Long books for long days

By Collection Management Librarian Dontaná

Happy Solstice! It is the longest day of the year. The sun is shining. The air is fresh, and we don’t have to think about fall or winter for several more weeks. To celebrate, we made you a book list. If there is an audiobook available, we noted how long it was too.

Epic reads for endless days



Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez

Why you should try it: A dark and brooding story about a father and son, this book comes in at a solid 588 pages, with a 27-hour audiobook.

Description: In 1981, a young father and son set out on a road trip across Argentina, devastated by the mysterious death of the wife and mother they both loved. United in grief, the pair travels to her family home near Iguazú Falls, where they must confront the horrific legacy she has bequeathed.

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem

Why you should try it: This intricate, dramatic fantasy novel is 515 pages, with an 18-hour audiobook. Also, the first in a series (yay!) but the next book isn't ready yet (boo!).

Description: At 10 years old, the Heir of Jasad fled a massacre that took her entire family. At 15, she buried her first body. At 20, the clock is ticking on Sylvia's third attempt at home. Nizahl's armies have laid waste to Jasad and banned magic across the four remaining kingdoms. Fortunately, Sylvia's magic is as good at playing dead as she is. When the Nizahl Heir tracks a group of Jasadis to Sylvia's village, the quiet life she's crafted unravels.

Above the Salt by Katherine Vaz

Why you should try it: On the shorter side for a post about long books at 420 pages, but we couldn't pass up an opportunity to feature an Illinois title.

Description: John Alves, son of a famous Presbyterian martyr on the Portuguese island of Madeira, spends his childhood in jail and in poverty. When he meets Mary Freitas—though the adopted daughter of a master botanist, her true lineage is the subject of dangerous rumor—a spark kindles a lasting bond. But soon their families must confront the rising blood tide of warfare between Catholics and Protestants. Fleeing with only what they can carry, John and Mary are separated and arrive at different times and places in a rapidly growing and changing mid-19th-century Illinois.

The End of August by Yu Miri

Why you should try it: At 710 pages, this is a whopper of a novel. But if reading award-winning authors is on your to-do list for 2024, you will be well served with this one.

Description: From the National Book Award-winning author, an extraordinary, ground-breaking, epic multi-generational novel about a Korean family living under Japanese occupation. A poetic masterpiece that is a feat of historical fiction, epic family saga, and mind-bending story-telling acrobatics.

The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade

Why you should try it: The shortest book on this list, get ready for 419 pages—or 15 audiobook hours—of family drama and secrets coming to light.

Description: It's Holy Week in the small town of Las Penas, New Mexico, and 33-year-old unemployed Amadeo Padilla has been given the part of Jesus in the Good Friday procession. He is preparing feverishly for this role when his 15-year-old daughter Angel shows up pregnant on his doorstep and disrupts his plans. Their reunion sets her own life down a startling path.

The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi

Why you should try it: This epic fantasy comes in at 523 pages and is the first in a series where the total page count will be 1,671 pages. Tell everyone you're booked for the rest of summer, and well into fall.

Description: Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the Empire from the red-blooded ruling classes' tyranny. Anoor has been told she's nothing, no one, a disappointment by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the Empire. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. As the Empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn.

Dontana

About Dontaná

Dontaná is a Collection Management Librarian who was born with an unending reading list. She is almost always reading two books simultaneously and is easily distracted by cool covers.