I found this on one of the blogs I follow, Books are the New Black who found it at One Book More. It was originally created by Reviews from the Stacks, and the idea is to spell the month using the first letter of book titles.
September: Something to savor – longer books (define as you will) OR ones that have been on your TBR for a long timeI have just been doing a Top Ten Tuesday list: High Page Count. And since I've been participating in a reading challenge called Chunky Books, I thought this might be easier than some months. However, when I did that first challenge, I didn't have to observe the letters those books started with. Unfortunately, I didn't find all books with more than a thousand pages, especially since I neede two "E"s. But at least my shortest book here are 688 pages.
SEPTEMBER
S
Seth, Vikram "A Suitable Boy" - 1993 - 1.488 pages
This story is settled in India in the fifties. Although the main focus is on the family that is looking for "a suitable boy" (to marry) for one of their daughters, the novel centres on four families with different backgrounds, both Hindus and Muslims.
E
Follett, Ken "The Evening and the Morning" - 2020 - 928 pages
Kingsbrigde 0.5. This should be your starter book. The small place called "Dreng's Ferry" is going to become a very important town called Kingsbridge and you can see over the years how England and the world grows, how lives change from one century to the next.
This one is especially interesting since it takes place about a thousand years before us. A whole millennium. We can see how much has changed - and how much hasn't. Impressive.
P
Follett, Ken "The Pillars of the Earth" - 1989 - 1.076 pages
The building of a cathedral in 12th century England. There is so much in this book, the history of The Anarchy, the murder of Thomas Becket, the development of architecture from Roman to Gothic, the influence of the church, life of ordinary people as well as nobility during that time-period. Follett manages to describe all this as if it had happened yesterday and he was among these people. The stories or different people are interweaving during the decades, so you get to see "good old friends" (and sometimes not so good ones) again and again.
The building of a cathedral in 12th century England. There is so much in this book, the history of The Anarchy, the murder of Thomas Becket, the development of architecture from Roman to Gothic, the influence of the church, life of ordinary people as well as nobility during that time-period. Follett manages to describe all this as if it had happened yesterday and he was among these people. The stories or different people are interweaving during the decades, so you get to see "good old friends" (and sometimes not so good ones) again and again.
T
Tellkamp, Uwe "Der Turm. Geschichte aus einem versunkenen Land" (The Tower) - 2008 - 1.024 pages
Uwe Tellkamp describes life in East Germany in the 1980s. I grew up in the Western part of the country and - as most of us - didn't have any contacts to the East.
The length of the book enabled the author to go into so many details of so many different characters.
E
George, Margaret "Elizabeth I" - 2011 - 688 pagesHistorical Fiction. The story of Elizabeth I. 680 pages of it. Told by herself and her cousin Lettice, the granddaughter of her mother's sister. So we can see various sides of the Queen's life.
M
Hugo, Victor "Les Misérables" - 1862 - 1,480 pages
What a story. "Les Misérables" - those who are miserable. And miserable they are indeed. Someone steals a bread because children are hungry and has to pay for it for the rest of his life! Someone else doesn't do anything wrong, at least not at today's standards and is punished, as well. Only because she is poor.
What a story. "Les Misérables" - those who are miserable. And miserable they are indeed. Someone steals a bread because children are hungry and has to pay for it for the rest of his life! Someone else doesn't do anything wrong, at least not at today's standards and is punished, as well. Only because she is poor.
B
Dostoevsky, Fyodor "The Brothers Karamazov" (RUS: Братья Карамазовы) - 1879-80 - 1,249 pages
The book is packed full with philosophical and religious questions, questions about human existence. The three brothers Karamazov all represent a different side, all have different answers. Then there is a fourth, illegitimate brother who is a servant in the father's house.
We discover the Russian society through these different men and their miseries. The story is spellbinding and stays with us for a long long time.
E
Steinbeck, John "East of Eden" - 1952 - 601 pages
Steinbeck talks about problems as old as mankind, he retells the story of Cain and Abel, only here they are called Caleb and Aaron (the father is still Adam, though), and they live in his native California.
An excellent report about growing up, growing in different directions, about good and evil, young and old, a very moving story, so many lives that you fear and hope with.
An excellent report about growing up, growing in different directions, about good and evil, young and old, a very moving story, so many lives that you fear and hope with.
R
Rutherfurd, Edward "Russka. The Novel of Russia" - 1991 - 1,042 pages
The book describes the lives of four different families and their descendants, beginning in the year 180 and ending almost 2 millennia later in 1992 and thereby telling us the story of this great and vast land that has influenced world history for so long but also was influenced by it. The families include various ethnic, they belong to the serfs and the nobility, so you can have a good look into all kinds of lives. As we get to know the characters, we can get a better understanding about Russian history and politics, going from Genghis Khan over Ivan the Terrible to Peter and Catherine, both the Great, until Lenin and Stalin during the revolution in the 20th century.
The book describes the lives of four different families and their descendants, beginning in the year 180 and ending almost 2 millennia later in 1992 and thereby telling us the story of this great and vast land that has influenced world history for so long but also was influenced by it. The families include various ethnic, they belong to the serfs and the nobility, so you can have a good look into all kinds of lives. As we get to know the characters, we can get a better understanding about Russian history and politics, going from Genghis Khan over Ivan the Terrible to Peter and Catherine, both the Great, until Lenin and Stalin during the revolution in the 20th century.
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Happy Reading!
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I really MUST read 'East of Eden' at some point. I remember being very affected by the movie adaptation with James Dean.
ReplyDeleteThat should definitely be on your list, Kitten. Enjoy.
DeleteGood job on finding three E titles. I could only think of East of Eden.
ReplyDeleteI know, that's always a tough one, Lark. And you don't want to repeat one. I try to keep to once per year, I can't find new Es every year. Or Ys. Especially, since there are so many of them, still five more to come in the next three months. And they need to fit the topic.
DeleteWell, it's still fun, otherwise I wouldn't do it.
I went with books to savor, not the length or TBR reads, oh well, here is my list: https://cindysbookcorner.blogspot.com/2025/09/spell-month-in-books-september-2025.html
ReplyDeleteThat's fine, Cindy. This made it easier for me. I don't like using books from my TBR pile because I never know when I will get to them or whether I like them at all. So, going for some of the larger books was the best option. LOL
DeleteThanks for leaving your link, it will probably come up in my reading list anyway but I'll go over there now.
If I may add to this... I don't like them TBR books being listed either, because for me the whole point of reading book blogs is to see what readers like me thought about the book. A book that's on the TBR hasn't been read, so I don't know any more about the book than I did when/if I saw it in a shop.
DeleteYou are right there, Lisa. Though, sometimes you find books in those lists that might interest you. Still, I won't list them unless it is the theme and even then, I am very reluctant.
Delete600 pages is already a big book.
ReplyDeletewell done.
I went easier, with longest on my TBR.
Here is my post: https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/09/08/spell-the-month-in-books-september-2025/
True, Emma. I always say a good book begins at page 500. ;)
DeleteAnd that is a great idea, too. Though, then I'd have to read them soon. LOL
What great choices!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gypsi.
DeleteOh, a very classical list here. Not sure I'd want to read any of these, except maybe the one about Elizabeth I.
ReplyDeleteThat's fine, Davida. We can't all want to read the same books.
Delete