Buddy Reads

[PAS, Moderator AC]

Prompt 2: Read Big and/or Intimidating Books

This activity is primarily to help with February prompt though it may come in useful later on too. I [Tien] definitely do better with support when reading big and/or difficult books.

To start with, please nominate 2-3 books you'd like to do in buddy read. I will then collate the nominations and hopefully, we will get to read them all. Please also nominate other book/s throughout the year! Especially once we started some buddy-reads.

There are about 5 Buddy Read sessions of approximately 2 months' length [flexible] but each session will have 2 or 3 buddy reads running concurrently. Overall, for this challenge, there will be about 10-15 buddy reads.

This activity will probably be the most flexible in this challenge as it will all depend on the books being read and the participants as to structure, timeframe etc.

Note: If you have seen that the book you'd like to nominate and/or read has been nominated by someone else, you can nominate another book however please include a note in your post that you'd like to read that book as well. This will make it easier for the mods to either poll and/or gather 'buddies' later on

[PAS, Moderator AC]

Classics
964p - Anna Karenina (Lahni)
882p - David Copperfield (Meg)
909p - The Decameron (Marina)
592p - Doctor Zhivago (Marina) + Lahni
897p - I Know This Much Is True (Lahni)
864p - Life and Fate (Stalingrad #2) (Marina)
801p - The Pickwick Papers (Marina)
788p - Twenty Years After (The d'Artagnan Romances #2) (Marina)

Fantasy
1,007p - The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1) (Susan)
1,015p - Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy #1) (Tien)

Fiction
543p - Everything You Need (Marina)
936p - Shantaram (Meg)

Historical Fiction
866p - 4 3 2 1 (Joanna)
916p - A Column of Fire (Kingsbridge #3) (Tien) + Lahni
743p - The Thorn Birds (Tien)
704p - The Hope (The Hope and the Glory #1) (Dee)
688p - The Glory (The Hope and the Glory #2) (Dee)

Magical Realism
681p - Killing Commendatore (Tien)

Science Fiction
801p - Dhalgren (Coralie)
880p - Seveneves (Susan)

[PAS, Moderator AC]

Buddy Read Threads

The Brothers Karamazov - thread

Fall, or Dodge in Hell - thread

Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy #1) - thread

Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive #3) - thread

The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge #1) - thread

Tatiana and Alexander (The Bronze Horseman #2) - thread

The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle #2) - thread

[PAS, Moderator AC]

reserved

[PAS, Moderator AC]

reserved

[Tien]

I'll start by nominating 3 big books I owned & need help reading for:

916p - A Column of Fire (Kingsbridge #3)
743p - The Thorn Birds
681p - Killing Commendatore

[Meg]

I propose David Copperfield

[Meg]

Also Shantaram

[Tien]

ah I Loved David Copperfield! Shantaram was a bit of a slog though... it was ok at the end.

[Lisette]

I'd like to nominate:

912p The Bronze Horseman (The Bronze Horseman #1)
664p River God (Ancient Egypt #1)
610p Somerset

[Bea]

I'm nominating:

1248p - Oathbringer
994p - The Wise Man's Fear
973p - The Pillars of the Earth

[Susan]

The Way of Kings, 1007 pages, was my first Bookopoly choice this year. And it's still waiting for me to tackle it. So I'd love to have help tackling it.

I also have two by Neal Stephenson on my TBR. His books are always wonderful, but super-long. I'd be happy to buddy-read either Fall, or Dodge in Hell, 896 pages, or Seveneves, 880 pages.

[Joanna]

I'd like to nominate:

4321 by Paul Auster (866pp.)
Fall of Giants by Ken Follett (985pp.)

I've read The Pillars of the Earth, and the other two Knightsbridge books by Follett and quite enjoyed them. I've also read and enjoyed River God.

[Tien]

I'll do Fall of Giants with you, Joanna :)

[PAS, Moderator AC]

And I should add...

Feel free to come back here and nominate other book/s throughout the year! Especially once we started some buddy-reads.

[Marina]

I'm in for The Wise Man's Fear - we happened to talk about a possible buddy read with Bea last month I believe.

My nominations:
Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas (788 pages)
The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens (801 pages)
Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman (864 pages)
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (909 pages) - this is on my LOST list and I definitely need peer support lol
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (592 pages)
Everything You Need by A.L. Kennedy (543 pages)

[Lisette]

Bea and I already had plans to read Oathbringer together.

[Coralie]

I would like to buddy read
Dhalgren (801 pages)

I would happily join in for
Oathbringer
Fall, or Dodge in Hell

[Bea]

Lusie and Marina....I am willing to read both...I just need to make sure the weekly amount is do-able. I usually read 150-200 pages most days. But, keep in mind that I am reading for other challenges too, so all of that cannot go to the buddy reads. :)

Lusie, I will be picking up Oathbringer today at the library.

Marina, I have The Wise Man's Fear on hold. I will let you know when it comes in.

[Lisette]

Bea, Coralie wants to join us. I'm not sure how many pages I'd like to you. Maybe you and Coralie can decide.

Coralie, it would be great if you joined Bea and me in our buddy read of Oathbringer. How many pages would you like to do each day?

[Bea]

Lusie wrote: "Bea, Coralie wants to join us. I'm not sure how many pages I'd like to you. Maybe you and Coralie can decide.

Coralie, it would be great if you joined Bea and me in our buddy read of [book:Oathbr..."

Great! The more the merrier. I will set up the thread when I return from the library. We can discuss the schedule then.

[Joanna]

Tien wrote: "I'll do Fall of Giants with you, Joanna :)"

Great!

[Bea]

Thread for Oathbringer buddy read has been set up here.

[Marina]

Bea wrote: "Marina, I have The Wise Man's Fear on hold. I will let you know when it comes in."

Good, let me know! I'm afraid I don't read nearly as much as you do, most days I can manage about 100 pages, although it may vary depending on workload.

[Bea]

Marina (Sonnenbarke) wrote: "Bea wrote: "Marina, I have The Wise Man's Fear on hold. I will let you know when it comes in."

Good, let me know! I'm afraid I don't read nearly as much as you do, most days I can manage about 100..."

Don't worry, Marina. I am perfectly willing to go slower as I usually have multiple books going...and am so far behind on last year's PnM.

[Susan]

Coralie wrote: "I would like to buddy read
Dhalgren (801 pages)

I would happily join in for
Oathbringer
Fall, or Dodge in Hell"

Coralie, glad to have you join for a buddy read for Fall, or Dodge in Hell. I see Bea has already set up a thread for 3 of you for Oathbringer. Shall we plan ours for March so it doesn't overlap with that one?

I've also looked at the listing for Dhalgren, which you requested. I'd be game for that. I had not heard of it, but it looks great. Should we think about scheduling that after we finish Fall, or Dodge in Hell?

Anyone else want to join us for either of these? They both seem like great speculative fiction. And even though we won't be doing them in February, I see from your posts that many of you enjoy that shelf.

[Stacey]

I'd like to join either Fall of Giants or The Pillars of the Earth depending on when you decide to start them.

Anyone up for some Horror? I'd like to get through It and The Passage sometime this year.

[Bea]

Stacey wrote: "I'd like to join either Fall of Giants or The Pillars of the Earth depending on when you decide to start them. "

Stacy, I am already planning to do the other two I nominated, but I would be interested in doing The Pillars of the Earth with you once I finished those, if you are willing to wait. I am guessing about April?

[Coralie]

Susan wrote: "Coralie wrote: "I would like to buddy read
Dhalgren (801 pages)

I would happily join in for
Oathbringer
Fall, or Dodge in Hell"

Coralie, glad to hav..."

I think March will work for Fall, or Dodge in Hell, but I will have to work around library availability. I have put a reserve on a hard copy which should be available then if people return their copies on time. They also have ebooks which I will keep an eye on.

Dhalgren can certainly wait (I have put off reading it for a long time.)

[Lagullande]

Bea wrote: "Stacey wrote: "I'd like to join either Fall of Giants or The Pillars of the Earth depending on when you decide to start them. "

Stacy, I am already planning to do the ot..."

I have never done a buddy read, so not really sure what is expected. But as long as you don't want great literary thoughts, I'd be up for The Pillars of the Earth.

[Susan]

Coralie wrote: "I think March will work for Fall, or Dodge in Hell, but I will have to work around library availability. I have put a reserve on a hard copy which should be available then if people return their copies on time. They also have ebooks which I will keep an eye on."

I have a hard copy ready to pick up from the library soon, so I can look through it and make a draft of a schedule we might like. I'll set up a Buddy Read thread for us. But we can make the dates tentative, and shift it based on when you make it to the top of the waiting list at your library. I'll have library issues also. I'm moving from Indiana to the DC area the first week in March, and will have to get a new library card once I'm there, or else rely on an electronic version (which I don't like for such a long book).

[Bea]

Marina, I have my copy of the book and have set up a thread for The Wise Man's Fear.

[Stacey]

Bea wrote: "Stacey wrote: "I'd like to join either Fall of Giants or The Pillars of the Earth depending on when you decide to start them. "

Stacy, I am already planning to do the ot..."

April sounds fine, Bea! It will give me time to get some of my others done.

[Tien]

Joanna & Stacey, when would you like to buddy read Fall Of Giants?

[Bea]

Lagullande wrote: "Bea wrote: "Stacey wrote: "I'd like to join either Fall of Giants or The Pillars of the Earth depending on when you decide to start them. "

Stacy, I am already planning ..."

Lagullande, a buddy read is reading a book together on a schedule. Usually a number of chapters or pages per week is decided upon ahead of time and a start date is set. Stacy and I are aiming at April for The Pillars of the Earth. We would love to have you join us.

[Lagullande]

Bea wrote: "Lagullande wrote: "Bea wrote: "Stacey wrote: "I'd like to join either Fall of Giants or The Pillars of the Earth depending on when you decide to start them. "

Stacy, I a..."

Thank you, Bea. Count me in for April. I suspect I wouldn't ever get to this tome without some extra support!

[Bea]

Lagullande wrote: "Bea wrote: "Lagullande wrote: "Bea wrote: "Stacey wrote: "I'd like to join either Fall of Giants or The Pillars of the Earth depending on when you decide to start them. "..."

Looking forward to your joining in with us.

[Susan]

Coralie, I've started a thread for the Buddy Read for Fall, or Dodge in Hell. See what you think about it, and let me know if there are any changes you'd like to make in how I've broken it up. We can attach real dates once you have a better sense of when it will work for you to start.

[Joanna]

Tien wrote: "Joanna & Stacey, when would you like to buddy read Fall Of Giants?"

March? May? Looks like you've already got Pillars of the Earth in April, so doubling up on Follett is probably a bit much in the same month...

[Stacey]

Joanna wrote: "Tien wrote: "Joanna & Stacey, when would you like to buddy read Fall Of Giants?"

March? May? Looks like you've already got Pillars of the Earth in April, so doubling up on Follett is probably a bi..."

I think one Follett a month is probably about all I want to attempt. :) I can do either March or May. I'd lean towards March because of one of my other big challenges, but I can make either one work.

[Tien]

March is good... though note that we don't necessarily have to wait for beginning of month to start (ie. we can start mid Feb or anywhere in between, if you want to).

[Lahni]

I'm seconding:
A Column of Fire
Dr Zhivago

I'd also like to nominate:
I Know This Much Is True
Anna Karenina

[Tien]

Lahni wrote: "I'm seconding:
A Column of Fire "

I might hold this off to closer to the end of year... just in case those buddy-reading The Pillars of the Earth go on to read book #2 then wanting to do book #3 as well ;)

[Tien]

By the way, you don't have to wait for mods... if you see a book on someone's list that you'd like company to read with, feel free to tap that person and set up a thread in this folder :)

[Marina]

Lahni wrote: "I'm seconding:
...
Dr Zhivago

..."

Good! Anyone else interested in joining us?

[Bea]

Oathbringer and The Wise Man's Fear buddy reads have just started. If anyone else wants to join in, please do so! We should finish both in early March.

[Tien]

Joanna & Stacey, I've finally been able to pick up my copy of A Fall of Giants from the library today. I've started the thread here -let's discuss schedule etc there :)

And if anyone would like to join in, don't be shy!

[Dee]

Tien wrote: "Joanna & Stacey, I've finally been able to pick up my copy of A Fall of Giants from the library today. I've started the thread here -let's discuss schedule etc there :)

And if anyon..."

i was just coming to post about this one - i have book 1 and 2 on my TBR...was going to ask about the next book in the Pillars series too

[Tien]

Follet is definitely a popular choice!

You can nominate other books too, Dee ;)

[Susan]

Coralie, Dee, and I are starting our buddy read of Neal Stephenson's Fall, or Dodge in Hell on March 1. We'd be happy if anyone else wants to join us. At 896 pages, it will definitely count for Prompt 2 of Just Read It!

Check out the details at buddy read schedule