the ending.
Many people seem to have mentioned The Stand, whereas I mentioned 2 other King’s 🙂
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2025/08/19/top-ten-tuesday-the-beasts/
The Plains of Passage was a good read! The Clan of the Cave Bear is what ended up on my list, although I think my favourite book in that series is The Valley of Horses.
I liked Feed, too.
I recently jumped into Matthew Reilly with The Six Sacred Stone, which was high octane adventure in a cross between Indiana Jones and Mission Impossible, but I loved it! Not read Temple, but would definitely seek it out. I loved Clan of The Cave Bear series too. You made me chuckle when you said the author took 5 pages to describe a landscape.
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2025/08/19/%f0%9f%93%9atoptentuesday-10-books-with-a-high-page-count-tuesdaybookblog-booktwitter-booktwt/
I prefer the Scarecrow series to the Jack West Jnr one (although I have only read Seven Ancient Wonders so far) and highly recommend Ice Station if you like high octane adventure! 😀
Wrist ache is right! LOL. I actually bought a reading pillow thing because holding a chunky book I was reading hurt my hands so much. (I’m old and I have tendonitis.) These days, I don’t pick up many super long books. I just don’t have the patience for them that I once did.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I haven’t read any of the books on your list today. Mists of Avalon is one that I had on my shelf for a long time… but then I finally decided that it was so big I was never going to pick it up.