No longer do we have to suffer from bruises and scrapes from dozing off while reading in bed. Your reader may sting a little when it hits you in the face, but it's nothing like that beautiful hardback version of Ulysses you bought that leaves a new dent in your forehead halfway through the second chapter every time you try to read it.
What about a story so epic that paperbacks can't even contain it? A book so epic that gravity rips the book in half when you carefully remove one hand to take a sip of your drink.
E-Book readers can handle even the most epic stories. No longer do we have to suffer at the limits of p-book technology. So, I ask you, brethren of the digital biblium, to recommend a few such books.





I'll start:
Aztec by Gary Jennings
Lonesome Dove by Larry Mcmurtry

The Foundation Trilogy.

Robert Jordan's the Wheel of Time series.

Heavy enough in Paperback, The Hardback's are impossible to read comfortably single handedly.

Proust.
And Balzac's Comedie Humaine.

The Odyssey (although my edition is not actually *that* unweildy)
Moby Dick
Don Quixote

These aren't epic novels, but they are massive tomes and I wish I had them as ebooks:

The Riverside Shakespeare - I would like to have this as an ebook, or some other well-annotated complete Shakespeare collection

The Norton Anthologies - although the Harvard Classics that RWood graciously uploaded makes a very good replacement for these

OED - don't we all wish we could have this as a usable (searchable) ebook

Encyclopaedia Brittanica - ditto

The Columbia History of the World - and a host of other reference books

Stephen R. Donaldson - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

The First Chronicles:

1. Lord Foul's Bane (1977)
2. The Illearth War (1978)
3. The Power that Preserves (1979)

The Second Chronicles:

1. The Wounded Land (1980)
2. The One Tree (1982)
3. White Gold Wielder (1983)

The Trilogy's are huge and heavy!

also his Gap Series.

1. The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story (1991)
2. The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (1991)
3. The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises (1993)
4. The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order (1994)
5. The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die (1996)

These aren't epic novels, but they are massive tomes and I wish I had them as ebooks:

OED - don't we all wish we could have this as a usable (searchable) ebook



The OED and others are available at Fictionwise as Mobi and MS Reader files.

Unfortunately that wouldn't work on your sony. But they are still searchable on the desktop.

In fact a good dictionary and a thesaurus is a must have on my list of books to get, once I recover from the hole that buying the Gen3 put in my funds :rolleyes:.
My only wish is that the gen3 would let you search for a specific word and not just look one up:angry:.

But they'll probably fix that first for the kindle (If its not already there)

These aren't epic novels, but they are massive tomes and I wish I had them as ebooks:

The Riverside Shakespeare - I would like to have this as an ebook, or some other well-annotated complete Shakespeare collection

The Norton Anthologies - although the Harvard Classics that RWood graciously uploaded makes a very good replacement for these

OED - don't we all wish we could have this as a usable (searchable) ebook

Encyclopaedia Brittanica - ditto

The Columbia History of the World - and a host of other reference books


Oh, hell yes. I also wish that I could have my entire law library (Federal and all states) on a nice SD that I could just carry with me anywhere. And, it would be searchable, and I could make notes and bookmarks .... oh, man ... I would be one happy camper with that and Shakespeare and a really good encyclopedia (the Wiki is wonderful, but sometimes it's gi/go ... you know?)

My treebook copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (http://www.jonathanstrange.com/) made my hands hurt every time I opened it, but it was sooo worth it. Ginormous and full of hilarious goodness, though an ebook version would've felt better.

Oh, hell yes. I also wish that I could have my entire law library (Federal and all states) on a nice SD that I could just carry with me anywhere. And, it would be searchable, and I could make notes and bookmarks .... oh, man ... I would be one happy camper with that and Shakespeare and a really good encyclopedia (the Wiki is wonderful, but sometimes it's gi/go ... you know?)

Have you checked out

http://www.mobilereference.com/

They appear to have alot of reference materiel in Mobipocket format.

haven't bought anything from them but looks interesting.

Has anyone actually bought a book from them? are they standard open prc's or secure mobipocket books.

The OED and others are available at Fictionwise as Mobi and MS Reader files.


Only the "Concise" Oxford is. I think the previous poster is referring to the 23 volume (or however many it is now) "complete" OED.

Only the "Concise" Oxford is. I think the previous poster is referring to the 23 volume (or however many it is now) "complete" OED.

Oh, Ok.
When I think of the Oxford English dictionary, the biggest one I usually think off is the Concise one, a copy of which we had at home and in the school library.

The only time I think I saw the complete one was at the local British Council Library :), and even then just to look at from afar.

Since then I've been spoilt by using an electronic dictionary for most purposes, and while it does have American spellings, it does get the job done most times :rolleyes:.

The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.

Only the "Concise" Oxford is. I think the previous poster is referring to the 23 volume (or however many it is now) "complete" OED.

Yes, I meant the OED, not the Concise OED, although obviously neither is available for my Sony in a form I can practically use and I would gladly have pay for either one that did. My copy of the OED For The Common Man which I carry in my head is getting a bit long of tooth (if I don't know the meaning of a word, I make one up).

Proust.
...

I haven't started Proust yet, Patricia. People keep putting barriers (that is, other books) in my way. :)

Cheers,
Marc

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

LOTR is my favourite "epic" too, astra. I read it at least once a year. Shame it's not available as a legal eBook :(.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

For the life of me, I couldn't think of one, completely forgetting the first (as in, first "serious" books I ever read). Yes, LotR for me too.

Cheers,
Marc

Yes, I meant the OED, not the Concise OED, although obviously neither is available for my Sony in a form I can practically use and I would gladly have pay for either one that did. My copy of the OED For The Common Man which I carry in my head is getting a bit long of tooth (if I don't know the meaning of a word, I make one up).

Spoken like a true American.

;)

I hope by the time I am ready to re-read it again, probably in 2-3 years, it(legal ebook version) will be available.

(Although I would not hesitate to use darknet version because I am owning..let me count...5 different versions of LOTR. Plus one paperback is donated to Oxfam)
1 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618645616)
2 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395489326)
3 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lord-Rings-book-boxset-hardbacks/dp/0007136587/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b)
4 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lord-Rings-Hobbit-illustrated-hardback/dp/0007105029/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212935585&sr=8-5)
last but not least
5 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lord-Rings-J-R-Tolkien/dp/0261103687/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1212935766&sr=11-1)

Ok,

Gotta say the Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth series is an Epic... some of those books were huge in their own right.

BOb

Anthony Powell's 'A Dance to the Music of Time'. Twelve novels in four "Movements". I started reading in the early- or mid-fifties, and had to wait until each new novel would come out and appear at my local Free Carnegie Library (the city library). I don't believe they are in ebooks.

For epic fantasy I'd say LotR, Martin's Song of Ice & Fire and Erickson's Malazan Books of the Fallen, are some of my favorites.

The "Space Trilogy" or "Ransom Trilogy" series by C.S. Lewis. I loved them, but they were a pain to carry as one volume.

Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' - a great read, but a hefty one.

Peter F. Hamilton's SF tomes are wrist breakers too, but worth it!

There is a book, the name of which escapes me, that I would love to have on my Kindle. It is called something like: "The History of the Isle." Basically a history of the British Isles fro mpre-history ot modern times. I keep trying to read it, but the dropping of the book when I finally succumb to sleep keeps me losing my place. Frustrating. Plus it is too big to lug around for interstitial reading. I have it at home and Amazon seems to be down again today, so I can't look it up.

There is a book, the name of which escapes me, that I would love to have on my Kindle. It is called something like: "The History of the Isle." Basically a history of the British Isles fro mpre-history ot modern times. I keep trying to read it, but the dropping of the book when I finally succumb to sleep keeps me losing my place. Frustrating. Plus it is too big to lug around for interstitial reading. I have it at home and Amazon seems to be down again today, so I can't look it up.
interstitial reading is a beautiful expression. i hope you won't mind if i shamelessly steal it from you.

Can't say as it was mine to steal, but go ahead.

St. Valentine's Castle
I'm intrigued by the homocidal ewwy gooey species.
Somewhere in my dust collection (p-book shelf), I have a follow up short story, where V has to go back to the desert dead place and open a can of whup-bottom on them critters, once and for all.

Make that Lord Valentine's Castle.

:heart::sweethear:heart:

The Baen published Honorverse series by Weber. May not be great literature but definitely enjoyed it. Of course, all of my degrees are in engineering so what do I know about great literature except that some of it really helps me go to sleep.

Now take a second to smile at us poor country boys before you respond.

All 5 parts of the Hitch Hikers Guide. It's fairly hefty, and it just makes sense to have it on an electronic decide.
I don't know if something like Pratchett's 'The Last Hero' would look good on an e-reader, but it was too heavy to keep holding up in the bath. Have requested a bath caddy (http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gorgeous-gifts/gifts-for-her/bath-caddy/index.html) for my birthday for other such tomes.

Epic books I have as ebooks, which make reading them a lot easier, include George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series, Peter Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy, Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. Oh, and "Moby Dick". Epic books I'd *like* to have as ebooks but which aren't available: "The Lord of the Rings" of course, Michael Scott Rohan's "Winter of the World" trilogy, Guy Gavriel Kay's "Fionavar Tapestry", Mary Gentle's "Ash", "Golden Witchbreed/Ancient Light" and "White Crow" books, and the collected works of Michael Moorcock.

I'll start:
Aztec by Gary Jennings

This book is a cheap knock off of a far better book

The Luck of Huemac by Daniel Peters
http://www.amazon.com/Luck-Huemac-Daniel-Peters/dp/0394513134

It's out of print but there are still many used copies floating around.

This book is a cheap knock off of a far better book

The Luck of Huemac by Daniel Peters
http://www.amazon.com/Luck-Huemac-Daniel-Peters/dp/0394513134

It's out of print but there are still many used copies floating around.

Cool, I'll check it out. Thanks!

The Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. A continuous epic spanning 20 volumes starting with Master and Commander.

The Stand by Stephen King

[QUOTE=jwhayn;197185]The Baen published Honorverse series by Weber. May not be great literature but definitely enjoyed it. Of course, all of my degrees are in engineering so what do I know about great literature except that some of it really helps me go to sleep.

The Honor Harrington series is great and is a good entertaining read....I loved it! Anything that allows me to escape from the daily grind is fine literature to me!!

Not as High Falutin' as some mentioned, but I would agree with those listing Lonesome Dove. Wish I could put the book on my Kindle just to bookmark the chapter where Augustus bakes the cathead biscuits. Mmm Mmm. Good eatin' and good readin'.

war and peace,
a short sweet love story
of one for their country

Just to throw out another one, which is not an epic novel, but the epic history of the United States: A Patriot's History of the United States. A HUGE book, which I am about 1/3 way through in the ebook format from booksonboard.com. Love It!

A couple people have already mentioned Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, but it is probably my favorite epic, so it gets mentioned again. I can't wait until his next book comes out - which I will be reading on my Kindle.

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is another mammoth book that I enjoyed.

Hi. I'm registered here for a long time (3+ years) but this is actually my first post. So bear that in mind when ignoring my reply (no pressure, right?).

Dune.

(I spent 3 years waiting to say those 4 letters. Talk about emphasizing...)

Hi. I'm registered here for a long time (3+ years) but this is actually my first post. So bear that in mind when ignoring my reply (no pressure, right?).

Dune.

(I spent 3 years waiting to say those 4 letters. Talk about emphasizing...)

Hah! That'll teach you for telling me what to do! See? I'm not ignoring your post at all! What are you going to do about it? Huh? ;)

(Yes, Dune is a goody. Nice opening gambit, gmvasco. :) )

Cheers,
Marc

My treebook copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (http://www.jonathanstrange.com/) made my hands hurt every time I opened it, but it was sooo worth it. Ginormous and full of hilarious goodness, though an ebook version would've felt better. Sorry. This is one of the very few books that I've abandoned part-way through. I found it only mildly interesting and had not finished it when the 2 week check-out period from the library was coming to an end. I did write down the page number so I could resume reading some day in the future if the spirit so moved me. So far, however, I've found other things to read.

We all have different tastes; I think it's a wonderful book, personally. So much so that, having bought the paperback initially, I immediately went out and bought the hardback, because it's definitely a "keeper" for me.

I'm with Elsi; I managed to get through "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell", but didn't enjoy it.

Seems like it's one of those "love 'em or hate 'em" ones.

I quite liked it.

Still no legal ebook although there is one on darknet.
I am waiting...giving them a chance.

michelle west's The Sun Sword series - all 6 of them plus the 2 oath books and the hidden city that tell the "side" of the story ;)

and another vote for George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire

Stephen R. Donaldson - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

The First Chronicles:

1. Lord Foul's Bane (1977)
2. The Illearth War (1978)
3. The Power that Preserves (1979)

The Second Chronicles:

1. The Wounded Land (1980)
2. The One Tree (1982)
3. White Gold Wielder (1983)

The Trilogy's are huge and heavy!

also his Gap Series.

1. The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story (1991)
2. The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (1991)
3. The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises (1993)
4. The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order (1994)
5. The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die (1996)

I've been reading Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and I am just over half into the first book and I have the second book ready to go as well.

1. The Runes of the Earth (2004)
2. Fatal Revenant (2007)

Another epic work I have in the works is [i]The Stand (complete and uncut)[/] by Stephen King.

Terry Goodkind's work is epic as well. I've yet to read the last two books. Need to find time to do so when I can be bothered to read such large pBooks (no eBook editions exist legally).

Terry Goodkind's work is epic as well. I've yet to read the last two books. Need to find time to do so when I can be bothered to read such large pBooks (no eBook editions exist legally).

Meh, I think I read about 3 and the last one was a real struggle; not sure whether it's derivative or a lot of other stuff I've read is derived from it, but pretty bored overall.

Same with Feist's Magician; kinda felt like I'd read it all before.

Wheel of Time started out well but by about book 6 was a nightmare. If I left more than a couple of weeks between installments I forgot who was where with whom and even, latterly, who had been who when. Think I struggled up to 10 before giving.

Which is not to say that I don't like long, epic sagas. Just not minor variations on the same theme with casts of thousands.

EDIT : pfff... just ignore this post. i thought i was in the "what are you reading" thread. sorry. maybe i should have another cup of coffee... post moved to the appropriate thread.

Yesterday my nephew started talking about good old school books. He mentioned he liked "Where the Red Fern Grows". I remember as a kid this was one of my favorite books. Did anybody else read this. I also really liked "Summer of the Monkeys" by the same author.

While my preferred genre is Fantasy. I think the most notable books for me where not in that arena. Here is my list.

Carlos Castaneda series only read 9
Way of the Peaceful warrior by Dan Millman
The Last King by Micheal Ford:Rome's Greatest Enemy (Historcal Fiction)

Best Epic Was "Hour of the Dragon" by Robert E. Howard

=X=

Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' - a great read, but a hefty one.

Peter F. Hamilton's SF tomes are wrist breakers too, but worth it!

The Night Dawn's Trilogy got me back to reading some years back. 2k+ pages per book in MMPB is quite a lot.

Meh, I think I read about 3 and the last one was a real struggle; not sure whether it's derivative or a lot of other stuff I've read is derived from it, but pretty bored overall.

Same with Feist's Magician; kinda felt like I'd read it all before.

Wheel of Time started out well but by about book 6 was a nightmare. If I left more than a couple of weeks between installments I forgot who was where with whom and even, latterly, who had been who when. Think I struggled up to 10 before giving.

Which is not to say that I don't like long, epic sagas. Just not minor variations on the same theme with casts of thousands.

I dropped Feist because it was getting to be just another Shounen Manga. Robin Hobb also always has the same plot structure, it seems. Soldier Son Trilogy is just the same as the Farseer line of books.

As for Goodkind... I liked the first half of the series but then he degenerated into a preacher. Still finished reading all books, though. :/

Wheel of Time started out well but by about book 6 was a nightmare.


I can sympathise. I discovered the series when book 6 or 7 came out, a lost patience when book 10 came out. I refused to buy any more of the series untill it was completed as I was afraid that the series would remain unfinished :( if he died. Unfortunately it looks like those fears were justified.:(

Will have to see how the final volume that his wife is going to help write turns out.

I can sympathise. I discovered the series when book 6 or 7 came out, a lost patience when book 10 came out. I refused to buy any more of the series untill it was completed as I was afraid that the series would remain unfinished :( if he died. Unfortunately it looks like those fears were justified.:(

Will have to see how the final volume that his wife is going to help write turns out.His wife has "helped write" every one of the books. She was also his editor at Tor.

I passed on the series for a long time, as it got the sort of drooling fanboy raves that tend to put me off. But Tor issued the first half of the first book as a giveaway PB, I read it on a slow afternoon, and liked it enough to buy the full book to find out what happened next. these days, I buy them in hardcover when released.

A contact once said "All the ingredients are familiar, but it's a tasty stew". She was quite right. And while the series is dense and prolonged, Jordan had two attributes I found essential. First, he managed to give each character a unique "voice". You seldom encountered the common problem in stretches of dialog of keeping track of just who is talking. Second, he was adept at not taking the obvious path. Plot threads might point in certain directions, but you seldom wound up where you thought you might.

It was obvious in the last couple of books that Jordan was working toward wrapping up the series. There's a chess term called Zwischenzug, or "in-between move". It covers the situation where there's something you want to do, but must set up the conditions first. Jordan had been moving his pieces into position for the end game.

We'll see how good a job Brian Sanderson does at completing the last book. He's demonstrated he's a competant writer. Jordan's wife/editor chose him. and Jordan knew he might not live to complete the book, and left behind a comprehensive outline and notes as to what he intended to do.

I think the test will be, will the average reader be able to tell where Jordan left off and Sanderson took up the reins.
_____
Dennis

Where the Red Fern Grows was my absolute favorite book when I was a teenager.

I recommend P. C. Hodgell's Kencyrath books. First is "God Stalk." There are 3 more novels, plus one anthology. All available in bits at Webscriptions.

I'll leave it up to some other fan to describe the series...

Xenophon

The *shortest* epic fantasy I know of is M. John Harrison's "The Pastel City", which manages to hit all the themes of epic fantasy (major war, small band of heroes, echoes of past grandeur, long treks through evocative landscapes, sinister bad guys, bittersweet triumph) in about 140 pages! It's available as an ebook in the volume called "Viriconium", which includes two more novels and a bunch of short stories set in versions of the same world. Strangely, richly written, in a Mervyn Peake sort of way.

The *shortest* epic fantasy I know of is M. John Harrison's "The Pastel City", which manages to hit all the themes of epic fantasy (major war, small band of heroes, echoes of past grandeur, long treks through evocative landscapes, sinister bad guys, bittersweet triumph) in about 140 pages! It's available as an ebook in the volume called "Viriconium", which includes two more novels and a bunch of short stories set in versions of the same world. Strangely, richly written, in a Mervyn Peake sort of way.
_The Pastel City_ is a minor classic, and the Viriconium stories are wonderful.

Avram Davidson reviewed _The Pastel City_ for F&SF years back, and essentially said "Jeez, this #$%&@ can write! Why is he doing this fantasy crap?" I had a higher opinion of the work than that, but I understood Avram's feelings. Harrison can write, and Davidson thought he should be doing more ambitious work than Yet Another Fantasy Novel in a genre grown popular in the wake of Tolkien.

Well, we all have to start somewhere. Harrison has gone on to more ambitious things, witness his recent _Light_.
______
Dennis

Favorite epics. Hm. LOTR, obviously, yes. Dune, yes (but not the sequels). C.J. Cherry's Cyteen, I think, should count as an epic. Michner's Space.

I liked Hodgell's Kencyrath books, but I'm not sure I'd describe them as "epic." Well, maybe.... There's a multi-generation problem that takes several volumes to tackle... but the author hasn't gotten around to "solving" it yet, and I'm not sure she ever will. That doesn't seem to be the point of the stories.

But I'm not sure I'm using the term "epic" the same way as it's being used in this thread. Wiktionary defines "epic" as "An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero." or "A series of events considered appropriate to an epic." There is also a Wikipedia entry for Epic Fantasy/High Fantasy which specifically mentions Jame (the main character from Hodgell's stories.)

I'm very fond of the Genji Monogatori and think it could count as eipic.

But I'm not sure I'm using the term "epic" the same way as it's being used in this thread. Wiktionary defines "epic" as "An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero." or "A series of events considered appropriate to an epic." There is also a Wikipedia entry for Epic Fantasy/High Fantasy which specifically mentions Jame (the main character from Hodgell's stories.)

If we're going back to the original meaning of the word "Epic" in Greek poetry, the word referred to any long poem whatsoever written in dactylic hexameter metre. It was due to the use of this metre by the Homeric poems (the Iliad and Odyssey) that the word subsequently became associated with the subject matter being of a "heroic" nature rather than referring to the metre in which it was written.