Posted on October 10, 2009 - by Nicole Humphrey Cook
Word Count for Famous Novels
*Updated October 2010 with a few additions*
I have posted this in the past, or something similar. But a friend recently sent this to me via email just to show me and I thought it was a good thing to post on my blog for others to see. I did some research and added a bunch too.
I know I have looked at books before and wondered how many words they actually are. For some odd reason, this helps me immensely in my own word count goals. I like to see what the finished product could wind up looking like. Since I write young adult fiction, my word counts are often different. I don’t write fantasy so when my books tend to get on the longer side, I have to cut scenes and chapters that don’t matter as much. Oh, the horror. What? Things I have written don’t matter? Well if they don’t matter to the story, they don’t really need to be in there.
Here are some of the most famous books and their word counts:
Harry Potter Books
Philosopher’s Stone-77,325
Chamber of Secrets-84,799
Prisoner of Azkaban-106,821
Goblet of Fire-190,858
Order of the Phoenix257,154
Half Blood Prince-169,441
Deathly Hallows-198,227
Other Famous Books
Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe-36,363
The Hobbit-95,022
Moby Dick-206,052
Oliver Twist-155,960
Old Yeller-35,968
Anna Karenina-349,736
War and Peace-587,287
Jane Eyre-183,858
The Outsiders-48,523
Schindler’s List-134,710
The Red Badge of Courage-47,180
Gone with the Wind-418,053
The English Patient-82,370
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl-82,762
A Prayer for Owen Meany-236,061
Crime and Punishment-211,591
Treasure Island-66,950
Little Women (Books 1&2)-183,833
The Brothers Karamazov-364,153
Sense and Sensibility-119,394
Great Expectations-183,349
Watership Down-156,154
Ender’s Game-100,609
Moby Dick-206,052
A Separate Peace-56,787
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-30,644
Emma-155,887
The Wind in the Willows-58,428
The Hours-54,243
The Golden Compass-112,815
The Fellowship of the Ring-177,227
The Two Towers-143,436
The Return of the King-134,462
The Lord of the Rings-455,125
The Tenth Circle-114,779
My Sister’s Keeper-119,529
Crime & Punishment-211,591
A Tale of Two Cities-135,420
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea-138,138
White Teeth-169,389
Atonement-123,378
The Mouse and the Motorcycle-22,416
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-109,571
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer-69,066
The Secret Garden – 80,398
The Grapes of Wrath-169,481
The Great Gatsby-47,094
One Hundred Years of Solitude-144,523
Memoirs of a Geisha-186,418
The Last of the Mohicans-145,469
Lord of the Flies-59,900
Cold Mountain-161,511
Cold Sassy Tree-145,265 F
The Color Purple-66,556
The Catcher in the Rye-73,404
The Joy Luck Club-91,419
Snow Falling on Cedars-138,098
1984-88,942
Black Beauty-59,635
Cold Mountain-161,511
Anne of Green Gables-97,364
Midnight’s Children-208,773
Brave New World-63,766
Gullivers Travels-107,349
A House for Mr. Biswas-198,901
All the Pretty Horses-99,277
A Suitable Boy-591,554(estimate)
The Yearling-128,886
White Fang-72,071
Wuthering Heights-107,945
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