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#chunksterChallenge2025
review
Amiable
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Pickpick

3/5 stars for this “Barely a Bitsy” (just made it !) level in #ChunksterChallenge2025. I liked it well enough. I did. It just seemed … bloated. The action takes place over a 14-day period and it felt like I was reading every minute in real time. I did enjoy the descriptions of the Tudor period, though. Perhaps I‘ll pick up a nonfiction history of the era next. I‘ll probably continue with the series, but I‘m not in a hurry to do so.

Cuilin Perfect description, I‘m halfway and only a few days have passed. 1w
dabbe Sansom can get carried away with the daily deets! 🤩 1w
60 likes3 comments
review
Enchanted_Bibliophile
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Pickpick

3½✨

This is a typical Hero's journey with all the usual tropes you'd expect. Nothing earth shattering or different. Still I enjoyed visiting the world of Alagaësia and getting to meet all the characters. I'm intrigued to see where the series will take me.
I have my suspicions and would like to confirm them.

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! I wasn't a huge fan of this series, but I seem to be in the minority 😂 1w
Enchanted_Bibliophile @TheAromaofBooks I thought I'd give it another book or 2 before I cast my final vote 😉, but I can see why people don't like it. It's a lot of work with not that much satisfaction. 1w
TheAromaofBooks It weirdly felt like I was reading nonfiction the whole time, except for a fictional place haha 1w
Enchanted_Bibliophile @TheAromaofBooks Yes! You're right. I started Assassin's Appreciate last night and the flow is totally different. Eragon feels choppy, like everything was written and rewritten to make it sound good, using unnecessarily complicated words instead of just telling the story. 1w
43 likes5 comments
review
julieclair
Anna Karenina | Leo Tolstoy
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Pickpick

I‘m not equipped to judge whether or not this is “the greatest novel ever written”, as has been alleged. But it did make me think a lot. It covers just about every human emotion in its pages, and many social, religious, and philosophical ideas as well. I‘m glad I read it, but won‘t be rereading it again anytime soon!

Many thanks to @TheBookHippie for hosting the #KareninaWinter buddy read, as I would never, ever have read this on my own.

julieclair Thanks, too, @TheBookHippie for your encouragement along the way! 💙 #AllergicToChunksters #ChunksterChallenge2025 @Amiable 2w
TheBookHippie Awe!!!!! Yay you finished!!!!! Bravo!!! 2w
julieclair @TheBookHippie 💙🎉💙 2w
See All 11 Comments
dabbe 🙌🏻❣️🙌🏻 2w
Amiable I feel the same way —I‘m glad I finally read it but I won‘t be reading it again! 2w
mcctrish 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 once is enough 2w
mhillis It‘s such a good book! If you‘re up for a retelling — 2w
BooksandCoffee4Me Oh, I loved this but that ending… 2w
julieclair @mhillis I didn‘t know there was a retelling! Anna K sounds fun… and it‘s only 400 pages long. 😂👍 I think I‘d enjoy reading it… but I‘ll wait a year or so…😉 1w
julieclair @BooksandCoffee4Me I know, right?! 1w
44 likes1 stack add11 comments
review
Ruthiella
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Pickpick

Thank you @BarkingMadRead for leading the #Hashtagbrigade in this group read. Unlike some of the group‘s co-readers, I very much enjoyed this gentle, disjointed and plotless look at rural life in late 19th century England, which was based on the author‘s own experience. For me, the slow pace of the book really suited the chapter a day approach. 😃

This is also my first completed book for
#ChunksterChallenge2025
#AllergictoChunksters 👍👍

Amiable Yay, chunksters! Especially ones that you enjoy. 🎉 2w
dabbe 🤩🤩🤩 2w
64 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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dabbe
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#ChunksterChallenge2025 @Amiable
#AllergicToChunksters @julieclair
#hashtagbrigade @BarkingMadRead

After 580 pages of my edition, I'm stunned that this only qualifies as a “bitsy“ chunkster. I feel like I just reached the summit of Everest and can now gladly glide down the other side. 😂

ferskner Ouch!!! 2w
BarkingMadRead It‘s one of those baby chunks that sneak up on you and clobber you over the head 🤣 2w
Amiable Some colossal chunksters glide by so smoothly we hardly know we‘ve moved, and certain bitsy ones make us work like Sisyphus. 😄 2w
See All 10 Comments
dabbe @ferskner It was painful in quite a few places. 😂 2w
dabbe @BarkingMadRead And it's heavy enough to do some damage! 😂 2w
dabbe @Amiable Exactly. I feel like I rolled a boulder up Mt. Everest. On a good note, I feel like I achieved quite a bit since I bailed on last month's #hashtagbrigade book. I was determined to finish this one! 💪🏻 2w
BarkingMadRead No shade for bailing last time, almost everyone did 🤣🤣🤣 2w
dabbe @BarkingMadRead And it was my 2nd time trying it. #oytotheultimatevey 🤩 2w
julieclair Congrats for finishing! 🏆 I‘m still climbing uphill. But like you, I‘m determined to finish. 💪 2w
dabbe @julieclair ❣️💪🏻❣️ 2w
69 likes10 comments
review
Amiable
Anna Karenina | Tolstoy, Leo
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Pickpick

Completed the Chunkster level for #ChunksterChallenge2025. I‘d give it a pick because it is a story well told (and well translated, if you get the P+V version). I wouldn‘t say it‘s the “greatest novel of all time,” as some reviews call it. It does provide an interesting historical context of its time. And now I can finally check it off my list. ✔️

#kareninawinter
#chunksterchallenge

monalyisha I *loved* this when I read it. But that was over 15 years ago! If I remember correctly, I may have even mentioned Levin in my internet dating profile (something about a “sweaty, lean farmer with metaphysical concerns”?). 😅🥵 2w
Amiable @monalyisha If I were going to pick a sweaty Russian out of the bunch, it would definitely be Levin! 😄 And I also loved Kitty. Anna, not so much. I actually felt sorry for Karenin. Stiva and Vronsky were basically Russian frat boys -- ugh. 2w
CoverToCoverGirl Congratulations! 🎉 I have attempted this book several times but could never get past the first handful of chapters. 2w
Amiable @CoverToCoverGirl The fact that the chapters are all pretty short is basically what propelled me through some of the sections, I'm not gonna lie. 😃 I could read two chapters (i.e. 5 pages) and feel like I'd accomplished something for the day. 2w
willaful Liking Levin is pretty much all I remember from this book. 😂 2w
62 likes5 comments
review
Butterfinger
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Pickpick

The romance between Blackthorn and Mariko was a lot more in-depth and satisfying than the newest adaptation. The book goes back and forth from showing women submitting to the men to manipulating the men's actions because they have wisdom. The machinations of daimyos, especially Toronaga, and needless death upset me as much as it did Blackthorn. Although, by the end, BT began to respect the other cultures' differences, even to Catholicism. 👇

Butterfinger I realize that it is written by a white man, so I plan to read Musashi in the near future. This is a history I want to learn more. #ColossalChunkster at 1128 pages ##ChunksterChallenge2025 @Amiable 3w
Amiable Excellent work! 🎉 1w
46 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
GinaKButler
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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My February #bookspinbingo board!

#bookspin - 1984
#doublespin - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Bookclub - Hold My Girl
Bookclub - Good Dirt
#chunksterchallenge2025 - 300 pages of Napoleon

Looking forward to a great reading month! Thank you for hosting, Sarah!

@TheAromaofBooks @Amiable

Scochrane26 Loved The Book of longings. 1984 & Dorian Gray are 2 fave classics (I don‘t like many classics). (edited) 3w
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! Looks fantastic!! 3w
Amiable I have “West with Giraffes” in my stacks —looking forward to your thoughts on it. 2w
LoverOfLearning Great book picks! 4d
28 likes4 comments
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GinaKButler
Napoleon: A Life | Andrew Roberts
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#chunksterchallenge2025 check in: I‘m 315 pages in. I‘m enjoying reading this…he‘s surprisingly funny in his letters. I do wish the maps (battlefields) were labeled more clearly.

@Amiable

Amiable Ooh, I have this one, too. Glad to hear you are liking it. 3w
27 likes1 comment
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GinaKButler
BookSpinBingo | Untitled
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I‘m going to go ahead and post my January Wrap-Up…I‘ve started 2 other books, but there‘s no way I‘ll finish them by tomorrow!

No bingos
8 books finished
#bookspin and #doublespin both read
3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads
Started my first #chunksterchallenge2025 book
2 #unreadbookshelf reads
1 #serieslove2025

Great reading month to start off the year! Thank you for hosting! #bookspinbingo
 @TheAromaofBooks
@Amiable
@Andrew65
@TheSpineView

TheAromaofBooks Yay!! Fantastic month!! 3w
19 likes1 comment