On Reading Big Books
by sassymonkeyI like to think I'm an adventurous reader. Or at least a semi-adventurous one. But one thing that can stop me in my tracks is a big book. I mean a long book, the ones known in the book blogging world as "chunksters."
For the last few years there's been a "Chunkster Challenge" where bloggers committ to reading some of these big books. I find it comforting, even though I don't join (I suck at challenges), because it means that I'm not the only one that buys or borrows these books with the intent of reading them and then let them gather dust.
The 2009 Chunkster Challenge was hosted at Feelin' Chunky. (A Novel Challenge will be hosting it in 2010, in case you are interested.) A "Chunkster" is defined as a book that is 450 pages or more and that is ADULT literature (fiction or nonfiction). Yes, that's right. Twilight and Harry Potter don't count. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell does count...it also happens to be one of the books languishing on my shelves. Gone With the Wind is a Chunkster. I remember reading it in junior high. Everyone thought I was nuts, and was unimpressed when I informed them, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."
I always have a lot of fun reading through people's reading lists but when I look at the lists people have for the Chunkster Challenge I'm often surprised by how few of the books I recognize. Southern Sassy Things finished six chunksters in the past years and I've hardly heard of half of them. I didn't do much better with Teddy Rose's book list either.
I've been thinking about big books a lot since I bought Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: Official Biography last week. It's a book that I think qualifies as a tome. It has more than thousand pages, though I must say it's surprisingly light. I don't know how they managed it but I think it weighs less than my copy of Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix
. I bought in part because I think that she must have lived an interesting life. She didn't just live to be more than 100 years old, she lived an entire century. She was born in 1900 and died in 2002 and I find that kind of fascinating. But another part of me was just blown away by the size of the book. It is thicker than the phone book for the province I grew up in. That's rather impressive.And scary. It is a big book. I didn't buy it the first night I saw it but it picked away at me. I kept asking myself who would read a thousand page biography of the Queen Mother aside from the die-hard royal family fans. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to read it. It would be a challenge. So I bought it. I've set myself a goal of reading ten pages a night. I've missed the last three nights because I went away for the weekend and the book just does not scream "packable". I had read more than fifty pages the first couple of nights so I'm still mostly on track. If I continue at the rate of ten pages per night it will still take me more than three months to read. It's a tactic I've used with other books, though with fiction to try to stick with chapters.
Do you read big books? Do you have a special strategy for reading them. Or are they no big deal?
Contributing Editor Sassymonkey also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
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Comments
Most of my Chunksters are YA
But it seems like I recently read one that was adult... didn't I? Hmmm what was it? I remember not wanting to read it because it was so darn long. Hmm, off I go to peruse my recently read books list.
(And yes I'm looking at my shelves to see which Chunksters I own... not many. Gone With the Wind, Stephen King's Dreamcatcher, does The Complete Claudine count? hehe - it's 600ish pages, Chloe & Olivia... that's about it. I guess the next time we go to a big used book sale, we'll buy Chunksters instead of colors.)
~Denise BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings
The Host!
I knew it was something I did not really want to read...600+ pages of non YA Stephenie Meyer.
~Denise BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings
I should have remembered that
Seeing as how after you finished reading it you tried to convince me that I really, really needed to read it.
Many of the chunksters around here seem to be non-fiction and mostly the fake husband's (he buys a lot of political memoirs...or at least it seems like a lot when you have no interest in reading them). The rest of them are mostly classics like The Count of Monte Cristo. I think we have War and Peace kicking around here somewhere too.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
I didn't count stuff like that
Poetry and story anthologies, self help health books, sciencey/history stuff. Too many to list, and we rarely read that stuff straight through.
~Denise BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings
I didn't count the anthologies either
Or collected works. I think until Elizabeth showed up the bigged book in our house was The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. That thing is HUGE.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
Errr 450 pages is a lot?
I suppose I shouldn't mention that that is less than a two night read?
Naahmah's Kiss was fab. I am trying to egg Denise into reading it. Last town on Earth is short by about 60 pages for the qualification, but it is dense and interesting. Shoot, Calligrapher's Daughter is short 50 pages in hardback but I am about 10 pages from finishing it and highly recommend it.
South of Broad-well we listened to that on audio but it qualifies if you read it in print. (Print would have gone a lot faster too but then the boy child wouldnt have developed an interest in it.)
~TW
Retro-Food
Sometimes it seems like it is
I've probably read more than 450 pages in the last two days but when it's presented in one big book it seems larger. Two 300 page books don't seem to feel as long as a 600 page book for some reason. The Shadow of the Wind is technically a chunkster but it isn't a book I'd necessarily call a chunkster.
And yes you can mention that 450 pages is less than a two night read for you. You read fast. :)
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
Shadow of the Wind is not a chunkster
I saw this comment just as I shut down my laptop and I was troubled all night. Apparently to me a chunkster is 600 pages or more. Something like Shadow of the Wind is really so not a chunkster.
~Denise BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings
I think it would be
Or would feel like one if it was released in mass market paperback. But the version I have didn't feel like a chunkster. I was surprised when I checked the page count.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
Please re-define chunkster
I agree with TW -- 450 is about half of a big book! I consider a chunkster to be at least 600 pages but more like 800 to 1200. And I've just never had a problem with big books. I think I first read Gone With the Wind when I was twelve or thirteen and ended up reading it seven or eight times by my early twenties (I lost count).
If we go with the 450 number, I've read thirteen this year above that page count already and that's only counting adult books. I definitely notice the length when I grab a book (I'm not above that!) but I'm more of a "the bigger, the better" reader. There's more time for a story to be fully fleshed out and satisfying if it's longer. I'll admit that there's nothing worse than a meandering, confusing chunkster though!
Now please excuse me while I go finally read Outlander. ;)
Kristen M.
We Be Reading - http://webereading.com
I took the definition
From the challenge page. I know there was also a "mega-chunkster" designation for books over 750 pages. I think for me I think of chunksters starting closer to 600 pages.
I think, for me, I usually have too many books out of the library at once and the time I spend reading one chunkster is time I could have read two books. I feel less guilty returning one chunkster unread (or unfinished) than two smaller books.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
I'm completely with you, Kristen -
I'm completely with you, Kristen - 450 pages is probably closer to an average book length for me, considering I've regularly read books longer than 800 or a thousand pages. I don't really think of them as large books until they approach 1000 pages, so I could go with 800+ pages as a chunkster. But 450 pages? That's a nice quick read. ;)
But I'm also a fairly quick reader while also being voracious, and one of my favourite authors is James Michener, who regularly wrote books in the 1000 page end of things. I'll grant you, 150 pages of coral formation is a bit much, but otherwise, they're very well written. My favourites include The Source and The Covenant. I've read everything he's written. Lovely stuff.
Laurie in Sri Lanka
Chilli & Chocolate | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court | LMAshton on Twitter
LOVE chunksters
I never knew they were called chunksters but I love reading big books. I don't go out of my way to find them but if I see one at the library that looks interesting, the number of pages in no way puts me off.
Jen at Semantically driven
The construction plays a bit part for me
I think I prefer hardcover chunksters. Paperback chunksters I find are often uncomfortable to hold. For me it's often more about time and how many other things are on my plate. I'm taking less books out of the library these days which makes it easier to tackle a chunkster.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
I can't hold any books
I can't hold any books anymore - severe joint problems that means it puts too much strain on the joints, causing injury after injury. I've switched over to reading ebooks only, first on one smartphone, then on the iPhone. The first phone had a screen about 60% the size of the iPhone screen, so the iPhone feels like luxury. We've seriously considered getting me a Kindle or other larger-format ebook reader (I have vision problems, too), but personally, I'm willing to wait until they become a little more reasonable in price - electronics here cost a lot more than they do in the US along the lines of 1.5-3x as much.
Back to the iPhone - using that is an absolute delight. Light, easy to hold, easy to use, no stress to my joints, font sizes can be increased, background and font colour can be changed. It works wonderfully for me.
But I also recognize that such devices aren't for everyone.
Laurie in Sri Lanka
Chilli & Chocolate | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court | LMAshton on Twitter
Reading on the iPhone
I have an e-reader which I really like, especially when I'm travelling, but I was really surprised by how much I liked reading on the iPhone. I read a lot when I'm waiting for/on the bus in the afternoons. Though I've discovered one disadvantage to it - it won't work so well in the winter. The touch screen doesn't respond to gloves very well. I'll have to switch back to reading e-books on the Sony Reader on the bus now that it's gotten cold enough to wear gloves.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
Huh. Winter. Gloves. Well,
Huh. Winter. Gloves. Well, of course that makes sense, but I haven't seen winter in close to 7 years, so that hadn't occured to me...
Laurie in Sri Lanka
Chilli & Chocolate | A Canadian in King Parakramabahu's Court | LMAshton on Twitter
Yep, go figure eh?
But with my e-reader I can use the touch screen or a button so it'll work. Assuming it doesn't fog up too much going from inside to outside.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
I've been meaning to ask about that...
The worst thing about the iPhone is the glove problem in winter... I've always wondered if the Kindle or Sony (and now the Nook) would be more worth it to me in winter than in summer (now that I live someplace where the gloves come out in October.)
~Denise BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings
My Sony works well with gloves
Because it has buttons to turn the page as well as a stylus to use on the touchscreen. I have the PRS 700. It's not great with mittens but well, what is? The version I have has the side-lighting too which helps when it's dark in the evenings though it drains the battery faster. I haven't tested it in really cold weather though.
It looks like Sony's Daily Edition (the one with wireless capabilities coming out in December) will have a stylus as well so that should work well too with gloves.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
Hardcover chunksters, please!
A paperback chunkster IS hard to hold and it's more likely to have bad things happen to it (like crunched pages and stuff.)
~Denise BlogHer Community Manager
Flamingo House Happenings
Agreed
I'm with you guys on this one. It's impossible not to crease the spine tons of times on a paperback chunkster. They just don't open well and they are impossible to balance in one hand. I can only think of a couple of chunksters that I've read in paperback but I've got a paperback review copy of Outlander that I'm going to have to navigate soon. I'm almost considering checking it out from the library instead.
Kristen M.
We Be Reading - http://webereading.com
I thought GWTW was the chunkster gateway
drug!
A 200 page book that I'm not interested in can still feel like a slog, but a 1k+ that you enjoy? It's a world you can fully immerse youself in. Ever sine Gone With The Wind, I love getting recommendations for super-long books (though they don't come along too frequently.)
If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth. At 1488 pages, it's a triple chunkster, but well worth your time.
lol GWTW as a gateway drug
I thought that was the unabridged version of Little Women. I think the version I read (which was illustrated) was around 600 pages. After that Gone With The Wind seemed easier.
If you are looking for recommendations just search google for "Chunkster Challenge". There's a lot of long books that I hadn't heard of.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
Audio Chunksters
I suppose it doesn't count if the chunksters are audio books, eh? I'm such a sucker for multi-tasking I feel guilty reading that long.
Elly at www.bugginword.com
I never feel guilty for reading
Never. Ok, that's a lie. Sometimes I read at the dinner table and I do feel a bit guilty about that. But when I lived alone I used to eat and read all the time so sometimes I just feel the need to.
My problem with audio books in general is that I dislike setting them down. I want to hear the story and I want to hear it all right now. They are an absolute lifesaver when I do things like data entry though.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
Free hands
I was totally annoyed for five years until the kid could completely feed himself because I couldn't read at the dinner table. I don't do it all of the time but if I'm getting toward the end of the book or am in a good spot, I can't resist. The husband reads at the table too so I don't feel too bad about ignoring everyone at family dinner!
Kristen M.
We Be Reading - http://webereading.com
You need a book weight
I use mine often at the dinner table. You just need to free one hand to turn the page every now and then. Levenger has really nice ones that you can get monogrammed that I frequently look at lustfully but never can quite bring myself to order one.
The fake husband does not like to read at the dinner table. It's kind of annoying. lol
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
AAHH....to read...such luxury...such
deliciousness
Your post is so timely. I JUST finished Diana Gabadon's latest book, "An Echo in the Bone." She has a continuing saga of Claire & Jaime - and now their children. Time travel, romance, adventure, Scottish men in kilts, a heroine with a career...the books are dreamy. It was a hardcover well over 800 pages and teeny, tiny print. I always hate it when I get to the last 50 pages, because I know the next book won't be out for 3-5 years! And now I feel that my lover is just out of reach... LOL.
Great topic!
JCK of Motherscribe
http://motherscribe.blogspot.com
I've heard wonderful things about them
They are on my list of "someday" reads. Everyone seems to say really good things about them.
Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.