sweeping epic novels - recommendations
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Anonymous
| The 18 volumes of Maisie Dobbs start just after WW1 (with some flashbacks) and end as WW2 comes to an end. Every character doesn't make it to the end, but enough of them do to make your heart sing at the end. |
Anonymous
Chesapeake was entertaining if just for some local history. The Sarum books were my favorite |
Anonymous
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The Stand, especially the unabridged version
Now that I’m on the 16th Louise Penny, I’d put the Gamache series on this list too. I’m really invested in the backstory of all the characters. |
Anonymous
I just read and loved The Covenant. It's about how South Africa came to be. Am now reading Hawaii, and it's really good so far, too. |
Anonymous
This isn't a sweeping epic novel, just a series. I like the characters, but Penny's writing is so annoying after a while. She uses so many sentence fragments. Like this. Because she can. |
Anonymous
Yaaas! Love this book! |
Anonymous
A good multigenerational story but I wouldn’t call it an epic. If we’re going with this “scale”, then Cutting For Stone is amazing. Nonfiction that reads like fiction: Random Family covers a pretty wide stretch of time, and a lot of changes for the “characters”. People of the Book follows an object through multiple periods of history. |
Anonymous
| The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois is excellent. |
Anonymous
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+1 for Kristin Lavransdatter. I prefer the newer translation by Tiina Nunnally over the original translation by Charles Archer and J.S. Scott. Archer/Scott reads as archaic and stilted, whereas Nunnally's modern rendering flows more easily. However, I'm sure there are people who prefer the Archer/Scott, because it sounds more authentic and medieval-ish.
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Anonymous
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I'll second:
East of Eden The Stand 100 Years of Solitude Vanity Fair And add: Wolf Hall Dead Souls Anna Karenina 1Q84 |
Anonymous
PP here. Can't believe I forgot Huck Finn. |
Anonymous
| The Kent Family Chronicles series by John Jakes: The Bastard, The Rebels, The Seekers, etc. I read them obsessively. |
Anonymous
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Aztec by Gary Jennings.
He's written a couple other epics, too, but this is my favorite. |
Anonymous
I read this a long time ago, wanted to re-read it but had forgotten the title. Thanks- |
Anonymous
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Katherine, by Anya Seton.
Seconding A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth. And next on my own list, so I'm passing on the title without having read it yet: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. Also, Dumas' Three Musketeers and sequels are fantastic if you haven't read them. |