Our 2011 Chunksters

Reading a chunkster, a doorstop, a weighty book? Post here and we'll cheer you on!

What's a chunkster? Whatever you feel is one, I suppose. The chunkster reading challenge says 450 pages, but I've read that many in an afternoon and had others much smaller that needed some cheerleading. If it feels chunky, I say it counts!

right ho then (can you tell that I've been reading Wodehouse??), here's my list of hopeful chunksters to complete in 2011

1) Pandora's Star; been working on this one for 2 years...
2) A Game of Thrones; need to get going before the miniseries comes out
3) Revelation Space; highly recommended
4) Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell; read and reread the beginning multiple times... need to finish!
5) The Structure of Evolutionary Theory haha yeah right!

pip pip and carry on...

Vanity Fair is the only chunkster I've pre-planned to read this year, at some point...

I've heard good things about it though, and several people have mentioned that the story itself takes away some of the apprehension brought on by the page count, lol.

tally ho! I'll be adding Pillars of the Earth to my pile...

I'm nearly done with Jeeves for awhile, I promise!

Infinite Jest. (If I say it enough, I'll be forced into starting it.)

I've heard good things, but 1104 pages!! *gulp*

And it looks as if the Group Reads: Literature group might be doing The Way We Live Now (yay for Trollope!) and Les Miserables this quarter. Not sure about the first, but the second is definitely a chunkster! I will be reading the Trollope, but am undecided about joining in for the Hugo (although voting is still continuing, so it's not a done deal yet).

ETA: I don't know if the Trollope *is* a chunkster - I don't own it - but he has written some very large books.

Les Miserables is the chunkiest on my 2011 list (1376 pages!) but I've only got about 500 pgs left. The Brontes is the next largest, weighing in at 1003 (seriously can't wait to get started on that one, but must finish Les Mis first.); I'm also planning to read The Count of Monte Cristo and Secrets of the Flesh: The Life of Collette, I think those last two ring in at about the 650 mark.

Ugh, I still need to finish The Historian, I started it two years ago. I also want to get back to The Fifth Sacred Thing. My uncle gave it to me for my 16th birthday years ago but I never finished it. And I'm in the middle of Life and Death are Wearing Me Out. That's kind of a chunky.

Oh, the Trollope is definitely a chunkster! I'm looking forward to that one too.

Yay! I do like Trollope, and I think it's another "1001" book I can knock off the list!

Looks as if we might need a vote-off for the second read though: Golden Bowl is neck-and-neck with Les Misérables at the moment! Can't say I'm quite in the mood for Henry James right now, but the Hugo was quite a reading commitment, too.

So many books, so little time!

Damn, I already voted so I can't go swing it one way or the other! Plus, the three I voted for are the Trollope, The Golden Bowl, and Les Miserables.

I am eyeing up Lonesome Dove to read this month. My first ever western, I hope it's gonna be a good one.

Found a second hand copy of The Way We Live Now, and, my, it is a chunkster! Well over 700 pages, and small print (*groan*, I'll have to find where I put my reading glasses now).

#10> My other two books that I voted for were the two I nominated, Infinite Jest and Testament of Youth. I could see myself buying the Trollope, I couldn't see myself rushing out to buy the others (although if I run across them second hand, you never know...). And now Dead Souls has come out of nowhere so it's a three-way tie for the second read!!

Oh, oh! I'm not in the 100 group this year, but can I join this anyway? One of the reasons I'm not in the 100 group is that I'm planning to read a chunkster a month, starting on the 1st. Conceivably, I may only read 12 books this year! Hence, no 100 group.

And I love, love, love the rules for chunkster in post #1.

My official January chunkster was The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood, and thanks to my book club, I also read Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. February 1st I'll be opening up The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. I read a Dickens each year, and this is the one for 2011.

(edited to say grrrr, bloody touchstones never work for the Dickens books. What's up with that?)

I'm not going to count my 451 page read (Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon, but I certainly will count my current read, Grand Central Arena by Ryk E. Spoor. at 671 pages!

first abandoned chunkster: Peoples History of the United States... shoot I'm about as liberal a guy as you'll find in my part of the world, but I couldn't stomach Zinn's version of history. To be fair I only read two chapters or so, but he made it pretty clear from the get-go who he was going to blame for all the ills of the world. And it's not that I disagree with him all the time...

Oh, too bad! I've been wanting to read that one. However, since my biases seem to be in line with Zinn's, I think I'll still give it a go.

My current chunkster is Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa. Chapter one and a dog was just beaten to death - does not bode well. Hopefully the animal cruelty will stop now so that I can read the rest.

> 13 Of course you can!

I'm gearing up to start A Game of Thrones next week as part of a group read in the 75 challenge. If I like it, that'll be a whole heap of chunksters for this spring...

I'm working my way through Don Quixote, which although it is very good, the structure doesn't suck you into it for hours at a time. Its structured as short events that (so far, at least ) don't seem to really work into much of a larger plot. I'm going to get through it though!

That was one of the best series I've ever read. I'm worried though that George R.R. Martin may not finish it.

oh oh I'm halfway through Pandora's Star.... I really wanted to finish it before I started A Game of Thrones

ok, I guess it's going to be a marathon read... just as soon as I finish... who am I kidding? I can read two chunksters at once.

Haha! Pandora's Star is one of those books that took me forever to read - but I really enjoyed it and a lot of the 'work' of the book pays off in Judas Unchained. How are you finding it?

oh I'm enjoying it all right, I'm just trying to figure out what Paula Myo has to do with anything... and the whole trip to middle of the North Pole (or the alien equivalent) with Ozzie and Orion??? Seems like a lot of stuff going on that will take a lot of work to make relevant in the end.

Haha, yeah, I remember the feeling! I seem to recall feeling like he /does/ tie the pieces together in the end, though. But -- the end is still many hundreds of pages away.

A Game of Thrones is excellent, but I'm not reading another page until they're all published. I want resolution for these characters, I'm not going to be happy with yet another cliffhanger.

Have just picked up An Instance of the Fingerpost. It's fairly literary, and at nearly 700 pages long is definitely long enough to be a chunkster in my definition. :) Several chapters in, and I'm enjoying myself muchly.

>24 wookiebender:

I suspect we will wait more than 10 years to see the end of this one :)

So do we count e-books or not? :)

So do we count e-books or not? :)

Towards our "100 (or thereabouts)" total? Absolutely! You read it, you can count it. :)

Towards the Chunksters of the year I mean - I know that the original blog was having some issues with ebooks which I find kinda strange... so just checking what we count here :)

As for the challenge itself - considering that I am shifting most of my series reading to the kindle, I will need to count them for the 100 -- or I am in trouble:)

D'oh! I hadn't realised which thread I was on. If it's a chunkster in print, it's still a chunkster in electronic format. :) Count away!

Yeah, the number of words you read doesn't change according to the format!

:) Guess I will be revisiting this thread quite a while through the year then.

Funnily enough though the one I work on now (slowly and in between other books) is in paper format: O. Henry: Complete and Unabridged - I plan to try yo finish it before the end of the year but will see :)

chunkster update!

Pandora's Star is progressing smoothly. I expect to finish today or tomorrow! I have lots to say about it... watch for my review on my book thread.

So... the question is, do I pick up and finish Jonathan Strange (which I'm roughly half-way through already from previous attempts) or do I start A Game of Thrones?

I've been wanting to read It for quite a while now as well... yes yes I know, how can I have missed that one... actually continuing the ebook idea, I may have to buy that one for the kindle... I can't see trying to handle that 1000-page hardback (which is what we own).

Do Game of Thrones! Then I can talk to you about it. ;) You could come join us in our group read!

Also, I'm finding it really fantastic.

Without intention, I have begun a "chunkster" Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and enjoying, so far, every page and footnote! LOL

well

I've been eyeing Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver as yet another chunkster to add to my list

I'm getting serious about A Game of Thrones, picked up Judas Unchained and then set it back down...opened Jonathon Strange read a few pages... sigh

finding that I am lacking motivation as spring approaches here in the lower midwest. Sixty-degree weather lends one to thinking of gardening and hiking rather than reading.

I'm joining in with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Finding it hard to read it in bed, it's so enormous!

Still chugging away at The Historian. This was a little different than what I was expecting, but I've liked it so far...its just taken me about 2 weeks to get halfway through! We've been fairly busy at my work, so not a lot of down time in the art gallery to sit and read!

I actually liked The Historian a lot... though many have panned it as overly long, wordy, etc. I do recall learning more about Vlad Tepes than I really cared to...

I've got The Historian on Mt TBR somewhere, it came highly recommended (although, I too, have noticed it being panned as "overly long, wordy, etc", so I'm not expecting great literature :).

I've sadly had to put Jonathan Strange to one side, because I suddenly realised that Started Early, Took My Dog is due back at the library this weekend. Pulling out all stops to get it read! (Oh gosh darn, what a trauma, being immersed in a Kate Atkinson novel...)

Started Early is not a chunkster, but I'm not sure if we've got a crime thread...

"but I'm not sure if we've got a crime thread..."

no.. but we can certainly start one ;-)

Yes, we can, and thanks for doing so! (Life's a bit beyond hectic at the moment - I'm keeping up my reading, and my LT commenting, but not much apart from that.)

haha clicked on the link for Started Early, Took My Dog to read the reviews. The first review absolutely hated it.. and everything else by Atkinson. So.. she appears to be one of those authors either loved or hated (as the overall review for the book was 4+ stars). I don't really need another crime/mystery series to read, but I'll likely still keep at least one eye out for her books ;-)

So, he/she hated them, yet they've read every single one...? Well, there's something to be said for persistence, at least. :)

I've run across very few haters of Kate Atkinson. But she is quite literary - may not come across very well to anyone wanting "just" a nice crime thriller novel. Frankly, literary crime suits me to a T. Love it.

Thanks for posting, Wookie dear . . . I've been looking for this thread and couldn't remember what it was called. I was wondering how everyone else was doing, because I'm struggling big-time with Nicholas Nickleby. I have only one day left in February, and I'm just 3/4 of the way through. Unless I do NOTHING tomorrow, there is no way I'll finish, and there is NO WAY I can do nothing tomorrow! It's really good, but frankly too bloody long! Curse you, Charles Dickens! Anyway, I start a new Chunkster on March one, but will finish up NN asap.

Anyone else struggling with this?

I wouldn't say "struggling" with my book choice (Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is hardly dense), but struggling with finding time in which to read it...? Well, yes. I've got to start reading my book group read round about now, but I don't want to take *another* extended hiatus from the English magicians.

I think I need to de-commit in my reading!! But since I had an epic fail with last month's bookgroup book, I *will* be reading March's book. It'll be something else that will have to go. (Damnit.)

Yes, struggling with the time to read it. That's my problem. And I keep walking past my other unread books, and they call to me: "read me! read me!" It breaks my heart to have to ignore them. Curse you, Nicholas Nickleby!

Wookie -- do tell us about your "epic fail", please.

Oh, it was just sheer lack of willpower on my side, I barely got a dozen pages into it. It wasn't a bad book (I even voted for it as one of our reads), it's just that other books kept on distracting me. Naughty other books.

Having said that, I had a sick day today (and yesterday, stupid tonsils) and got through about 500 pages of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Remarkably easy read, once I had some time for it.

Well, it's March 1st, and so I'm starting a new big book, even though I have 160 pages of Nicholas Nickleby left. I'll just have to fit that in sometime. Today I started We Were the Mulvaneys, which isn't nearly as long (although the pages are large and the book is very heavy).

gah!! My list of chunksters just keeps growing

A Game of Thrones
Judas Unchained
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Quicksilver

and now Bleak House by Dickens.

I think I need to remove the Amazon button from my computer.

>I think I need to remove the Amazon button from my computer.

I actually blocked Amazon from my computer entirely a few weeks ago. An hour later I was hacking my blocking and figured out I can as well unblock...

Meanwhile I am just looking my big books but should be starting some at some point.

We Were the Mulvaneys sure seems like it is about a million pages long (I hated it, but then I am not a JCO fan). Good luck with that.

Everyone needs to stop talking about A Game of Thrones so that I can go back to not knowing about its existence. Because right now I feel like I need to read it, and I don't have time for that.

My current chunkster: The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. Yet another re-telling of the whole Richard III story, but it is super good so far.

#51> I just saw the trailer for A Game of Thrones and it made me want to re-read the books. (Apart from the lack of resolution, given that we've been waiting years for book 5 or 6 or whatever we're up to.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWIyCUHrESk

Squee, I say. Squee. (And no idea when it's going to screen in Australia. I might break down and find out how to download TV for this one.)

I finished Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and I did enjoy it. Onto a non-chunkster for bookgroup now...

Some wonderful books here - Jonathan Strange, Quicksilver, An Instance of the Fingerpost, Pillars of the Earth etc, etc. As someone has already mentioned, some books seem quite short at 800 pages while others seem very long indeed. I've just finished The Dark Side of Love which seemed longer than many others - not because I didn't enjoy it but because something in the writing style (plus the many rather similar Arabic names) made me keep going back to check who was whom and what had already happened to them. I'm glad I've finally got through it but it was an enjoyable read all the same. I've picked on a nice, short, easy YA book to follow it with.

yes I forgot to add

Pillars of the Earth which my wife received for Christmas (not from me... I knew she wouldn't read an 800+ page historical fiction book)

It I can't decide whether or not to drop the $9 for this on the kindle. I own a massive hardback copy... and can't see hauling it around (see what I did there ;-))

I'm past halfway on Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories by Simon Winchester... I'm actually listening to this, and as it checks in at a measly 512 pages in hardback; I'm not sure if that really counts as a chunkster.

ok I finally went ahead and purchased It for the kindle and am about a third of the way through...

for some reason I missed or chose to pass on reading this book back in the 80's. As I recall, the year it was published (1986) I was living in Springfield, Missouri and going to college. My wife's father, a rather well known child-psychologist, had turned up his nose at my Stephen King recommendations... and thus I may have been a bit put off of King by that (seeing as I liked and admired my father-in-law). Well he's long gone and that wife is now an ex-wife and a distant memory...

King's writing however... wow! He is a master at scene-setting, and tension building. I do despair sometimes of the overlong in-between sequences... (info-dumping I think it's called ;-)) but for pure psychological terror... nothing I've read beats him.

#56 So good to hear you're enjoying that one! King is one of those writers who attracts a lot of snobbery but who may have been more responsible than almost anyone else for getting kids and young adults reading. In many ways he is an excellent writer and, while you wouldn't study his books to learn how to write a literary novel, there's a heck of a lot to be learned from the way he writes popular, page-turning, yet intelligent fiction. I'm not so keen on his later books but I firmly believe his better work will be around for many years yet because, when he's at his best, he is a very fine storyteller indeed.

>57 Booksloth: King is one of those writers who attracts a lot of snobbery

As do most of the genre authors... unfortunately. The other day someone at the LOA forum was embarrassed for liking Lovecraft...

Yipee, me! I finished Nicholas Nickleby. It only took me 35 days (and I read some other stuff during that time). I really liked it but I really thought it was too long. Next time I read one of the chunkster Dickens', I'm going to follow the installment system that they were published in . . . so they might take me 20 months to read, but I'm okay with that.

#58> LOA?

Can't say I'm a big fan of Lovecraft either, but I do like the idea of Cthulu (probably misspelt, my apologies). And I've got enough friends who adore his writing that I tend to keep my opinion to myself. :)

>60 wookiebender: Library of America.

I do not say that everyone should like him - Cthulhu is a fine concept but I can see how people won't like it. So - not liking it is not a problem in the least as long as you do not mislike it simply because it is from a genre author and not from Dickens, Austen, you name it.

But being embarrassed because you like it (because it is pulpy genre fiction) is just... weird. Although it shows the separation that still exist between genre and "real" writers. :)

OMG. It is soooo long. And it's one of those books that you have to read. You can't set it aside and finish off a different 300-page book and then go back to it. My kindle tells me I'm to 60% completed, so I should be done by the weekend.

I'm seeing lots of parallels to his other lonnngggg book The Stand. The good guys have gathered and now the bad guys are gathering; big confrontation/battle coming; Pennywise = Randall Flagg; assorted wild cards are in play...

yea!! Finished It finally! See my (brief) review in my book thread....

I'll have to consider what's next on my chunkster list as I do some 'light' reading to rest up for the next effort.

Thanks for the comments here and elsewhere on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and It - I'd like to give both a go when time permits.

After falling in love with Kazuo Ishiguro, I've just finished struggling through The Unconsoled. I'm not sure what made it so much more difficult to read than the other three books of his that I've recently devoured, but I definitely found it to be a bit of a Chunkster. I polished Never Let Me Go off in just a couple of sittings - quite a contrast!

I've also had The Historian sitting by my bed for the last 2 months or so, and have finally ventured amongst the first few chapters. So far it's been easier going than I expected, but I hear that it may also fit well into the Chunkster category, so wish me luck ...

Well, I've just started chunkster extrordinaire A Suitable Boy, but I have to start The Forgotten Garden for Club Read. I'm also reading a Chunkster Lite, The Reckoning, by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles (only 400-and-some pages! Whew!) I've never been a monogamist when it comes to my books.

#64 seekingflight - I'm also a huge Ishiguro fan (rabid Ishiguro fan, even?), and I also had a really hard time with The Unconsoled. I have no idea what he was trying to do there. And it goes on and on and on... I'm sure it is very brilliant and deep, and I just didn't get it, but I won't be returning to it any time soon.

Have started Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. I'm including this as a chunkster, because it's over 500pp, and I opened it with a sense of foreboding (that Bad Sex in Literature shortlisting turned me off it; and friends have not liked it at all). But I am actually enjoying it, so maybe it's not really a chunkster after all. :)

I tried Freedom last summer... didn't get very far into it. And, due to the lukewarm reviews, have not been tempted to try it again. I look forward to your review...

if we're going by chunkster-like feel (rather than just by length), Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast… by Simon Winchester definitely qualifies (and at 512 pp. it qualifies on both counts I guess)... even though I'm listening to it rather than reading it. Winchester is the reader and he's doing a fine job... but it can be dry and just a bit tedious (especially the poetry parts).

And see, I know what you mean about chunkster-like feel, because I'm also reading Flood by Stephen Baxter, and it comes in at 496 pp, and yet I'm racing through it...

Read A Clash of Kings last week, and now I'm pushing to see if I can't manage all 924 pages of A Storm of Swords in three days.

I only have 40 pages left. So I'm betting I'll make it. These books are good.

sigh... I so have to read those...

ok nearly done with Flood, it definitely slowed way down from the first third or so. Not a very happy story... and just a bit too scientifically unbelievable for my comfort zone (regarding the source of all that water... I just don't think so).

>70 clif_hiker:

It had to come up from somewhere :)

I have finished Flood by Baxter (technically not a chunkster by definition as it comes in at 496 pages, but close enough for my list of chunksters over on the 11 in11 challenge); annnddddd I've broken down and purchased The Game of Thrones for the Kindle..... NOW I have no excuse!

oh yeah anybody want a dog-eared pb copy of The Game of Thrones?? I'm sure I'll find takers on Bookmooch...

ooh! ooh! Me, please. do you have the same name on Bookmooch?

I'll reserve it for you Jennifer... what is your Bookmooch ID?

Thanks Keith! My bookmooch ID is "jlf0425".

Yay now I get to read it too!

alritey reserved for you!!

I hope you enjoy The Game of Thrones! I was just at the local sci-fi/fantasy bookshop, and was tempted to buy the whole series, as I'm not sure if we actually own them or not, and they had nice new covers... I came to my senses however. :)

I don't think I would have been able to resist a find like that!

I'm now seriously tempted to re-read the Ice and Fire Books since everyone else is reading them.... Must... resist... and focus on reducing TBR mountain... *gasp!*

#78> Don't enable me!! I'm quite capable of buying them all just so I have nice *matching* covers. I'm trying to slow down the book buying, not speed it up!

A Feast For Crows finally came in today! I plan to do nothing this weekend but read read read Martin until I have no more Martin to read.

Tomorrow is April 1, so I will start my fourth chunkster of the year. This time I have to cheat a little. . . the purpose of my chunkster challenge is to reduce Mnt TBR, but this month I'll have to read a book that hasn't made it onto the mountain yet. I have an ER copy of Margaret George's new book on Elizabeth I that I've been waiting a couple of months to read, and if I don't make it a priority I'll never get to it. Over 600 pages and it looks lovely, so I'm happy to read it. If I love it so much that I gobble it up, maybe I can fit in one of the smaller chunksters from the TBR pile.

Nickelini, I got a Margaret George book for my birthday last year - I'll have to find time to read it soon! - I'm looking forward to your comments on her new one.

I finished Freedom. I did not enjoy Freedom, even though I did like it at the start. By the end, a friend asked me what I thought and I said "I just wish they'd all hurry up and die". Given that sentiment, I was rather disappointed the book didn't have a cataclysmic ending.

Then dipped briefly into The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (almost a chunkster!) but decided I didn't want to do the rush-read-before-library-due-date so I'll get my own copy later and read it at my leisure. It's not a book for rushing.

Neither is Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier in America which I have two days to read before bookgroup discussion starts. (How does this always happen to me??) I'll just be joining in the discussion late, I guess. Gorgeous, so far. I have a lot of Carey novels unread on the shelves, I really should make a push to get through some of them sooner rather than later. (*sigh* Wish I had more reading time.)

Nickelini, I got a Margaret George book for my birthday last year - I'll have to find time to read it soon! - I'm looking forward to your comments on her new one.

Which one did you get? Autobiography of Henry VIII is awesome, Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles is also good, but rather depressing (curse you, Mary, for having such a depressing life), and Helen of Troy was ....okay. I haven't read her others. She is really good with getting her details right, apparently.

I really enjoyed Parrot and Olivier in America, and like you I savoured it. I listened to it on iPod whilst gardening, and it was a good listen (especially since the reader did different accents depending on the character. He made Olivier both sophisticated and ridiculous and Parrot was very down to earth. Loved it).

Autobiography of Henry VIII, as it was highly recommended by a number of LibraryThingers. :)

Which meant that I recommended it to my Mum to buy for my sister, and she changed her mind, and bought it for me.

Funny how that works, huh! Good mum! Anyway, hope you enjoy it when you get around to it.

I found myself so caught up in it, I was craving the foods they mentioned. Not knowing what swan tastes like, I didn't crave that, but I found myself eating a lot of eggs while reading it. Then I read the Mary Queen of Scots book and ate a lot of oatmeal. So far the Elizabeth I book doesn't have me craving anything.

on the verge of completing three chunksters at once! Well, not exactly simultaneously, but within a day or two of each other...

A Game of Thrones; less than 100 pages to go; amazing, awesome, totally drags you into the story... I just wish that he would stay with one character longer, but again, that device may be why the story works so well. Have my DVR set for Sunday night!!!

Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms,and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories; less than 30 minutes to finish; Audible book, only took me a month or so of driving back and forth to school to finish; terrifically interesting parts, the Naval conflicts, the biology and fishing, climate change and weather... this is a terrific book that many probably would not enjoy due to its length and breadth.

Kraken; I anticipate finishing this over the weekend, I'm about a third of the way through it; not really 'getting' it yet, but I'll plough my way through.

well I thought I could finish Kraken over the weekend... but I just couldn't. I've officially abandoned my effort. I read 200+ pages of.. well, crap, is really the only word that comes to mind. Too many other, better, books out there for me to waste my time on one that I obviously just don't get. Sorry China, I'll give Perdido Street Station a go... everyone says that you got it right in that one...

sorry to hear that, it's rubbish when you read a book you cannot get one with :( Although being a fan I must add that it might be worth trying Perdido Street Station as it's a different book or The City and the City (1st Chapter here ). Hmm actually maybe his short story book Looking for Jake might be worth a peek.

Right I will shut up now.

I have Perdido Street Station downloaded to my kindle... as soon as I finish the other umpty-dozen kindle books... it'll be next ;-)

it wasn't that I didn't like the premise of Kraken, I mean a disappearing squid and a cult devoted to Architeuthis... yeah what's not to like eh? But the story never seemed to go anywhere, and Miéville seemed to like being clever with language just a bit more than he did telling the story.

Oh, I just finished my latest chunkster: Parrot and Olivier in America. I'm afraid it never clicked for me. I usually like Carey, it was well written, the characters and plot were (in theory) interesting, but, well, yeah. Right up to the last two pages, I was wondering if I should bother finishing it. (I did, because of bookgroup, although I've probably missed the discussion anyhow. :)

Not sure why it failed, maybe it was just the wrong book for me at this time. I do seem to be in a minor reading slump, just too tired at the moment to really focus on anything. Probably a good time to work through some of the trashier fun reads on the stack, rather than tangle with serious literature!

@92 Hmm from memory Perdido Street Station is a slow start but the world building might entice you forward.

I did like Perdido Street Station, but The City and the City is his best, so far. Un Lun Dun is also good YA, although it does take a while to kick in. I spent the first third thinking 'ho hum', and then it really took off.

I liked Perdido Street Station okay, but there were also things (namely the paaaaacing) about it that I didn't like. I feel like Mieville is an experience to be had, but not one of my favorite authors.

I just started his Embassytown (won from ER) at lunch today and I'm finding it a very mixed bag. But at least no version of the word 'shat' has appeared in the text yet.

I finished Elizabeth I: a novel. It felt like it took forever to read, but it was good, and a worthwhile endeavour. It was 662 oversized pages, and very heavy to hold. Now taking a break with a lighter book.

downloaded A Clash of Kings... reminding myself not to get too attached to any of the characters ;-)

the spouse is working her way through Pillars of the Earth, complaining bitterly about small print and thickness of the book (although she says she really likes the story). I just smile and say "thanks for the Christmas kindle, honey" (for the record, she has expressed NO interest in any kind of e-reader, despite my repeated suggestions and recommendations.. perhaps a few more books like Pillars of the Earth will bring her around).

I've just got halfway through The Trout Opera and, very reluctantly, had to abandon it because it's a book that demands undivided attention and I have too many distractions right now. It promises to be a truly wonderful book though and I'm looking forward to getting back to it when life is a bit quieter.

any opinions or recommendations on Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese? Looks daunting.. but good!

I just finished Bone China, by Roma Tearne, which was a smaller-sized Big Book. It was lovely.

My big book for June is The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco. Since it's over 500 big pages of apparently all talk and little action, I'm not sure how far I'll get with this one. But it certainly has a pretty blue cover.

I think I've got that Eco novel on the shelves somewhere. I'll be watching out for your review!

I've just started Every Man Dies Alone, which I'm including as a chunkster even though it's "only" 500 pages, but because of its subject matter isn't going to be an easy read, I feel. (German resistance in WW2.)

#102 Not an easy read by any means but definitely worth it!

I failed with my June big book --Umberto Eco's Island of the Day Before. It wasn't awful or anything, in fact there were things I rather liked about it. But in the long run, life is too short and my TBR is too high to spin my wheels on books like that.

Now off to tackle 100 Years of Solitude.

I'm currently reading The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and it had a very slow start. Definitely a chunkster (in the wrong way) for the first third or so. Has picked up and I'm rushing through it now. (But I'm also on holidays, so there's not much reading time to be had...)

I read Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings last week, and it's a chunkster if I've ever seen one! 1001 pages, every one of them intensely delightful.

104 My patience ran out with Island of the Day Before... it just didn't seem to go anywhere.

in my quest to read more about the Middle East and Southern Asia, I picked up The Source by James Michener (920 pp.) ... I've read ~100 pages so far, and like most of Michener, I like it, but I wish he'd tell his story faster.

107 My patience ran out with Island of the Day Before... it just didn't seem to go anywhere.

Yes! Kinda like being stuck on a boat that is marooned off an island.

#106> I've heard nothing but good about Brandon Sanderson, I really must pick up a copy of one of his books...

#110 by wookiebender>

If I ever get around to writing reviews, you'll hear nothing but good from me, either. I have adored every single one of them, and he's only gotten stronger as he's gone. I highly recommend everything he's written. Except maybe not The Way of Kings because let me tell you this is going to be an agonizing wait.

Okay, Brandon Sanderson is now properly and officially on my wishlist. :) Any recommendations for where to start?

I'm currently reading The Swarm by Frank Schatzing which I requested from the library. And when I picked it up, discovered it clocks in at about 900 pages. It's going to scare the workmates when I return to work tomorrow morning. (Wah. I'd rather be on holidays still.)

It's quite gripping, although has a number of the annoying bits that European thrillers (well, The Girl With... series did) seem to have: lots (and lots) of exposition clunkily handled. This may be endemic to thrillers as a whole, I only ever seem to read ones translated from European languages. (There's my literary snob streak.) I'm rather curious as to why this one has made it to two editions of the "1001" list.

Also has an interesting aspect for me, in that just a few days ago I was watching whales off the east coast (Byron Bay, Australia's eastern most point). From the cliffs, it was a matter of seeing a white splash way off on the horizon and saying "that was a whale". :) Still, cool. And I'm finding a different viewpoint on whales very fascinating right now.

working on two chunksters... I'm really enjoying Winston Churchill's first volume of his history (and memoirs) of the Second World War The Gathering Storm (752 pp); and am very slowly getting through The Source by James Michener (928 pp)

My Big Book for July was One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I just finished. At 448 pages, it's not a chunkster. It is, however, a big book because it is very dense and one that I kept avoiding because it always seemed like too much to tackle.

>114 Nickelini: I read that book ~20 years ago and remember saying the same thing... very dense, and I kept setting it down to read something else.

I feel like I've been reading nothing but chunksters lately (working my way through Proust), and now I've started reading Tristram Shandy, which is also a chunkster. But since I'm finding it hilarious, it is a relatively quick read.

Oh, you're doing better than me. I think I managed 10 pages of Tristram Shandy a few years ago. Not one of my better reading efforts. :) I'll give it another go, but not right now.

My big book for August wasn't very long, it was just a big, heavy hard cover (I'm trying to get these out of my house)--a Portrait in Sepia, by Allende. My September book is both a big book AND a chunkster: Possession, by AS Byatt.

Joyce, it is a very big book, in all sense of the word. I do hope you enjoy it, I love Possession!

Possession is great. One of my favorites!

So I just finished the mother of all chunksters, all 3000 run-on-sentence-filled pages of Proust's In Search of Lost Time. Woo hoo! I'm way proud of myself. Overall, it was really good, and I can totally see why it has the reputation it does. The writing is absolutely beautiful, and Proust really touches on things everyone has thought - he has some great writing about love, and jealousy, and ending-relationships, and all that. HOWEVER, boy that Marcel (the narrator, not the author. Well, maybe the author) is a creeper. Yuck.

112 I'm reading The Swarm right now, and I'm also wondering what about it makes it 1001 worthy. Maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough to get it (wouldn't be the first time.) I'm only 30% of the way through, so maybe the wow factor is still ahead.

Thank goodness for the Kindle, which makes my chunkster addiction much easier to carry around.

Just reporting back . . . I did finish my September book--Possession, although it took me until October to finish. I did like and appreciate it, but I didn't love it. Then my October chunkster was Dracula, which was great fun. For November I think I'm going to tackle Jude the Obscure.

Is this challenge going to continue in 2012? I don't plan on having another year of reading a BIG book a month, but I will still tackle some of those from Mnt TBR. I enjoy the support here.

Joyce, I'm always planning on reading chunksters (although I usually fail in this plan). I'm sure we'll be continuing a thread on chunksters in our 2012 group. (2012! Oh, it's too early to think about that now...)

My chunkster for November was Jude the Obscure, which was definitely worth reading. My December book is The Voyage Out, by Virginia Woolf. This is one that gets into my Big Book category not because of the number of pages (the edition I'm reading onnly has 375, but because it is dense. I actually read about 200 pages of this years ago but I had to return it to the library before I could finish. It is not a novel you can read quickly if you want to actually get anything out of it.

... stilllllllll working on Jonathan Strange. I'm 3/4 of the way through, the story is taking a strange turn, although no less meandering. I cannot imagine being so happy to complete a book as I will be when I get through this one.

When winter comes, Dickens calls to me. I was very annoyed to discover that most of my Dicken novels are in print that is now too small for me to read comfortably but one exception (just) is Our Mutual Friend which, I guess, counts as a chunkster at 814 pages.

Isn't that funny--when winter comes, Dickens calls me too. I wonder what's up with that? Anyway, I usually read him in January or February. In 2012 it will be Oliver Twist, which isn't a chunkster.

#128 I guess a lot of it has to do with all that darkness and smog - it wouldn't feel right to read that on a beach.

Yes, that's it, isn't it. And all those years of watching A Christmas Carol I think added to it. Dickens = winter.

>127 Booksloth:
Dickens always calls to me. I try to ignore him for the most part.

Hoping to tackle Dickens in 2012, with A Christmas Carol as a run-up this Christmas, if I ever finish my current read, Empire of the Sun.

It's not a chunkster, being only 350pp, but I feel like I've been reading it forever. Such a busy time of year, anything over 100pp I think classifies as a chunkster. ;)

#132 I'm not sure whether you're enjoying Empire of the Sun in spite of the length of time it's taking you to read but I can only agree that to me it was one of those books that felt absolutely interminable - and I wasn't a fan at all (it was a uni read so I didn't have the option to sling it on the charity shop pile). I hope you're having more fun with it than I did.

Well, I finished it. I thought the story was fascinating, if horrific, but it was written so flat, without emotion, that it made it rather a hard slog. I'm glad I read it, but it may find its way into a charity shop pile at some stage, because I can't quite see myself re-reading it.

I finished my last Big Book for 2012. This one, The Voyage Out, didn't have enough pages to make it a chunkster, however, it qualifies as a Big Book for me because of the density and amount of attention required to read it properly. I had three different Woolf companions at my side and I read every sentence and put it in context. It was a lot of work, but very rewarding. If I hadn't done this, the book would have been boring in parts--too many pages of English people on holiday saying "oh yes, very nice." So that completes my Big Book project for the year, and I am disappointed to say that it did not help me like big books any more than I did at the beginning of the year! Give me a nice 200 page novel any day. For 2012 I am doing another project--short stories this time. I haven't been a fan of short stories either.

>135 Nickelini:
*chuckle*

Short stories are fun:)