gimme them LONG classics, i wanna carry a BRICK
size matters for this list, all these classics are more than 400 pages long. they are THICK. suggestions welcome, i am a very generous interpreter of the term "classic" normally but i'm starting with the golden oldies
created by notlizlemon
last updated October, 2026
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I love the name of this list!!!! Itâs so accurate. I remember carrying around Les Mis when I read it back in the day. It was definitely a brick!!
The list name is amazing! Might I suggest Ulysses? That book scares me
yep, I got it!! thank you!!
Man, I never remember how long Dickens can be, those books zip so much. Delicious list, thank you!
I know, I was googling page counts and they blew me away tbh! I'm glad you like it!!
I feel like this is the beginning of a nightmare. đ Not hating. But my brain would surely ooze out of my ears reading these monster size classics. Not because of boredom, but because I wouldnât understand any of them. đ«
lol I made this for one of the bingo squares on the classics board tbh so keep that in mind if you attempt that one!
Romance of the Three Kingdoms if you want to include non-Western classics!! The Moss Roberts translation (i.e. the best one) is 2,400 pages!
Oh damn, thank you!
i'd second that and add on the rest of the four classic novels of china! each and every one of them is a brick. for journey to the west i'd recommend anthony yu's unabridged translation, and for water margin i think the dent-young translation is the least abridged (iinw it's titled the marshes of mount liang). a lot of ppl rec the david hawkes and john minford tl of dream of the red chamber, but i haven't personally read it to know.
there's also another bonkers long classic novel called the plum in the golden vase (david tod roy's translation is unabridged, and he spent most of his life working on it iinw). it's an erotic novel and i'm just waiting for the day i'm good enough to read the original without getting a headache LOL
Yesss I agree all of em should be in here! I made the mistake of reading the Egerton translation of Plum in the Golden Vase/Golden Lotus earlier this year so now I'm dying to get my hands on the Roy edition! I had no idea how outdated it was and some parts just left a bad taste in my mouth. Thank you for including the translators too!! I haven't heard of that edition for Outlaws of the Marsh before - I've always been directed to Shapiro's (and the Foreign Languages Press editions in general)
oh no đđ i've actually been holding off on reading these bc i wanna read them in chinese to avoid any outdated translations (if i see wades giles i WILL start crying). hopefully david tod roy's will be better! i haven't actually read it but my professor had the entire set in his office, so i presume it should hold up well enough
Good luck on your goal to read them all in the OG language!! You got this đȘ
Also may I just say you have some superb lists on your profile đ€
ty!! tbh the chinese isn't a problem for it, it's the classical chinese đ« đ im still not good enough to read that much of it in one go rip
that's so nice to hear ty!!
I can only imagine đ I want to start learning Mandarin again but at the same time it's so intimidating. I never got past the basic basics
ooh best of luck if you do pick it up again!! i think there are some resources on pb from other readers trying to learn mandarin as well
Ooh I'll have to look into those and get some inspo ty!! âšïž
forgot to add but all of them will be over 1000 pages long
The Mysteries of Udolpho is a tome. Also Melmoth the Wanderer, both somewhere in the 600+ range
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