Oh, dear … these all sound terribly literary. Have they been made into films/movies? That would, perhaps, be easier. Not that I’m necessarily all that keen on literary films/movies either: didn’t like The Pianist (only going to see it with my girlfriend on the basis I might get into her panties as a result ¹ ) and I can’t even bear to contemplate the title of Captain Whatshisface’s Madolin, let alone watch it!
My own recommendation would be Imajica or Galilee by Clive Barker.
Anything by Barker actually … he’s one of my all-time favourite authors … but those two in particular. Principally because they’re extremely good, but in this context specifically because they took me far longer to read than any of the above would.
I’d end up putting your recommendations down and never picking them up again … or turning the film/movie off and finding something else to watch … so, I’d finish them in no time at all!
Whereas, despite being one of my all-time favourite authors and really loving his work, Barker’s stuff nearly always leaves me dashing out, in a frenzy of anticipation, to buy it as soon as it’s available, reading about a quarter-to-a-third of the way through, only to put it down because I can’t take it any more … and it then taking months before I can face trying again, only to pick it up once more, start over from the beginning and read straight through to the end with barely any pause to eat or sleep, wondering to myself afterwards “That was fantastic … I wish it hadn’t ended … what on Earth was my problem before!?”
In fact, I think it was eighteen months (if not two years) that Galilee sat on my shelf before I was able to face trying it again — really glad I did though … one of his best!
So … if you want a book it might take you two years to read and not get around to even starting again until long after this Coronavirus thing is long since over … try one of those two.
Or there are Pratchett’s Discworld novels … at forty-one novels end-to-end, multiple times longer than even War And Peace — and a lot more fun to read too!
Or the collected works of Ray Bradbury … an enormous oeuvre (possibly even larger than Pratchett’s) and, again, without the tedious literary pretensions of Proust et al.
Well, I’m done rubbishing your taste in literature now and have to get back to killing people ² … so have fun reading your books .. l8trz, dood.
</just my two cents’ worth of better taste 😜>
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¹ https://medium.com/@WhereAngelsFearToTread/top-tip-85f2bc0ca25d
² Will this game never end!?
