While Summer in my world isn’t a relaxing season, I do still like to read a good book or two…
When I’m not farming or sleeping, of course 😉
Now, to be honest, I almost forgot about the Big Book Summer Reading Challenge! Thank goodness for all the lovely bloggers who have already posted their hopefuls and promised reads for the season!
Last year was my first year participating in this challenge and I went with one audio book and one physical book. While not incredibly exciting in comparison to some of the Big Book lists out there, it felt doable to me, and it was!
In light of that success, I’m taking the same approach this year with my top two 400+ page picks:
- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski – Paperback = 709 pages
- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones – Audio = ~15 hours
I’m hoping to read The Buffalo Hunter Hunter as a buddy read, so that’ll help encourage me.
However, House of Leaves has been sitting on my shelf for ~20 years. Truly. I’ve never gotten past the first few mind-bending pages, but am determined to get further with this try.
That being said, I am a mood reader, so I’ve come up with a couple of other options just in case I need a different vibe from two terrifying novels 😉
- Sweetbitter Song by Rosie Hewlett – 512 pages / ~18 hours
- Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness – 464 pages / ~17 hours
- Land by Maggie O’Farrell – 400 pages / ~17 hours
There may be others I throw in, but time will tell 🙂
Will you be joining Sue and the rest of us this summer with this no pressure challenge? I hope so! Regardless of participation, what’s on your Summer reading list?
Onward,
Melissa
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Like you, my summer reading is haphazard. No plans for big books. Just whatever catches my fancy and is available through our library’s
One of the best approaches, without a doubt 🙂
I’ve been terribly curious about House of Leaves for years. I do hope you will share your thoughts, even if you end up giving up on it.
I absolutely will, Deb!
Two good picks. I have been curious about the Buffalo Hunter.
I just finished The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and highly recommend it!
Good luck with your summer reading challenge, Melissa.
I decided to challenge myself to a summer reading adventure as well. Mine is to read the last 16 books in my to-be-read pile before September 1. I listed them off in one of our coffee shares, and plan to update my progress during coffee the first week of July. Do you have a prize for yourself? Mine is a book shopping spree (haha).
Wow! What a great challenge! I hope you are successful and can add a new TBR stack to your collection 🙂 I haven’t offered up a prize as a carrot, but it would probably help, especially if it involved more books!!!
Oh my – those are both hefty books! Good for you though. I have some lengthy books on my shelf that I haven’t gotten to yet…but not this summer. 🙂 Enjoy!
Welcome back to Big Book Summer, Melissa! So glad you enjoy it and decided to join the fun again. Sorry it took me so long to visit – I;m still trying to catch up after our vacation. I’m not familiar with House of Leaves, but oddly, I just heard the author’s name for the first time yesterday! A good friend of mine just finished Tom’s Crossing by Danielewski for Big Book Summer, and she loved it! I added it to my TBR list. And I’ve heard great things about Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Your other options all sound good, too. Feel free to leave other links on the list on the challenge page for updates or reviews. Enjoy your summer reading!
Sue
https://bookbybook.blogspot.com/p/big-book-summer-2026.html
Hi Sue! Thank you for popping over and for you enthusiasm over big books! I’ve already finished The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and it was phenomenal! I will definitely do a little write up and share it over 🙂 Thanks for hosting this fun challenge! Hope your Summer is a great one!