Abe Books rounds up 15 of the longest novels of all time, and provides pithy, Twitter-length summaries for them. For instance, Remembrance Rock by Carl Sandburg: “Three centuries of the American dream. From the Pilgrims to World War II. Hail to America. High fives.” And War and Peace: “Napoleon & Co invade Russia but that’s the least of the problems for five posh Russian families. Love and cannonballs. Much war, little peace.”

I remember one of these books, The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye, sitting on my parents’ book shelf when I was very young. Then one day, it started appearing on the coffee table. Dad was actually reading it! And I remember thinking: It would take years to read something like that. He managed to finish in a couple of weeks, and my notion of what was possible changed.

I read all of Infinite Jest, including every footnote at the appropriate time, but Atlas Shrugged is probably the longest novel I’ve ever read. And boy, did it feel like it.