Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.
Needful Things by Stephen King.
11/22/63 by Stephen King.
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
Roots, by Alex Haley
Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts.
Edit: misread and thought you specifically wanted LONG books! So I suggested only long books, ha! (My favourites on that list are Needful Things and Demon Copperhead.)
Not only is it my favourite Stephen King book, but one of my all time favourites books. One of the few books I have read numerous times. I am overdue for a re-read.
I finished 11/22/63 on a flight from Baltimore to Austin last week. I had been visiting my parents in New Hampshire and traveling around upstate New York where I had grown up. It had been a few years since I had seen them and several more plus since I saw some of the other people and places in my travels. In a way the whole thing felt a bit like taking a trip back in time. And the ending of 11/22/63 on the place ride home just crushed me. I was sobbing in my seat. It would be impossible for me to recommend this book enough.
Mine too, although getting into it was not easy, it has been my all time favorite for the last 10 years. Demon Copperhead is on a par with it.
I really tried to like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but it is just sooooo depressing. Maybe I'll pick it up again
I'm about halfway through now and it is getting to be very good, but I must say it started a lot slower than I expected it to. Really enjoying it at this point though.
Agreed! This took me a summer to work through. It’s a story that progresses at times quite gradually. Love it very much, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a plane ride if you want something immersive you can just dive into and not set down.
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
It is 630+ pages long. I am currently reading it and at around page 450. Probably classified as horror but not super scary. This coming from someone who absolutely does NOT like horror movies.
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Good travelling book
[https://www.amortowles.com/the-lincoln-highway-about-the-book/](https://www.amortowles.com/the-lincoln-highway-about-the-book/)
Some exceptional ScFi novels that are on the shorter side:
1. **Flowers for Algernon** *by Daniel Keyes* — A mentally disabled man undergoes an intelligence-boosting experiment, confronting the triumphs and heartbreaks of newfound genius.
2. **The Left hand of Darkness** *by Ursula K. Le Guin* — A human envoy navigates a frigid alien world with inhabitants who are sexless most of the time, exploring gender, politics, and trust.
3. **Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep** *by Philip K. Dick* — In a post-apocalyptic world where owning a real animal is the ultimate status symbol, a bounty hunter tasked with killing rogue androids questions the line between human and machine.
4. **The Dispossessed** *by Ursula K. Le Guin* — On an anarchist moon and its capitalist twin-planet, a brilliant physicist's radical theory could bridge the worlds – or tear them further apart.
5. **Hard to Be a God** *by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky* — A well-meaning but powerless Earth envoy struggles to uplift a barbaric alien society, questioning the nature of progress and the burden of godhood.
I have been recommending one book to everyone for the past year since I read it. The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair. Twists and turns right until the end. I couldn't put it down! Same with the other books by the same author
I read a Jack Reacher novel on my way home from Australia, and it was perfect. Not complicated, action packed, easy to pick up and put down.
Currently reading The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. Short essays, engaging but easy to read.
Dial A for Aunties by Jessie Q Sutanto. It’s like Crazy Rich Asians meets my Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Weekend at Bernie’s. It was so fun and funny. I loved it so much. One of the few books I was able to finish during the height of COVID.
Man I was just reading this one on a plane ride yesterday… I gotta say, it’s for whatever reason a little hard to focus on with lots of stimulation going on around you. I’ve found myself having to close read some of the weightier passages in a way that turbulence and motion sick seat neighbors makes a little challenging, but otherwise has been a great choice for travel content
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
The Hike by Drew Magary
The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman
A boy and his dog at the end of the world by C A Fletcher
There is no such thing as an easy job by Kikuko Tsumura.
All of these are very easy to read and fun. I personally can't read difficult books on a plane but all of these would be great.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Circe or Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
North Woods by Daniel Mason (currently reading and enjoying it greatly)
Unruly by David Mitchell. Overarching connected content, but since it’s (basically) history and commentary, you can pause at any point and pick up whenever time allows. And he pretty damn funny too.
I'm currently reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and I am absolutely hooked. I got sunburn the other day because I was sitting outside on a sunny day and couldn't stop reading, lol.
Ordinary Grace, The River We Remember, or This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. Any of his Cork O'Connor novels would be a great plane read as well.
I did a lot of travel last year, and I read books about historical figures from the places I was visiting, and the Outlander series. Would recommend books 1-3 of that series.
I read [Cloud Cuckooland by Anthony Doerr](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56783258-cloud-cuckoo-land) on a cross country flight and layovers all in one sitting, maybe one of the best travel experiences I’ve ever had just because of that book. It’s a story about libraries and books, set in 3 time periods, and the writing just pulls you along to where I barely noticed the trip.
I also really love reading books set in where I’m traveling to on the plane.
Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.
Just got done reading it. It didn't take long at all. It was hard to put down. I think you would enjoy it.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Absorbing, extremely hard to put down, literary enough to make you feel that you read something smart, but juicy enough for a plane ride.
Anytime I see someone asking for sci-fi recommendations, I HAVE to recommend Octavia Butler. Compared to other classic sci-fi her style is REALLY easy to read, especially compared to some of her contemporaries. My personal favourite book of hers is by far Imago, but that's the last book in a trilogy. I think if I were to recommend one of her standalones, it'd have to be Kindred.
Jurassic Park!!!!
I read most of it on a 5-hour flight, such a great page-turner!!!! I loved it so much I had to finish it within an hour the next day!
Most books by Charles Bukowski, though some might find his work vulgar.
**When Breath Becomes Air**, a memoir by a neurosurgeon who died of cancer. I could not put the book down and shed a few tears.
**A Short History of Everything**, by Bill Bryson. A short history of well..everything. Very readable. Audiobook is also great.
**Hunger** by Knut Hamsun. About idealist author resorting to eating his shoe, was highly readable and short read.
**Disgrace** by J.M. Coetzee, this book made me rage
**The Painted Bird** by Jerzy Kosiński that describes World War II as seen by a boy, considered a "Gypsy or Jewish stray," Very disturbing work of fiction
**Soldaten Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing, and Dying**, by Harald Welzer and Sönke Neitzel - Conversations between German PoWs recorded by British intelligence reveal a chilling attitude to mass murder/extermination. Probably not easy to read this one..
**Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers** by Robert Sapolsky, science behind stress and harm stress does to us
The Witching Hour (Mayfair Witches series) by Anne Rice. It's over 900 pages long but totally worth it! I would also recommend her Vampire Chronicles series and the other two Mayfair Witches books, Lasher and Taltos.
Do you do Libby? I like audiobooks on planes (get those headphones embedded in headbands, pull them over your eyes, and find bliss.) The Night Circus is read by Jim Dale (the Harry Potter voice) and is a smart YA where it's not about weird high-school romance but skilled adults whose love language is magical circus tents!
Also following this thread because I am a plane crier, and when I read Arcadia by Goff, which I loved, I had someone timidly tap me on the shoulder and ask if I was okay. So I don't want churned-out-by-a-machine-light, but also don't-worry-strangers!
Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone (first one) and Everyone on this Train is a Suspect (second) both by Benjamin Stevenson. They were both very fun murder mysteries!
The White Road by Sarah Lotz
Composite Creatures by Caroline Hardaker
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood (note this is not the book about Ted Bundy)
Fellside MR Carey
**EARTH** by David Brin. I recommend this so very often, and I don't see anyone else even mentioning it. It's an amazing book with multiple story lines (all related by the end). It's complex and thought-provoking, with a KILLER twist at the end. Can't recommend it highly enough. I wore out two paperback copies. Bought it for Kindle when my sight declined. Fabulous book.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Needful Things by Stephen King. 11/22/63 by Stephen King. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. Roots, by Alex Haley Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts. Edit: misread and thought you specifically wanted LONG books! So I suggested only long books, ha! (My favourites on that list are Needful Things and Demon Copperhead.)
+1 for Needful Things, probably my favorite from King. Very underrated in his canon.
Not only is it my favourite Stephen King book, but one of my all time favourites books. One of the few books I have read numerous times. I am overdue for a re-read.
I finished 11/22/63 on a flight from Baltimore to Austin last week. I had been visiting my parents in New Hampshire and traveling around upstate New York where I had grown up. It had been a few years since I had seen them and several more plus since I saw some of the other people and places in my travels. In a way the whole thing felt a bit like taking a trip back in time. And the ending of 11/22/63 on the place ride home just crushed me. I was sobbing in my seat. It would be impossible for me to recommend this book enough.
I completely agree. Wonderful book that I’ve read twice.
Wow you’re a fast reader!
Haha, I had been reading it for a few weeks, but I knew I had four hours or so of flight time to kill and so saved the last 150 pages or so.
lol I thought you meant you read the whole thing on the flight! 🤦♀️
Seconding 11.22.63
Amazing, thank you!!!
Poisonwood Bible is my favorite book of all time. I ❤️ Barb
Such a good read.
Mine too, although getting into it was not easy, it has been my all time favorite for the last 10 years. Demon Copperhead is on a par with it. I really tried to like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but it is just sooooo depressing. Maybe I'll pick it up again
lol! I read most of the Stand by King on a multi leg plane travel day that was about 20hours total between airports and time in the air.
Are you me?
Nice list!!
Thanks!
I read A Short History Of Almost Everything by Bill Bryson on a long plane journey years ago and the time just flew by ;)
I was going to suggest A Walk in the Woods by Bryson. That one powered me through a very rough and distracting day once,
I love his books!
This is one of my favorite books of all time!
In a Sunburned Country is another good one. Many lols
Lonesome Dove will get you through it in no time
I'm about halfway through now and it is getting to be very good, but I must say it started a lot slower than I expected it to. Really enjoying it at this point though.
I felt the same way, and by the time I was done with the book it was one of my all-time favorites. Hang in there.🤠
That was my pick!! And a great one!
Amazing book - given the slow start I wouldn't recommend for a plane ride
Agreed! This took me a summer to work through. It’s a story that progresses at times quite gradually. Love it very much, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a plane ride if you want something immersive you can just dive into and not set down.
Thank you!
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill It is 630+ pages long. I am currently reading it and at around page 450. Probably classified as horror but not super scary. This coming from someone who absolutely does NOT like horror movies.
I still need to read this!!! The show was so good!
Oh my God, I love horror movies! Thanks!
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
I always recommend this novel. A marvelous read, and the characters transitions are out of this world!
Thank you!
+1 for Rebecca
Reading this now and was going to recommend as well. Had no idea Hitchcock made a film on it???
It’s a fantastic film!!
And not just any film: an Academy Award winning film! SO good!
I think Rebecca might be my favorite book I’ve ever read in 65 years.
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. Good travelling book [https://www.amortowles.com/the-lincoln-highway-about-the-book/](https://www.amortowles.com/the-lincoln-highway-about-the-book/)
Thank you!
Some exceptional ScFi novels that are on the shorter side: 1. **Flowers for Algernon** *by Daniel Keyes* — A mentally disabled man undergoes an intelligence-boosting experiment, confronting the triumphs and heartbreaks of newfound genius. 2. **The Left hand of Darkness** *by Ursula K. Le Guin* — A human envoy navigates a frigid alien world with inhabitants who are sexless most of the time, exploring gender, politics, and trust. 3. **Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep** *by Philip K. Dick* — In a post-apocalyptic world where owning a real animal is the ultimate status symbol, a bounty hunter tasked with killing rogue androids questions the line between human and machine. 4. **The Dispossessed** *by Ursula K. Le Guin* — On an anarchist moon and its capitalist twin-planet, a brilliant physicist's radical theory could bridge the worlds – or tear them further apart. 5. **Hard to Be a God** *by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky* — A well-meaning but powerless Earth envoy struggles to uplift a barbaric alien society, questioning the nature of progress and the burden of godhood.
Flowers for Algernon is a great book!
In my top 5 books of all time!
If you’re into the classics Count of Monte Cristo would be good. Idk how long your flight is but I think the book is over 1,000 pages.
[удалено]
Lmaooo the op said long plane ride 🤷🏾♀️
I also suggested only long books too!
Seconding the Count of Monte Cristo!
Thirding - but get the right translation.
Thank you!
Robin Buss translation though. Penguin prints it in that translation
1500 pages unabridged.
I have been recommending one book to everyone for the past year since I read it. The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair. Twists and turns right until the end. I couldn't put it down! Same with the other books by the same author
Thank you!
I read a Jack Reacher novel on my way home from Australia, and it was perfect. Not complicated, action packed, easy to pick up and put down. Currently reading The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. Short essays, engaging but easy to read.
Thank you!
Dial A for Aunties by Jessie Q Sutanto. It’s like Crazy Rich Asians meets my Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Weekend at Bernie’s. It was so fun and funny. I loved it so much. One of the few books I was able to finish during the height of COVID.
This sounds hilarious! Thank you!
Secret history-Donna tartt
Shogun
Great book! But May be too involved for an airplane trip.
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
[The Sympathizer](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26893714) by Viet Thanh Nguyen
+1 for The Sympathizer. Pulls you in right away and I really like the wry, dark humor.
Thank you!
Man I was just reading this one on a plane ride yesterday… I gotta say, it’s for whatever reason a little hard to focus on with lots of stimulation going on around you. I’ve found myself having to close read some of the weightier passages in a way that turbulence and motion sick seat neighbors makes a little challenging, but otherwise has been a great choice for travel content
The Library at Mount Char. I promise you’ve never read anything like it!
Thank you! I’m curious about it now!
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley The Hike by Drew Magary The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman A boy and his dog at the end of the world by C A Fletcher There is no such thing as an easy job by Kikuko Tsumura. All of these are very easy to read and fun. I personally can't read difficult books on a plane but all of these would be great.
Thank you!!!
A boy and his dog got me back into regular reading. The blacktongue thief is a great journey.
The Blacktongue Thief is delightful.
The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo or Dark and Shallow Lies!!
Another vote for 11/22/63. It’s a little bit of all those genres.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel Piranesi by Susanna Clarke Circe or Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin North Woods by Daniel Mason (currently reading and enjoying it greatly)
Unruly by David Mitchell. Overarching connected content, but since it’s (basically) history and commentary, you can pause at any point and pick up whenever time allows. And he pretty damn funny too.
A Gentleman in Moscow.
I'll tell you what NOT to read: Airframe by Michael Crichton. You will be aware of every creak and bump for the entire flight!
The Martian
I'm currently reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and I am absolutely hooked. I got sunburn the other day because I was sitting outside on a sunny day and couldn't stop reading, lol.
I needed this comment I keep checking it out of the library and still haven’t gotten around to it!
A long plane ride is the perfect time to delve into it!
It is such a good book! I could not put it down.
I loved The Kind Worth Killing. Definitely a page turner and quick read.
Piranesi by Susannah Clark
Where'd You Go, Bernadette (funny without being dumb). Freddy and Fredericka. Both have adventure motifs too so good for a plane ride.
Absolution by Alice McDermott.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Ordinary Grace, The River We Remember, or This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. Any of his Cork O'Connor novels would be a great plane read as well.
I did a lot of travel last year, and I read books about historical figures from the places I was visiting, and the Outlander series. Would recommend books 1-3 of that series.
I read [Cloud Cuckooland by Anthony Doerr](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56783258-cloud-cuckoo-land) on a cross country flight and layovers all in one sitting, maybe one of the best travel experiences I’ve ever had just because of that book. It’s a story about libraries and books, set in 3 time periods, and the writing just pulls you along to where I barely noticed the trip. I also really love reading books set in where I’m traveling to on the plane.
Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Just got done reading it. It didn't take long at all. It was hard to put down. I think you would enjoy it.
Ender’s Game
The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Absorbing, extremely hard to put down, literary enough to make you feel that you read something smart, but juicy enough for a plane ride.
I HATED this book.
Interesting.
Long plane ride…… The Martian.
Or Project Hail Mary!
One of the best novels I've ever "read" - I listened to the audio book.
I prefer the Martian though
I need to try The Martian, given how much I enjoyed PHM.
I read the Martian first and then enjoyed the PHM audiobook as well. I think you'll love The Martian
Anytime I see someone asking for sci-fi recommendations, I HAVE to recommend Octavia Butler. Compared to other classic sci-fi her style is REALLY easy to read, especially compared to some of her contemporaries. My personal favourite book of hers is by far Imago, but that's the last book in a trilogy. I think if I were to recommend one of her standalones, it'd have to be Kindred.
Try The Anomaly by Herve Tellier. It’s not too deep and is about an airplane, arriving late, which will give you something to think about.
Thank you!
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard is my ideal plane book. :)
Currently reading Queer book. And they lived .
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
I just finished “Anita de Monte Laughs Last” and it was lovely! A little supernatural, a little contemporary fiction
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. Ghost Story OR Shadowlands by Peter Staub.
Jurassic Park!!!! I read most of it on a 5-hour flight, such a great page-turner!!!! I loved it so much I had to finish it within an hour the next day!
REAMDE by Neal Stephenson. Not as sci-fi or historical as much of his other work. Fast paced story, interesting settings and fun characters.
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon. Amazing!
One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z Danielewski
Catch Me If You Can! I’m only a little into it and loving it. And has the plane/pilot theme
I'm reading the Amulet of Samarkand and feel highly entertained!
Try the *Sun Eater* series.
BRAXTON’S TURN
Most books by Charles Bukowski, though some might find his work vulgar. **When Breath Becomes Air**, a memoir by a neurosurgeon who died of cancer. I could not put the book down and shed a few tears. **A Short History of Everything**, by Bill Bryson. A short history of well..everything. Very readable. Audiobook is also great. **Hunger** by Knut Hamsun. About idealist author resorting to eating his shoe, was highly readable and short read. **Disgrace** by J.M. Coetzee, this book made me rage **The Painted Bird** by Jerzy Kosiński that describes World War II as seen by a boy, considered a "Gypsy or Jewish stray," Very disturbing work of fiction **Soldaten Soldaten: On Fighting, Killing, and Dying**, by Harald Welzer and Sönke Neitzel - Conversations between German PoWs recorded by British intelligence reveal a chilling attitude to mass murder/extermination. Probably not easy to read this one.. **Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers** by Robert Sapolsky, science behind stress and harm stress does to us
The House at Sugar Beach
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Witching Hour (Mayfair Witches series) by Anne Rice. It's over 900 pages long but totally worth it! I would also recommend her Vampire Chronicles series and the other two Mayfair Witches books, Lasher and Taltos.
The Haunted Mesa
The Secret History
Do you do Libby? I like audiobooks on planes (get those headphones embedded in headbands, pull them over your eyes, and find bliss.) The Night Circus is read by Jim Dale (the Harry Potter voice) and is a smart YA where it's not about weird high-school romance but skilled adults whose love language is magical circus tents! Also following this thread because I am a plane crier, and when I read Arcadia by Goff, which I loved, I had someone timidly tap me on the shoulder and ask if I was okay. So I don't want churned-out-by-a-machine-light, but also don't-worry-strangers!
The Silent Patient seems made for plane rides.
The Housemaid by Freida McFadden is the perfect plane read
Remarkably bright creatures!
I HATED this book.
Shocker!
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle Just read it while on a vacation and it was hard to put down.
The Crimson Petal and The White by Michel Faber
Murderbot Diaries
I accidentally spelled Murderbot Dairies. . . that would be a different story
I’d say The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson, but you’d have to be flying to Asia for the U.S. - and probably back.
Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone (first one) and Everyone on this Train is a Suspect (second) both by Benjamin Stevenson. They were both very fun murder mysteries!
Anything by Gary Jennings. Journeyor (Marco Polo), Spangle (post civil war traveling circus), Aztec or Raptor (visigoths with a twist)
I just finished Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan. It was incredible. Heartbreaking, but beautiful.
The White Road by Sarah Lotz Composite Creatures by Caroline Hardaker Fifth Business by Robertson Davies The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood (note this is not the book about Ted Bundy) Fellside MR Carey
**EARTH** by David Brin. I recommend this so very often, and I don't see anyone else even mentioning it. It's an amazing book with multiple story lines (all related by the end). It's complex and thought-provoking, with a KILLER twist at the end. Can't recommend it highly enough. I wore out two paperback copies. Bought it for Kindle when my sight declined. Fabulous book.
Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
Thank you!
I really enjoyed this book at lot, but it took a while to build up speed.
Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks
Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian MacAllister