Did you ever notice that many historical novels are really, really long?
Above at left, we have over 4100 pages' worth of the latest in historical fiction; the shortest one - Madame Tussaud - barely qualifies for the challenge at 455 pages. And on the right we have Oliver, who insisted on being included in the pic. If he knew I'd be including him in a Chunkster Challenge post, he might have reconsidered (he's got a bit of a belly on him).
I seem to have accepted an awful lot of epics for review, so you'll be seeing them featured here over the next few months. Two books in the bunch are being cleverly hidden from view for now, because I've committed to reviewing them for other publications, but their identities will be revealed in time.
So this year, while I'm trying to work off a few extra pounds on the NordicTrack, I'll also be piling on the pages. I'm aiming for Plump Primer level (at least six chunksters) although I expect to surpass it. Let's not forget that the new Ken Follett, The Winter of the World, is set to be published in mid-September and is technically long enough to count as two chunksters (too bad it doesn't work that way).
I guess I'd better get reading.
I used to loved reading chunksters but these days they don't quite excite me as much, mainly because they take a while to get through. Having said that, the last book I read was 650 pages long so I am still reading them!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with all your chunksters!
The chunkier the book, the better, especially during the winter! The chunkier the cat, maybe not so good- he's adorable!
ReplyDeleteI'm not so much of a fan of the chunksters. I may love a book, but after page 300 I get the itch to read a different book. I try to avoid the long ones, but sometimes will take up the challenge. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI love chunksters (and love the kitteh pic). The only thing about some of them that intimidate me these days is the small font :)
ReplyDeleteWow, those are chunky. I used to also feel the chunkier the better, but not so much these days - though I was tempted by this challenge.
ReplyDeleteGood luck and I'm looking forward to reading your reviews.
Also, love your kitty!
I can't recall the last time I've had to read so many chunksters. My editors seem to delight in assigning them to me for review, but the good thing is - if the book is excellent, then more pages will let me extend that reading experience. Fortunately that's been the case with the last two chunksters I read (the new Gabaldon, and one I just finished). They get hard to read with a cat on your lap, though. I could use some wrist supports.
ReplyDeleteOliver is happy to deflect attention from our big black chunkster kitty, Max, who is over 20 lbs and diabetic. We're working on getting the weight down on him.
Chunksters tend to send me away, particularly if the type is small and the margins thin.
ReplyDeleteThere are always exceptions, and I love them, such as Sharon Kay Penman.
But generally I admire the size of a historical like Bernard Cornwell's latest, Death of Kings -- 315 pp. -- I can read this in two nights.
For this reader the generally optimum size is 85 - 95,000 words.
Love, C.
Also, to add -- with the larger books, about page 400 I start getting impatient. It's on the order of, "Do you really need another 2 - 300 pps to do this?" Things tend to sag about then. I start skipping ahead to the end.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your kitty reminds me so much of my dear, departed Mitchy-Mitch-Mitchell.
Love, C.
Good luck! There's nothing like a chunky book if it's one you are really enjoying - more pages to love :)
ReplyDeleteAnd Oliver is very dashing!
I'll say thank you on Oliver's behalf - he's such a ham.
ReplyDeleteI admit, chunksters with small print make me nervous (they make me wonder whether a book needs an editing job it didn't get). But a lot of this depends on the publisher, too. Major presses don't take on large books unless they seriously believe readers would go for it.
For my last chunkster, I had a strict deadline so made myself read 100pp a night (a lot for me). But the book sped by so quickly that I finished it in three nights instead of five.
I just joined the chunkster challenge. The 'Do These Books Make My Butt Look Big?' level. (I like the name. It cracks me up.) :) I love those big 'uns! Your kitty is adorable. I just want to reach into the pic & give him a chin rascal. I better get started also. My first book is 'Perlman's Silence', by Pascal Mercer. Good luck with this challenge, and i love your blog..
ReplyDeleteHello fellow challenge participant! I look forward to seeing all of the chunksters you'll be reading. The one I'm reading now is Rosie Thomas's The Kashmir Shawl. 100 pages down...
ReplyDeleteGood luck! I used to read chunksters, but if they don't call to me right away I tend to get bored, put them down, and then rarely pick them up again. Shorter books I will stick with it a bit longer, but I am more impatient with chunksters.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing this challenge too at the mor-bookly obese level because it seems I've neglected the bigger books for too long and they are slowly taking over my library (and almost all of them are historical fiction).
ReplyDeleteLove Oliver! He looks like he's saying "you're totally going to let me give these books a friendly nudge while you read, right?" Good luck on the challenge!
I know what you mean, Kailana. Actually I got stuck reading a 600-page chunkster once, and it was so horribly dry that the reading experience was painful. It took me forever to finish and I hated every minute of it.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Holly! Good luck to you too. I bet a lot of the challenge participants will be reading historicals too.
Good luck!!! I have a couple big books on my list that I'd love to get to this year!
ReplyDeleteThanks, and good luck! I've just finished chunkster #2 for 2012 - writeup forthcoming - so on with the next!
ReplyDeleteThose of us who write long things bow our respect to your refusal to be daunted!
ReplyDeleteI'm finding that I have to read chunksters in print (not on an e-reader), because I need/want to flip back and forth, especially if I've let it sit for awhile. Thank goodness for getting things used and/or cheap (like bookcloseouts) so that I can keep it for awhile.
ReplyDeleteSarah Other Librarian
There's been something of a revival in epic historical adventures recently - a few I've really enjoyed - CC Humphreys' "A Place Called Armageddon" (the siege and fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453), Robert Lyndon's ""Hawk Quest" (11th century - set not long after the Norman Conquest and ranges from England to Greenland and Iceland, through Russia and into Anatolia) and Colin Falconer's "Silk Road", set in the 13th century just at the point when the Mongol invasion seems
ReplyDeleteunstoppable, until a war of succession breaks out.
I read A Place Called Armageddon over the holiday break - not a subject I'm very familiar with, but I came to feel like I was really there in the midst of the conflict. Hawk Quest is going to be part of my challenge, and Silk Road may be also (got it as a Christmas gift!). I have one chunkster to get through first, though, and at the moment I'm looking with dismay at my bookmark (stuck around p.20).
ReplyDeleteps - Annis, I'll check out your review after I'm through with mine - hopefully won't be too long!
ReplyDeleteChunksters do seem to be the name of the game at the moment- I'm currently trundling my way through Christian Cameron's hefty "God of War", the "true" story of Alexander the Great's life and campaigns as told by astute and canny Ptolemy, the great survivor (as far as I can remember, the only one of Alexander's intimate companions and great generals who managed to die of old age). Ptolemy did in fact write a long-lost history of Alexander's campaigns said to have been notable for its objectivity and lack of hagiography, and this is no doubt the inspiration for Cameron's novel.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjpy "Hawk Quest" as much as I did, Sarah :)
I've never read anything by Christian Cameron. Hope it's good. And yes, interesting to see so many enormous tomes lately, at a time when I know other authors are being asked to keep their manuscripts tight and short. Ptolemy was an ancestor of Cleopatra - is that right? (And I hope so too!)
ReplyDeleteYes, Ptolemy was the first and Cleopatra the last of the Ptolemaic Dynasty which ruled Egypt for 275 years.
ReplyDeleteCameon's "God of War" is a one-off, but linked to his "Tyrant" series which are set around the period of Alexander's campaigns and the Wars of the Successors following his death. I'm quite addicted to them, but they are miltary adventures, so won't necessarily appeal to readers not into blood 'n' guts and campaign tactics.
I recently re-read Mary Renault's "Alexander" trilogy and Cameron's novel is a good antidote to her magnificent but hyper-romantic vision of Alexander.