Reading the Chunksters discussion

We are nearly done with one of the longest and the most challenging journeys in our group (and some of us - cough cough are still on pp. 597) and way behind, but the time is implacable, and we will have to move on.

We originally plan to have a classical Russian read, but because a certain War and Peace won the Superchunkster nomination, and it is a classical novel, and a Russian novel (weird things happen:-)), we will be now nominating our next MODERN chunkster.

My idea of the themed read is to read something off the beaten track and read something that does not usually feature in the first 20-30 chunkster books in the must-read list. I am talking about some good, but usually underappreciated books because they were usually translated into English, and as a result even if they earned recognition in Europe or in Latin America, they had hard time coming to the American market.

I am talking about books like In the Night of Time or The Wall: A Novel or Traveler of the Century. All the above won international awards, but ... could not make the cut and were ignored by the media hoopla.

It does not mean that these books are bad; it only means that they received less attention than their counterparts or peers.

I know this is not the easy nomination, and I am not asking you to name the shady books of unknown origin, but it would be nice to read a good book whose name has not been overused by publishing media.

There is an extensive Australian market, a European market, and even an Indian market; so hopefully, if we dig deep, we will find books that have won several awards, but were not milking cows for Amazon, Barnes and Nobles/Nook, or other major book sellers.

I am nominating The Quincunx. I looove neo-Victorian fiction with modern twists :-)

Hi, I don't have any names as you have proposed, I'll vote when the time comes.

I'm puzzled as to why I don't get PM to inform me when to vote? What has changed?

I will PM you when it is time to vote. Maybe, you just missed one. Sometimes I get several PM messages a day and then I get confused. I am not saying that you got confused. far from it. I am just saying sometimes it is easy to miss the notification.

Zulfiya wrote: "some of us - cough cough are still on pp. 597"

haha, Zulfiya I am in a similar situation here, I'm around pp. 620 :)

For this theme, do you think Mo Yan's Life and Death are Wearing Me Out would fit? If so I think I would like to nominate that. It's easily available in audiobook which will prevent me from falling behind :)

I would like to nominate Seven Types of Ambiguityby Australian author Elliot Perlman. It looks absolutely amazing and wonderfully complex.

I'd like to nominate Adam Buenosayres: A Critical Edition by Leopoldo Marechal.

I want to nominate The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo, if it fits. Everyone knows Hugo, but this novel seems to be underrepresented.

All the nominations are so .... yum :-) Excuse my slang.

Sarah and Paula, your nominations both sound so good! I have never heard of those before!

Zulfiya wrote: "I am nominating The Quincunx. I looove neo-Victorian fiction with modern twists :-)"

I own this book and would love to read it with a group.

I have no nominations for this theme, but the nominations so far look great. It'll be fun just researching each of these books (none of which I've heard of) in order to cast my vote.

Would Tale of Genji or Pulitzer Winner Roots be good nominees?

Because we are already reading one classical novel - War and Peace - I would rather we focused on more modern stuff, like Roots: The Saga of an American Family, but the theme itself does not exclude classic novels. So make your choice, Biblio. There is only one nomination per person.

What about Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie...Wouldn't you consider it underrated compared to The Satanic Verses? I'd like a little magic and whimsy after reading "Infinite Jest." :)

Good nomination, Ami.

Ami wrote: "What about Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie...Wouldn't you consider it underrated compared to The Satanic Verses? I'd like a little magic and whimsy af..."

I'd love to read that book Ami but I don't think you can call it undervalued. It's true that it didn't win Salman Rushdie another fatwa (I'm sure he wasn't too upset) but the book itself not only won the Booker prize it won the Best of the Bookers which is an extraordinary honour!

I've got a few books I'd like to read but I'm not sure if they would be considered undervalued or not. I've not kept up with what's current in the reading world for so long I have no idea what is really well known and what is quite well known amoung certain people (ie those who are reading the 1001 books...).

Middlesex has won a lot of awards but it was a while ago and the subject is a little uncommon. Would this be a suitable nomination?

(I wanted to nominate Tipping the Velvet but it wasn't long enough ;-))

Nicola wrote: "Middlesex has won a lot of awards but it was a while ago and the subject is a little uncommon. Would this be a suitable nomination?"

I think Middlesex is pretty well-known and has been widely read, at least from my point of view. It seemed like for awhile, everywhere I looked I saw that book pop up. Not that I don't want to read it (I have a copy I picked up at a second-hand bookstore when I came across it and have yet to read it), but I'm just not sure it suits the definition of this round of nominations.

But I don't know, maybe others have a different opinion of this book?

I have to agree, Middlesex and Midnight's Children both seem pretty mainstream to me...Midnight's Children has actually been adapted into a movie.

I'd like to nominate Where Tigers Are at Home
It won the Prix Medicis and was also shortlisted for some other European awards. It is translated from French.

Someone who is not well known in the US is Robertson Davies. Can I nominate The Salterton Trilogy.......the novels were published separately, but are now published as one work.

I nominate The Recognitions.

I've seen people reading Middlesex often but I've never seen anyone reading Midnight's Children? One of the definitions of this nom was a book that had won prizes but isn't in mainstream reading. I would think Midnight's Children fit that definition.

There are some fantastic books in here! It will not be easy to choose.

Amanda and Sera, your books went straight to my to-read. :)

I'm nowhere close to finishing Infinite Jest (p.185,) but may I nominate another DFW? The Broom of the System, for instance?

How about City Sister Silver? I am trying to branch out to some nationalities I have never read before, and this book is about the turmoil in surrounding the Czech independence. It won best Czech book of the year when it was published, but I've never heard of it! Also a modern chunkster and seems challenging, so I'd love a group setting.

I'm nominating The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek once again.

I think I will be have to be bossy here. I hate being mean, but still somethings are unavoidable. Please understand me and reconsider your choices.

Nicola, I think Middlesex is way too mainstream for this themed read. Even the Wikipedia article calls it a bestseller. Would you like to reconsider your nomination? You were going to nominate Tipping the Velvet, but it is too short for our group. How about other gender-bender hidden gems?

I will still accept Midnight's Children. I know the name, but it is definitely not as widely known as Middlesex or Satanic Verses.

Andrea, I also would like you to nominate something more obscure. Although there are few reviews on Goodreads.com, the book is considered a classic, and I have been familiar with the name of book for more than two decades :-)

Please, friends, do not get offended, and try to nominate something really good but still quite off the beaten track. Unfortunately, let me draw the line with your nominations; otherwise, the discussion what is valid and what is not might last for ever. Do not take it too personally. Only moderator's business, nothing personal.

I don't know whether this is obscure enough, Z, and if not it's fine if you drop it off and I won't take it personally (though I may pout, or even cry a little!), but how about Santmyer's And Ladies of the Club? Granted, it was a bestseller when it first came out in 1982, and it does have a bunch of Goodreads reviews with an average rating of 4.10, but I think it has mostly fallen into obscurity over the past thirty years or so (as exemplified perhaps by the fact that it is apparently out of print, though there are plenty of used copies available).* And it certainly qualifies as a chunkster, being over 1,100 pages long.

It was recommended to me, and I got a copy (even then had to be second hand), but have never gotten around to reading it. Getting it chosen here would get from the far shelf to the current reading shelf.

*Isn't a book still being in print a basis for making an argument that maybe it isn't really all that obscure? Maybe at some point in future we should have a period where we nominate only books which are out of print but have enough copies available on the used book market or as e-books for everybody to get a copy? [g]

Everyman, I love your nomination.

Why can't we have a readathlon? :-(

There are some fantastic nominations this is going to be a tough vote!

Dustin wrote: "I'm nowhere close to finishing Infinite Jest (p.185,) but may I nominate another DFW? The Broom of the System, for instance?"

Dustin, unfortunately Broom of the System is not a chunkster. It sounds really good though.

Amanda wrote: "There are some fantastic nominations this is going to be a tough vote!"

I know. Everytime something comes up for nomination it increases my TBR exponentially.

Dustin wrote: "I'm nowhere close to finishing Infinite Jest (p.185,) but may I nominate another DFW? The Broom of the System, for instance?"

This may be helpful to you Dustin, in case you were left in a lurch..

Chunkster Guidelines
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....

John wrote: "Dustin wrote: "I'm nowhere close to finishing Infinite Jest (p.185,) but may I nominate another DFW? The Broom of the System, for instance?"

Dustin, unfortunately Broom of the System i..."

There is a non-large print paperback copy that has over 500 pages. I thought that as long as one edition was over 500, it could count as chunkster.

Yeah, it looks like the Mass Market Paperback is over 500.

There is a room for a wiggle. Any edition with 500 +1 pp; the only exception is large print.

OK! I did not see the paperback; the other edition is only 467 pp., I did not realize there would be so much difference :)

I did check for Tipping the Velvet too, but it was only foreign language editions that broke 500. Consistently.

John, these were the rules set by the previous team of moderators, and let us be honest, we have to draw the line somewhere, and a book of 500pp. seems to be a fair choice.

Zulfiya wrote: "I am nominating The Quincunx. I looove neo-Victorian fiction with modern twists :-)"

Quincunx is magnificient!! And damn difficult...

This is going to be interesting - so many good nominations! But it's going to be a long list to choose from...

What a nice "problem" to have :).

At least my fellow members gave me the idea for the next themed read - A Chunkster in Translation.

Like the chunksters in translation theme. Great idea!

John wrote: "Dustin wrote: "I'm nowhere close to finishing Infinite Jest (p.185,) but may I nominate another DFW? The Broom of the System, for instance?"

Dustin, unfortunately Broom of the System i..."

All right, thank you, John. I want to read all of his work. Hoping to read more once I'm finished with IJ.

Ami wrote: "Dustin wrote: "I'm nowhere close to finishing Infinite Jest (p.185,) but may I nominate another DFW? The Broom of the System, for instance?"

This may be helpful to you Dustin, in case ..."

Thank you, Ami! This is most helpful.:)

Does Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset fit the criterion? If so, I want to nominate it.

Sandra wrote: "Does Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset fit the criterion? If so, I want to nominate it."

I'm not one to say if it fits this nomination theme or not, but when this book finally does win one of these days, Sandra, I'll be reading it with you! It was your nomination of it early last year sometime that brought this book to my attention. :)

I keep nominating it and it never wins, lol.