Sue at Book by Book is hosting her annual Big Book Summer Challenge, and I am rising to the bait yet again. I love me a good big book.
I have a couple of classics that I need to read this year that meet the 400 page qualifier:
The Buccaneers, by Edith Wharton
Can You Forgive Her, by Anthony Trollope
And I've been meaning to read Irving Stone's Men to Match My Mountains: The Monumental Saga of the Winning of America's Far West, which also qualifies.
I'm also hoping to reread Ella Leffland's The Knight, Death, and the Devil, a chilling novel about Hermann Goring.
Who knows what I'll actually get to, but that's the tentative plan.
Sue has made her challenge wonderfully simple:
- Anything 400 pages or more qualifies as a big book.
- The challenge will run from Memorial Day weekend (starting May 24 this year) through Labor Day weekend (Labor Day is September 2 this year).
- Choose one or two or however many big books you want as your goal. Wait, did you get that? You only need to read 1 book with 400+ pages this summer to participate! (though you are welcome to read more, if you want).
- Sign up on the first links list below if you have a blog (or in the comments below or on Goodreads if you don't have a blog).
- Write a post to kick things off - you can list the exact big books you plan to read or just publish your intent to participate, but be sure to include the Big Book Summer Challenge pic above, with a link back to this blog (no blog? No problem - see below).
- Write a post to wrap up at the end, listing the big books you read during the summer.
- You can write progress posts if you want to and/or reviews of the big books you've read...but you don't have to! There is a separate links list below for big book reviews or progress update posts.
Maybe I will join in. I tend to read a lot of very long books. I am looking forward to reading what you think of Can You Forgive Her? Of course, it is first in a series of six books so it might really draw you in.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do join the fun, Brian! Here's the link to all the info - yesterday was just the first official day of summer, so there's still plenty of time!
DeleteSue
2019 Big Book Summer Challenge
Hi Jane,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting about this challenge--I think it might do for me this summer. I do like to read chunksters in the summer. I'm in the midst of two of them at the moment, so I think I'll climb on board. So happy to know about this. Thank you again. Happy summer reading to you!
I like challenges that are fairly loose! I don't do well with too much structure. I have a copy of The Buccanneers but thought twice about reading it when I found out it was unfinished. I hope you do read and a blog about it. This will help me figure out if I should read it or not. :D
ReplyDeleteHave fun with this summer reading challenge! I will be filling my summer with much shorter books. ;D
ReplyDeleteBig books can be so much fun and I have some good ones stored up that I have yet to read: New York by Edward Rutherford, Passion by Jude Morgan, Massachusetts by Nancy Zaroulis and I've had Men to Match My Mountains on my radar as well. Irving Stone writes very well. His novel about John and Abigail Adams quite good.
ReplyDeleteA Rutherford novel is an excellent candidate for a summer chunksters—-I liked New York, especially the first part, when it was still wild. I also loved Passion—great novel. Haven’t heard of Massachusetts, but I will check it out. I didn’t know Irving Stone wrote about John and Abigail Adams—I love reading about them. You’ve given me a couple of good books to track down.
DeleteHi, Jane -
ReplyDeleteSo excited you decided to join the challenge again this summer!! Can you please add your link to the first links list on the challenge page? You left a comment but didn't add your link - I want the other participants to be able to find your post!
Thanks -
Sue
2019 Big Book Summer Challenge