A Tale of Too Many Chunksters

Tuesday, November 18, 2014


The past two months, since getting back from our big trip, things have just been nuts. Our schedules haven’t seemed to slow down as we caught up at work, had a few out-of-town weekends, prepped for a huge work convention and got ready for the holidays. On top of that I made the mistake of starting a bunch of chunksters all at once.

Honestly, I wasn’t trying to. It was a combination of factors. I realized I really needed to start Don Quixote if I was going to finish it in time to complete the Back to the Classics Challenge (I don't think that's going to happen). I was way behind on starting the final book of the #Trollope2014 Barsetshire series, then I randomly picked up a couple of the others at the library. Anyway, it quickly spiraled and I found myself reading the following books either back-to-back or at the same time.

The Last Chronicle of Barset: 1,003 pages
Don Quixote: 992 pages 
An American Tragedy: 896 pages
The Interestings: 560 pages
The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly: 560 pages
The Last of the Mohicans: 432 pages
Brick Lane: 432 pages

Consequently I’m struggling to keep up reading momentum and my sanity. I just finished An American Tragedy, I’m done with The Interestings, and am nearing the end of Don Quixote. I’m still wading through the gigantic Last Chronicle of Barset and Mohicans and Brick Lane. I feel like I need to speed a couple weeks reading mysteries or YA or something really fun to balance things out again.

Do you guys ever find yourselves lost in a sea of chunksters by accident? Or if you’re reading a huge book, do you ever struggle to keep up the momentum?

7 comments:

Alex (The Sleepless Reader) said...

I really try not to! It helps that I don't use an ereader, so usually have the chunkster at home and a smaller book in the bag. Audiobooks also help getting quick-wins while going through the bigger books.

Lisa said...

I usually only read one book at a time. But I've definitely lost momentum & motivation in the middle of chunksters, most recently with Thackeray's Pendennis. I really needed to read something shorter & sweeter after giving up on that (and I won't be going back to it).

JoAnn said...

I try really hard to read only one or two books at a time (although sometimes it doesn't work). When I'm struggling or trying to keep up momentum with chunksters, audiobooks definitely help. Good luck, Melissa!

Cleo said...

Oh my, Melissa, I so sympathize! I have two courses where I'm reading through 6 of Shakespeare's plays, and Dante's Inferno and Vita Nuova three times each! Add to that my Morte d'Arthur read along,Trollope, and other various and sundry commitments and my sanity is in question as well. I keep telling myself that it will get better. Just don't add any more books!

Brona said...

I do it all the time Melissa!
I'm just hitting the overwhelmed phase 3/4 of the way through AusReading Month & non-fic Nov. I've turned to some junior fiction this week for a change of pace.

I like everyone else's suggestion about audio books - maybe that will help me finish (or get moving again!) with the Brothers K.

Good luck finding a better balance.

thecuecard said...

I try not to read chunksters back to back. Too much! I'd be interested to hear what you thought of The Interestings. Cheers. http://www.thecuecard.com

Melissa (Avid Reader) said...

Alex - Audiobooks are essential with chunksters. A few of these are on my kindle, so I didn't realize quite what I had gotten myself into.

Lisa - I love reading multiple books at a time, but I try to keep them on different topics and not all massive books at once.

JoAnn - A couple of these are ones I'm currently reading on audio, it definitely helps!

Cleopatra - Oh my goodness, you're right there with me! It's so easy for it to get out of control quickly.

Brona - Thanks! I completely agree about audiobooks. They really help me kick slumps some times.

thecuecard - I usually avoid it too, boy did I screw up!