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Looking for a book

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Penthesilea:
Hi y'all :)

My holidays are just around the corner and I'm looking for a book to read. I've already read the other book thread here (What ya reading? A book?). From that other thread, I've already decided on The Front Runner.

But I'm looking for something specific: a really, really thick book, a tome. Something similar to The Pillars of the Earth, World without End (both Ken Follett), or The Physician (Noah Gordon). Something set in historical times preferrably, but not necessarily. And easy to read, nothing intellectual, no "big literature", just entertaining. A foreign world where you can dive in and not want the book to end.

Any ideas?

louisev:
Have you ever read "The Alienist" by Caleb Carr?  It's about crime detection, forensic investigation and psychology  in the turn of the century New York, and I found it deeply engaging.  And it's LONG.  It also had a sequel if you enjoy it, entitled "The Angel of Darkness."  I read them both.

I also read a number of very neat historical spy novels, several of which have a common thread... I'll have to get home and look on my Kindle for the name and titles.

delalluvia:
Heh, The Alienist wasn't long for me, it was a quickie 1 day read.

Penthesilea, if you like bodice-ripper, romance novels with a touch of time-travel thrown in and a LOT of 18th century Scottish history and culture, I highly recommend the book Outlander.  It is a massive tome, but never boring.

mariez:

--- Quote from: delalluvia on July 10, 2009, 01:40:13 pm ---Heh, The Alienist wasn't long for me, it was a quickie 1 day read.

Penthesilea, if you like bodice-ripper, romance novels with a touch of time-travel thrown in and a LOT of 18th century Scottish history and culture, I highly recommend the book Outlander.  It is a massive tome, but never boring.

--- End quote ---

Chrissi, I read your post, and the first book I thought of was Outlander also.  It's the first in a series - the seventh book in the series is due, I believe, in September.  And they're all massive.  I occasionally visit the Books and Writers Community at Compuserve where the author, Diana Gabaldon, has a thread so I happen to know that the series is very popular in Germany.  In fact, she is good friends with her German translator and is very pleased with the German translation of the books. 

louisev:

--- Quote from: delalluvia on July 10, 2009, 01:40:13 pm ---Heh, The Alienist wasn't long for me, it was a quickie 1 day read.

Penthesilea, if you like bodice-ripper, romance novels with a touch of time-travel thrown in and a LOT of 18th century Scottish history and culture, I highly recommend the book Outlander.  It is a massive tome, but never boring.

--- End quote ---

The Alienist is 512 pages long.  I read fast but not quite that fast.

I read "The Outlander" too, and yes, it's much longer, and not a fast read - I think the first book in that series has about 42 sex scenes.

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