Reading the 'Chunksters'

[Kassandra]

That's classic, Kiwi!

[Overbooked ✎]

I can't help myself :


and here is a video (the first part)

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

Kiwi wrote: "I can't help myself :


and here is a video (the first part)"

LOVE. :D

[A]

Just started a 'Chunkster' - War and Peace!

[Faye, The Dickens Junkie]

Ruchi wrote: "Just started a 'Chunkster' - War and Peace!"

Yay! I love that book. :)

[CaptKirk42 Classic Whovian]

Still reading Under the Dome on page 484 (44%) Enjoying it. At this rate it will be at least another month for me and another 2 or 3 more books behind.

Also enjoying season 2 of the TV series. It is interesting comparing the two. The series obviously had to make a few changes to stretch the story out otherwise it would have been a one and done "mini-series".

[Srividya]

@Camille - sorry for the late response. I am doing the same now and am quite enjoying it this time round. Actually, I guess I had a mental block after learning about the number of different characters in the book. However, now am actually enjoying it.

[Kassandra]

In looking at my stats, it looks like I'm doing great (for me) on the number I've books I've read compared to last year...but the number of pages needs some work. To fix this, I'm going to try to dive into a couple of chunksters. I like chunksters but they have to be enjoyable otherwise it stops all my progress. Does anyone have any recommendations on some chunksters that they have really enjoyed?

[CaptKirk42 Classic Whovian]

Now on page 731 (67%) of Under the Dome

[Debbie]

Kassandra, I've really liked these

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (the entire series is good and huge)

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Gone with the Wind

The Stand, It, 11/23/63, Mr Mercedes...almost anything by Stephen King

[Kassandra]

Debbie, thanks for the recommendations! Outlander sounds really interesting, I'm going to add that one to my TBR. There are a lot of fans of Stephen King in this group. I haven't read anything by him since I was a teenager but it may be time for me to get back to his work. 11/23/63 sounds really interesting as well, I had no idea that he had written about something like that!

[Debbie]

Kassandra, Mr Mercedes is not the usual King either. There is nothing supernatural in it..it's a murder mystery.

[Roseanne]

I had not read anything by Stephen King since I was in my early 20s and just got back into it last year. Not even sure how that happened because he is awesome. I am now making up for lost time.

[Debbie]

Roseanne, I think he went thru a stage where his books just weren't very good, lol. I hadn't read him since Tommyknockers, then I picked up Cell and was hooked again.

[Roseanne]

Maybe that is it. I guess it was mid 90s when I stopped reading his stuff and the one that got me back into it was 11/22/63.

[Kassandra]

Debbie, you might be right about his books taking a bit of a dive. I remember reading Dolores Claiborne and feeling like it had been a waste of my time, so I stopped reading him. I'm glad to hear that his writing is back on top!

(**sighs as she adds even more books to her TBR**)

[Holly, That Geeky One]

Just finished A Storm of Swords Part 1, chuffed with myself that I got it done so quick. Loving the series!

[Debbie]

I enjoyed the series too. I think there are two more books to come someday.

[Roseanne]

Holly wrote: "Just finished A Storm of Swords Part 1, chuffed with myself that I got it done so quick. Loving the series!"

I am finishing the second book in the series right now. I love this series.

[Tracey]

Kassandra wrote: "Debbie, thanks for the recommendations! Outlander sounds really interesting, I'm going to add that one to my TBR."


I'm just wrapping this one up now. It's not my type of book and will be glad to be done honestly. A lot of women like it though.

[Kassandra]

Interesting, Chase. Is there something that you particularly disliked about it?

[Tracey]

Well it's a romance book, so there's a lot more... "romancing" than I was really that interested in and not enough plot for my taste.

I've also learned that my schema for scottish men are big burly men like the dad from the movie Brave.

[Kassandra]

Ah, I can see how that might be a bit disappointing then!

[Tracey]

Yeah, again though, if you're looking for a romance, then it's probably more up your alley than mine.

[Debbie]

I agree, it's a great romance, but it's so much more. I found the Scottish history to be fascinating. It was a time period I really knew nothing about. And I'm always fascinated by time travel!

The characters are so real in the series. As you continue the series you meet people in "current" time that impact and are impacted by what happens to Claire and Jamie in the past.

I do think that in the later books there are more pages given over to battle details that I cared about. I wanted the story to move forward!

[Roseanne]

I didn't even finish it. I thought it was boring and just didn't move fast enough. I gave up before I got to 50 pages.

[Laura]

I am plugging my way through War and Peace. I want to cry.

[Kassandra]

Laura, do you want to cry because it's so moving or because it's painful?

[Gavin]

I'm jumping into hell, purgatory and paradise with Dante and Virgil. First time reading a book written in verse, should be interesting.

[Kassandra]

Gavin, I have always wanted to read The Divine Comedy, I'm so excited for you. Please let us know how you make out with them...maybe it will become a group challenge!

[Laura]

I want to cry because I am 1000 pages into the book now and there is no end in sight. War war war.... Waiting on peace....

[Camille]

Laura, it gets better after a while if I remember correctly. I couldn't really be bothered about all the war scenes either (which is silly, considering the novel is called War and Peace...). But the war will end at some point!

[Overbooked ✎]

I too have been thinking of re-reading the Divine Comedy, here is the link to the MOOC I've been looking at, it's 6 weeks long starting in October this year, in case Gavin or Kassandra are interested

[Gavin]

Kassandra wrote: "Gavin, I have always wanted to read The Divine Comedy, I'm so excited for you. Please let us know how you make out with them...maybe it will become a group challenge!"
Sure. It has a pretty long intro, but it's interesting to have some context on the poem before going in.

Kiwi wrote: "I too have been thinking of re-reading the Divine Comedy, here is the link to the MOOC I've been looking at, it's 6 weeks long starting in October this year, in case Gavin or Kassandra are interested"
Oh, that's interesting. I'll sure check it out.

[Kassandra]

Thank you for the link Kiwi! This looks so interesting. I don't think I would be able to try the certificate portion just now as but the auditing option works really well for me. I think I'm going to give it a try!

[Melissa]

The Divine Comedy auditing looks interesting, we'll see...
But in the mean time, I've been spending the last two years on a historical account of Winston Churchill by William R. Manchester called The Last Lion 1: Visions of Glory 1874-1932 at 992 pages. I've started The Stand by Stephen King at 1,168 pages and Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin at 768 pages. Honestly, the genre challenges are taking up my time and distracting me; so it might be a couple months with these biggies. All is good. :)

[Aitziber]

I have decided to make my 2015 reading challenge to be about 12 chunksters. No less than 600 pages each is my rule! However, I'm having a hard time finding chunksters (that sound interesting to me, anyway) by women or people or color . . . I'll have to open myself to suggestions, although I have a good 4 months until it's time to go. :)

Back up plan: 10 chunksters and 10 smaller books. I really don't want to feel like I've rushed the longer books, and I'm SO. VERY. SLOW. at reading, hah. :P

[Roseanne]

Aitziber wrote: "I have decided to make my 2015 reading challenge to be about 12 chunksters. No less than 600 pages each is my rule! However, I'm having a hard time finding chunksters (that sound interesting to me,..."

What a great idea! What kind of books are you looking for?

[Camille]

Aitziber wrote: "I have decided to make my 2015 reading challenge to be about 12 chunksters. No less than 600 pages each is my rule! However, I'm having a hard time finding chunksters (that sound interesting to me,..."

I'll be following the suggestions! ☺

[Aitziber]

Roseanne wrote: "What a great idea! What kind of books are you looking for?"

I'm pretty much looking for classics or literary fiction, ie not genre fiction. The idea started because I have a bunch of chunksters that were languishing in my shelves, so those went straight to the 2015 Reading Challenge shelf: The Brothers Karamazov, Underworld, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Moby Dick, Ulysses, Freedom, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, House of Leaves and Infinite Jest. They're all by white men! :p

After much browsing, I managed to decide on The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing.

Chunksters by women that I'm considering:

by Margaret Atwood

by Elizabeth Gaskell
(in truth, I would prefer something by Edith Wharton instead, but it seems as none of her better known works pass the 600-page mark)

by Margaret Mitchell

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt seems like an obvious choice, but it doesn't really perk my interest. Same with a lot of the choices I saw on this list. I'm so difficult.

For the last book, I will probably pick Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. In fact, I'm just going to go ahead and add it now.

[Lauren]

I've just begun reading The Goldfinch, not read enough to form an opinion yet but judging the writing style, I don't think it should take me too long to get through.

[Roseanne]

is one of my favorites.

If you are looking for female authors then is also really good.

[Kassandra]

Aitziber, I'm not sure if this fits in the genre that you want but A Fine Balance is a wonderful chunkster by a man of colour. Sorry, I'm on my phone or I would include the link.

[Aitziber]

Roseanne, Kassandra, those are both great selections. A Fine Balance looks particularly intriguing. I'd never even heard of Rohinton Mistry!

[Kassandra]

Rohinton Mistry is one of my favourite authors. I hope you get a chance to check him out, Aitziber!

[Melissa]

I'm listening in on your conversation both Aitziber and Kassandra and I have had A Fine Balance sitting on my pile of books for five months now. Glad to here that this is one of your faves Kassandra, I'll move it up some how.

If anybody is looking for a chunkster similar to Gone With The Wind, but not quite as sappy, take a peek at House Divided by Ben Ames Williams. About 1514 pages. I enjoyed this and the characters much better.

[Camille]

The Thorn Birds sounds interesting!

[Melissa]

I'm with you Sandy, I've got three chunksters started, but the smaller books are the ones I'm reading.

[Roseanne]

I have the same problem. Right now I am in the process of getting through the Game of Thrones series but I am in the middle of Under the Dome and will be starting Lisey's Story once I am done. But there are all these other smaller books I want to read too. I always say oh I can just fit this smaller one in between and keep putting off the bigger ones. I have gotten through more this year than I normally do but I did buddy reads for most of them. It helps me get to what I put off by having someone else reading with me.

[Roseanne]

by the way, this made me curious so I just went back and checked how many 600+ page books I have read this year. I have 3 and am working on #4. All of which I did buddy reads for.