Today's Topic:
What is the thickest book on your bookshelf?
Oh this is a sore subject for me. I applaud anyone who has read this, but the biggest book on my shelf is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. It is 1,088 pages long and took me two months to get through, not because of its length but because of its content.
I was disappointed and upset that I wasted so much time on this book, but back then I took pride in finishing every book I started. The reason this book landed on my shelf was also the only reason I trudged through till the end. My father-in-law gifted this to me one year on my birthday with a personalized note that I was his favorite daughter-in-law (I’m his only one) because he enjoyed reading as well and had me believing he had read this book. After asking me every week for updates, I finally was able to go to him to announce I had finished this monstrosity. That was when he decided to admit that I was better than he since he had never been able to finish it…
Leslie Conzatti www.upstreamwriter.blogspot.com
The thickest book on my shelf would probably be Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix by J. K. Rowling. It’s actually the only Harry Potter book I own, because I happened to find it randomly at a combination thrift store/antique mall for only $3! Out of all of them, I think this one was my absolute favorite, because it reveals so much about Harry’s past, and in particular we discover how well his parents were loved, and how they survived basically because of the network of friends they had, while Harry had to go so long without any friends at all, so having this built-in support system who love him because of who his parents were, as much as most of the people in his life (for most of his life) hated him because of what his parents were, was an awesome turn, and it gives Harry the foundation he needs and sets him up for the difficult challenges he faces for the rest of the series. The Marauders, Dumbledore’s Army, the Order, getting the best of Umbridge… It’s a wonderful tale! Also the cover is blue, and I identify with the Ravenclaw House.
The thickest book on my shelf is probably One Door Away From Heaven by Dean Koontz. It’s 760 pages long. It is also one of my favourite books by Koontz though and definitely worth it.
About the book:
In a dusty trailer park on the far edge of the California dream, Michelina Bellsong contemplates the choices she has made. At twenty-eight, she wants to change the direction of her troubled life but can’t find her way—until a new family settles into the rental trailer next door and she meets the young girl who will lead her on a remarkable quest that will change Micky herself and everything she knows—or thinks she knows—forever.
Despite the brace she must wear on her deformed left leg, and her withered left hand, nine-year-old Leilani Klonk radiates a buoyant and indomitable spirit that inspires Micky. Beneath Leilani’s effervescence, however, Micky comes to sense a quiet desperation that the girl dares not express.
Leilani’s mother is little more than a child herself. And the girl’s stepfather, Preston Maddoc, is educated but threatening. He has moved the family from place to place as he fanatically investigates UFO sightings, striving to make contact, claiming to have had a vision that by Leilani’s tenth birthday aliens will either heal her or take her away to a better life on their world.
Slowly, ever more troubling details emerge in Leilani’s conversations with Micky. Most chilling is Micky’s discovery that Leilani had an older brother, also disabled, who vanished after Maddoc took him into the woods one night and is now “gone to the stars.”
Leilani’s tenth birthday is approaching. Micky is convinced the girl will be dead by that day. While the child-protection bureaucracy gives Micky the runaround, the Maddoc family slips away into the night. Micky sets out across America to track and find them, alone and afraid but for the first time living for something bigger than herself.
She finds herself pitted against an adversary, Preston Maddoc, as fearsome as he is cunning. The passion and disregard for danger with which Micky pursues her quest bring to her side a burned-out detective who joins her on a journey of incredible peril and startling discoveries, a journey through terrible darkness to unexpected light.
One Door Away From Heaven is an incandescent mix of suspense and humor, fear and wonder, a story of redemption and timeless wisdom that will have readers cheering. Filled with tragedy and joy, with terror and hope, it solidifies Dean Koontz’s reputation as one of the foremost storytellers of our time. This is Dean Koontz at his very best—and it doesn’t get any better than that.
Rachael Beardsley https://variancefiction.wordpress.com/
One of my favorite books growing up was Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke! I read it for the first time in grade school and immediately fell in love with the characters, especially Twigleg, a brave little homunculus who defects from his evil master and helps the good guys! His friendship with the main character was ridiculously sweet, and it stuck in my mind for so long that I bought my own copy while I was in high school. I still leaf through it from time to time.
Casia Scheryer www.casiaschreyer.wordpress.com
My shelf is full of thick books. I have all these 1980s and 1990s hardcover editions of Stephen King novels I inherited from my mother. The Talisman and the seventh book in the Dark Tower series might be the biggest of his. I have one of those compendium editions of R.A. Salvitore’s - 5 novels in one giant edition. A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin is pretty big, so are Ken Follet’s books which are right next to it. I also have some pretty big books from university, The History of the Jewish People and The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism are the largest ones I have left. BUT the biggest by far is The Dictionary of Mythology by J.A. Coleman. It’s an 8x10 hardcover with 1135 pages. It’s the kind of book you balance on your back when you do push ups or use to hit an intruder over the head with. It’s been a great resource for me, and it’s just fun to flip through.
Brandy Potter www.brandypotterbooks.com
It USED to be Lennon by Ray Coleman. But a Nora Roberts Collection Three Complete Novels (compilation: True Betrayals (1996), Montana Sky (1996), and Sanctuary (1997)) is the current culprit. Both of these books are enormous and heavy and hard to read in the bath tub, but I do manage it now and again!
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