I like big books and I cannot lie!
Hi, and welcome to my Doorstoppers in December sign up post. The brainchild of Laura who blogs at drlauratisdall.wordpress.com, Doorstoppers in December is intended to celebrate the big book when the publishing industry is trending towards shorter reads.
Like Laura, I sometimes want a big, chunky novel to fully immerse myself in and I like to tackle these books in December. Last year, I read the absolutely superb Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I think that by the time it gets towards the end of the year, I’m less concerned with hitting some arbitrary target of reading x books, and I become a little blasé about my overall TBR, focussing less on the number of books I’ve purchased but am yet to read. It becomes a problem for future Jo to worry about come January when she has to start thinking about clearing her backlist again.
You can see Laura’s views on what will count towards this initiative here, but my thoughts are as follows:
What is a doorstopper? For me, it’s anything over 500 pages.
How many doorstoppers do you have to read? A minimum of one! I’ve put my current qualifying reads below. I’m not going to get through all of them, but one shouldn’t pose too much of a challenge. I’m considering alternating between shorter and longer reads throughout December which might let me get to three or four of them.
When will it happen? Starting on 1 December, I’ll probably wrap up in the New Year as I like to step away from the blog over the festive period.
What qualifies? Anything goes! Mine are all fiction, with some bias towards fantasy, science fiction, and horror.
Is there a hashtag? #DoorstoppersInDecember
Can I sign up? Yes – see Laura’s post for the sign-up details (link above).
So, what might I read?
- King Sorrow by Joe Hill (896)
- Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff (778)
- The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson (656)
- Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros (648)
- Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz (579)
- Artifact Space by Miles Cameron (576)
- The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (564)
- Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (560)
- Look at Me by Jennifer Egan (529)
Jo's Book Blog 
Good luck, Jo! x
Thanks, Nicki! 💪
Thanks so much for joining in, Jo! I LOVED The Raven Scholar and I’ve heard great things about King Sorrow, which might go on my own list. I read Look At Me so long ago that I now can’t remember it, but enjoyed it at the time.
Really looking forward to it! And there is a LOT of love for The Raven Scholar – I think I’m going to have to start with that one now!
Oh, I didn’t know this was a thing! If I wasn’t so behind on my Goodreads goal, I’d totally join in.
Good luck and I hope you love The Raven Scholar as much as I did.
It’s a new thing, and I can’t quite remember when I first came across it, but I’m really excited about it. Not least because I only have to read one doorstopper to succeed, and that’s completely doable! x
Currently reading The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai- it will take me at least a week!!
Ooooh yes, that’s a real doorstopper. Hope you’re enjoying it x
Excellent pile! I’ve read Look at Me and don’t remember it being over 500 pages so it must have zipped along nicely!
Good to know! I had to check if it was just a difference between the print and eBook length (they sometimes vary significantly!) but no – both show a page count just shy of 530!
Happy reading, Jo!
(PS Start with The Raven Scholar!)
Thank you, Kelly, and I think I might have to given how much love there is for that one! 😂
Great, our extremely subtle peer pressure is paying off 😂 I hope you love it as much as we did!
Good luck!
Thank you!