Friday, July 24, 2020

Big Books of Summer

Book By Book
I've been meaning to sign up all summer, and I've been noticing which books I read seem particularly hefty, but this is my official sign up post. Book By Book hosts this challenge every summer, a celebration of summer and getting a chance to sit down and sink into a deep book. This year of course we find these times a bit differently; maybe we're trapped at home and need a distraction, or maybe our jobs have completely upended themselves and we can't afford a vacation. I'm lucky enough to be in the former category. 

I'm going to retroactively give myself credit for all the big tomes (bigger than 400 pages) I've read since Memorial Day:

  • Stamped From the Beginning, Ibram Kendi. 592 pages. I listened to this on audio, a lot of it twice.
  • A Face Like Glass, Frances Hardinge. 496 pp. A Cybils 2017 middle grade book that was amazing.
  • Middlegame, Seanan MCGuire. 528pp. A Hugo nominated book with a complex narrative.
  • Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow, Jessica Townsend. 525. A middle grade fantasy.
  • Spinning Silver, Naomi Novak. 430 pp. Reread -- highly recommended.
  • The Aeronaut's Windlass, Jim Butcher. 751 pp. I'm cheating -- I read half of this several summers ago, picked it up again and finished it this summer. 
  • A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine. 562. Hugo nominated book about a space empire.
  • The City of Brass, S.A. Chakraborty. 533 pg. Fantasy set in old Cairo with djinn.
  • The Orphan Band of Springdale, Anne Nesbit 448. Cybils nominated middle grade book.
  • Redemption, David Baldacci. Nice fat action book.
  • The Fix, David Baldacci. 480 pages. I wanted to spend even more time with Decker.
  • Into the Fire, Elizabeth Moon. 462 pages. Science fiction but really about an evil bureacracy.
  • Polaris Rising, Jessie Mihalik. 431 pp I didn't even notice this qualified until I was shelving it!

Planned:
  • I've started reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. It's for Sword and Laser so I need to finish it by next week.
  • Children of Time looks great and it's 600+ pages.

Times Up!


OK, I finished 13 big books (well 12.5, since I had started Aeronaut's Windlass before. By the way, I was super smug because my book club just picked that one and I'm all done already!). and left two dangling. But I got my toe into them so I hope to finish them this fall. Thanks for the inspiration to pick up the fat books I've been hesitating over, or even to rejoice when I realized that a book that I just finished was HUGE. This was especially good for me as I tried to read all the Hugo finalists by August.

Thanks again to Book By Book for hosting.

2 comments:

Sue Jackson said...

Welcome to the Big Book Summer Challenge!

Glad you finally signed up! There is still plenty of time :)

You've already read quite a list of Big Books - any more in your plans for the rest of summer?

Remember you can also come back to the challenge page to leave a link (in the 2nd links list) to a Big Book review or challenge update.

Welcome & enjoy your Big Books this summer -

Sue

2020 Big Book Summer Challenge

Sue Jackson said...

Well done on the 2020 Big Book Summer Challenge, Beth! You really read a lot of Big Books this summer - glad you enjoyed it!

Hope you'll join the fun again next summer!

Sue

Book By Book