Big Book Summer Challenge

I first saw a post about this challenge on Readerbuzz, hosted by Sue Jackson on Book by Book. Below the details, but head back to Sue's website for more goodies on this challenge.

The Details:

Hey, it's summer, so we'll keep this low-key and easy!

• Anything 400 pages or more qualifies as a big book.

• The challenge runs from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend (May 23 this year) through Labor Day (September 1 this year).

• Choose one or two or however many big books you want as your goal. Wait, did you get that? You only need to read 1 book with 400+ pages this summer to participate! (though you are welcome to read more, if you want).

• No sign-ups are necessary! All readers are welcome to participate.

• If you are a blogger or YouTuber and want to share your Big Book Summer plans, book reviews, or wrap-ups, you can add your link(s) to the links list below so others can find you. If you post a YouTube video for Big Book Summer, please tag Melinda and I.

• Join the 2025 Big Book Summer Goodreads group to enjoy Big Book discussions all summer long! We always have a lively group with lots of fun book chat. Or if you prefer, join the Big Book Summer Storygraph group.

• For chatting on other social media platforms, use #BigBookSummer

My participation

I also join this challenge since I noticed that nine out of my 20 books of summer are books over 400 pages! However, did I choose so badly? Well, now the list is there (20 Books of Summer) although I did make one change. A Thousand Miles Up the Nile by Amelia B. Edwards I bought while living in Egypt. I never got around to read it, but it should be interesting. Amelia writes about the trip she did at the end of the 19th century. Should be very interesting. However, since I am going to Egypt over Christmas and New Year, and will go up the Nile, I thought it would be more useful to read the book in connection to the trip. I therefore changed this book into Carlos Ruiz Zafón's Marina (and it is not over 400 pages long, I did learn something).

My list of books

I chose the now eight books from my summer read with more than 400 pages. They are:

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (615 pages)

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (562 pages)

The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Galbadon (507 pages)

Facing the Light by Adèle Geras (403 pages)

Tychonium - Experimentet by Jan Johannesson (448 pages)

Now Face to Face by Karleen Koen (586 pages)

Shakespeare and the Countess by Chris Laoutaris (416 pages)

Blondie by Joyce Carol Oates (862 pages)