Ten substantial novels recommended for long winter nights

Calum Marsh compiled a list of 10 long novels to settle into this winter in a Jan. 21, 2026, piece for The New York Times Book Review. Marsh frames winter’s long nights as ideal for tackling substantial volumes — fantasy epics, pastoral classics and family dramas — noting that some of the selections span 1,000 pages or more.

The roundup ranges from well-researched historical fiction to mordant satire and experimental narratives. The list includes Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s The Sisters, described as a sprawling family saga and named one of the Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2025; Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries, set in New Zealand in 1866 and clocking in at 826 pages; George Eliot’s Middlemarch, likened to a great season of television; William Gaddis’s JR, nearly 800 pages written almost entirely in dialogue; Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport, presented as almost a 1,000-page stream-of-consciousness sentence; Sergio De La Pava’s A Naked Singularity, which was self-published in 2008 and later won a PEN Award; Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum; George R.R.

Martin’s A Game of Thrones; Hilary Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety; and David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King. Many entries are accompanied by reviews in the Book Review, and Marsh presents the list as reading options to savor over the season.

Key Topics

Culture, Calum Marsh, The Sisters, The Luminaries, Middlemarch