Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2015

Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2015

Two years ago, I participated in an interesting challenge, reading "chunky" books (I love that word). 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 reached that goal at the end of March. By the end of the year I read 37, 15 of which were "chunksters".

Last year, they were not setting goals within the challenge but asked everyone to come up with their own goal, I pledged to read double the amount of the 2013 pledge, i.e. 16 chunkys. I fulfilled that, I read 22 chunky books, 5 of which were "chunksters". They are not setting goals this year, either, and I will see where I will get. I am looking forward to finding a lot of interesting ones.

If you are interested in the challenge, check out this link.
They also give you suggestions by page number, in case you can't find any chunksters yourself. ;-)

Or you can check out my list from last year, maybe you are interested in a couple of them.

I will be posting the books I have read here:

Lamb, Wally "We are water" - 2013 - 592 pages
Virgil "The Aeneid" (Lat: Aeneas) - 29-19 v. Chr./BC - 544 pages
Smiley, Jane "Some Luck" (Last Hundred Years: A Family Saga #1) - 2014 - 624 pages
Follett, Ken "Fall of Giants" - 2010 - 985 pages
Mann, Thomas "Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family" (GE:  Buddenbrooks) - 1901 - 759 pages
Follett, Ken "Winter of the World" - 2012 - 960 pages
Hugo, Victor "Les Misérables" (FR: Les Misérables) - 1862 - 1,480 pages
Setterfield, Diane "The Thirteenth Tale" - 2006 - 499 pages 
Follett, Ken "Edge of Eternity" - 2014 - 1,098 pages
Yousafzai, Malala; Lamb, Christina "I am Malala" - 2013 - 464 pages
Eco, Umberto "The Name of the Rose" (IT: Il nome della rosa) - 1980 - 635 pages
Mak, Geert "In Europe. Travels through the twentieth century" (NL In Europa: Reizen door de twintigste eeuw") - 2004 - 1,351 pages
Regener, Sven "Neue Vahr Süd" (GE) [Neue Vahr South] - 2004 - 631 pages 
Brontë, Charlotte "Villette" - 1853 - 540 pages 
Roth, Charlotte "Als der Himmel uns gehörte" [When Heaven Belonged to Us] - 2015 - 608 pages
Dickens, Charles "Little Dorrit" - 1857 - 1,008 pages
Doerr, Anthony "All the Light We Cannot See" - 2014 - 544 pages
Ghosh, Amitav "Flood of Fire" (Ibis Trilogy #3) - 2015 - 624 pages  
Hislop, Victoria "The Sunrise" - 2014 - 481 pages 
Talshir, Anat "If I forget Thee" (Hebr: Im Eshkahekh) - 2010 - 526 pages
Gaskell, Elizabeth "North and South" - 1854/55 - 584 pages
Roberts, Gregory David "Shantaram" - 2003 - 936 pages
Funke, Cornelia "Inkheart" (GE: Tintenherz) - 2003 - 576 pages
Fleischhauer, Wolfram "Schule der Lügen" (aka "Die Inderin") (GE) (In a Tender Hold) - 2014 - 528 pages
Mantel, Hilary "Wolf Hall" - 2009 - 688 pages
Bryson, Bill "The Road to Little Dribbling: more Notes from a Small Island" - 2015 - 528 pages

This means I read 26 chunky books in 2015 of which 8 are considered chunksters.

Happy Reading

Brizuela, Leopoldo "Lisboa. Un melodrama"

Brizuela, Leopoldo "Nacht über Lissabon" (Portuguese: Lisboa. Un melodrama) - 2010 

I read the German translation, "Nacht über Lissabon". An interesting story about refugees in Lisbon, the last place in Europe from where they hope to be able to escape. The story is as chaotic as those last days were for the people who came from all parts of life, high and low. A "Casablanca" kind of story.

I hope this is going to be translated into more languages soon.

From the back cover (translated from German):

"Lisbon on a November night in 1942. The city is the last refuge for those persecuted by the Nazi regime. Here in the harbor, which promises salvation, lies the Boa Esperança, the ship that will set sail for freedom. The city is like a powder keg. It seethes with unrest and fear, teeming with spies and diplomats on secret missions, with desperate refugees from all over Europe. In this tense atmosphere, the fates of very different people intersect. And the deeper the night falls, the more entangled they become in political and erotic intrigues. When a bomb explodes on the Boa Esperança, events spiral out of control… A gripping portrayal of a dramatic moment in history – accompanied by the heartbeat of tango and fado."

Book Quotes of the Week

"If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books." Roald Dahl

"There comes a day when you realize turning the page  is the best feeling  in the world, because you realize there is so  much more to the book than the  page you  were stuck on." Zayn Malik

"Time is a river...and books are boats. Many volumes start down that stream, only to be wrecked and lost beyond recall in its sands. Only a few, a very few, endure the testings of time and live to bless the ages following." Joseph Fort Newton

"Novels begin, not on the page, but in meditation and day-dreaming -- in thinking, not writing." Joyce Carol Oates

"I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right." Markus Zusak in "The Book Thief"

Find more book quotes here.

Scott, Mary "Shepherd’s Pie"

Scott, Mary "Shepherd’s Pie" - 1972

Susan and Larry are back. Remember the two farmers' wives from New Zealand? Susan's niece Tony is surrounded by young men who like to flirt with her. But is one of her the right one? Susan has her doubts and her own plans.

As all the previous novels from this series, this is a refreshingly funny and nice novel. It does talk about the problems the characters encounter but overall is a feel good read.

If you like the Susan and Larry series, this is a lovely follow-up of their lives and that of their loved ones.

This is the sixth book in the series by Mary Scott. And this is the list of all of them:
"Breakfast at Six" - 1953
"Dinner Doesn’t Matter" - 1957
"Tea and Biscuits" - 1961
"A Change From Mutton" - 1964
"Turkey at Twelve" - 1968
"Shepherd’s Pie" - 1972
"Strangers for Tea" - 1975
"Board, but no Breakfast" - 1978

Unfortunately, they are out of print and only available second hand. I have heard in the meantime, that you can buy some of them as ebooks.

From the back cover (translated): "An engagement with small mistakes ...
Susan gets a third child in addition to Christopher, ten years, and his younger sister Patience - Tony, her husband's nineteen year old niece. And Susan's foster daughter, who at first seemed to suffer greatly from the divorce of her parents, blooms in her new home soon enough - she is both beautiful as well as happy.
Of course, Susan's love for Tony increases daily. She is worried because Tony's many admirers. She fears that Tony might select the wrong guy. However, there would be the right one at her fingertips - Peter Anstruther, who runs a small farm, a well balanced and serious man of thirty.
But of course, things go (initially) differently from what Susan thinks ..."

More books by Mary Scott: here.

Bryson, Bill "One Summer"

Bryson, Bill "One Summer: America, 1927" - 2013

What can I say about this book? Bill Bryson belongs to some of my favourite authors. This is certainly not one of my favourite books by him. Not because it's not funny because most of his non-travel books are not necessarily funny. Not because it's about an area I haven't visited because that is the fact with most of the destinations and places in his books, as well.

I think it is mainly because I'm not much interested in sports and there is a lot of it in there, especially of American sports that is even less known to me than what they do over here, just not a fan of group sports, never have been, never will be. But also because I learned a lot of things that really shocked me about people who I hadn't if not admired then at least estimated before. And it's also not that I didn't want to learn that. If someone is not a good person, I'd rather know.

It just seems as if that whole year 1927 was a horrible one and that the picture I get about the United States of America isn't a nice one, either. There is a lot of crime and even more greed in this book. This is probably the first Bill Bryson book I would not want to read again.

It is well written and well researched, as all of his books are. Maybe too well researched. That might be the problem.

It won't keep me from reading any other books of this fabulous author but had it been my first one, I probably wouldn't have tried any more.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2023.

From the back cover:

"Britain's favourite writer of narrative non-fiction Bill Bryson travels back in time to a forgotten summer when America came of age, took centre stage, and, in five eventful months, changed the world for ever.

In the summer of 1927, America had a booming stock market, a president who worked just four hours a day (and slept much of the rest of the time), a semi-crazed sculptor with a mad plan to carve four giant heads into an inaccessible mountain called Rushmore, a devastating flood of the Mississippi, a sensational murder trial, and a youthful aviator named Charles Lindbergh who started the summer wholly unknown and finished it as the most famous man on earth. (So famous that Minnesota considered renaming itself after him.)

It was the summer that saw the birth of talking pictures, the invention of television, the peak of Al Capone’s reign of terror, the horrifying bombing of a school in Michigan by a madman, the ill-conceived decision that led to the Great Depression, the thrillingly improbable return to greatness of a wheezing, over-the-hill baseball player named Babe Ruth, and an almost impossible amount more.

In this hugely entertaining book, Bill Bryson spins a story of brawling adventure, reckless optimism and delirious energy, with a cast of unforgettable and eccentric characters, with trademark brio, wit and authority."

Read more from this author, I have listed all his books in this post:
Bill Bryson – Funniest Author Ever 

2014 Reading Challenges - Wrap-Up

I took part in 6 online challenges:

Around the World in 12 Books Challenge 2014

2014 Postal Challenge

Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2014

The Motherhood + Jane Austen Book Club

The "Piggybank" Challenge 2014

What's in a Name 2014 Reading Challenge

Unfortunately, I did not manage to fulfill all the challenges I had set myself. My migraines were getting worse toward the end of the year and I read less than at the beginning. So, I only read 77 books this year as opposed to 109 last year. Here are the results of the challenges, more details on the respective pages.

Around the World in 12 Books Challenge 2014
1 read 2 books from Africa (Namibia and general),
6 from Asia (China, India 2, Iran, Israel, Myanmar/Burma),
47 from Europe (Finland, France 2, Germany 9, Greece 3, Ireland, Italy 4, The Netherlands 3, Norway, Portugal, Russia 2, Scandinavia, Spain 3, Sweden 2, Switzerland, Turkey 4, United Kingdom 9),
16 from North America (Canada 2, Guadeloupe, USA 13),
1 from Australia  and
1 Extra Terrestrial (Mars).
Somehow I did not read a book from South America this year which is very unusual because I do like the style of their authors. I have read books from 27 countries, though and those were all new books.

2014 Postal Challenge
I don't think I have done very well with this one but there were 21 books that certainly contained letters.

Reading Challenge - Chunky Books 2014
I read 22 chunky books this year (more than 450 pages), 5 of which were "chunksters" (more than 750 pages). My goal had been at least 16 chunky books, so I guess I have reached that.

The Motherhood + Jane Austen Book Club
Jane Austen is my favourite author and when Gidgets Go Home started a challenge to read all her books again and then discuss it as to the mothers in the series, I signed up right away. There is a Facebook page where the discussions were held and I enjoyed every single one of them.

This was our schedule and I added the links to the books here:
1. (Feb) Pride & Prejudice
2. (April) Mansfield Park
3. (June) Persuasion
4. (Aug) Emma
5. (Oct) Northanger Abbey 
6. (Dec) Sense & Sensibility

The "Piggybank" Challenge 2014
This challenge goes officially from 1 March 2014 to 1 March 2015 but it's easier to wrap this up now with the rest of the challenges. This year, I did not read as many books as last year, I was just too sick too often. I read 77 this year which resulted in €154 to spend on something nice.

What's in a Name 2014 Reading Challenge
This challenge had four categories in which we were supposed to read one book in each of the categories:
1.    A book with a reference to time in the title (Eleven Minutes, Before Ever After)
2.    A book with a position of royalty in the title (The People’s Queen, The Last Empress, The Curse Of The Pharaoh)
3.    A book with a number written in letters  in the title (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, A Tale Of Two Cities)
4.    A book with a forename or names in the title (Rebecca, Eleanor & Park, The Unfinished Work Of Elizabeth D.)
5.    A book with a type or element of weather in the title (Gone With The Wind, Red Earth Pouring Rain)

I read:
three books in category 1: seven years, midnight, twelve (o'clock)
one in category 2: prince,
three in category 3: two, six, seven, (2x) twelve
15 in category 4: Anne, Antje, Berlin, Daniel, Elizabeth, Emma, Faber, Franz, Hannah, Hattie, (2x), Jesus, Lolita, Nero, Peony, Rosie, Sophie, Ulysses, Zarathustra
and two in category 5: snow, sky

For more details, please see the appropriate links. You find the links to my posts by clicking on the name of the challenge and the original challenge by clicking on the picture.

Then there are the lists where I add books every year.

A Century of Books
The goal is to read a book from every year of the 20th century.
I only added two new books this year but "every little helps".
Mann, Thomas "Death in Venice" (GE: Der Tod in Venedig) - 1912
Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud) "Anne of Green Gables" - 1908

Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century
I added four books this year and have now read 22 of those 100 novels.
#1 Joyce, James "Ulysses" - 1922
#4 Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков] "Lolita" - 1955
#7 Heller, Joseph "Catch-22" - 1961
#65 Burgess, Anthony "A Clockwork Orange" - 1962

Nobel Prize Winners and Their Books
I have always enjoyed reading books by the Nobel Prize winners. These are the books I read this year:
Fo, Dario "My first seven years (plus a few more)" (IT: Il Paese dei Mezaràt: I miei primi sette anni (e qualcuno in più)) - 2004
Mann, Thomas "Death in Venice" (GE: Der Tod in Venedig) - 1912
Pamuk, Orhan "My Father's Suitcase" (TR: Babamın Bavulu) - 2007
Pamuk, Orhan "Snow" (TR: Kar) - 2002
Pamuk, Orhan "The White Castle" (TR: Beyaz Kale) - 1985
Sienkiewicz, Henryk "Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero" (PL: Quo Vadis. Powieść z czasów Nerona) - 1895

I was invited to join this group "Read the Nobels" and have thoroughly enjoyed adding some of my blogs about the books by some Nobel Prize winners. I love reading the Nobel Prize Winners' work and found a lot of interesting reviews on this page.
These were the 5 books I reviewed on this page in 2014
Hesse, Hermann "Siddhartha" (GE: Siddhartha) - 1922
Mann, Thomas "The Magic Mountain" (GE: Der Zauberberg) - 1924
Buck, Pearl S. "Pavilion of Women" - 1946
Hemingway, Ernest Miller 1954 "The Old Man and the Sea" - 1952
Pamuk, Orhan "The White Castle" (TR: Beyaz Kale) - 1985

Best European Literature
Burgess, Anthony "A Clockwork Orange" - 1962
Joyce, James "Ulysses" - 1922

Oscar Winning Books
Burgess, Anthony "A Clockwork Orange" - 1962
Fowles, John "The French Lieutenant’s Woman" - 1969
Joyce, James "Ulysses" - 1922
Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков] "Lolita" - 1955
Sienkiewicz, Henryk "Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero" (PL: Quo Vadis. Powieść z czasów Nerona) - 1895

Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (German: Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels)
Frisch, Max "Homo Faber" (GE: Homo Faber) - 1957
Lindgren, Astrid "Seacrow Island" (SW: Vi på Saltkråkan) - 1964
Pamuk, Orhan "My Father's Suitcase" (TR: Babamın Bavulu) - 2007
Pamuk, Orhan "Snow" (TR: Kar) - 2002
Pamuk, Orhan "The White Castle" (TR: Beyaz Kale) - 1985

The Top 10 Most Difficult Books
Still only one book. Maybe I should try Finnnegans Wake next.

Oprah’s Book Club
Mathis, Ayana "The Twelve Tribes of Hattie" - 2013

100 Books by the BBC

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. I added only four this year and have now finished 64 of them.
Joyce, James "Ulysses" - 1922
Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud) "Anne of Green Gables" - 1908
Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков] "Lolita" - 1955
Thackeray, William Makepeace "Vanity Fair, or, A Novel without a Hero" - 1848

Not really a challenge but a wonderful list of valuable books to read. I am happy to have read six of them and only one did not really receive my approval.
Smiley, Jane "13 Ways of Looking at the Novel" - 2005

I read three more of the books in her list.
Joyce, James "Ulysses" - 1922
Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich [Влади́мир Влади́мирович Набо́ков] "Lolita" - 1955
Thackeray, William Makepeace "Vanity Fair, or, A Novel without a Hero" - 1848

Book Quotes of the Week

"That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed with delight and profit." Amos Bronson Alcott

"There are two motives for reading a book; one, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it." Bertrand Russell

"Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them." Lemony Snicket

"I am so clever that sometimes I do not understand a single word of what I am saying." Oscar Wilde

"There are books of the same chemical composition as dynamite. The only difference is that a piece of dynamite explodes once, whereas a book explodes a thousand times." Yevgeny Zamyatin, A Soviet Heretic: Essays by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Find more book quotes here.