Booking Through Thursday: Heavy

What’s the largest, thickest, heaviest book you ever read? Was it because you had to? For pleasure? For school?

Since I love huge books, this is a tricky one to answer ... there are so many possibilities!

Probably the biggest I’ve read were my Year 11 & 12 Psychology textbooks - large, thick, and hardback. Unlike every other textbook I’ve owned, I read them cover to cover; I had enough interest in the subject to want to read more than just the sections I had to.

In the realm of fiction, perhaps the biggest and heaviest of all the big and heavy books I’ve read is Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Or The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber - I read both of them in hardcover! I’ve also read enormous volumes by authors like Sharon Penman, Diana Gabaldon, Alexandre Dumas, Charles Dickens, but in paperback. Books in paperback feel much more compact than hardcover ones; if I can carry it in my handbag it doesn’t count as big.

Obviously I had good luck with required reading at school - I never had to read a huge book for anything other than pleasure!