#they are 1000+ page behemoths

[veganpeachpie]

Every fantasy lover needs to go out there now and find a copy of The Way of Kings, book 1 of The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson.

The world is so deeply fleshed out and I am in love with the magic system. Also Shallan is my child and I would die for her.

[constellationclarke]

Getting my required reading done for Thursday !!

[sofarsofastmp3]

microdosing stephen king by only reading his books that are under four hundred pages

[lesbienneanarchiste]

Been reading this fic so long that I didn't finish a single book last month but I realized I was at 90% and was like oh sick maybe I'll sit and finish it while dinner cooks and then I looked at the time remaining and

Buddy... Whaddya mean 2 hrs left in book.... Whaddya mean

[venusmage]

Ask time! What era/type of art would you say you draw the most inspiration from?

oh god this is really hard. Mostly because my inspirations are all over the place! One is 2010's webcomics! A very broad category, I know, but I was really into reading comics when I was in highschool, and a lot of amazing ones were coming out around that time. The Meek (Der-shing Helmer), HINABN (Tess Stone), Lackadaisy (Tracy Butler), and anything by Evan Dahm (the artist behind Riceboy/Vattu/etc). I somehow avoided Homestuck, but Prequel Adventure (Kazerad) rewired my little Oblivion-Obsessed brain.

Speaking of Oblivion - the concept art for all three mainline games in the Elder Scrolls series did SO much for my imagination. Adam Adamowicz is one of my all time favorite artists, and I think his work on Oblivion was overlooked because of his (also stellar) work in Skyrim. There's an entire flickr album of his concept art for TES IV, though, and I recommend it! What that man could do with art markers bewilders me even now. I think this might be the single most impactful art influence I have.

The close runner-up would be the aforementioned Evan Dahm's work. I think he's still, years later, criminally underrated in terms of public appreciation and discussion. For me, Rice Boy blew open so many doors regarding art style, presentation, and character design. Vattu then stunned with just how much of an epic it was and it's fantastic titular main character. Now 3rd Voice is perhaps his most technically beautiful comic yet, and seems to meld the weirdness of Rice Boy with Vattu's super gripping character arcs and worldbuilding.

The way his comics are paced (both in story and the literal pacing of how he organizes his panels/the art in them) is my favorite...ever. Even though they're simple, he just gets the framing down so perfectly it's crazy. The fact he can make such alien characters so human in how they act and how we view them astounds me. I really do - no hyperbole or empty flattery intended - think he's a modern day comics master and I need more people to discuss his body of work.

Also all of his comics are FREE to read on his website rice-boy[dot]com! They're also on webtoon if you're already dedicated to that platform, and the blog @riceboycomic was basically a republishing of Rice Boy with added artist commentary. If you're not ready to dive into the behemoth that is Vattu yet (its over 1000 pages, though it's so worth it), 3rd Voice is his newest work and you can catch up to the current page (288) within an hour. Rice Boy is also pretty short, under 500 pages. Please do yourself a favor and get lost in one of the quiet, uncanny, heartfelt worlds he's created (and then talk to me about it pleaaaseee).

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

FAQ: read before submitting

[plain text: FAQ: read before submitting]

a note re series: I am more than happy to queue up an entire series on request! if this is what you want, please indicate that explicitly in your submission, especially in cases where the first book in a series and the series as a whole have the same title. otherwise I need to ask for clarification, and it slows down the process of getting your submissions queued up.

where do I submit books?

submissions are currently closed!

[plain text: submissions are currently closed!]

[here. before you submit books, though, please check the list of books that have already been posted or queued. (note: if you’re using the mobile app on an Android phone, you may have to copy the link into your browser in order to access it.)

when submitting multiple books, please submit all of them in a single ask so it’s easier for me to keep track of, especially if you’re submitting them anonymously. also, please include the author’s name!]

what counts as having “read” a book?

did you finish the book? then you’ve read it. if you did not finish the book, you have not read it.

do audiobooks / having a book read to you count as having “read” a book?

do you think you’ve “read” the book? then you’ve read it. I’m not here to police your experiences or your relationships with physical books / ebooks / audiobooks / whatever.

does [graphic novel / manga / manhua] count as a “book”?

for the purposes of this poll, a book is a prose narrative, so graphic novels and other visual media with text do not count as “books”.

does [“novella” / “novelette” / short story] count as a “book’?

if a short story was originally published in a single issue of a periodical, in a multi-author anthology, or as part of a single-author collection, I will most likely not accept it unless it has subsequently been published as a standalone volume of more than ~75 pages. if you submit a text where this applies and you think it should be accepted anyway, please elaborate on why with your submission.

however: if a short story was originally published in the form of a standalone volume (i.e., not as part of a collection of texts), then yes, under normal circumstances that counts! I don’t care if it was a 10-page pamphlet or a 1000-page behemoth: if it was first published on its own, including as an ebook, it’s a book.

you can see my more detailed guidelines for short fiction here (link is to the sci-fi poll blog, but the principles are the same).

the one exception is things like (e.g.) The Fellowship of the Ring, which is explicitly the first volume of a single, larger book — in a case like this you would submit The Lord of the Rings, rather than its component volumes.

I encourage you to submit short fiction to @have-you-read-this-short-fiction even if it’s not eligible here!

does [short story collection] count as a “book”?

for the purposes of this poll, no, unless the stories are linked into some kind of overarching whole. simply sharing a common setting does not qualify (so Le Guin’s Tales of Earthsea would not count as a “book”).

what about [series] as a whole?

no. this blog is asking about single books. feel free to submit multiple books in a series if you’re so inclined, though!

what counts as “fantasy”?

if you think something should count as fantasy, feel free to submit it. I haven’t read every book, and I have a flexible definition of the genre. there are, however, limits to my flexibility — if you send me The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (real, incomprehensible example I’ve seen on a list of “fantasy” recommendations), it’s not getting posted.

if you send me a liminal fantasy like Haïlji’s The Republic of Užupis, especially if it’s not easy to determine from reviews or online information that the book has a fantastic element, it would be helpful if you indicate what aspects of the book mark it as (broadly) fantasy.

note that I am definitely willing to include works of science fantasy like Tamsyn Muir’s The Locked Tomb books. I will not accept Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern books. they’re science fiction, and I will die on this hill.

I also will not be accepting any books by J.K. Rowling.

what about sci-fi?

there’s a blog for that. :-)

does it have to be in English?

no! I read a number of languages and would be more than happy to include books in any language. the demographics of tumblr mean that you’re probably unlikely to get an overall “yes” result for something not in English unless it has a very popular English translation, but I’m always happy to help publicize stuff — and maybe get some book recommendations in the languages I read. :-)

you can see links to all the language tags on this blog here.

could you add more options to the polls?

I’ve considered multiple possibilities and seen many different arrangements of options on different poll blogs, and I’ve concluded that I want to keep things as simple and straightforward as possible, so I will be sticking with just yes and no.

why don’t you include blurbs for the books in these polls?

there are both practical and ideological reasons for this. tl;dr, it’s a lot of work, presents logistical problems for books not originally published in English, and there are books and authors that I categorically don’t want to promote beyond showing people the cover.

————————

check the #faq tag for additional questions and answers.

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

FAQ: read before submitting

[plain text: FAQ: read before submitting]

a note re series: I am more than happy to queue up an entire series on request! if this is what you want, please indicate that explicitly in your submission, especially in cases where the first book in a series and the series as a whole have the same title. otherwise I need to ask for clarification, and it slows down the process of getting your submissions queued up.

where do I submit books?

submissions are currently closed!

[plain text: submissions are currently closed!]

here. before you submit books, though, please check the list of books that have already been posted or queued. (note: if you’re using the mobile app on an Android phone, you may have to copy the link into your browser in order to access it.)

when submitting multiple books, please submit all of them in a single ask so it’s easier for me to keep track of, especially if you’re submitting them anonymously. also, please include the author’s name!

what counts as having “read” a book?

did you finish the book? then you’ve read it. if you did not finish the book, you have not read it.

do audiobooks / having a book read to you count as having “read” a book?

do you think you’ve “read” the book? then you’ve read it. I’m not here to police your experiences or your relationships with physical books / ebooks / audiobooks / whatever.

does [graphic novel / manga / manhua] count as a “book”?

for the purposes of this poll, a book is a prose narrative, so graphic novels and other visual media with text do not count as “books”.

does [“novella” / “novelette” / short story] count as a “book’?

if a short story was originally published in a single issue of a periodical, in a multi-author anthology, or as part of a single-author collection, I will most likely not accept it unless it has subsequently been published as a standalone volume of more than ~75 pages. if you submit a text where this applies and you think it should be accepted anyway, please elaborate on why with your submission.

however: if a short story was originally published in the form of a standalone volume (i.e., not as part of a collection of texts), then yes, under normal circumstances that counts! I don’t care if it was a 10-page pamphlet or a 1000-page behemoth: if it was first published on its own, including as an ebook, it’s a book.

you can see my more detailed guidelines for short fiction here.

the one exception is things like (e.g.) The Fellowship of the Ring, which is explicitly the first volume of a single, larger book — in a case like this you would submit The Lord of the Rings, rather than its component volumes.

I encourage you to submit short fiction to @have-you-read-this-short-fiction even if it’s not eligible here!

does [short story collection] count as a “book”?

for the purposes of this poll, no, unless the stories are linked into some kind of overarching whole. simply sharing a common setting does not qualify (so Yoon Ha Lee’s Hexarchate Stories would not count as a “book”).

what about [series] as a whole?

no. this blog is asking about single books. feel free to submit multiple books in a series if you’re so inclined, though!

what counts as “sci-fi”?

if you think something should count as sci-fi, feel free to submit it. I haven’t read every book, and I have a flexible definition of the genre. there are some limits to my flexibility, but as long as it is set in the future, has some kind of futuristic technology, is set an an alternate timeline, or includes other non-realist phenomena that are explained (pseudo)scientifically, I’ll probably consider it sci-fi.

I’m a bit more ambivalent about older texts — I tend to think that something like Lucian’s True History (for example) can’t really be meaningfully said to be science fiction, for all that it involves space travel. once we start getting into early modern philosophical novels like More’s Utopia we’re on somewhat firmer ground, but really only in the nineteenth century do we start getting things I would unequivocally consider to be science fiction.

note that I am definitely willing to include works of science fantasy like Tamsyn Muir’s The Locked Tomb books or Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality, as long as there’s clearly sci-fi stuff going on along with the magic.

what about fantasy?

there’s a blog for that. :-)

does it have to be in English?

no! I read a number of languages and would be more than happy to include books in any language. the demographics of tumblr mean that you’re probably unlikely to get an overall “yes” result for something not in English unless it has a very popular English translation, but I’m happy to post the poll anyway — and maybe get some book recommendations in the languages I read. :-)

you can see links to all the language tags on this blog here.

why don’t you include blurbs for the books in these polls?

there are both practical and ideological reasons for this. tl;dr, it’s a lot of work, presents logistical problems for books not originally published in English, and there are books and authors that I categorically don’t want to promote beyond showing people the cover.

————————

check the #faq tag for additional questions and answers.

[a-ramblinrose]

Did my brain decide that it only wanted to read a 1000+ page classic novel despite not being able to concentrate on anything longer than a short story for the last two months?

Absolutely!

And worse, I had to buy the behemoth because of course my brain couldn't pick one of the large classics from my gigantic TBR collection. Nope, special order only for my delightful self!

The life a chaotic bookworm my dears!

[merpshire]

Well…. It’s time. Time to read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

I’m 438 pages into this behemoth and Goodreads puts me at 43% through. Which checks out since it’s page count is just above 1000!! I’m loving it so far! It’s wild how so much and yet so little has been packed into 438. I’ve read more of this than other entire books and like…. Nothing major plot wise has happened! I’m so excited to continue taking the time to really deep dive into the characters.

So far, Kaladin is my favorite to read about. A classic kind of fantasy hero! Dalinar and Shallan are both interesting but we haven’t gotten as much about them by this point and their stories are slower. I can see myself liking Dalinar the most by the end of book 1 tho, and that’s who my wife predicts will be my favorite.

[haveyoureadthisscifibook2]

about and FAQ

[plain text: about and FAQ]

who are you? do you have any association with the mod of the previous blogs?

just a guy who loves to read sci-fi and fantasy! I have no association with the previous blog's runner, other than having followed both poll blogs from when they started, but I loved the blogs and the format in which they were run so much that I volunteered to step up and carry on the torch, so to speak.

what happened to the old blogs?

see these posts [post 1; post 2] from the owner of the old blogs, which are no longer active.

i submitted to the old blog, but it got archived before my submission was ever posted! should I submit again to you?

no fear - the old blog's owner has compiled all submissions into a document for me so that I can pick up where they left off and work through the backlog!

are you going to change anything about the poll format/the way that the blog is run?

highly unlikely, other than perhaps some behind the scenes changes to how information is gathered and posts are queued. I am also starting off with submissions closed and a less frequent queue as I figure out my pace and get my bearings, but I hope to ramp it up to at least 4 posts/day (what the old blogs were running on) eventually.

FAQ carried over from the old blog:

[plain text: FAQ carried over from the old blog:]

a note re series: I am more than happy to queue up an entire series on request! if this is what you want, please indicate that explicitly in your submission, especially in cases where the first book in a series and the series as a whole have the same title. otherwise I need to ask for clarification, and it slows down the process of getting your submissions queued up.

where do I submit books?

submissions are currently open!

[plain text: submissions are currently open!]

here. before you submit books, though, please check the list of books that have already been posted or queued. (note: if you’re using the mobile app on an Android phone, you may have to copy the link into your browser in order to access it.) *yes, this link leads to a page on the old blog. I will add a page like it to this blog closer to when I'm ready to start posting polls! for now, you can see what has already been posted.

when submitting multiple books, please submit all of them in a single ask so it’s easier for me to keep track of, especially if you’re submitting them anonymously. also, please include the author’s name!

what counts as having “read” a book?

did you finish the book? then you’ve read it. if you did not finish the book, you have not read it.

do audiobooks / having a book read to you count as having “read” a book?

do you think you’ve “read” the book? then you’ve read it. I’m not here to police your experiences or your relationships with physical books / ebooks / audiobooks / whatever.

does [graphic novel / manga / manhua] count as a “book”?

for the purposes of this poll, a book is a prose narrative, so graphic novels and other visual media with text do not count as “books”.

does [“novella” / “novelette” / short story] count as a “book’?

if a short story was originally published in a single issue of a periodical, in a multi-author anthology, or as part of a single-author collection, I will most likely not accept it unless it has subsequently been published as a standalone volume of more than ~75 pages. if you submit a text where this applies and you think it should be accepted anyway, please elaborate on why with your submission.

however: if a short story was originally published in the form of a standalone volume (i.e., not as part of a collection of texts), then yes, under normal circumstances that counts! I don’t care if it was a 10-page pamphlet or a 1000-page behemoth: if it was first published on its own, including as an ebook, it’s a book.

you can see my more detailed guidelines for short fiction here.

the one exception is things like (e.g.) The Fellowship of the Ring, which is explicitly the first volume of a single, larger book — in a case like this you would submit The Lord of the Rings, rather than its component volumes.

I encourage you to submit short fiction to @have-you-read-this-short-fiction even if it’s not eligible here!

does [short story collection] count as a “book”?

for the purposes of this poll, no, unless the stories are linked into some kind of overarching whole. simply sharing a common setting does not qualify (so Yoon Ha Lee’s Hexarchate Stories would not count as a “book”).

what about [series] as a whole?

no. this blog is asking about single books. feel free to submit multiple books in a series if you’re so inclined, though!

what counts as “sci-fi”?

if you think something should count as sci-fi, feel free to submit it. I haven’t read every book, and I have a flexible definition of the genre. there are some limits to my flexibility, but as long as it is set in the future, has some kind of futuristic technology, is set an an alternate timeline, or includes other non-realist phenomena that are explained (pseudo)scientifically, I’ll probably consider it sci-fi.

I’m a bit more ambivalent about older texts — I tend to think that something like Lucian’s True History (for example) can’t really be meaningfully said to be science fiction, for all that it involves space travel. once we start getting into early modern philosophical novels like More’s Utopia we’re on somewhat firmer ground, but really only in the nineteenth century do we start getting things I would unequivocally consider to be science fiction.

note that I am definitely willing to include works of science fantasy like Tamsyn Muir’s The Locked Tomb books or Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality, as long as there’s clearly sci-fi stuff going on along with the magic.

what about fantasy?

there’s a blog for that. :-)

does it have to be in English?

no! I read a number of languages and would be more than happy to include books in any language. the demographics of tumblr mean that you’re probably unlikely to get an overall “yes” result for something not in English unless it has a very popular English translation, but I’m happy to post the poll anyway — and maybe get some book recommendations in the languages I read. :-)

you can see links to all the language tags on this blog here.

why don’t you include blurbs for the books in these polls?

there are both practical and ideological reasons for this. tl;dr, it’s a lot of work, presents logistical problems for books not originally published in English, and there are books and authors that I categorically don’t want to promote beyond showing people the cover.

————————

check the #faq tag [including the old blog's #faq tag here] for additional questions and answers.

previous blog here, if you would like to see polls from before october 2024: @haveyoureadthisscifibook

[toddsfall]

For the books ask meme: 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13?

Hi Sarah 👋

What were your top five books of the year?

These books have stuck with me the most

1. I'm glad my mom died (this book has haunted me ever since reading it)

2. Pachinko

3. Our share of night

4. Maame

5. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?

Aside from the abovementioned favorites of the years (which were all authors I hadn't read anything of), I re-discovered Naoise Dolan. I read Exciting Times and absolutely hated it (anyone want my copy?) but then read the Happy Couple. And something about that book just really endeared me to her writing.

What was your favorite new release of the year?

I don't pay much attention to what year the work I'm reading so I had to really go back and look. I really liked 'Hello beautiful', but it also made me really sad.

What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?

I recently read/listened to a bunch of Poe short stories after watching the Fall of the House of Usher and I loved it. Was exactly the atmosphere I was looking for at the time.

Any books that disappointed you?

Can't say this is the author's fault but I tried my hand at YA fantasy (Cassandra Clare) again. And well, I've just outgrown it. So it's more the loss of youth I'm disappointed in I guess (kidding)

What were your least favorite books of the year? The Idiot by Elif Batuman was def my least favorite. It was so boring, I struggled through those 400ish pages like it was a 1000+ page behemoth. God I'm bored just thinking about it.

Thanks for asking 😘

[bookpdf]

also speaking of books. one of the ones i'm reading rn is a 1000+ page behemoth and the author spells "nonetheless" as "none the less", and i keep wondering how much shorter the page count would be if it was corrected

[devilsurvivor-2-recordbreaker]

I'm gonna be honest Harry Potter isn't even good as a magic wizard series. It's like the james cameron Avatar of magic like if your white and racist this is the most crazy shit you've ever seen. But like it's the most bare minimum whimsy and magic it's just boring honestly and of course incredibly racist and horrible in so many ways. I'll never get over how of all the things in those books there are as a profession Harry wants to be racist wizard cop but a GOOD racist wizard cop cause he's the protaginist and because he's the one who's going to kill the nazis he's will definitly make good choices to change the system for the better even though he's totally complacent with it in so many other ways. Jkr really just wrote he political ideology into a vaguely themed children's book and it did gang Busters (at least in America) because children are started of imagination by the system and so a book series like this is polluted water in a desert

Authors note I read the books in like middle school before i knew JKR was a piece of shit. Those books are honestly just okay I have no idea why people obsese over this series it's honestly not even very interesting in so many ways and I dropped after book 5 cause Rowling stopped paying her editor and released like a 1000 page behemoth of total stale air. Like realizing a book that big for no reason should be illegal.

[bnfbc]

Huey Long - by T. Harry Williams - May 2023 - selected by Gabe

Andy: A-

Gabe: "I loved learning about Huey, as I knew nothing about him before this book. It was incredibly detailed, and I felt like it did a good job capturing his personality. What was missing for me, though, was an overarching retrospective analysis of him, his actions, and his policies/beliefs. The ending - where I expected to find that - was incredibly disappointing, in that the book rapidly ended with his death. I was left wanting more, which I'm not sure is a sign that overall this was a good book or not." B

Jachles: B+

Paul: "This was our first foray into the world of extremely thick, old-school biographies NOT written by Robert Caro. While T. Harry certainly doesn't have the story-telling chops and flair for dramatic that make Caro's 1000-pagers so zesty, there's still a lot to like here. First of all, Huey is a fascinating figure. T. Harry opts for a pretty straightforward narrative approach, but there are rich thematic elements to unpack in Huey's life, and it made for a great discussion. The writing style felt old-fashioned and dry, but luckily there were enough outrageous moments like the iconic Long Island Urinal Incident to provide us some zing. Lastly, reading a behemoth of a book like this always results in a sense of accomplishment, and while it didn't end well for Huey (spoiler alert - he dies!), reaching the final pages of this book gave me a feeling of satisfaction I haven't felt since the Caro days." A-

Tommy: B

GPA: 3.33

[musicgoon]

Book Reviews: A Puritan Theology, by Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones

What did the Puritans believe about the Bible, God, and life? In A Puritan Theology, Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones present Puritan doctrine and teachings in a systematic theology.

At the Top of My Favorite Systematic Theologies

A masterwork and unparalleled resource, this is an incredible accomplishment and landmark work. It has quickly jumped to the top of my list on favorite systematic theologies.

The range of theology as well as the Puritans and works featured is staggering. 60 chapters cover prolegomena, theology proper, anthropology and covenant theology, Christology, soteriology, ecclesiology, eschatology, and theology in practice. At just over 1000 pages, this is a behemoth of a book.

Adoption and Preaching

My favorite was Chapter 34: The Puritans on Adoption. While not often mentioned in other works, Beeke and Jones show that the Puritan emphasis on adoption was indeed significant. While adoption is into God’s family, it actually impacts the entire life of the believer. John Cotton, expounding 1 John 3, taught that adoption affects our relationship to God, our relationship to the world, our relationship to the future, our relationship to ourselves, and our relationship to the Church as the family of God. It makes sense that Cotton would see these relationships, as the Puritans showed true spirituality while living between two worlds.

Two chapters are dedicated to Puritan Preaching, but I found the additional chapter on John Bunyan’s preaching to the heart to be most moving. Beeke and Jones examine Bunyan as a preacher, claiming that “oratory skill or passion did not make Bunyan such a powerful preacher,” but “by his own admission he preached what he felt.” They go on to explain three particulars of Bunyan’s preaching: it was participatory, pleading, and Christ exalting. I was captivated and encouraged, inspired with a new preaching hero.

Hear and Learn from Puritan Saints

My copy of this book was sent as a special Puritan Bundle set together with Meet the Puritans, Ore From the Puritans' Mine, and a Free Study Guide. If you love the Puritans, you’ll want to get the full 3-piece set.

The book ends with practical lessons from Puritan theology today. Beeke and Jones call us to focus on Christ, maintain biblical balance, persevere in catechizing, pray without ceasing, handle trial Christianly, rebuke pride, and rely on the Spirit. They conclude that we should emulate Puritan spirituality, and I am eager to learn more these past saints. What a privilege it is to hear and learn from them today!

I received a media copy of A Puritan Theology and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.

[whereistheonepiece]

My view on book length, based on my current reading experience in life:

200 pages: A morsel.

300-400 pages: A snack.

500 pages: A meal.

600 pages: Girthy. (No more food analogy.)

700-800 pages: Chonkster.

900 pages: Behemoth.

1000+ pages: Leviathan.

That being said, I will try any page length if I find the book intriguing enough/it's on my TBR.