(In which the newly-born reader in me wants to live up to my pseudonym.)
***
I have brought some friends with me while I was buying books. Once, a friend asked my why I chose a thick and big book over thin and small ones.“Because they cost the same,” I explained.
“But it will take you longer to finish the thick ones,” she reasoned out, waving her hands as she tried to make a point.
“Well, that’s exactly the point. If I pick up a shorter book then I’ll finish it earlier. And the fact that they have the same prices makes the choice easier,” I replied. I grabbed two books with the same price tag. “Look, this thicker one has Times New Roman size ten, I guess, and single spaced. This thinner one has Times New Roman, size twelve. Wait, is the space for this one 1.5?”
“So you’re grabbing books to the cashier because they are thick?” she probed.
“No,” I put down the thinner book and hugged the other. “I like the blurb for this one.”
***
Once, I slept over BF’s house the day before our trip with officemates to Laguna. I leafed through her Anne Rice book and had to part the pages a little more forcefully so as to read the words near the margin. When she entered the room, she uttered a gasp, grabbed the book from my hands and looked at me, gaping in disbelief.
“Oh my! I don’t read my book that way.”
“Then how do you read your book?” I asked, bewildered by her sudden mood.
“Like this,” she opened the book slightly and peered into the pages. “Now, look at the spine!”
I saw her rubbing the long scratch that ran the whole length of the spine, as if rubbing it would smoothen the surface.
“Oh no! I’m so sorry,” I uttered, remembering how expensive her book was.
That’s just another reason why I prefer larger books. I don’t need to be extra careful with them. They put up with my force.
***
Now, I stumbled upon the Chunkster Challenge on a book blog and found the challenge interesting to say the least.
It is a challenge for readers who like reading chunksters. What are chunksters?
– A chunkster is 450 pages or more of ADULT literature (fiction or nonfiction) ... A chunkster should be a challenge.– If you read large type books your book will need to be 525 pages or more ... The average large type book is 10-15% longer or more so I think that was a fair estimate.
The Rules of the challenge are as follows:
– No Audio books in the chunkster. It just doesn't seem right. Words on paper for this one folks.
– No e-Books allowed - we are reading traditional, fat books for this challenge.
– Short Stories and Essay collections will not be counted.
– Books may crossover with other challenges.
– Anyone may join. If you don't have a blog, just leave a comment on the Chunkster Challenge post with your progress.
– You don't need to list your books ahead of time.
– Once you pick a level, that's it...you're committed to that level!
The challenge is quite flexible since it has several categories to choose from.
The Chubby Chunkster – this option is for the reader who has a couple of large tomes on their TBR list, but really doesn't want to commit to much more than that. 3 books is all you need to finish this challenge.Do These Books Make my Butt Look Big? – this option is for the slightly heavier reader who wants to commit to 4 Chunksters over the next twelve months.
Mor-book-ly Obese – this is for the truly out of control chunkster. For this level of challenge you must commit to 6 or more chunksters OR three tomes of 750 pages or more.
Since this is my first reading challenge, I choose The Chubby Chunkster. Good luck to me!
