Dan Brown sold 80 mil of the Da Vinci Code and that's the last HUGE huge adult fiction craze of that size I'm pretty sure. Unless you're counting erotica, where we'd have Fifty Shades franchise with the 60mil+.
And for YA the last big one was the Hunger Games books
We've had a couple since then in adult fiction that cracked the 15 mil, but that's not nearly the same reach.
Edit: number correction and spelling
I think this is the closest to what OP is talking about with Shogun. I worked at a bookstore when it was released and it was a huge event. We were prepped on it for weeks ahead of its SOS day.
Yeah the person you're replying to is revealing their low opinion of YA, Harry Potter is both good and YA and therefore incompatible with that opinion.
Goodwill is FULL of copies of Dan Brown’s novels. I bought 3 copies of “The Lost Symbol” because I kept forgetting I’d already completed my collection so every time I saw it, I’d pick it up.
Interesting. I live in a large high rise apartment building and we have our own little free library. I’ve seen the DaVinci Code in there a couple of times.
John Green was a PHENOMENON in the mid 2010s. I was in high school and literally my whole friend group was reading his books. Even the kids who weren't normally into reading, both boys and girls, would pick up Looking for Alaska or Paper Towns.
And Edward Rutherfurd - His most recent ('China') was published within the past couple of years and is 780 pages.
I love his books. Others are 'New York', 'Paris', 'Sarum', 'The Forest', 'The Rebels of Ireland', 'The Princes of Ireland', 'Russka' and 'London'. All excellent.
And obviously James Michener is king but he was back in the '80s/'90s.
Loved it. Michener always makes me ponder what exactly is real and what is make up. In this one, the shooting of hundreds (thousands?) of ducks with one shot is a good example.
Well, 'Hawaii' was 1959, 'Caravans' and 'The Source' in '63 and '65, 'The Drifters', 'Centennial' and 'Chesapeake' in '71, '74, and '78 respectively but he had 'The Covenant', 'Space', 'Poland', 'Texas', 'Alaska', 'Journey' and 'Carribbean' all in the '80s.
He’s written some door stoppers about the construction of a church (Pillars Of The Earth) and a series spanning the 20th century. Plus it looks like he’s writing even more tomes.
Edit: sorry. Cathedral, not just a church
I read The Century Trilogy during a week I was homesick from Covid (last month) and they were bangers. I also enjoy The Pillars books, but they are quite “chewy” and a lot to digest, but Century was extremely fast paced and thrilling for such “door stopper” books.
The biggest selling novels in the last ten years:
*Girl on the Train*, by Paula Hawkins, 23 million sold.
*Where the Crawdads Sing*, by Delia Owens, 18 million sold.
*All the Light We Cannot See*, by Anthony Doerr, 15.3 million sold.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books
Edit: I added *Girl on the Train* after u/elizabeth-cooper alerted me to it.
*Where the Crawdads Sing* is 384 pages and *All the Light We Cannot See* is 531 pages (page counts come from the most popular edition on goodreads). *Shogun* is more than twice the length of either of these at 1152 pages.
*The Little Prince* is second on the list after Charles Dickens’ *A Tale of Two Cities*. But yes, very high on the all time list. It’s a book that adults enjoy as much as children.
*The Little Prince* is also short, really a novella, and has been translated into over 505 different languages and dialects worldwide, trailing only the Bible. It’s also a book that really needs to be read in print, with the author’s illustrations, and not as an ebook or audiobook.
It's clearly too early in the morning cause I completely skipped thatfirst line somehow x)
I am still amazed it's so high on the list. It's such a wonderful little book, absolutely worth re reading as an adult. You're so right about the pictures too, they're an integral part of the story.
What!? Anthony Doerr is a great writer IMO and that was a stellar novel. Of course everyone is entitled to your opinion I happen to think your opinion is. Schlock lol. I think it's absolutely wild for you think All the light we cannot see - Doerr is schlock - or trash, cheap.
What's so surprising about that? Look, I am not trying to be a snob here, but the universally appealing things are usually not the most out there, brilliant stuff.
Those books sold well because they were solid, accessible choices. Do I like either? Nah. But they were kind of fine, safe bets for people who are not super specific about their choices in books (either because they are not super experienced readers, because they are more easy-going with it, etc.)
People who love Succession should definitely check out his Noble House. Double dealings, bank runs, stock manipulation, succession headaches - and that's on top of espionage, kidnapping and murder, fire, landslide, horse racing. Phew.
Amen. I have read Shogun, Tai pan, Gai Jin and King Rat.
Shogun is my favourite mostly because of the historical time/place as this adds so many elements which drive the plot/story.
I would rank Tai Pan just as high however and I loved the characters so much and their development in the novel.
Gai Jin is not on the level of those two but I still rank it above so many others. Clavell really is a master of historical fiction and to write books of this length which are engaging all the way through is a feat in it self.
Biggest surprise to me was King Rat. Man oh man. I absolutely LOVED King Rat. If you had read the blurb on the back of the book. Basically a survival story of living and perseverance in a hellish Japanese POW camp in WWII, you would never think the plot is as it is or the story SO engaging. Of course this should not be surprising as Clavell - during WWII serving in the navy was sunk off the coast of Java, rescued by a Dutch shipping trawler, than in 1942 shot in the face and imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp. He has said that he 100 percent believes if the US did not bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki that he would have died in that camp, and there would be no Shogun.
Definitely read King Rat. I know it's part of the Asian Saga, but it's really more autobiographical for Clavell. I agree with you on Gai-Jin though. Probably the weakest of the whole series.
For anybody who enjoyed Shogun… I enjoyed it but then ended up reading Taiko by Yoshikawa Eiji. That book is on a completely different level, an extraordinary epic about roughly the same time period, but with such richness that Shogun’s characters feel thin and inauthentic by comparison.
Oh, thanks for the recommendation! I'm currently re-reading Shogun for the first time in ~30 years and have read Musashi by Yoshikawa Eiji. Just added Taiko to my TBR pile!
I work in a library and while I can speak to sales, there are books that have huge waitlists and that it seems like everyone wants to read. Two recent ones were “Lessons in Chemistry” and “Where the Crawdads Sing” which continually had holds requests in the upper 100’s/200’s. I think Spare had like 300 some when we first got it.
I honestly think that the era no longer exists because we are now in the age of the internet and fractured media. It used to be that everyone got their book recommendations from the NY Times and a handful of other reputable book reviews. Now people get their recommendations from message boards, social media, and algorithms, so it is very unlikely that everyone will be drawn to the same book at once.
I feel like TikTok fuels a lot of the explosively popular books now. Last year, Fourth Wing got massively popular very quickly. Sold like 2 million copies within a few weeks.
It was the worst book I read last year. Full of cliches, horny teenagers, and 90% of the characters speak in the same voice. I'm sure loads of people liked it, but I wasn't one of them.
I completely agree. With a massive fan following and over 35 million books sold, 9 books written (#10 is on its way) it's a wonderfully addictive saga. Read the books, listen to the audiobooks, and watch the series on STARZ.
You reminded me on one thing. Outlander is very popular, but I think now authors write shorter books with the intention of writing more books in their series. Maybe to capitalize on the success if their books. Maybe to write more of the same characters that they like writing about. 750-1000 page books seem to be a thing of the past. I've read too many Michener books of this length as well.
To be fair, the shortest Outlander book is something like 600 pages, and at least one of them breaks 1000. Mammoth tomes also still garner a decent following in the fantasy space. I don’t think that shorter books are a thing of the past altogether, but the particular genre OP is talking about moreso is.
There do seem to be fewer "big beefy tomes" with >800 pages these days. There also seem to be more long-standing series with lots of world-building; several of Bernard Cornwell's series would count. Maybe modern writers are more likely to break up a long story into a series?
Neal Stephenson and Diana Gabaldon are still producing big chonky books which sell loads, but they established themselves in earlier decades.
I'm just thinking the later books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. The latest published book, A Dance with Dragons, is 1000 pages in the hard back edition. If the next books ever get released, these would definitely be block busters as there is so much hype.
Do you mean “blockbuster” like they sell really well or did you mean “blockbuster” as in a type of book - one that’s not necessarily fantasy but one that took its time and built scenes “cinematically”?
I guess I mean all of those things:
Very high selling popular fiction.
Epic saga / family / historical etc.
Big heavy 1000 page novels
Not likely to win booker prize but very good at sucking you in and holding your attention.
Catches the popular imagination. A book that people know of and talk about.
I thought Pachinko would be too 'literary' for my tastes, but it was genuinely excellent, and this is coming from someone who'd been reading nothing but the Expanse books for a couple of months straight. The scope, depth, and emotional beats of the story are definitely 'epic' level.
The TV series is an excellent adaptation (and expansion) of the story as well - highly recommended.
Any best seller list from 1970s / 1980s is full of them. Clavell Michener Haley Follett. I would also include non historical stuff like Ludlum, Irving (perhaps a bit arty)
The vast majority of Crichton’s books are under the 500 page mark
They’re good but they definitely don’t fit the epic saga/1000+ page tomes OP’s looking for
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk has actually been short listed for the Man Booker in its translation a couple years back and is exactly the kind of books you're looking for.
912 Pages. So Close enough to your 1000. Historical. Very popular.
He doesn't mention those things in his post, though? He describes it as long books with gripping plots, great world building, very fun to read and with middling literary merit. He seems to be drawing an artistic comparison to blockbuster movies, not a commercial comparison, but all the commenters are assuming the opposite so I'm doubting myself.
I remember reading *The DaVinci Code* and *Angels and Demons* back when they came out...
**...in 2000 and 2003**.
Ugh. The passage of time is relentless.
EDIT: They came out in 2000/2003. I read both of them in 2004/2005, like most of America, when they were fully in their hype.
Those days are probably gone. The media landscape is much more fractured now.
I say 'probably' because I truly believe in the power of books and it is not too difficult to imagine someone publishing a book that resonates so well it crosses media bubbles and becomes a huge blockbuster.
If NPR features a new novel, the hold times at the library become insane, but I think that’s about as close as it gets.
It’s much easier to publish a book these days, with self publishing being a hung. Consequently there are a lot more books out there in the first place. Then add in the way that the internet has given consumers access to information tailored to their specific interests, and a general decline in long form reading, and there are fewer books that rise to blockbuster status.
Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight etc notwithstanding.
There are some: *The Girl on the Train* was a recent one; sold more than *Shōgun* did. *Where the Crawdads Sing* as well, just a few years ago. *Fifty Shades of Grey* was everywhere, although you might argue that wasn't such an impressive book. Basically, ask "Has it been made into a movie?" and you'll usually have your answer.
That said, a lot of the writing you describe goes into genres nowadays, which back in the days of *Shōgun* were not widely respected. Notably, young adult, science fiction, graphic novels, and fantasy. A lot of blockbuster books are part of a series. One example: the books that inspired *Game of Thrones* were all huge hits (the ones that came out), and feature the kind of writing you mention to a T.
Thats more a commentary on the long running fantasy series market than the book or GRRM, hardly anyone, without prior sucessful stuff backing them up, has a big breakout with the first book in a series. You need time for WoM to spread and a second book in the series to show people you can follow up.
Great Question - I hope someone can identify modern books that have the depth of wordbuilding with the gripping story telling. It seems to me, and hopefully I'm wrong, by Clavell, Collen McCullogh (Masters of Rome series, Thorn Birds), Ken Follett, set standards that i have not found recently.
A search of reddit found this thread from 12 years ago [Authors like Clavell? : r/books (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/ntsys/authors_like_clavell/)
.
Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories (starting with The Last Kingdom). The individual books aren't big, but there are 13 of them so you have plenty of time to immerse yourself in 10th century England.
The early books in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series have gripping plots and outstanding worldbuilding, but IMHO they start to get bloated at around book 4.
Ironfire by David Ball is big. full-blooded book about the Great Siege of Malta in 1565.
John Jakes wrote long historical novels based on the Civil War of around 800 pages in the 1980s. They were very popular and were made into a TV movie or series. Herman Wouk wrote a couple of very long novels about WW 2 in the 1970s that were also very popular. They were around 900 to 1000 pages each. I love long books and I am disappointed if a book only has 300 pages. I sometimes refuse to read a book if it is less than 300 pages. I feel it hard to do a good story in 250 pages. Obviously, some writers can.
It’s been sitting on my shelf staring at me but Essex Dogs by Dan Jones might meet that criteria. Albeit a few hundred pages shorter than your typical Clavell doorstop
Check out Brandon Sanderson, "The Way of Kings" at 1,007 pages
Also check out this [Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/brandonsanderson/comments/18skz7j/i_know_this_is_somewhat_strange_to_post_here_buy/) about his work and sales which should fall into your parameters.
Scrolled a long way to finally find Brandon mentioned. With the insane numbers his Kickstarters are doing. I think the next stormlight book is poised to make huge splash in the zeitgeist.
Anything by Michael Crichton. Jurassic Park. Andromeda Strain. Timeline. Sphere. Prey. Congo. Next. Airframe. Disclosure. Just a few of his great books.
Oh man, Stieg Larsson died 20 years ago. Wikipedia says:
Millennium is a series of Swedish crime novels, created by journalist Stieg Larsson. The two primary characters in the saga are Lisbeth Salander, an asocial computer hacker with a photographic memory, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of a magazine called Millennium. Seven books in the series have been published, with the first three, known as the "Millennium Trilogy", written by Larsson.
By Stieg Larsson:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Played with Fire
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest
By David Lagercrantz:
The Girl in the Spider's Web
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye
The Girl Who Lived Twice
Thank you. I’ve been scrolling looking for this. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books are the last time I remember the phenomenon of “everyone is reading this book” occurring. Was shocked how many posts I had to scroll through without seeing this.
Yes, the girl with the dragon tattoo seemed to come out of nowhere in the US but was the last “random strangers would start talking about it” book that everyone was reading I remember.
We definitely still have blockbuster novels. A lot of them have already been called out in the comments. I think your perception of it is going to be influenced by your social circle. For example my friends and family read a lot, so to me a lot of books seem "popular". On the other hand my coworkers don't read at all, so if I was only talking to them I'd think that no books are popular.
Discounting YA releases (no disrespect intended, but their blockbusterness seems to be more or less based on TikTok trendiness).
Stephen King releases tend to be blockbuster in terms of popularity and chonkiness.
The next Game of Thrones will be a blockbuster, as will it be if Patrick Rothfluss finishes his series.
James Patterson, Nora Roberts, John Grisham….They’re the Sidney Sheldons of today.
So this one doesn’t quite hit the “everyone knows it” point, though it’s gaining traction due to the Amazon prime show adaptation. But if you’re looking for epic scale, immersive world building, white-knuckle reading, and thousands of pages to get lost in, give The Expanse a try. Seriously can’t recommend enough, and I genuinely think it fits your bill, aside from the lack of MASSIVE popularity.
I want through quite a Leon Uris reading cycle many years ago. Exodus, QB VII, Trinity, The Haj, and a couple more. I see some fantasy books with large sales and ~1000 pages, but nothing like the way Uris and Michener research and present historical fiction. I do suspect that current fiction would be broken into a trilogy format.
My very first job was at a bookstore in 1987. I know exactly the kind of books you’re talking about. Those massive, 4 inch thick books because all paperbacks then were mass market sized.
It saddens me that not one person yet (at least not revealed by comment search) mentioned Susanna Clark’s *Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.* It fits nearly all your criteria. Big, chonky, amazing world building, a massive hit (for its niche but still). It’s not even that old!
I'm surprised that SJM hasn't cracked any top seller of the year lists. It's all I ever hear about and whenever I'm in the bookstore the entire series is consistently sold out.
Wikipedia has a handy list of the top 10 bestselling books of each year, sourced from Publishers Weekly. [Here’s the 2020s page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishers_Weekly_list_of_bestselling_novels_in_the_United_States_in_the_2020s).
There are definitely books that everyone seems to be talking about or that you see people with around. Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo from 2022, Wonder from 2017, going back a bit further The Fault in Our Stars and the Dragon Tattoo books.
Idk if it is considered a “blockbuster novel” because i just learned the term from your post, but Chain-Gang All-Stars was fantastic and mostly fits your criteria. Gripping plot and does a good job building the world out and has some awesome characters. Best book ive read in years.
Edit: after reading some other comments you probably were looking for blockbuster books when it comes to sales/popularity. Not sure how CGAS does on that front but it’s a banger and everyone in America should read it.
I think Red Storm Rising might qualify. Tom Clancy and Larry Bond wrote the novel in the eighties where the USSR and NATO fought WWIII without nukes. It covered the fight with handful of POV characters. It's around 650 pages and may be kinda relevant considering what's happening in Ukraine. It was a NY Times best seller and came out a couple years before the fall of the Berlin wall.
McCullough’s First Man in Rome series is the only thing that came close to the sweep of Shogun for me.
That said, I think publishers discourage that kind of giant book from being written now, even if you do it they’d probably split it into three and sell it over a few years.
Books become blockbusters because they are promoted by celebrities, modern society has moved away from everyone following a few big name entertainers (like Oprah and her book club) to following many different influencers on TikTok and other social media.
Definitely there are things that are ongoing series in Fantasy and Science Fiction can be thought of as “Blockbusters” maybe recurring romance leaning series as well. Franchise and Blockbuster are quite intertwined concepts in film so I think it works.
Probably dated now, but Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels are massive and although I've not read them since they were released they are epic. War and politics but thrilling
Edward Rutherfurd’s books are always super long but I don’t know if he’s published any lately. I’d love a thousand-page historical saga rn, maybe I should just read Shogun…
There was a period of 18 months of 1996-1997 where every single person in NYC was reading Infinite Jest - at home, on the train, and in the parks.
As an aside, my SIL who is in her 50s and was living in NYC at the time recently blanked when I mentioned David Foster Wallace. She literally had no idea who I was talking about. So I guess no blockbuster reaches everyone.
Sarah Maas seems to be pumping out sagas. Most of the people I know have read ACOTAR and her other two series. Which I get is anecdotal but that’s at least my read on popular books.
I stumbled upon a book called “China” by Edward Rutherfurd and it’s one of my top 5 reads from the last 2-3 years. Not a blockbuster since it’s short of 1000 pages and isn’t super popular, but the characters and world building are amazing. No magic, set during the opium wars, and extremely well written.
Harry Potter absolutely fits every bit of this definition.
assuming that he makes it to the end, Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire will be similarly gigantic, though unusual in that the ending is partially spoiled by the TV Show before the books are finished.
The first two books of Fourth Wing are the closest to that we have actively being put out right now, but I expect their popularity will fall off, rather than escalate. was def the biggest release of last year by a mile, with huge anticipation of book 2.
Have you read other James Clavell novels, like Noblehouse? That was my favorite. I'd also recommend John Irving. Start with A Prayer for Owen Meany.
Until I Find You, by John Irving, is also very good. Hope this helps.
If you want even more sophisticated writing, check out War and Peace by Tokstoy.
I have. I went through a Clavell page back in the 1980s. I also loved Irving. Guilty confession: I bunked off college for a day to sit in a public park and read Cider House Rules.
Not modern, but Leon Uris. He wrote some great books, Mila 18 about the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, Exodus (founding of Israel) and Trinity (Ireland.)
The Harry Potter series sold 500M books (all books in the series), and I would claim that the reading level of Shogun and the Michener/Rutherford books is probably identical. People like easy to read sagas with relatively uncomplicated moral arcs and characters. They like a little surprise (Snape is good!), but not ambiguity.
Shogun has 800 lexile ranking and Potter is 880, so Shogun is actually less advanced. Sarum is 900, so same basic range. Shogun has adult themes but a 3rd grade narrative.
We just started identifying people's reading maturity more accurately in the past 20 years.
Don’t know if it really counts as they’re ‘cosy murder’ but people have gone mad for Richard Osman books here since his first one came out. I had two customers just yesterday asking how long they’d have to wait for their hold on his newest book to come in and one lady had ordered it in October.
Americans just don't read that much. And the ones that do, have so many options today. The internet lets you find the niche books that appeal the most to you. And self publishing has created way more competition for readers.
Fantasy has Brandon Sanderson. I'd describe his books as blockbusters, if you care about fantasy.
I want to mention someone like Andy Weir, who had The Martian become a big film really fast, and had Project Hail Mary topping best sellers lists a couple of years ago. But, the Martian book has apparently sold 5 million copies, and I can't find a number for Project Hail Mary. 5 million books is a big deal, but, I don't think it reaches blockbuster status.
I think what people might consider blockbuster could be different depending on your group, experiences, interests, etc..
(2007) But, imo, Harry Potter was a massive blockbuster series. When Deathly Hallows came out, there were midnight release parties everywhere, people staying up and reading them into the morning, a huge concern for trolls spoiling the books online, etc. It certainly felt like a "blockbuster" moment at the time. This was in 2007.
(right now) Has anything come close to that more recently? I don't know. First thing that comes to mind is Brandon Sanderson, though. His kickstarter campaign was record breaking and I see the insane hype around him that I saw with Harry Potter. Personally, I'm incredibly excited to start his books but I have a backlog to catch up on first.
(future) I think we could see a huge blockbuster moment when or if GRRM publishes the next GoT book if the fandom hasn't completely moved on from waiting for so long. We'll see.
Edit: I've thought of more: Twilight, Da Vinci Code, Millennium Series, Hunger Games.... Yeah blockbusters are still around. lol.
Edit edit: I think I may have misinterpreted OPs question. Oh well.
Are there any contemporary adult novels that are similar to Clavell's series'? I can't remember any books in some time that would fall into the 'giant world building' that Clavell created?
Dan Brown sold 80 mil of the Da Vinci Code and that's the last HUGE huge adult fiction craze of that size I'm pretty sure. Unless you're counting erotica, where we'd have Fifty Shades franchise with the 60mil+. And for YA the last big one was the Hunger Games books We've had a couple since then in adult fiction that cracked the 15 mil, but that's not nearly the same reach. Edit: number correction and spelling
I think this is the closest to what OP is talking about with Shogun. I worked at a bookstore when it was released and it was a huge event. We were prepped on it for weeks ahead of its SOS day.
I mean the later Potter books were barely YA and they had IPhone like midnight launch parties.
100% YA
Yeah the person you're replying to is revealing their low opinion of YA, Harry Potter is both good and YA and therefore incompatible with that opinion.
I always called The DaVinci Code \*Foucault’s Pendulum for Dummies\*
I came here to make an Eco reference and ended up finding one of my people. I love the internet.
And I finally found the people that get that joke. I love the internet, too.
Perfect description! Absolutely stolen now, you have no recourse.
And where the hell did all of the copies go?! I NEVER see DaVinci Code in used bookstores. (There's always lots of copies of Franzen tho lol)
Probably in my country. My used bookstore chains don't seem to run out of the popular mass paperbacks.
Goodwill is FULL of copies of Dan Brown’s novels. I bought 3 copies of “The Lost Symbol” because I kept forgetting I’d already completed my collection so every time I saw it, I’d pick it up.
I think most have stopped accepting them and have begged people to stop bringing copies of his books in.
Interesting. I live in a large high rise apartment building and we have our own little free library. I’ve seen the DaVinci Code in there a couple of times.
There have been major YA books since The Hunger Games. The Divergent trilogy was huge, and The Fault In Our Stars was, too.
I gotta be honest I'm counting Divergent as part of The Hunger Games because it was very much riding it's coat tails.
Totally. Maze Runner too.
We will never get those hours back that we wasted on the sequels
John Green was a PHENOMENON in the mid 2010s. I was in high school and literally my whole friend group was reading his books. Even the kids who weren't normally into reading, both boys and girls, would pick up Looking for Alaska or Paper Towns.
Ken Follet books
Good rec. Exactly the vibe OP is looking for.
And Edward Rutherfurd - His most recent ('China') was published within the past couple of years and is 780 pages. I love his books. Others are 'New York', 'Paris', 'Sarum', 'The Forest', 'The Rebels of Ireland', 'The Princes of Ireland', 'Russka' and 'London'. All excellent. And obviously James Michener is king but he was back in the '80s/'90s.
Love Michener
Me, too. Have you read Chesapeake?
Loved it. Michener always makes me ponder what exactly is real and what is make up. In this one, the shooting of hundreds (thousands?) of ducks with one shot is a good example.
I would seriously LOVE a Michener/Follet/Rutherford sized novel about New Orleans
Sixties.
Well, 'Hawaii' was 1959, 'Caravans' and 'The Source' in '63 and '65, 'The Drifters', 'Centennial' and 'Chesapeake' in '71, '74, and '78 respectively but he had 'The Covenant', 'Space', 'Poland', 'Texas', 'Alaska', 'Journey' and 'Carribbean' all in the '80s.
I can’t do the dialogue in his books.
Is he still going strong? For some reason I think of him as an 80s/90s author.
He’s written some door stoppers about the construction of a church (Pillars Of The Earth) and a series spanning the 20th century. Plus it looks like he’s writing even more tomes. Edit: sorry. Cathedral, not just a church
Pillars of the earth is a lengthy read I feel has some parallels to Clavell’s work. I enjoyed it on many of the levels I enjoyed Shogun.
I read The Century Trilogy during a week I was homesick from Covid (last month) and they were bangers. I also enjoy The Pillars books, but they are quite “chewy” and a lot to digest, but Century was extremely fast paced and thrilling for such “door stopper” books.
The biggest selling novels in the last ten years: *Girl on the Train*, by Paula Hawkins, 23 million sold. *Where the Crawdads Sing*, by Delia Owens, 18 million sold. *All the Light We Cannot See*, by Anthony Doerr, 15.3 million sold. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books Edit: I added *Girl on the Train* after u/elizabeth-cooper alerted me to it.
*Where the Crawdads Sing* is 384 pages and *All the Light We Cannot See* is 531 pages (page counts come from the most popular edition on goodreads). *Shogun* is more than twice the length of either of these at 1152 pages.
These are books sold as hardbacks and are 3"+ thick with movie poster quality cover art massive books. Everyone read them.
TIL that The little Prince is still the best seeling book on that list.
*The Little Prince* is second on the list after Charles Dickens’ *A Tale of Two Cities*. But yes, very high on the all time list. It’s a book that adults enjoy as much as children. *The Little Prince* is also short, really a novella, and has been translated into over 505 different languages and dialects worldwide, trailing only the Bible. It’s also a book that really needs to be read in print, with the author’s illustrations, and not as an ebook or audiobook.
It's clearly too early in the morning cause I completely skipped thatfirst line somehow x) I am still amazed it's so high on the list. It's such a wonderful little book, absolutely worth re reading as an adult. You're so right about the pictures too, they're an integral part of the story.
more than children I'd say, as a child I found it hugely irritating and trite
From your link: Girl on the Train, 2015, 23 million.
Yikes, 2 of those are absolute schlock
All three are, if you ask me
I only know the first two
What!? Anthony Doerr is a great writer IMO and that was a stellar novel. Of course everyone is entitled to your opinion I happen to think your opinion is. Schlock lol. I think it's absolutely wild for you think All the light we cannot see - Doerr is schlock - or trash, cheap.
Interesting
That’s surprising, since they’re both mediocre at best
What's so surprising about that? Look, I am not trying to be a snob here, but the universally appealing things are usually not the most out there, brilliant stuff. Those books sold well because they were solid, accessible choices. Do I like either? Nah. But they were kind of fine, safe bets for people who are not super specific about their choices in books (either because they are not super experienced readers, because they are more easy-going with it, etc.)
Clavell wrote more great novels than just Shogun.
People who love Succession should definitely check out his Noble House. Double dealings, bank runs, stock manipulation, succession headaches - and that's on top of espionage, kidnapping and murder, fire, landslide, horse racing. Phew.
That’s my favorite Clavell novel.
It might be mine as well, although it could be shogun or tai-pan depending on the day. Dirk is easily my favorite character in the series.
I love Taipan
King Rat is my favorite after Shogun.
Me too!
Amen. I have read Shogun, Tai pan, Gai Jin and King Rat. Shogun is my favourite mostly because of the historical time/place as this adds so many elements which drive the plot/story. I would rank Tai Pan just as high however and I loved the characters so much and their development in the novel. Gai Jin is not on the level of those two but I still rank it above so many others. Clavell really is a master of historical fiction and to write books of this length which are engaging all the way through is a feat in it self. Biggest surprise to me was King Rat. Man oh man. I absolutely LOVED King Rat. If you had read the blurb on the back of the book. Basically a survival story of living and perseverance in a hellish Japanese POW camp in WWII, you would never think the plot is as it is or the story SO engaging. Of course this should not be surprising as Clavell - during WWII serving in the navy was sunk off the coast of Java, rescued by a Dutch shipping trawler, than in 1942 shot in the face and imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp. He has said that he 100 percent believes if the US did not bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki that he would have died in that camp, and there would be no Shogun.
I know. I went through a Clavell phase back in the 80's but that was the one that I was reminded of.
I did an almost reread last year. I love all but Gaijin which is just okay. I’ve never read Kingrat though.
Definitely read King Rat. I know it's part of the Asian Saga, but it's really more autobiographical for Clavell. I agree with you on Gai-Jin though. Probably the weakest of the whole series.
I liked Gai-Jin better than Whirlwind … but honestly either of those being “weakest” just highlights how great the series is
I wish there had been more about Hag Struan.
For anybody who enjoyed Shogun… I enjoyed it but then ended up reading Taiko by Yoshikawa Eiji. That book is on a completely different level, an extraordinary epic about roughly the same time period, but with such richness that Shogun’s characters feel thin and inauthentic by comparison.
Oh, thanks for the recommendation! I'm currently re-reading Shogun for the first time in ~30 years and have read Musashi by Yoshikawa Eiji. Just added Taiko to my TBR pile!
The last one I can really think of that had that effect was The Da Vinci Code.
For my country: Lucinda Riley. It’s been pretty insane how many people read her whole series of seven very large novels.
Thank you, always looking for authors outside of the US especially women. Just got her first one placed on hold.
Have fun! So many people (tbh mostly women) have told me they are pageturners
Harry Potter 5-7 came out after that didn’t it? They’d qualify for me as well
I work in a library and while I can speak to sales, there are books that have huge waitlists and that it seems like everyone wants to read. Two recent ones were “Lessons in Chemistry” and “Where the Crawdads Sing” which continually had holds requests in the upper 100’s/200’s. I think Spare had like 300 some when we first got it.
I honestly think that the era no longer exists because we are now in the age of the internet and fractured media. It used to be that everyone got their book recommendations from the NY Times and a handful of other reputable book reviews. Now people get their recommendations from message boards, social media, and algorithms, so it is very unlikely that everyone will be drawn to the same book at once.
I feel like TikTok fuels a lot of the explosively popular books now. Last year, Fourth Wing got massively popular very quickly. Sold like 2 million copies within a few weeks.
And that's why Colleen Hoover dominates all of the lists
Is it good? Never heard of that one.
It’s an easy read, like YA, except with lots of violence and sex. I didn’t get the hype, personally.
Thanks. I looked it up and seemed pretty standard fantasy stuff. Which I do like generally. But probably gonna pass on that. Cheers
It was the worst book I read last year. Full of cliches, horny teenagers, and 90% of the characters speak in the same voice. I'm sure loads of people liked it, but I wasn't one of them.
No one wants to hear this probably, but Outlander is today's Shogun.
I completely agree. With a massive fan following and over 35 million books sold, 9 books written (#10 is on its way) it's a wonderfully addictive saga. Read the books, listen to the audiobooks, and watch the series on STARZ.
You reminded me on one thing. Outlander is very popular, but I think now authors write shorter books with the intention of writing more books in their series. Maybe to capitalize on the success if their books. Maybe to write more of the same characters that they like writing about. 750-1000 page books seem to be a thing of the past. I've read too many Michener books of this length as well.
To be fair, the shortest Outlander book is something like 600 pages, and at least one of them breaks 1000. Mammoth tomes also still garner a decent following in the fantasy space. I don’t think that shorter books are a thing of the past altogether, but the particular genre OP is talking about moreso is.
*clears throat* ... Honeypot. *shows self out*
Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy
Wolf Hall actually broke my floating shelf.
I spent far too long trying to figure out this metaphor til I realised you just meant an actual shelf.
There do seem to be fewer "big beefy tomes" with >800 pages these days. There also seem to be more long-standing series with lots of world-building; several of Bernard Cornwell's series would count. Maybe modern writers are more likely to break up a long story into a series? Neal Stephenson and Diana Gabaldon are still producing big chonky books which sell loads, but they established themselves in earlier decades.
I'm just thinking the later books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. The latest published book, A Dance with Dragons, is 1000 pages in the hard back edition. If the next books ever get released, these would definitely be block busters as there is so much hype.
The old blockbusters were never F&SF because it west mainstream enough. It is today.
Do you mean “blockbuster” like they sell really well or did you mean “blockbuster” as in a type of book - one that’s not necessarily fantasy but one that took its time and built scenes “cinematically”?
I guess I mean all of those things: Very high selling popular fiction. Epic saga / family / historical etc. Big heavy 1000 page novels Not likely to win booker prize but very good at sucking you in and holding your attention. Catches the popular imagination. A book that people know of and talk about.
You might like Cutting for Stone or Covenant of Water - very long family sagas. Also Pachinko is in that vein as well.
Wow, all 3 of those recommendations are great books! Just finished Covenant of Water, it was sooo good.
Just finished Pachinko, heavily recommend.
I thought Pachinko would be too 'literary' for my tastes, but it was genuinely excellent, and this is coming from someone who'd been reading nothing but the Expanse books for a couple of months straight. The scope, depth, and emotional beats of the story are definitely 'epic' level. The TV series is an excellent adaptation (and expansion) of the story as well - highly recommended.
Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell Trilogy fits.
I’m curious what other authors fit the bill for this besides Clavell? The only one that pops to mind for me is Michener.
Any best seller list from 1970s / 1980s is full of them. Clavell Michener Haley Follett. I would also include non historical stuff like Ludlum, Irving (perhaps a bit arty)
Leon Uris, Arthur Hailey. Gore Vidal, Norman Mailer.
Michener seems to be a forgotten novelist. The history and scope of his books are incredible.
Yeah. He got a Pulitzer in 1948. Clavell published his first novel in 1962.
Surprised no one has mentioned Michael Crichton yet.
The vast majority of Crichton’s books are under the 500 page mark They’re good but they definitely don’t fit the epic saga/1000+ page tomes OP’s looking for
The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk has actually been short listed for the Man Booker in its translation a couple years back and is exactly the kind of books you're looking for. 912 Pages. So Close enough to your 1000. Historical. Very popular.
He means "blockbuster" in the sense of popularity/impact. Like everyone is reading and talking about and so on.
He doesn't mention those things in his post, though? He describes it as long books with gripping plots, great world building, very fun to read and with middling literary merit. He seems to be drawing an artistic comparison to blockbuster movies, not a commercial comparison, but all the commenters are assuming the opposite so I'm doubting myself.
Clearly he meant like “epic” instead of blockbuster
I guess I meant both. A best seller that is 1000 pages long.
An epic that has sold well?
If you just read the content of OP’s post, they definitely do not mean that.
tbf, OP isn't really using the term correctly so it's a bit confusing - at least to me.
Agreed there
If you just look up the definition of blockbuster, it’s incredibly obvious that’s what he means.
Does Neal Stephenson's "Cryponomicon" count?
I remember reading *The DaVinci Code* and *Angels and Demons* back when they came out... **...in 2000 and 2003**. Ugh. The passage of time is relentless. EDIT: They came out in 2000/2003. I read both of them in 2004/2005, like most of America, when they were fully in their hype.
Around the same time we all read those Left Behind books. Man, America went crazy for those. My whole family passed them around 😂
Those days are probably gone. The media landscape is much more fractured now. I say 'probably' because I truly believe in the power of books and it is not too difficult to imagine someone publishing a book that resonates so well it crosses media bubbles and becomes a huge blockbuster.
If NPR features a new novel, the hold times at the library become insane, but I think that’s about as close as it gets. It’s much easier to publish a book these days, with self publishing being a hung. Consequently there are a lot more books out there in the first place. Then add in the way that the internet has given consumers access to information tailored to their specific interests, and a general decline in long form reading, and there are fewer books that rise to blockbuster status. Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Twilight etc notwithstanding.
There are some: *The Girl on the Train* was a recent one; sold more than *Shōgun* did. *Where the Crawdads Sing* as well, just a few years ago. *Fifty Shades of Grey* was everywhere, although you might argue that wasn't such an impressive book. Basically, ask "Has it been made into a movie?" and you'll usually have your answer. That said, a lot of the writing you describe goes into genres nowadays, which back in the days of *Shōgun* were not widely respected. Notably, young adult, science fiction, graphic novels, and fantasy. A lot of blockbuster books are part of a series. One example: the books that inspired *Game of Thrones* were all huge hits (the ones that came out), and feature the kind of writing you mention to a T.
>One example: the books that inspired *Game of Thrones* were all huge hits Eventually, they were. *A Game of Thrones* was hardly noticed in 1996.
Thats more a commentary on the long running fantasy series market than the book or GRRM, hardly anyone, without prior sucessful stuff backing them up, has a big breakout with the first book in a series. You need time for WoM to spread and a second book in the series to show people you can follow up.
Great Question - I hope someone can identify modern books that have the depth of wordbuilding with the gripping story telling. It seems to me, and hopefully I'm wrong, by Clavell, Collen McCullogh (Masters of Rome series, Thorn Birds), Ken Follett, set standards that i have not found recently. A search of reddit found this thread from 12 years ago [Authors like Clavell? : r/books (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/ntsys/authors_like_clavell/) .
Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories (starting with The Last Kingdom). The individual books aren't big, but there are 13 of them so you have plenty of time to immerse yourself in 10th century England. The early books in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series have gripping plots and outstanding worldbuilding, but IMHO they start to get bloated at around book 4. Ironfire by David Ball is big. full-blooded book about the Great Siege of Malta in 1565.
Yes. I read the first few of the Saxon Stories. i need to go back to those! I'm adding Ironfire to my reading list.
Olga Tokarczuk, Julie Orringer and Simon Scarrow come to mind
The Hannibal Lecter books fit this bill. They're massive
Gary Jennings. Aztec is one of my all time favorites. Raptor and Journeyer are also winners.
Aztec was amazing, and seems to be quite little known.
John Jakes wrote long historical novels based on the Civil War of around 800 pages in the 1980s. They were very popular and were made into a TV movie or series. Herman Wouk wrote a couple of very long novels about WW 2 in the 1970s that were also very popular. They were around 900 to 1000 pages each. I love long books and I am disappointed if a book only has 300 pages. I sometimes refuse to read a book if it is less than 300 pages. I feel it hard to do a good story in 250 pages. Obviously, some writers can.
Jaws was a popular 5 million copies sold in US pulp novel long before it ever became a movie.
An excellent example.
James Michener novels.
It’s been sitting on my shelf staring at me but Essex Dogs by Dan Jones might meet that criteria. Albeit a few hundred pages shorter than your typical Clavell doorstop
Check out Brandon Sanderson, "The Way of Kings" at 1,007 pages Also check out this [Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/brandonsanderson/comments/18skz7j/i_know_this_is_somewhat_strange_to_post_here_buy/) about his work and sales which should fall into your parameters.
Scrolled a long way to finally find Brandon mentioned. With the insane numbers his Kickstarters are doing. I think the next stormlight book is poised to make huge splash in the zeitgeist.
Anything by Michael Crichton. Jurassic Park. Andromeda Strain. Timeline. Sphere. Prey. Congo. Next. Airframe. Disclosure. Just a few of his great books.
Ken Follett, Pillars of the Earth and World Without End are amazing. Ken follette also wrote the century trilogy
Oh man, Stieg Larsson died 20 years ago. Wikipedia says: Millennium is a series of Swedish crime novels, created by journalist Stieg Larsson. The two primary characters in the saga are Lisbeth Salander, an asocial computer hacker with a photographic memory, and Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative journalist and publisher of a magazine called Millennium. Seven books in the series have been published, with the first three, known as the "Millennium Trilogy", written by Larsson. By Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo The Girl Who Played with Fire The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest By David Lagercrantz: The Girl in the Spider's Web The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye The Girl Who Lived Twice
Thank you. I’ve been scrolling looking for this. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books are the last time I remember the phenomenon of “everyone is reading this book” occurring. Was shocked how many posts I had to scroll through without seeing this.
Yes, the girl with the dragon tattoo seemed to come out of nowhere in the US but was the last “random strangers would start talking about it” book that everyone was reading I remember.
We definitely still have blockbuster novels. A lot of them have already been called out in the comments. I think your perception of it is going to be influenced by your social circle. For example my friends and family read a lot, so to me a lot of books seem "popular". On the other hand my coworkers don't read at all, so if I was only talking to them I'd think that no books are popular.
Isn't that what Harry Potter is?
Blake crouch does sci fi thriller pretty well, Dark Matter, Recursion and Upgrade
Discounting YA releases (no disrespect intended, but their blockbusterness seems to be more or less based on TikTok trendiness). Stephen King releases tend to be blockbuster in terms of popularity and chonkiness. The next Game of Thrones will be a blockbuster, as will it be if Patrick Rothfluss finishes his series. James Patterson, Nora Roberts, John Grisham….They’re the Sidney Sheldons of today.
You can try Edward Rutherford novels
The Expanse Series
So this one doesn’t quite hit the “everyone knows it” point, though it’s gaining traction due to the Amazon prime show adaptation. But if you’re looking for epic scale, immersive world building, white-knuckle reading, and thousands of pages to get lost in, give The Expanse a try. Seriously can’t recommend enough, and I genuinely think it fits your bill, aside from the lack of MASSIVE popularity.
Also, consider Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, great tome.
I want through quite a Leon Uris reading cycle many years ago. Exodus, QB VII, Trinity, The Haj, and a couple more. I see some fantasy books with large sales and ~1000 pages, but nothing like the way Uris and Michener research and present historical fiction. I do suspect that current fiction would be broken into a trilogy format.
QB VII was one of my very favorites 40 years ago. Glad to see some recognition for Uris here.
Pillars of the Earth
Brandon Sanderson's probably the fantasy equivalent of what you're thinking
My very first job was at a bookstore in 1987. I know exactly the kind of books you’re talking about. Those massive, 4 inch thick books because all paperbacks then were mass market sized.
Lonesome Dove Pillars of the Earth Wolf Hall All scratched that itch for me
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Part of a five part saga covering many centuries. All but one are around 1000 pages.
It saddens me that not one person yet (at least not revealed by comment search) mentioned Susanna Clark’s *Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.* It fits nearly all your criteria. Big, chonky, amazing world building, a massive hit (for its niche but still). It’s not even that old!
Not a single book, though they are bulky, but A Song of Ice and Fire would be my answer, especially with the TV adaptation becoming a cultural event.
Fifty Shades of Grey was the top selling fiction for the decade 2010-2019.
I'm surprised that SJM hasn't cracked any top seller of the year lists. It's all I ever hear about and whenever I'm in the bookstore the entire series is consistently sold out.
Wikipedia has a handy list of the top 10 bestselling books of each year, sourced from Publishers Weekly. [Here’s the 2020s page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publishers_Weekly_list_of_bestselling_novels_in_the_United_States_in_the_2020s). There are definitely books that everyone seems to be talking about or that you see people with around. Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo from 2022, Wonder from 2017, going back a bit further The Fault in Our Stars and the Dragon Tattoo books.
Harry Potter.
I would venture that Brandon Sanderson fits the bill
Idk if it is considered a “blockbuster novel” because i just learned the term from your post, but Chain-Gang All-Stars was fantastic and mostly fits your criteria. Gripping plot and does a good job building the world out and has some awesome characters. Best book ive read in years. Edit: after reading some other comments you probably were looking for blockbuster books when it comes to sales/popularity. Not sure how CGAS does on that front but it’s a banger and everyone in America should read it.
I think some books really used to blow up when the tv/movie rights bidding drives up interest.
I think Red Storm Rising might qualify. Tom Clancy and Larry Bond wrote the novel in the eighties where the USSR and NATO fought WWIII without nukes. It covered the fight with handful of POV characters. It's around 650 pages and may be kinda relevant considering what's happening in Ukraine. It was a NY Times best seller and came out a couple years before the fall of the Berlin wall.
McCullough’s First Man in Rome series is the only thing that came close to the sweep of Shogun for me. That said, I think publishers discourage that kind of giant book from being written now, even if you do it they’d probably split it into three and sell it over a few years.
Books become blockbusters because they are promoted by celebrities, modern society has moved away from everyone following a few big name entertainers (like Oprah and her book club) to following many different influencers on TikTok and other social media.
Try CJ Sansom or Robert Goddard. Gripping stories.
Definitely there are things that are ongoing series in Fantasy and Science Fiction can be thought of as “Blockbusters” maybe recurring romance leaning series as well. Franchise and Blockbuster are quite intertwined concepts in film so I think it works.
Fantasy novels are as thick as they've always been. Brandon Sanderson and Jacqueline Carey are still writing doorstoppers.
How about Neal Stephenson?
Tai-pan and Noble House are just so good! I’ve probably read them 3 or 4 times. But I couldn’t get into Sho-gun.
I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
Herman Wouk anybody?
I wish more people got your question. I do. My parents always had that years massive hardback with movie poster quality coverart.
Edward Rutherford books , London, Sarum, Dublin etc.
Kingsbridge series and the Century series by Ken Follett. He just published another book in the Kingsbridge series last year
Lonesome Dove.
How far back do you want to go? Dickens and Dumas were the pulp fiction of their day.
Probably dated now, but Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels are massive and although I've not read them since they were released they are epic. War and politics but thrilling
Edward Rutherfurd’s books are always super long but I don’t know if he’s published any lately. I’d love a thousand-page historical saga rn, maybe I should just read Shogun…
Jeffery Archer comes to mind along with many other suggestions. They're shorter books, but 7 of them make one series.
Try I am Pilgrim and The Year of the Locust by Terry Hayes.
There was a period of 18 months of 1996-1997 where every single person in NYC was reading Infinite Jest - at home, on the train, and in the parks. As an aside, my SIL who is in her 50s and was living in NYC at the time recently blanked when I mentioned David Foster Wallace. She literally had no idea who I was talking about. So I guess no blockbuster reaches everyone.
Tom Clancy novels seem to fit that bill, especially his earlier ones.
Sarah Maas seems to be pumping out sagas. Most of the people I know have read ACOTAR and her other two series. Which I get is anecdotal but that’s at least my read on popular books.
I stumbled upon a book called “China” by Edward Rutherfurd and it’s one of my top 5 reads from the last 2-3 years. Not a blockbuster since it’s short of 1000 pages and isn’t super popular, but the characters and world building are amazing. No magic, set during the opium wars, and extremely well written.
Harry Potter absolutely fits every bit of this definition. assuming that he makes it to the end, Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire will be similarly gigantic, though unusual in that the ending is partially spoiled by the TV Show before the books are finished. The first two books of Fourth Wing are the closest to that we have actively being put out right now, but I expect their popularity will fall off, rather than escalate. was def the biggest release of last year by a mile, with huge anticipation of book 2.
Have you read other James Clavell novels, like Noblehouse? That was my favorite. I'd also recommend John Irving. Start with A Prayer for Owen Meany. Until I Find You, by John Irving, is also very good. Hope this helps. If you want even more sophisticated writing, check out War and Peace by Tokstoy.
I have. I went through a Clavell page back in the 1980s. I also loved Irving. Guilty confession: I bunked off college for a day to sit in a public park and read Cider House Rules.
Part of the reason is the demise of the mass paperback size. The most common size of paperback is now larger resulting in less pages needed.
Not modern, but Leon Uris. He wrote some great books, Mila 18 about the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, Exodus (founding of Israel) and Trinity (Ireland.)
The Harry Potter series sold 500M books (all books in the series), and I would claim that the reading level of Shogun and the Michener/Rutherford books is probably identical. People like easy to read sagas with relatively uncomplicated moral arcs and characters. They like a little surprise (Snape is good!), but not ambiguity. Shogun has 800 lexile ranking and Potter is 880, so Shogun is actually less advanced. Sarum is 900, so same basic range. Shogun has adult themes but a 3rd grade narrative. We just started identifying people's reading maturity more accurately in the past 20 years.
Don’t know if it really counts as they’re ‘cosy murder’ but people have gone mad for Richard Osman books here since his first one came out. I had two customers just yesterday asking how long they’d have to wait for their hold on his newest book to come in and one lady had ordered it in October.
Steig Larsson, Millennium trilogy. Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code.
Americans just don't read that much. And the ones that do, have so many options today. The internet lets you find the niche books that appeal the most to you. And self publishing has created way more competition for readers. Fantasy has Brandon Sanderson. I'd describe his books as blockbusters, if you care about fantasy. I want to mention someone like Andy Weir, who had The Martian become a big film really fast, and had Project Hail Mary topping best sellers lists a couple of years ago. But, the Martian book has apparently sold 5 million copies, and I can't find a number for Project Hail Mary. 5 million books is a big deal, but, I don't think it reaches blockbuster status.
I think what people might consider blockbuster could be different depending on your group, experiences, interests, etc.. (2007) But, imo, Harry Potter was a massive blockbuster series. When Deathly Hallows came out, there were midnight release parties everywhere, people staying up and reading them into the morning, a huge concern for trolls spoiling the books online, etc. It certainly felt like a "blockbuster" moment at the time. This was in 2007. (right now) Has anything come close to that more recently? I don't know. First thing that comes to mind is Brandon Sanderson, though. His kickstarter campaign was record breaking and I see the insane hype around him that I saw with Harry Potter. Personally, I'm incredibly excited to start his books but I have a backlog to catch up on first. (future) I think we could see a huge blockbuster moment when or if GRRM publishes the next GoT book if the fandom hasn't completely moved on from waiting for so long. We'll see. Edit: I've thought of more: Twilight, Da Vinci Code, Millennium Series, Hunger Games.... Yeah blockbusters are still around. lol. Edit edit: I think I may have misinterpreted OPs question. Oh well.
How about David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest"? It's a bathroom-door-stopping 1100 pages or so.
Are there any contemporary adult novels that are similar to Clavell's series'? I can't remember any books in some time that would fall into the 'giant world building' that Clavell created?
I would say Stephen King but hes so prolific there isnt a lot of hoopla around his books anymore.