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Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Top Ten Tuesday: The Longest Books I've Read in 2025 (So Far)
6:18 PM
Today's TTT prompt—Top Ten Books With a High Page Count—is all about lengthy books. Are you a fan of thick, detailed door stoppers or do you avoid them like the plague? For me, it just depends. If a book is keeping me engaged and entertained, then I'll continue reading it no matter how many pages it has. If a book isn't holding my attention, then it doesn't matter if it's 50 pages or 5000, I'm going to DNF that sucker! I always read a mix of adult and children's books, most of which are mysteries/thrillers, historical fiction novels, or historical mysteries. Depending on which authors you read, these genres don't tend to produce the kind of epic tomes you see in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. I'd guess the page count of the books I read in any given year is around 200-250. Most years, I do take on a few thicker tomes, which for me usually means around 500 pages. This year, I've picked up more of them than I usually do, so for my list today, I'm going to share the ten longest books I've read in 2025 so far.
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top Ten Longest Books I've Read in 2025 (So Far)
- from longest to shortest (of the longest) -
1. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
My Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7683524304
Genre: nonfiction/U.S. history/Black history
What it's about: the massive migration of Black people out of the American South to northern, western, and midwestern states, from about 1910 to the 1970s
Page count: 622
Read for: book club
Affect of page count on reading experience: This book is interesting, but it definitely feels overly long and tedious. Other than the woman who recommended it, I'm the only one in my book club who finished it. Everyone else got too bored with it to read to the end.
2. Shift by Hugh Howey (SILO trilogy #2)
My Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7362810129
Genre: Dystopian/sci-fi
What it's about: With the world on the brink of certain destruction, select groups of people are invited underground to live in protected silos. Generations later, it's forbidden to even talk of the outside world, but there are always those whose curiosity and desperation get the better of them. What do they find beyond the silos? No one knows because those who leave never come back...
Page count: 579
Read for: I've been wanting to finish this series, which I started in 2018.
Affect of page count on reading experience: Although I really like the SILO books, there's no doubt that they get REALLY long. Longer than necessary. They don't have much plot to them, really, so the stories do get tedious and dull in places.
3. It Happened On the Lake by Lisa Jackson
My Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7528355859
Genre: mystery/thriller
What it's about: Harper Reed Prescott owns a large Victorian home on a beautiful private island which is also hers. She has no interest in either. After the mysterious deaths and other happenings that have occured there, she just wants to sell the whole property and be done with it. Unfortunately, there is much in her past and that of her family that still needs to be reckoned with...
Page count: 586
Read for: NetGalley review
Affect of page count on reading experience: This book is overwritten in every possible way. It was a huge slog for me and I'm still not sure why I plowed through the whole thing!
4. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking series #2)
My original blog review (2011): http://www.blogginboutbooks.com/2011/01/i-mean-seriously-could-patrick-ness-get.html
My Goodreads review (2025): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7717949658
Genre: YA dystopian/sci-fi
What it's about: Todd Hewitt has grown up on a planet other than Earth. Viola has come to his planet because Earth is no longer habitable. Todd's world is at war. Can he and Viola stop the violence, save their civilization, and protect the refugees from Viola's spaceship who are hurtling toward them hoping for peace and safety?
Page count: 553
Read for: re-reading the series because I LOVE it
Affect of page count on reading experience: The tension and action in this book are so unrelenting that the pages fly by. You barely notice how long it is.
5. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking series #1)
My original blog review (2011): http://www.blogginboutbooks.com/2011/01/knife-of-never-letting-go-leaves-me.html
My Goodreads review (2025): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/874857816
Genre: YA dystopian/sci-fi
What it's about: Todd Hewitt's parents came to a new planet to find refuge away from a dying Earth. Now an orphan, Todd has become disillusioned with the rules of his town. He is running away when he encounters Viola, whose scouting ship has just crashed nearby. Together, the parentless teens flee toward a city where they've heard they can find safety. The mayor of Todd's town, who isn't about to let them go, is in hot pursuit, determined to catch them no matter the cost.
Page count: 528
Read for: re-reading the series because I LOVE it
Affect of page count on reading experience: Ditto what I said above about The Ask and the Answer.
6. Wool by Hugh Howey (SILO trilogy #1)
My original blog review: http://www.blogginboutbooks.com/2018/01/subterranean-dystopian-trilogy-starts.html
Genre: Dystopian/sci-fi
What it's about: See summary for Shift above.
Page count: 509
Read for: I want to finish the SILO trilogy, which I started in 2018.
Affect of page count on reading experience: Wool moves at a faster pace than Shift, so it doesn't feel as long, but it does get slow in places.
7. The Burning Library by Gilly Macmillan (available November 25, 2025)
My Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7573787746
Genre: Mystery/thriller
What it's about: When Dr. Anya Brown publishes a translation of an ancient folio, she receives the attention of a secret women's organization that has been hunting for a certain book of power for over a century. A rival group also wants the tome. Caught in the middle of a deadly fight she doesn't understand, Anya has to figure out how to get herself out of it—before she's the next person to be mysteriously murdered.
Page count: 496
Read for: pleasure - Macmillan is one of my go-to mystery/thriller authors
Affect of page count on reading experience: Macmillan usually writes contemporary mysteries and thrillers that are quick-paced and engrossing. This book is a big departure from her norm. Unfortunately, I found The Burning Library overly long, tedious, confusing, and boring.
8. The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows
My Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7843112501
Genre: historical fiction
What it's about: When her father cuts her off, insisting she become financially independent, Layla Beck is forced to take a job with the Federal Writers' Project. Tasked with writing a history of backwards Macedonia, West Virginia, she is unenthusiastic to say the least. As Layla gets to know the Romeyns, the quirky family with which she's boarding, her attitude slowly changes. She changes their lives as well, bringing unwanted tension, unwelcome questions, and unasked for observations that force the Romeyns to acknowledge some painful truths.
Page count: 486
Read for: pleasure and for the Literary Escapes Reading Challenge
Affect of page count on reading experience: Overall, this novel is quite charming and engaging. It is excessively long, though, and definitely would have benefitted from some serious trimming.
9. The Women by Kristin Hannah
My Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5736912487
Genre: historical fiction
What it's about: The life of a privileged young nurse is changed irrevocably when she volunteers to serve in the Vietnam War. When she returns home to California after two tours expecting a hero's welcome, she's dismayed to find her family dismissive of her experiences and her countrymen critical. Dealing with PTSD and these issues takes her to the very edge of her sanity. Can anything bring her back?
Page count: 471
Read for: pleasure
Affect of page count on reading experience: This is another book that is way longer than it needs to be. There's no real plot, so it feels episodic, repetitious, and dull, especially in the latter half when the main character is back in the U.S.
10. The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes
My Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7136265693
Genre: historical fiction
What it's about: After being involved in a political scandal, a young writer is shipped off to Montana to work with a Works Progress Administration team to write a guide for the state. There, she encounters the intriguing mystery of a long-missing boxcar librarian. She's determined to find out what really happened.
Page count: 446
Read for: Goodreads review
Affect of page count on reading experience: This book kept my attention through all of its many pages. I enjoyed it.
I'd like to complete the Chaos Walking and SILO trilogies before the end of the year as well as a few more chunksters, so I've still got some hefty reading in front of me. What about you? What lengthy tomes have you read this year? Which door stoppers are your favorite? What's the longest book you've ever read? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT!
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So many of these sound good, Susan. The Warmth of Other Suns and The Truth According to Us caught my eye. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletehttps://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2025/08/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-books-with-high.html
Oh! I forgot about Warmth of Other Suns! ~Carol @ ReadingLadies
ReplyDeleteNice list. I'm not a fan of big books but I do like Kristin Hannah and Lisa Jackson. They are always good.
ReplyDeleteI love that you have a non-fiction book on your list. And quite a few historical fiction novels :) One of which you read ahead of publication, I like that. You gave The Boxcar Librarian a good recommendation, that's the one I'd pick. Great list.
ReplyDeleteOh, sorry, that was me commenting earlier.
ReplyDeleteSome good choices here! I feel like i enjoyed The Women a lot more than you did though!
ReplyDeleteYou've read a lot of big ones this year!
ReplyDeleteOoh nice! These are new to me ones. I usually don't care about page count either, although I have been known to put off the ones that are like 600+ pages for the longest time as I read so slow, so one of these 800+ that are on my TBR pile are likely to take 2 weeks or more to finish! I hate when Goodreads tells me I am behind on my challenge because I chose these 800+ page books to read! Lol. Since I met that challenge already I need to start picking some of these up!
ReplyDeleteI agree if the book captures your interest it doesn't really matter how long it is. The Boxcar Librarian caught my eye. I am currently reading The Air Raid Book Club and I felt a sliver of possible similarity between them.
ReplyDeletehttps://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2025/08/19/%f0%9f%93%9atoptentuesday-10-books-with-a-high-page-count-tuesdaybookblog-booktwitter-booktwt/
Boxcar Librarian sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of The Women, but I loved Warmth of Other Suns.
ReplyDeleteThe Warmth of Other Suns sounds really good.
ReplyDeleteMost of the books I read these days are no longer than 200-ish pages as well. I liked the really long books more when I was a kid and had a long summer break with which to read.
Wow, you even went with the ones you read this year. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my post:
https://momobookblog.blogspot.com/2025/08/top-ten-tuesday-high-page-count.html
The Women was a chunky one! I just read it a couple weeks ago and it was SO good!! Bawled my eyes out. haha. Great list, Susan!!
ReplyDeleteI've been meaning to read The Knife of Never Letting Go for sooo long! But somehow never got round to it, ahaha. It sounds so good though.
ReplyDeleteThe Boxcar Librarian sounds excellent!
ReplyDeleteNice list!! I have The Truth According to Us in my 'TBR', maybe I should move it up on the list of books I want to read.
ReplyDeleteWow! You have read so many books this year! I agree if a book is keeping me engaged and entertained, then I'll continue reading it no matter how many pages it has, although these days I'd rather read shorter books. The books on your list are all new to me.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting list. I had to go back quite a long way to make a list of 10 books 😂
ReplyDeleteHave a great week!
The only one of these that I've read is The Women and I loved it. I used to read Lisa Jackson all the time, but as her books got longer and longer, I have shied away. The Truth According to Us is on my TBR shelf, so hopefully I will read it eventually. Nice list, Susan.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on books really needing to hold my interest--and to be well-written, too--or I'm quick to DNF. THere's just too many other books I want to read to spend time on one I'm not enjoying. Fun to see your list of longer reads from this year. :D
ReplyDeleteNess' books are longer than I thought. My longest books were mostly fantasy. That is probably why I don't read a lot of fantasy.
ReplyDeleteThe Woman doesn't appeal to me at all, and by your review, not worth the time anyway! Great list, thanks for sharing your honest thoughts.
ReplyDeleteGreat list! The only one I read from this list was The Women, which seems like I enjoyed it a lot more than you did. The Burning Library sounded good, but after your mini-review I'm going to skip it. Sorry you had to take one for the team, but hopefully your next long book is a good one!
ReplyDeleteI feel like I've had that Patrick Ness trilogy on my TBR for like, 15 years at this point.
ReplyDelete