Chunkster Challenge

I've been anxiously awaiting this challenge, as I have several doorstops disguised as books on my 2009 reading list!  Dana of Think Pink is hosting the 2009 version of the Chunkster Challenge, and I couldn't be happier!

The challenge starts *now* and ends November 15, 2009.  Here are the options for participation (quoted from the challenge blog):

"*The Chubby Chunkster - this option is for the reader who has a large tome or two to read, but really doesn't want to commit to more than that. 2 books is all you need to finish this challenge. 

*Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big? - this option is for the slightly heavier reader who wants to commit to 3-5 Chunksters over the next ten months.

*Mor-book-ly Obese - This is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to 6 or more chunksters OR three tomes of 750 pages or more. You know you want to.....go on and give in to your cravings.

*Too Big To Ignore Anymore - this option is for those chunksters on your TBR list. You may select any number of books over 450 pages but you must LIST THEM to complete the challenge and they must be on your TBR list as well."

Guidelines for what constitutes a chunkster can be found on the challenge blog.  Please read it carefully for details.

I'm going to go with Mor-book-ly Obese and read the following:

• Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Losa (601 pgs.)
  
• The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (696 pgs.)
  
• Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoyevsky (656 pgs.)
  
• The Daisy Chain by Charlotte Mary Yonge (564 pgs.)
• Paris 1919 by Margaret Macmillan (496 pgs.)
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck (602 pgs.)

Thanks, Dana, for hosting this challenge! 

Comments

[Sam Houston]

Have you read Dennis Lehane's "The Given Day" yet? It weighs in at 700 pages and is a really good historical fiction look at Boston from about 1916 to the twenties. I'm about 550 pages into it and can hardly put it down once I get started.

It focuses on the flu epidemic, the unionization of the Boston Police Dept. and all of the social unrest that was crippling the country during those years.

Lehane has created some great characters and mixes in a few real folks, such as Babe Ruth, every so often. I think you might enjoy it.

[Ex Libris]

No I haven't, Sam, but it sounds as though I need to ! I recently finished Oil! by Upton Sinclair which has a similar theme during the same time period.

[Lezlie]

Crime & Punishment was wonderful! I'll be waiting to see what you think of that one. :-)
Good luck!
Lezlie

[lena]

Crime and Punishment goes by so smoothy - you can barely tell that it is that long.

I hope you enjoy it!

The titles for the different sub-levels crack me up :D

[Kailana]

Good luck with your chunksters!

[JoAnn]

East of Eden is one of my all-time favorite books! I really need to read C&P one of these days, too.

[Carrie K]

Mysteries of Udolpho was a book I'm glad I've read. Reading it? I occasionally wanted to push Emily off a cliff.

Mor-book-ly Obese? A challenge and a pun! Who could resist?

[Natalie T.]

You have got some fascinating books on your list. I am hoping to add more diversity to my own reading. I need not adhere strictly to Jane Austen, Anthony Trollope, and George Eliot. I do read a lot of poetry but I want to read more. I like all the challenges you've joined and I admire your ambitions.

I'd like to join the group but I am not willing to prepare ahead in such detail.

Good luck and remember to blog about it!

Natalie

[EL Fay]

Does it have to be fiction? I bought "From Dawn to Decadence" at a book sale two months ago but haven't started it yet.

[FleurFisher]

I have "The Daisy Chain" in a Virago Modern Classics edition and I would love to read it this year too. It just seems so long and the print is small! I have enjoyed reading your blog, and so I have given you an award: http://fleurfisher.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/premio-dardos-award/

[Ex Libris]

Lezlie: Thanks! I hope I can make it through C&P :)

Lena: I hope so :)

Kailana: Thanks!

JoAnn: I hope I enjoy East of Eden, too :)

Carrie: The Mysteries of Udolpho is a little intimidating - I hope I will make it through :)

Natalie: Thank you!

El Fay: It doesn't have to be all fiction - my selections just worked out that way.

FleurFisher: Thank you very much!

[LK]

Hilarious titles. Of course, they make you want to participate. I am hoping to to the Chubby version at least. It's a good way to get back into the spirit of literary reading for 2009!