Reading novels is one of life’s pleasures – you can get immersed in a whole different world. You can learn many things, feel emotions you’ve never felt before, and understand how other people can see the world more. However, haven’t you ever wondered exactly how long your favourite novels are? If you do, don’t worry, we’ve got you. Listed below are some famous series and novels and their word counts. Read on to see how many words these famous novels have.
Let’s start with some of the most famous series in the world:
Written by British author J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter series are fantasy novels and one of the highest-selling series and movie franchises of all time. This series revolves around the boy Harry Potter and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, his discovery of magic and the Wizarding World, and the threat of the evil wizard Lord Voldermort. The books are well-loved all over the world because of well, magic.
Now, how many words do each book has?
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – 77,325 words
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – 84,799 words
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – 106,821 words
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – 190,858 words
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – 257,154 words
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – 169,441 words
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – 198,227 words
The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy series written by British author J.R.R. Tolkien. It has sold over 150 million copies over the years. The books are about the struggle of Elves, Dwarves, and Men to overthrow the rule of the Dark Lord Sauron, which he achieved by making One Ring to rule all kingdoms. These series explore themes of religion, mythology, industrialisation, and the like. Tolkien’s work has had a great impact on authors writing fantasy novels.
Let’s look at the books’ word counts:
The Hobbit – 95,022 words
The Lord of the Rings – 455,125 words
The Two Towers – 143,436 words
The Return of the King – 134,462 words
A Song Of Ice And Fire is written by American author George R.R. Martin. These books have spurned a 8-season television show, Game of Thrones. It is set in the fictional continents Westeros and Essos, where the three main stories interweave: the war between clans that want to rule Westeros, the impending threat of supernatural beings from the North, and the desire of Daenerys Targaryen, the exiled daughter of the unseated king Aegon Targaryen, to take over Westeros.
How many words do these books have?
A Game Of Thrones – 298,000
A Clash Of Kings – 326,000
A Storm of Swords – 424,000
A Feast For Crows – 300,000
A Dance With Dragons – 422,000
Those word counts will only pile higher, especially there are still two upcoming additions to the series – The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. When those will come, only George R.R. Martin knows.
Here are other popular novels and their word counts:
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald – 47,094 words
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green – 67,203 words
1984, George Orwell – 88,942 words
Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan – 91,419 words
Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery – 97,364 words
To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee – 100,388 words
The Time Traveller’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger – 155,717 words
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell – 418,053 words
Moby Dick, Herman Melville – 206,052 words
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy – 349,736 words
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway – 174,106 words
Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden – 186,418 words
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë – 183,858 words
Ulysses, James Joyce – 265,222 words
Bleak House, Charles Dickens – 360,947 words
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens – 183,349 words
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo – 530,982 words
Catch-22, Joseph Heller – 174,269 words
Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen – 126,194 words
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens – 135,420 words
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez – 144,523 words
Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe – 138,087 words
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte – 107,945 words
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stow – 166,622 words
Walden, Henry David Thoreau – 114,634 words
Pere Goriot, Honore de Balzac – 87,846 words
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger – 73,404 words
Last of the Mohicans, James Fenimore Cooper – 145,469 words
Persuasion, Jane Austen – 87,978 words
A Separate Peace, John Knowles – 56,787 words
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinback – 169,481 words
East of Eden, John Steinback – 225,395 words
Catch-22, Joseph Heller – 174,269 words
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut – 49,459 words
Welcome to the Monkey House, Kurt Vonnegut – 99,560 words
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy – 587,287 words
Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood – 157,665 words
The Adventures of Huck Finn, Mark Twain – 109,571 words
Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain – 127,776 words
Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston – 70,957 words
The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera – 85,199 words
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne – 63,604 words
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde – 78,462 words
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury – 46,118 words
The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury – 64,768 words
Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison – 92,400 words
Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf – 63,422 words
As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner – 56,695 words
Lord of the Flies, William Golding – 59,900 words
These novels are only the tip of the iceberg. There are many other novels out there, just waiting for you to read them. Don’t be daunted by the thickness of the book, the number of pages, or the word count – they’ll fly by and the next thing you know, you’ll want to read another novel. So what are you waiting for? Pick up one of these novels now!
Check out our word count articles of the following series: Twilight Series, Sherlock Holmes series, Percy Jackson series and more…