4 Big Books I'm Reading This Year

With 6 months to go in 2024, here are 4 big novels I plan to read throughout the rest of the year. I like to center my reading around one larger work while concurrently working my way through shorter books.

What's a giant, doorstopper you're reading or have read lately? Comment below!

Timecodes
0:00 - Intro
0:20 - Big Vs. Short Books
1:48 - Book #1
5:02 - My Reading Strategy/Schedule
5:40 - Book #2
7:27 - Book #3
8:46 - Book #4
10:47 - Wrap Up

#bookhaul #literature

[jackwalter]

A journalist interviewed William Faulkner, who said Don Quixote was his favorite novel. "Isn't it too long?" the journalist asked. Faulkner replied, "I hadn't noticed." All four of your books are great. I love big books!

[vmanias]

2666 is a true masterpiece! You ll definately love it!

[DuaneJasper]

Good luck. For me, this year I have read Shantaram, Caledonian Road, and am finishing Bleak House. I also plan to finish Against The Day

[ToReadersItMayConcern]

Fantastic selection. You're set for a great reading year! (Pynchon is a bit tough if you started out reading David Foster Wallace, since Wallace took some of Pynchon's aims and, in my view, elevated them through beauty, honesty, and a softer wit, but so many love Pynchon—I know I have to go back and give him more of a chance; I'm glad you're doing so.)

[suzannebousquet]

I recently read Moby Dick and am on Part Two of Don Quixote. I would highly recommend both. In the winter, I am planning on reading Anna Karenina.

[gamingsfinest]

I don't read a lot of big books. I generally have the view that shorter books illustrate an author's ability to effectively condense a story and their ideas more efficiently, I subjectively integrate shorter length as a marker of quality. Ultimately I think this is borne out of my primary genre of choice being science fiction where the sweet spot is 200-400 pages. Given the subject of this video and many of the comments I've read through, this will probably be a pretty scorching take in this comment section (seriously though, no shade intended for long books and long book lovers <3).

Nonetheless, I did just finish Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons, coming in at right around 800 pages. I also plan on picking up Dhalgren by Samuel Delany in the very near future, also ~800 pages. I will definitely be starting the Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio as the series is nearing completion, all of the main series novels are chunkers. I've bounced off Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco three times over the years, but I really want this year to be the one where I finally read it cover-to-cover. Finally, I do have 2666 near the top of my shopping list, but it remains to be seen if I actually get around to this book amongst all of my other listed big books and the many unlisted short books that are in the works for this year.

Edit: So I have returned with a small addendum as a new large book has joined the list and overtaken all of the others to become my current read. Per the recommendation of a friend I have picked up and begun reading Chesapeake by James Michener. This is a massive tome of sprawling historical fiction covering hundreds of years within the region from which I hail: the Chesapeake Bay (and more specifically the Eastern Shore, although I myself am a mainlander).

[jbriaz]

I read War and Peace last year, and I am reading Anna Karenina right now (90% done). War and Peace is the far superior work in my opinion. But Anna has plenty to work with, and it’s definitely easier to follow the cast of characters.

[judgementkazzy]

No way 💀 I finished Anna Karenina audiobook last Feb, bought Gravity's Rainbow on audible (haven't started yet), and literally started 2666 last month because it became free with a Kindle plus subscription. I haven't heard of The Corrections but I guess it's on my reading list now.

Anna Karenina I'd say is the easiest and most interesting among the three. 2666, which current I'm only halfway through on its first part, isn't 'hard' as say Gravity's Rainbow, it's hard akin to Infinite Jest as in the highs are very high and lows are so uninteresting and boring that I find it hard to get through (so far). Since both Anna Karenina and 2666 are translated, it's technically 'easier', but GR is just a beast.

[jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

200 to 350 words is my comfort zone for reading, in March I will try a mammoth. This year I read The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili which weighed in at over 1200 pages, a generational drama spanning the 20th century in Soviet Georgia, which was an incredible story. The previous March (2023) I tried Crytonomicon by Neal Stephenson and had to throw in the towel. Good luck with your big books.

[Amy-vryt]

It’s really worth not rushing gravity’s rainbow- I recommended the course hero study guide so you can get the most out of it

[Ricky-esvg]

My uncle is a huge reader and he recently recommended 2666 to me, he read it in the original. Mysterious one, a very intriguing book to me. Great selections!

[RJRobertson-fdxy]

Once again, nice job. I just finished The Iliad and Odyssey and will segue into Ulysses (gotta keep up with that Greek mythology vein at least in title) I, like you, like to mix it up with larger works interspersed with short stories and readings (Checkov, Kafka...Twain.) However, since my focus this year is primarily on foundation building, I am sticking with Greek works: the Tragadians (Aesculys, Sophocles, Euripides, etc.), early Greek philosophy particularly the pre-Socratics (Thales, Pythagoras, etc.), history (Heroditus, Plutarch, and Thucydides, yes some romans, but...) and the early Greek mathematicians. Well, you asked for it...

[johnradovich]

Magic Mountain is far and away my favorite. Be sure to get to it eventually.

[curtjarrell]

Another novel which touched on themes included in The Corrections is the second novel by Joseph Heller, author of Catch-22. The book is Something Happened, and it's fascinating.

[aleksandrshapovalenko]

"Anna Karenina" is a great choice! Good luck! I've read that it's actually the best Tolstoy's novel, not "War and Peace".

[ΧρήστοςΤοξιάδης]

What a great video. I have been watching your videos from the very start and i want to say that they are getting better and better. I have only found two other channels about literature with this kind of content quality and depth (also you have very good production quality). I am saying that because i can not underestand why you do not have 50K+.

Anyway, i am a slow reader and generally preferred reading shorter novels - to be honest i have not read any big book. Now i am reading the hunchback of Notre Dame by Hugo so i can tell you about my experience. Reading a big book requires a reading habbit in order for someone to be interested in the book. Reading books have not been a part of my routine, i would read a novel in a week for example and for the next month i wouldn't read anything. Also this specific book is very slow in the start and also Hugo often stops the main narrative and talks about all kind of stuff (which is very insteresting) making it slower. I am reading it in english (which is not my mother tongue) and that makes the reading even slower.

However i can say that the book is really amazing! I mean it really has very very different form compared to shorter classic novels or novellas. He takes his time building something much bigger in temrs of the setting, the characters, the themes. It's very grand. I mean it is not like reading a novel it's more like discovering a new world! It's like Hugo is not writing a novel but creating a whole world - if that makes sense. I am not so much into travelling but reading this book makes me want to go to Paris to see Notre Dame! His prose is beautiful, i am definitely want to read Les Miserables next.

I want to read Anna Karenina as a big book next year so i am looking foreward to your review, once you finish it.

[DarkRuins]

anna karenina is such a crucial story. anna has borderline personality disorder, and witnessing her decline, paranoia, and delusions in contrast to her husband and the affair she has is just... an absolute masterpiece. the climax of her death, her last thought, is a lesson to anyone that spirals down her same path. i personally prefer war and peace but anna karenina is just... so vital in the study and healing of mental illness.

[kurtgroner]

i'm glad i found your channel. inspires me to start reading again fiction!

[roawr]

I really wish that one of your big books this year would be JR by W. Gaddis

[crimsonwhispersva]

The big book series I am reading right now is the wondering Inn by Pirate and I am doing them by audiobook and the audiobooks are really good.