Les Rougon-Macquart reading order

A plan for the whole series

20 volumes, 8,981 pages, about 165 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 7 months.

Stages

12 stages, with 11 short books from outside the series between them. You finish around July 20, 2027, about 6 weeks later than in one go.

1. 1
   Stage 116 habout 3 weeksby November 19, 2026

   • 1. The Fortune of the Rougons1871 · 385 pages · 7 h
   • 2. La Curée1871 · 493 pages · 9 h
2. Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.82 h, by November 23, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
3. 2
   Stage 213 h18 daysby December 11, 2026

   • 3. Le Ventre de Paris1873 · 332 pages · 6 h
   • 4. La Conquête de Plassans1874 · 402 pages · 7 h
4. Short breakThe Emperor's Soul · Brandon Sanderson · 96 pp. · score 8.82 h, by December 15, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
5. 3
   Stage 318 habout 4 weeksby January 8, 2027

   • 5. La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret1875 · 437 pages · 8 h
   • 6. Son Excellence Eugène Rougon1876 · 442 pages · 8 h
   • 7. L'Assommoir1876 · 128 pages · 2 h
6. Short breakOn Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century · Timothy Snyder · 128 pp. · score 8.42 h, by January 12, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
7. 4
   Stage 416 habout 3 weeksby February 3, 2027

   • 8. Une Page d'amour1879 · 406 pages · 7 h
   • 9. Nana1880 · 470 pages · 9 h
8. Short breakTo Be Taught, If Fortunate · Becky Chambers · 153 pp. · score 8.33 h, by February 8, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
9. 5
   Stage 515 h20 daysby February 28, 2027

   • 10. Pot-Bouille1882 · 486 pages · 9 h
   • 11. The Ladies' Paradise1883 · 346 pages · 6 h
10. Short breakA Room of One's Own · Virginia Woolf · 144 pp. · score 8.23 h, by March 4, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
11. 6
    Stage 68 h11 daysby March 15, 2027

    • 12. La Joie de vivre1884 · 441 pages · 8 h
12. Short breakThe Screwtape letters · C. S. Lewis · 106 pp. · score 8.22 h, by March 19, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
13. 7
    Stage 715 h20 daysby April 8, 2027

    • 13. Germinal1885 · 825 pages · 15 h
14. Short breakA Short Stay in Hell · Steven L. Peck · 80 pp. · score 8.21 h, by April 11, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
15. 8
    Stage 89 h12 daysby April 23, 2027

    • 14. L'Œuvre1886 · 491 pages · 9 h
16. Short breakThornhedge · Ursula Vernon · 122 pp. · score 8.22 h, by April 27, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
17. 9
    Stage 915 h20 daysby May 17, 2027

    • 15. La Terre1887 · 501 pages · 9 h
    • 16. Le Rêve1888 · 310 pages · 6 h
18. Short breakSmall Things Like These · Claire Keegan · 112 pp. · score 8.12 h, by May 20, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
19. 10
    Stage 1016 habout 3 weeksby June 11, 2027

    • 17. La Bête humaine1890 · 415 pages · 8 h
    • 18. L'Argent1891 · 445 pages · 8 h
20. Short breakNumber the Stars · Lois Lowry · 149 pp. · score 8.13 h, by June 15, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
21. 11
    Stage 1114 h19 daysby July 4, 2027

    • 19. La Débâcle1892 · 777 pages · 14 h
22. Short breakRoadside Picnic · Arkady Strugatsky · 179 pp. · score 8.13 h, by July 10, 2027. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
23. 12
    Stage 128 h11 daysby July 20, 2027

    • 20. Doctor Pascal1893 · ≈ 449 pages · 8 h
24. The end of the series

    July 20, 2027

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

≈ next to a page count: a volume with no page count in our data is counted at this series’s average.