You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Slick's Slugs (1-6 books)


✔ 1a. Jane Eyre (332 pages) Started 1/1/14 Finished 24/1/14
1b. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: The Hidden World of a Paris Atelier (356 pages)
connection Both authors and main characters learnt French and learnt to play the piano

2. The Luminaries (849 pages) Started 27/1/14
connection Piano shop... is about pianos, and the people who hear (and play) thei music; The Luminaries' dedication is "for Pop, who sees the stars and Jude, who hears their music"

Reserved for Mickey Mouse's Marchers (7-12 books)

Reserved for Roadrunner's Racers (13-18 books)
Over-optimistic!

Reserved for Tasmanian Devil's Trouncers (19-24 books)
Never gonna happen!

Buzz Lightyear's Bombers (25 to infinity and beyond...)
!

I'm pretty sure my list will change several times over before we reach January, but I wasn't going to get anything done today unless I got *something* up to begin with!

LOL! Well you have made a good start, Rachel.

So, plan B. I'd originally lobbed all of the big books I'd been putting off reading into the Slick's Slugs slot, but, realistically, I doubt I'd get through all of them one after the other. So the new plan is to read at least 2 genuine chunksters in each milestone, and come up with inventive links for everything else I'm reading as I go... Hopefully I'll still get through those 6 through the course of the year, but I might actually read some other stuff as well!

I think that's a great strategy, Rachel!

I think this is going to be my plan too, Rachel.
I don't think I can read doorstops back to back. I have all that I currently own of catalogued by title, author, and pages. I have been trolling the posts to see the creative ways others have been linking their books. So much fun!

It is, isn't it? And I think the links are getting more inventive as we go - can't wait to see what people come up with when we go 'live'!

I like that strategy too, and I love your av photo. :)

Thanks, Laura! The photo was a very cold January evening on the estuary - no sign of the lovely sun & waves in your photo! I'm hoping I'll be able to trick myself into reading 3 chunksters per milestone, but we'll see :-)

Well, I've started Jane Eyre, and I'm absolutely loving it. Despite the fact that I really should know better, I'm still put off by reading the classics, and expect them all to be grim and heavy going. I certainly expected this to be a lot bleaker than it is so far - there's a charm and a warmth to many of the characters, and I look forward to getting back to it.

On the downside, I was happily congratulating myself on not shying away from Chunksters, and doing this challenge 'properly' - the hardback editions I'd seen were 600 and odd pages - and then I noticed page numbers on my kindle. 332 of them! Really annoying! Hmmpf! (moral of story - read the rules and the page numbers...)

I'm still counting it as a chunkster in my head, even if I'm going to need a top-up for the challenge, and it would have been considerably more gutting if I'd not been enjoying it. It also gives me an excuse to go back and re-read The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier which I didn't finish first time round, but was a beautiful read.

Glad you're loving Jane Eyre, Rachel. :)

I had a great time with Jane Eyre and Rebecca a couple of months back, doing a character study of the two books - not just the main characters. The great thing about classics is that there is always a movie version out there waiting to be discovered and watched. It gives some interesting insights into the characters and can provide some distraction, in some cases. I discovered at least six versions of Jane Eyre and three or four of Rebecca.

I also found that the pages in the reader versions are not really representative at all. I almost always default to hard copies. I get a lot of PDF down loads and they don't have page #s in a lot of cases.

Thanks, Laura! Have you read it?

And hi Cherie. That sounds really interesting - I can't believe I've survived this long without watching any adaptation of Jane Eyre. I really should look some of them out (probably not til I've finished the book though). I imagine there'd be loads of interesting things to consider, looking at the characters in this and Rebecca.

If you're a Du Maurier fan (and have a few million pounds to spare), Jamaica Inn went on the market just a couple of days ago. http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/J... . Now there's something else to add to my TBR...

ha ha ha, guess I'll have to pass on the stuffed kitties!

I AM looking forward to the book when it comes up in my list to read though. :p

I finished Jane Eyre when I landed up in hospital last week. Already planning a re-read, in more comfortable circumstances! Loved the book overall, though.

I've now started The Luminaries . This is something I wouldn't have attempted without seeing how positive folks in this group were about the book. I'm quite enjoying taking my time over this one, and love the atmosphere. Ties in very well with the endless rain and storms we're having here at the moment. Reading it on the kindle, and I'm not yet sure if I'm missing something by not flicking back to the charts at the start.

Hope all is better with you now, Rachel!

Oh sounds like the perfect mood for The Luminaries. For the record, I spent 3.5 weeks in the south island of NZ a few years ago, and it rained one day. Apparently this is incredibly strange, but I do not buy it is as rainy as they make it out to be.