If the story is good, you won't notice the page count. If the physical size is what scares you the most, maybe an e-reader or reading app on your phone/tablet can alleviate that.
And remember - you don't owe a book anything. If it sucks, just drop it. There are many more compelling stories out there worth a read.
this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2026
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It's no different from other books. Start on page 1 and proceed by induction from page n to page n+1.
The main hazard is if the book is only ok. If it's great, you treasure having read it. If it sucks you quit fairly early, no prob. If it's just ok, you probably spend a bunch of time reading all the way through and then regret having done so.
Adventure books like Count of Monte Cristo (disclaimer: I haven't read that one) are quicker and easier reads than literary classics, so the length is less of a big deal.
Honestly the Count of Monte Cristo is 20% adventure and 80% aristocracy.
E-reader helps, audiobooks too. I remember as a kid it took me all summer to read Stephen King's It, it was so nice to be in that world and with those characters for so long though. It's like I created a deeper connection to the book. That's what makes the big ones worth it. Wheel of time is my favorite series now and that's largely due to how comforting it is to stay with the same world for so long.
Just think of it as a different type of reading. Instead of hearing about a few events that shaped a person's experience in some specific ways, those 1000 page books build a bigger world with more events or more people or more depth.
One 1000 page book might be more about building a big world with a ton of characters that all interact together. Another 1000 page book might take one character and delve deeply into their thoughts and feelings and experiences. Another might have only a few main characters but they do a lot of adventures together. How easy it is to read a 1000 page book depends on how quickly the author catches your attention and draws you in. If the book doesn't really "get good" until page 300, you're gonna struggle. If you battle through it, you will be rewarded with being 600 pages into a really really deep world where you feel invested in the characters in ways you haven't before. If the book grabs you on page 1, then it doesn't feel like 1000 pages.
I basically just get started and either I finish the book or I don't. I try not to look at the page count (or with ebooks on my ereader I just know that the page count is entirely made up given it changes when I adjust the font size and so many of the ebooks these days have about 30-80 pages dedicated to extra fluff at the end after the actual book is finished)
I honestly don't know how long of books I normally read since I don't pay attention to that. I just grab what looks interesting and either I read and enjoy it or I don't
It just takes longer. I read one chapter of Moby Dick a day at bedtime as it’d really help my sleep.
How do you eat a very large package of cookies?
The same way as a smaller package, it just takes longer. You have the experience of eating cookies across more days than with the smaller package. Just as with the smaller package, you just do this until the package is done. If you get tired of eating this kind of cookie after a while, maybe it sits in your pantry untouched for a few weeks until you feel like eating that kind of cookie again.
Just read it!
When I was a kid, around 11~12, I read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings single volume book, which has more than 1100 pages. At that time, reading something that long when I'd had only ever read some children's book which usually don't even clock at 200 pages, was a big challenge. I'd read it everywhere, in buses, trains, after doing my homework, at school whenever it was possible. It just takes longer, but it's also incredibly rewarding to live inside the book for a longer time.
Today I love long books, 1000 pages barely registers as "long" right now. I have read some chinese novels that stretch way beyond 5000+ pages in total. And some western novels as well, such as The Dark Tower saga and all the other works of SK which I had a fixation for.
To read something long you just need to: have the habit of reading; enjoy the journey, don't worry about the destination.
And it's fine if at some point in the middle you realize you don't really want to finish the book anymore. Reading is mostly supposed to be enjoyable. Don't fall for the sunken cost fallacy.
Holding big books is uncomfortable for my hands. So, painfully I guess.
Just remember: You are under no obligation to finish a book. Take it a chapter at a time.
Monte Cristo is pretty good, but it really didn't have to be that long.
I think the biggest book I've ever read is Stephen King's "The Stand", and I've read it more than once. Read as long as you're interested, then put the bookmark in and give it a rest until you find yourself interested again. Don't force yourself to push onward, take it at your own natural pace.
I'm currently reading the quran for the first time. The second surah was very long, it took me multiple sessions to get through. There are over 100 surah. It will take me months to finish. It's very repetitive. But I want to know what's in it because many people believe it and are even willing to kill and die for it. So I try to process each statement as I go, and I don't worry so much about when I'll get to the end. It will happen eventually if I keep reading. It's also not the only thing I'm reading, I switch to whatever I feel like at the time.
If it's good, it will just pull you along. You don't know until you try. I tried to read Wuthering Heights in my teens, and I left it unfinished because its central characters became too unbearable. But some people love it. If you like to read for pleasure then there are bound to be some long books that work for you.
By that token, some of my favorite long books aren't for everyone. No use arguing matters of taste. Stephen King - The Stand; Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov; Thomas Wolfe - Look Homeward, Angel
One page at a time.
Also, size is relative. I'm currently reading (listening to) Dungeon Crawler Carl. I'm on the 8th book (most recent) but once I read the first one, I knew I had to read all of them.
The Expanse is up next. And I'm looking at it like "the whole journey". It's nine books and a bunch of interconnected novellas. All I can say is... LFG. (Let's get up and go.)
Honestly, skip Monte Cristo for now. If you want to read a big book, read something more unique. Try Dostoyevsky for metaphysical musings, House of Leaves for an SCP-like mindfuck, or Moby Dick for some of the most beautiful writing mankind has ever produced and a truly autistic enthusiasm for the sea.
I might be in the minority on this opinion, but I find it valid: Monte Cristo shows its age in an unappetizing way and it’s clear the work was serialized. It lacks potency or substance when compared to the other works I mentioned, and it seems like you’ve got a thing for books that say something.
I've always been a reader, sometimes avid and sometimes more casual, depending on how life goes. I think reading is kinda like a muscle that you have to work out in order to strengthen. If your usual books are 200-250 pages, maybe an 1000 page book is something you need to work up to! There are lots of books you can read that are bigger than 250 but smaller than 1000, and once you start reading 800pg books maybe 1000 won't feel as daunting anymore.
As for how you physically read a book that big....
Trigger warning: desecration of books
I remember a friend of mine in high school who literally cut her book into sections so it wouldn't be as heavy to carry around with her. I wouldn't necessarily recommend that, but it is an option! 😅
If you're especially interested in reading the Count of Monte Cristo right now, perhaps you could read an abridged version, or break it down into sections, and think of it as a milti-book series, or even listen to an audiobook version of it!
Best of luck to you!
Cross legged and hunched over. I can do anything under 100lbs.
Monte Cristo is really worth your time! It is just so captivating and contains so much wisdom!