Friday 13 January 2023

Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2023

 

I have taken part in this reading challenge since 2013. The moment I saw that post, I know this was the most interesting challenge for me. I signed up for the highest of the four levels "Mor-book-ly Obese" which meant eight or more chunksters (books over 450 pages) of which three must be 750 pages or more.

I have carried on with that challenge without setting goals, I love big books and I will always read some. And I am more than willing to tell my friends about them.

If you are interested in the challenge, check out this link. They discontinued their challenge in 2015.
You can still find suggestions by page number, in case you can't find any chunksters yourself. 😉

Or you can check out my lists from the previous years (below), maybe you are interested in a couple of them.

I read in
2013: 38 chunky books, 13 of them chunksters
2014: 37 chunky books, 15 of them chunksters
2015: 26 chunky books, 8 of which chunksters
2016: 28 chunky books, 3 of which chunksters
2017: 35 chunky books, 6 of which chunksters

2018: 29 chunky books, 6 of which chunksters
2019: 20 chunky books, 7 of which chunksters
2020:
18 chunky books, 7 of which chunksters
2021:
24 chunky books, 10 of which chunksters
2022:
11 chunky books, 3 of which chunksters

I will be posting the books I have read here:
(I add the German title, if available, for my German friends)
[I add my own translation of a foreign book title if it's not available in English.]

Suttner, Bertha von "Die Waffen nieder!" (Lay Down Your Arms! or Down with Weapons!) - 1889 - 495 pages
Keefe, Patrick Radden "
Say Nothing. A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland" - 2018 - 542 pages
Rutherfurd, Edward "New York" (New York. Im Rausch der Freiheit) - 2009 - 1057 pages
Kazantzakis, Nikos "Die letzte Versuchung" (Ο τελευταίος πειρασμός, O telefteos pirasmos/The Last Temptation of Christ) - 1951 - 512 pages
Mann, Heinrich "Der Untertan" (Man of Straw, The Patrioteer, or The Loyal Subject) - 1914 - 684 pages
Brooks, Geraldine "People of the Book" (Die Hochzeitsgabe) - 2008 - 465 pages
Theroux, Paul "Riding the Iron Rooster" (Das chinesische Abenteuer. Reise durch das Reich der Mitte) - 1988 - 496 pages
Voland, Maxim (Markus Heitz) "Die Republik" [The Republic] - 2020 - 528 pages

Canetti, Elias "Die Blendung" (Auto-da-Fé) - 1935 - 835 pages
Mercier, Pascal "Das Gewicht der Worte" [The Weight of the Words] - 2020 - 576 pages
Wells, Benedict "Vom Ende der Einsamkeit" (The End of Loneliness) - 2016 - 464 pages
Dickens, Charles "Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty" (Barnaby Rudge) - 1841 - 752 pages

I read 12 chunky books in 2023
of which 3 are considered a chunkster. Mor-book-ly Obese again.

If you want to do this challenge or just check at the end of the year what category you are, here is the list:

    The Chubby Chunkster - this option is for the readers who want to dabble in large tomes, but really doesn't want to commit to much more than that. FOUR Chunksters is all you need to finish this challenge.
    The Plump Primer - this option is for the slightly heavier reader who wants to commit to SIX Chunksters over the next twelve months.
    Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big? - this option is for the reader who can't resist bigger and bigger books and wants to commit to SIX Chunksters from the following categories: 2 books which are between 450 - 550 pages in length; 2 books which are 551 - 750 pages in length; 2 books which are GREATER than 750 pages in length (for ideas, please refer to the book suggestions page for some books which fit into these categories).
    Mor-book-ly Obese - This is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to EIGHT or more Chunksters of which three tomes MUST be 750 pages or more. You know you want to.....go on and give in to your cravings. 

Looks like I've always been "more book-ly obese". 😂

8 comments:

  1. Good luck with this one! I tend to stay away from chunksters these days. The categories are hilarious though. :D

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    1. This is the one challenge I've been doing for years, Lark. I love chunksters and, as you can see, always read enough for the Mor-book-ly Obese result. ;)

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  2. Wow, impressive number of chunksters. I have a few of them on my shelves, but tend not to grab them. I guess one has to give them time, and read them little by little. Maybe a chapter a day? If they are very good, there should be no problem, but, if they are not? Are all the chunksters you have read good ones, or did you consider not finish some of them? Lisbeth

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    1. I love reading chunksters, Lisbeth, that's probably why I have been doing this for so many years, even when the originators didn't do it anymore. Most of them were fantastic, very rarely have I thought, meh, not really so great. There are some but the are the minority.
      And yes, I don't read them all in one go. I usually read about four to six books at the same time, so it doesn't seem it takes for ages to finish a certain one. Also helps with those books I don't enjoy that much but want to read anyway for the book club.

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    1. Definitely fun, Sarah. I am sure you could fill a list every year.

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  4. One of the reading challenge prompts I struggle most with is Read a Book of 500+ pages. I just don't seem to read many of those these days. I'm fine with chunky books, but I don't pick many of them up, apparently.

    Good luck with your challenge!

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    1. We all have different struggles, Susan. I didn't read as many last year as I did in any of the years since I wrote it down which is really weird for me. Must try harder in 2023.

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