Last year I set an ambitious reading goal on Goodreads of 45 books, one more than I read the year before. I forgot, however, that I read less when I write. I managed to read around 40 books, but not enough to complete my goal. That’s why I want to do something completely different this year.

I’m dubbing 2020 “Year of the Chonk” and I’ll focus on reading the bigger books on my TBR. To help me out I lowered my yearly goal of books on the Goodreads Reading Challenge to thirty so I wouldn’t feel the pressure I did last year.

Because not every chonk is an equal chonk, I set up a point system.

400 – 599 pages is one point

600 – 799 pages is two points

800 > pages is three points

Books with less than four hundred pages are good for half a point. It’s still reading progress, so it feels right to reward yourself a little.

My goal is to have at least fifty points by the end of the year. If I reach that, I’ll allow myself to buy The Priory of the Orange Tree as a reward. It seems like the most appropriate reward for a chonker challenge, right?

I made a quick list of all the chonkers I own and I surprised myself. Using Goodreads for the page information I noticed I own 45 chonkers in total (I might have overlooked a few as well) and if I finished them all, I’d have 62 points. I doubt I’ll finish them all this year. I will try my best to pick books from the list instead of smaller books.

If you like this challenge, feel free to copy it and link your blog post below so I can check it out!

6 three-point chonkers

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (1139)

It by Stephen King (1116)

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1037)

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (1006)

The Core by Peter V. Brett (860)

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (835)

5 two-point chonkers

Dangerous Women edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (784)

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (704)

The Skull Throne by Peter V. Brett (681)

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman (616)

Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky (612)

34 one-point chonkers

A Man Betrayed by J.V. Jones (598)

Holder of Lightning by S.L. Farrell (589)

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (561)

The Book Thier by Markus Zusak (552)

Dragons of Darkness by Antonia Michaelis (548)

Fell by David Clement-Davies (544)

a Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (544)

Master and Fool by J.V. Jones (532)

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (532)

Steel Crow Saga by Paul Kruger (528)

Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (518)

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (499)

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (498)

The Circle by Dave Eggers (493)

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (482)

Finale by Stephanie Garber (478)

The Magicians’ Guild by Trudi Canavan (467)

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (467)

Unnatural Creatures by Neil Gaiman (462)

Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov (460)

Prince Lestat by Anne Rice (458)

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman (449)

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance (448)

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (431)

Brenda and Effie Forever by Paul Magrs (428)

The Call of Chtulhu and Other Weird Stories by H.P. Lovecraft (420)

The Next Queen of Heaven by Gregory Maguire (418)

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng (416)

Legendary by Stephanie Garber (416)

The Republic by Plato (416)

The Thin Executioner by Darren Shan (410)

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (400)

Weatherwitch by Cecilia Dart-Thornton (400)

Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award

Part of my reading will be made up of indies, like every year, but this time it has a purpose. I’m a panelist for the new Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award. Dave Taylor from TheWriteReads started this initiative to help indie authors find the recognition they deserve. I loved the idea and signed up as a panelist when he first pitched his idea. By now dozens of people have joined and we’re a strong and diverse team.

I have no idea how many books (or what genres) I’ll be reading yet, since it all depends on the participants. The site with all the information will be up soon, but you might want to follow the official Twitter account. You’ll get the latest updates about the sign up there. Our community has over 26k bookloving people across multiple platforms so taking part will expose your work to a large audience.

Indie authors deserve more love, especially the ones just starting out. I really hope we’ll find more awesome authors to support and become fans of. Not just one, but many! Most of us read multiple genres, so don’t be afraid if your book is niche. Our panel is large enough to find people who enjoy the genre.

If you’re an indie author, please consider signing up. I’d love to read your book!