I Like Big Books & I Cannot Lie!

Posted On September 14, 2021

Hi Readers! I am back after quite a break! I went on a trip to Panchgani earlier this month, and after I was back there was a lot of work. So, I did not read anything for about 15 days! I didn’t really need that reading break. It was something that just happened. But after so many days without reading, now I am back at it with all the more vigor! I FINALLY started reading Brandon Sanderson’s ‘The way of Kings’, which is the first book in The Stormlight Archive series. This series so far has 4 books in it, each of which is 1000+, so yeah, that’s what I am jumping into!

And because I am reading these big books, I had a random thought. Why not get into reading a bunch of big books one after the other!? And so, I bought 4 BIG BOOKS! In addition to ‘The Luminaries’ by Eleanor Catton & ‘The Signature of All Things’ by Elizabeth Gilbert, these 4 books are now on the top of my list. For a while at least I am going to shelf my Reading Challenge. It had just created too much pressure, and I don’t want any of it. I might not do any reading challenge next year. That’s so much stress this is causing me. My favourite hobby shouldn’t do that, so I am simply going to go from any random book to the next from now on! 😊 😊😊

~~THE ALICE NETWORK by KATE QUINN~~

I have been hearing great things about these Kate Quinn’s novels. Every Historical Fiction fan must read these, so naturally I bought them. I already love them by the sheer size of them. Here’s the Goodreads description of this 503-page book!

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She’s also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie’s parents banish her to Europe to have her “little problem” taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she’s recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she’s trained by the mesmerizing Lili, code name Alice, the “queen of spies”, who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy’s nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn’t heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth…no matter where it leads.

~~THE ROSE CODE by KATE QUINN~~

This is a whopping 624 page-book & it looks so glorious, both in its story & cover! It is also highly rated on Goodreads & below goes its captivating description!

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything—beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses—but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

1947. As the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip whips post-war Britain into a fever, three friends-turned-enemies are reunited by a mysterious encrypted letter–the key to which lies buried in the long-ago betrayal that destroyed their friendship and left one of them confined to an asylum. A mysterious traitor has emerged from the shadows of their Bletchley Park past, and now Osla, Mab, and Beth must resurrect their old alliance and crack one last code together. But each petal they remove from the rose code brings danger–and their true enemy–closer…

~~THE SECRET HISTORY by DONNA TARTT~~

Donna Tartt is such a talented writer. Her book ‘The Goldfinch’ is one of my favourites. I have no idea why I waited so many years to read this after reading The Goldfinch, but now I finally have the book and I am going to read it this year! It’s a 559-page book and here’s the Goodreads description:

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last—inexorably—into evil. 

~~1Q84 by HARUKI MURAKAMI~~

1Q84 is the longest book that Haruki Murakami has ever written. It is divided into 3 parts, and is the longest book of this lot at 925 pages! Check out its Goodreads description:

The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.

A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.

As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator; a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s — 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.

And these books are only to brighten up the post. Another 2 books on my Big Books TBR!

Until next time,