I have just announced the 14th year of my annual reading challenge, Big Book Summer Challenge, so I guess I should be the first to sign up! Everyone is welcome to participate (details at the link).
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 Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (582 pages)
· Burn by Nevada Barr (472 pages)
· Empire Falls by Richard Russo (483 pages)
· The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (429 pages)
· Dead Man’s Walk by Larry McMurtry (461 pages)
· The Fraud by Zadie Smith (454 pages)
· The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (558 pages)
· The Toll by Neal Schusterman (625 pages)
· Never by Ken Follett (802 pages)
I know that looks like a huge stack--and it is!--but as you can see, many of my choices are in the 400-500 page range and several are fast-paced reads.All of these also qualify for my Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2026.
My shelves are overflowing, so this is good!
I also devote my summer to listening to Big Audio Books (audios and e-books count, too). I will choose those as I go, throughout the summer, though I just started my first: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
And here's my husband's pile of possibilities for Big Book Summer 2026--he enjoys Big Book Summer every year, too!
Check out my 2026 Big Book Summer Challenge Video
for more on what I plan to read this summer. You can also find great
Big Book recommendations on my Big Books! list
on Bookshop and my Big Book Recommendations video. I have read and enjoyed every single book on that list and in that video,
and they both include a wide variety of book types and genres--something for
everyone! And visit the Big Book Summer Goodreads group or 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?
Join me in the fun of the 2026 Big Book Summer Challenge! The details and link-ups are on that page.
I am not tackling the challenge, I'll live vicariously through you Sue! I have read The Shell Seekers 2 x I think and it is worth reading. I'd be tempted by Nevada Barr but would need to check it out. I wish you a very happy reading for the summer challenge.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kathryn! You're actually already doing Big Book (Winter for you) with your slow read of Pachinko! Hope you're enjoying it!
DeleteGreat book list. I have read Empire Falls, The God of the Woods, and The Toll and enjoyed them all.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I can't wait to read all 3 of them!
DeleteI will be reading a big book or two this summer. Two books on my list are book club reads---Pillars and Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel---and one Classics Club spin pick---Far from the Madding Crowd---so those are the three I'm most likely to read. I plan to post about it on Wednesday this week.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great plan, Deb! I look forward to seeing your post. I have Far from the Madding Crowd on my TBR shelves, but I didn't realize it was over 400 pages - thanks for the heads up!
DeleteAfter reading Helen's recent post about this challenge, I decided it's time for me to join in. I have my books picked out for the 20 Books of Summer challenge, and I'm sure a few of them qualify for Big Books. I'll post my choices in a week or so once I get home and can take a look at the page counts. I'm too lazy to look them up on my computer. :)
ReplyDeleteI've read The Shell Seekers twice, and Empire Falls when it first came out. Enjoyed both of those immensely. Oh, and The God of the Woods is also very good. I have A Walk in the Park, but have thought to save that one for Nonfiction November. I may change my mind and read it this summer.
I'm glad you found your way to my blog and discovered Big Book Summer, Les! Sounds like a great plan - I look forward to hearing about your Big Bok picks. Remember. we have both a Goodreads group and a Storygraph group (and challenge) - both great communities with fun book chat all summer! Welcome!
DeleteThanks for hosting this again this year! One of the few challenges that I still do, although it's easy because I do generally read a lot of biggish books.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love The Shell Seekers and reread it a few years ago. Empire Falls is also a great book--I am a big fan of Richard Russon, and still have a few of his books left to read. The God of the Woods is also fantastic.
I haven't heard of Never by Ken Follett--I love his big, sprawling historical novels.
I never did read Burn by Nevada Barr--I was a faithful reader of her Anna Pigeon novels until they started to get to be too much.
Good luck with your stack. Looks like an awesome summer for books.
Welcome back to Big Book Summer, Jane! Glad to hear you enjoy it every year. Glad to hear you enjoyed The Shell Seekers, Empire Falls, and God of the Woods. I enjoy Ken Follett, too - both his historical novels and his thrillers. Never is more of a political thriller - kind of a "this could really happen" sort of scenario. My husband said it was frightening!
DeleteEnjoy your books this summer!
Sue