Tag: chonker

Top Ten Tuesday | Chonky Books

Posted October 7, 2024 by Haze in Top Ten Tuesday, Weekly Book Memes / 40 Comments

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.

Today’s topic is Bookish Brags (or Confessions!)

I’m not sure that I have anything book-related worth bragging about, tbh, other than I love reading chonky books. So this week I’m just going to go with a list of chonky books I’ve read. These are the chonkiest books I’ve read and they are 800 pages and above. Some of these are my favorite of favorite books, but there are also many less chonky books I’ve loved more than others listed that are only here because they are chonky. Most of these are worth reading though!

Top Ten Chonky Books

  1. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – 1276 pages. This is one of my favorite books of all time. I’ve read it many times and loved its chonkiness every time because I never want it to end. It’s so intense and engrossing that I finish it very quickly despite its size, and then I want to reread it again!
  2. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell – 1037 pages. Another favorite I’ve read several times. I haven’t read it in a while though, because while I swooned over the romance as a child, I realize now as an adult that it was such a toxic relationship. I still think it’s a work of art as a historical novel though.
  3. The Stand by Stephen King – 1152 pages. There are so many Stephen King chonkers I’ve read and loved; It, Under The Dome, 11/22/63, and many more, but I thought for the sake of this list I’d stick to one per author, otherwise this whole list would be saturated with Stephen King’s books!
  4. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin – 835 pages. Technically, every book in this series is a chonker, and this one is the smallest one compared to the others, but it’s the first one so it’s the one chosen to represent them all!
  5. The Light Bearer by Donna Gillespie – 1024 pages. The most underrated chonker on the list and one of my favorite books! I’ve read it many times and I still love it now as much as I ever did. I’ve talked about it so many times and featured it on so many TTT lists!
  6. Swan Song by Robert McCammon – 956 pages. I don’t remember much about this book except that it was compared to Stephen King’s The Stand, and I rated it 4 stars. I’ve forgotten much about it though, and it’s only here because it’s a chonker I read.
  7. I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb – 897 pages. Another book I don’t remember much of but I’m haunted by this one and another book by the author I’ve read. I remember loving them and having my heart broken, and I rated them both 5 stars but I can’t bring myself to reread them just yet because I’m not sure I want to get my heart broken like that again. I need a little more time to heal! I also really want to read his other books, but same reason for why I haven’t yet.
  8. Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey – 1040 pages. It was hard to get into at first, but it got really good later. Not sure that I like it enough to continue the series though. It’s a relatively recent read so I haven’t decided what I want to do with it.
  9. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens – 882 pages. Another relatively recent read that I loved! Especially because I had just finished Demon Copperhead not long before.
  10. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber – 922 pages. I actually love another book by this author – The Book of Strange New Things – more, but it was only 500 pages. I rated The Book of Strange New Things 5 stars, and this one only 3 stars, but this one is rated higher on Goodreads, so take what you will from that. I would highly recommend The Book of Strange New Things though!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?

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Book Review | 11/22/63 by Stephen King

Posted August 23, 2024 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

11/22/63 by Stephen King

On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. Unless…

In 2011, Jake Epping, an English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, sets out on an insane — and insanely possible — mission to prevent the Kennedy assassination.

Leaving behind a world of computers and mobile phones, he goes back to a time of big American cars and diners, of Lindy Hopping, the sound of Elvis, and the taste of root beer.

In this haunting world, Jake falls in love with Sadie, a beautiful high school librarian. And, as the ominous date of 11/22/63 approaches, he encounters a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald…


For the Reading Challenge(s):
2024 Audiobook Challenge


The Reason

This book is a reread. I read it a while ago and remember loving it but not much else. I watched the film adaptation a couple of years ago and wanted to reread then but didn’t, and then I found it as a buddy read recently, so I thought why not.

The Quotes

“When all else fails, give up and go to the library.”

“I’m one of those people who doesn’t really know what he thinks until he writes it down.”

“If you’ve ever been homesick, or felt exiled from all the things and people that once defined you, you’ll know how important welcoming words and friendly smiles can be.”

“We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.”

The Narrator(s)

Craig Wasson. Okay, I don’t know if it’s a narrator issue or a sound engineer issue, but the volume inconsistencies were painful, literally, to my ears. The narration and the different character voices were great, in themselves, but there were parts where the characters shouted, or spoke harshly, and they were loud and painful! If I turned down the volume, I couldn’t hear the quiet parts well. If I turned up the volume, I had to brace for pain. It was not fun.

My Thoughts

The audiobook wasn’t fun because of the volume issues, but the story itself was amazing, and I think I love it more the second time around! Partly because it was a buddy read; reading with others and having discussions about the book help me notice details I otherwise wouldn’t have noticed, and make me think about things more.

Also, funny enough, while I’m still unhappy about the volume issues with the audiobook, I feel like listening to it this time around actually helped me notice some things I didn’t before, especially with some of the theme and repetitions in the story. It’s interesting because I usually notice things more on print and miss a lot of details when I’m listening to a book, but I think when things get repeated so many times, and if the narrator emphasizes those parts, I definitely take notice.

This audiobook was a 30-hour chonker but it was such an incredible journey. I got so much more out of it this time, and I’m definitely thinking of rereading it again eventually because I believe there’s still more to get out of it!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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