2019 Big Book Summer Wrap-Up

I'm a bit late this year because we took a vacation in early September, but here is my Wrap-Up for the 2019 Big Book Summer Challenge! I host this challenge every summer and always enjoy participating in it myself. You can read all the details at the challenge page linked above, but the bottom line is to read books of 400 pages or longer during the summer - just one or a few or as many as you want! What I really love about this challenge is that it gives me the extra incentive I need to finally tackle some of the longer books I've put off reading - I always end up reading some really amazing books, and I make a (small) dent in my overflowing TBR bookcase, too. You can go back to my starting post for My 2019 Big Book Summer in May to see what books I hoped to get to this season.

First, my own challenge wrap-up:

I ended up reading a record number of 11 Big Books this summer!! Before you get too impressed, I included Big Book audios in my count this summer, so that includes 6 books read in print and 5 listened to on audio.  In print, I read:

• Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (959 pages!)
• The City of Mirrors (#3 in The Passage trilogy) by Justin Cronin (602 pages)
• The Likeness by Tana French (466 pages)
• If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais (432 pages)
• Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge (483 pages)
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (536 pages) 

I also listened to these five books on audio (some are pictured because I also had print copies):

• Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen (432 pages)
• Airborn by Kenneth Oppel (544 pages)
• The Book of M by Peng Shepherd (496 pages)
• Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman (427 pages)
• The Desert Sky Before Us by Anne Valente (426 pages)

My reviews are at the links. It looks like a lot, but most of these were in the 400-500 page range (except for Gone with the Wind - that was a total chunkster!). I enjoyed every one of these and really loved many of them. I did also get about halfway through Catch-22 by Joseph Heller but was struggling with it, so I set it aside. I might go back to it later this year.

So, that was my summer, but lots of other people enjoyed a wonderful Big Book Summer, too. A total of 22 people joined the challenge this year, with 10 bloggers linking up on the challenge page and another 12 through the Goodreads group for those who don't have blogs. I enjoyed hearing what everyone was reading this summer, reading all your reviews of Big Books, and we had some great discussions in the Goodreads group! You can check out links to other people's reviews and wrap-up posts on the challenge page.

And now, it's time for the 2019 Big Book Summer Giveaway! I'm giving away a $15 Amazon gift card to one lucky participant. I used a random number generator, and the winner of this year's giveaway is:

Chris of the Chris Wolak blog

Congratulations, Chris! 

I met Chris through Booktopia and her wonderful podcast (with Emily Fine), Book Cougars, so please check out her excellent blog and the podcast! This was Chris' second year participating in Big Book Summer.

Here's to another rewarding, fun Big Book Summer - Congratulations to everyone who participated! 

I hope that YOU will join the fun next year!