20 long books to read while staying in
Put on the kettle. Mute your phone. We’ve got a lineup of epic journeys you can take right now, right where you are.
If your heart's full of wanderlust but you've got no plans to leave the couch, look no further. We've got a list of some of the best and longest eBooks to fill any quantity of leisure time.
And to help you decide on your destination, we’ve included how long each one will take to read.
(Click through any title to find the audiobook version.)
My Dark Vanessa
Now’s your chance to get ahead of your best-read friends. Hunker down with this and impress them that you’ve already read it when they bring it up. (10 hours to read)
Wolf Hall
Not only an incredible book in its own right as it imagines the perilous court of Henry VIII as vividly as the first season of House of Cards, but it’s also the start of a trilogy that just concluded with The Mirror & the Light. (19 hours to read)
The Dreamblood Duology
N. K. Jemisin is a writer of immense imagination and world-building skill: here she tells the story of a world in which magic is powered by dreams and overseen by a priesthood that also serve as executioners, and there’s someone (or something) killing people who...you know what? Let her tell it. (22 hours to read)
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The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt writes the kind of novels that remind us why we like reading in the first place. In the event that you finish it and still have more time to fill, we advise skipping the movie and reading another book from this list instead. (25 hours to read)
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The Name of the Wind
A story of kings, princesses, and magic that counts among its fans George R. R. Martin and Lin Manuel Miranda. And if you make it to the end, there’s a sequel. And if you make it to the end of that, you can join the legion anxiously awaiting the trilogy’s conclusion. (23 hours to read)
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The House of the Spirits
Isabel Allende’s 1982 debut novel comes from deep in our to-read pile. It’s a gorgeous multigenerational novel of Latin America that influenced an entire generation of writers around the world. (16 hours to read)
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Native Son
A classic 20th-century African-American novel, which tells the story of Bigger Thomas, a young man doomed to poverty, violence, and despair. (14 hours to read)
In the Woods
Tana French is the greatest mystery writer you’re not already obsessed with and though you could read this in one long sitting, you really shouldn’t. (17 hours to read)
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Crazy Rich Asians
The movie was hardly a fraction of the world Kevin Kwan created. And did you know it’s only the first in a trilogy? (11 hours to read)
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2666
Given the century-long, continent-jumping scope of Bolaño’s epic masterpiece, it’s actually a pretty short read. (34 hours to read)
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White Teeth
Before Zadie Smith was the pre-eminent British novelist we now know her as, she was the twenty-something author of this book that became an instant contemporary classic. (14 hours to read)
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A Brief History of Seven Killings
A portrait of 70s-era Jamaica so epic in scope it’s a wonder it can all fit in a book and a single reader’s mind. (21 hours to read)
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The Stand
A book legendary among Stephen King fans for being the one they haven’t read… yet. It’s time to end the excuses. (42 hours to read)
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The Lord of the Rings
Tolkien’s epic tale is a pretty good substitute for going on an actual trip with friends. (50 hours to read)
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Vanity Fair
Glamour! Intrigue! Comeuppance! A bonafide classic that will entitle you to say for the rest of your life every time someone mentions the magazine of the same name, “Oh, I thought you meant Thackeray's novel, which I quite enjoyed.” (27 hours to read)
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The Master Butchers Singing Club
An enchanting, imaginative work of historical fiction about a master butcher setting off for America with little more than his knives, a suitcase full of sausages, and his best friend’s pregnant widow. (12 hours to read)
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The Margaret Atwood 4-Book Bundle
It often feels like we should be reading more Margaret Atwood, and now might be the time to fix that once and for all. (57 hours to read)
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Middlemarch
Imagine the best PBS costume drama, except it’s four times as long as you expected and it’s all in one book. (29 hours to read)
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A Little Life
If you’re going to read a book notorious for making readers weep, you might as well do it at home where you’ll be the only one made uncomfortable by your sniffling. (27 hours to read)
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Harry Potter: The Complete Collection
Or maybe what we all need most right now is something easy and familiar like a trip on the Hogwarts Express. (99 hours to read)
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