I started this year's reading by finishing The Pickwick Papers as my book for Monika's Chunkster Readathon. It felt so satisfying to be immersed in a sizeable book (719 pages) for almost a week that it has led to my choosing mostly bigger books since. I listened to A Promised Land, the first Barack Obama memoir which is 768 pages and about 30 hours of audiobook. (It was fantastic and I can definitely recommend listening to him reading it.) I got through 300 of the 800 pages of Death and Mr. Pickwick before I decided I just wasn't enjoying it enough to continue. And I'm now reading Lost Acre, the third book in Andrew Caldecott's Rotherweird trilogy, which is 473 pages long. This doesn't mean that I won't be reading many shorter books this year, just that I am going to deliberately start choosing some of the longer reads from my shelves and giving myself permission to spend a week on a book sometimes. This probably means more Dickens, Murakami, and maybe, finally, Trollope! I did read one novella that I had from the library (Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings) and I found myself wishing it had been longer and more fleshed out. I'm sure that all of this has something to do with regaining my concentration, my thought cycles, and my sanity.
What types of books are you reading in 2021?
Ooh, I like this plan! I have definitely grown less patient with chunksters in my old age, and it would be nice to sort of reset my brain as a reminder that sometimes it's okay to spend a lot of time in a world and a story rather than trying to be maximally efficient with plot.
ReplyDeleteI am reading a range of things in 2021 so far! It's been heavy on the SFF thus far but I've got a few lovely translated weird books that I'm excited to get into as well.
I blame blogging for making me worry about how many books I finish in a year. I read chunksters a couple of times a year normally but certainly not as often as I should based on how much I enjoy the immersion. But now I don't have to be looking at Twitter every 10 minutes, waiting for the end of the world, so I can focus on a longer book instead!
DeleteAnd weird books are the best. I am always on the lookout for more of those.
It's been a while since I attempted such a long book. Don Quixote almost did me in. But I will return to the chunksters at some point!
ReplyDeleteI was wary about jumping into a classic when I hadn't read a longer book in a while but I did it as a combination of audio and print which allowed me to get over any attention humps. Also, it being Dickens helped.
DeleteFunnily enough I just put a copy of Don Quixote on my wishlist, thinking that maybe it was time I give it a shot. Now I'm even more nervous about it!
I read Lorna Doone recently, which is well over 600 pages, and it was fun. My concentration has definitely been on the bad side lately, but maybe now I can work on improving it?
ReplyDeleteThis is what I am hoping happens. It seems to be better so far but I still find myself on the computer/phone too much.
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