My 2025 Big Book Summer Plans

I have just announced the 13th year of my annual reading challenge, Big Book Summer Challenge, so I wanted to share my own summer reading plans!

I always enjoy tackling some big books in the summer, since I first came up with the idea in 2011, and I'm looking forward to finally reading some of these bricks that have been collecting dust on my shelf (for this challenge, a Big Book is any book with 400 pages or more).

NOTE: Don't let my stack below intimidate you! You only need to read ONE Big Book over the next three months to join in the fun and participate in the challenge. I like to make a "pile of possibilities," but you do you 😀

I definitely won't get through all of these, but I like to have some options to choose from. These are all currently on my shelves, waiting patiently to be read (along with many others!):

 

From the top of the stack:

• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (415 pages)
• Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (411 pages)
• Streets of Laredo by Larry McMurtry (538 pages)
• Thunderhead by Neal Schusterman (504 pages)
• Empire Falls by Richard Russo (483 pages)
• The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy (688 pages)
• Bridge by Lauren Beukes (421 pages)
• Never by Ken Follett (802)
• The Love Songs of W.E.B. DuBois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers (816 pages) - not shown

All of these also qualify for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2025. My shelves are overflowing, so this is good!

I also devote my summer to listening to Big Audio Books (audios and e-books count). I will choose those as I go, throughout the summer, from my backlog and from Libby.

And here's my husband's pile of possibilities for Big Book Summer 2025--he began participating several years ago:

Check out my 2025 Big Book Summer Challenge Video for more on what I plan to read this summer. 

For more Big Book recommendations, check out my Big Books! list on Bookshop and my Big Book Recommendations video. I have read and enjoyed every single book on those lists, and they include a wide variety of book types and genres--something for everyone! 

You can also visit the Big Book Summer Goodreads group or Big Book Summer Storygraph group to see what everyone else is reading this summer!

 How about you? Are you up for tackling a Big Book (or two or three) this summer?  The details and link-ups are at 2025 Big Book Summer Challenge page.

Join me in some bookish summer fun!