Blogging from A-Z

I like big books and I cannot lie.  After spending some time looking though my 1,000+ books on Goodreads, I found the Top 10 Biggest Books I’ve Ever Read.  There are two series that I just counted as onebook and gave the total pages and I used the hardcover as the page count for all.

1. The Harry Potter series clocks in at 4,012 pages for 7 books.  That averages about 543 pages a book, although the last four were 734, 870, 652, 759 pages.  Those were long and yet I never wanted them to be over.

2. The first four books of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon have 3,399 pages, with 896,743, 870, 880 each.  Love them and will one day continue with the series.

3. War & Peace by Tolstoy (1,421 pages) is one I never would have gotten though on my own, but luckily a blogger buddy of mine read it with me and we cross posted about it.  Made it a lot easier!

4. It by Stephen King (1,153 pages) was a chunkster that I read in a blogging read-along so that kept me on track.

5. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (973 pages) was recommended by a friend and took me a month and a half to finish.

6. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts (944 pages) was an epic story set mostly in India.

7. The Passage by Justin Cronin (766 pages) was a little out of my wheelhouse, but an intriguing dystopian story.

8. Roots by Alex Haley (688 pages) was so good except toward the end where it got a bit boring.

9. Into the Wilderness by Sarah Donati (691 pages) was a beautiful historical romance.

10. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (609 pages)  is a timeless classic that I’m glad to have read.

So, what are some of your favorite chunksters?

EDIT!

Oops!  As I’m researching another list I see that I missed The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer which clocks in at 1,056 pages.  It’s really  #5.

It’s April and time for another A-Z Challenge!

My list of some of my favorite characters in the autism spectrum.

1. Brick Heck (played by Atticus Shaffer) from the TV show The Middle.  He is by far my favorite because there are some of his quirks that I see in my own son.  He has never been diagnosed on the show, but he does have the social and communication difficulties along with social group therapy and tics that speak for so many kids on the higher functioning end of the spectrum.
2. Max Braverman (played by Max Burkholder) from the long running series Parenthood was a more straightforward representation of someone who has Asperger’s.  You see his struggle and what his family goes through to help him.  Representation matters and he was a game changer.  plus I just love the show as a whole. I’m sure it’s streaming somewhere.
3. Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler (played by Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik) from the Big Bang Theory clearly fall on the spectrum somewhere although it’s never really been addressed.  I know some think it’s making fun instead of lifting up, but I’m not one of them.  They are all a hot mess on that show and I love it.
4. Shawn Murphy (played by Freddie Highmore) on The Good Doctor is my last TV show on the list, but an important one.  Again, representation matters, and I like this show.  I don’t know how accurate it is, but I don’t know how true-to-life any of the hospital shows are.  His portrayal paints autism in a positive light and I appreciate that.
5. Arnie (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) from What’s Eating Gilbert Grape falls on the other end of the spectrum as someone who needs constant intervention.   The strain on his family doesn’t pull any punches.  I fell in love with this movie over a decade before my firsthand experience and still think this is a good representation of what autism can do to a family.
6. Raymond (played by Dustin Hoffman) from Rain Man is probably most people’s exposure to autism on the big screen and a heartfelt movie that I loved.
7. Oskar Schell (played by Thomas Horn) from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  When I read the book I loved that his dad liked to play to Oskar’s strengths. This is  what happens when there are deficits elsewhere..
8. Christian Wolff (played by Ben Affleck) from The Accountant.  Why is a hitman on my list? It was an interesting portrayal about a character that checked a lot of boxes for someone on the spectrum.
9. Todd Aaron from the book Best Boy by Eli Gottlieb is a great book showing what autism might look like in adulthood. So often we read or hear about kids, but this is about a 50 year old living in a supported community.
10. William Ashe from Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson.  I liked this depiction of a strong Aspie character.

Am I missing a favorite of yours?

Blogging from A-Z

Today Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon started here in Cleveland at 8am.  I’m starting to feel a little tired.  It could be that for many hours now I’ve been listening to audio books and reconstructing my yearly Mt. TBR.  I have just completed it but I don’t have a final book count yet.  Want to see how many books I own that I haven’t read yet?

Now, I’ll take a little break before I take that thing down and resort the books as I put them away. Every year I sort them differently so we’ll see what makes sense to me tonight 🙂  I’ve only got 7 1/2 hours to go!  I’m listening to The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin right now and it’s interesting so far.  Is a four year old a little nuts or could it be reincarnation?

Blogging from A-Z

Why? That’s often a question asked if you tell someone that you will be participating in a 24 hour read-a-thon.  It’s a valid question. It was one of the first big book blogging events I participated in during my second year at Stacy’s Books.  I fell in love with the camaraderie and the fun of interacting with so many readers around the world.  Every hour there’s a host and a mini-challenge (I’ve hosted several and will be hosting one this Sunday morning at 4 am :)) and always cheerleaders stopping by to cheer you on.  You may even win prizes!  It’s such a fun day.

And, let’s be honest, I love reading challenges because it gives me a great excuse to do what I love.

This will be my 7th Read-a-Thon in 8 years.  The first 2 years I made it the whole 24 hours.  Yay me!  Then I went 20, 21.5, 21, and last year, 23.  I’m still amazed I didn’t have enough juice to finish that last hour.  My goal is always to make it the whole 24, but you never know what the day will bring.

Last year I combined the Read-a-Thon with my yearly reconstructing of Mt. TBR (to be read) and it worked beautifully.  I listened to audio books as I rebuilt this.  I have given so many books away this year that I am confident that number will be closer to 700 than 800 this year.

So, anyway, have I convinced you to join in yet?  Read these warm up posts and join in the fun!  Dewey’s 24 Hour Read-a-Thon

Wanna know what I’m reading first?  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.