The Beefcake Challenge Book Tag

[@nonisnest9718]

Wow Pat, impressive TBR and equally impressive lifting!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@nonisnest9718 thanks! Happy Holidays!

[@juliehughes1258]

Pat, you're in for a treat with Dickens's Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. It's my favorite Dickens, and that's saying something. You will fall in love with all of the hilarious characters, including Mr. Pickwick's fellow club members, his valet Sam Weller, and Sam's father (a coachman). Sam Weller is just hilarious and incredibly efficient, street smart, and loyal to Mr. Pickwick. Get ready to laugh out loud. I've read it 2 or 3 times, my first reading when I was a young woman in my early 20s. It's a peach of a book and I envy you reading it for the first time. Good luck with all of them!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@juliehughes1258 wow! Very high praise! I may have to start it tonight! Thank you! Happy Holidays!

[@heathersmusic8833]

A lovely video as always! Native Son is a great book for a discussion. I know you’ll finish any project you set your mind to next year. ❤

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Thank you, Heather, for always leaving me such kind comments. Happy Holidays, my friend!

[@patriciafay-f9l]

My book group is reading The Covenant of Water in January - looking forward to it Enjoy the challenge - you have chosen some great books

[@AZsunflower]

I have that on my TBR! I got a free copy from my library as their copy had a broken spine and had to be replaced!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Oh that's a great pick for your book group. We'd been considering it too, but we haven't chosen it yet. I'm just going ahead and reading it. Enjoy! Happy Holidays!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Oh wow! A free copy! Lovely!

[@nicolerosito2357]

Another great video from Pat. I don't know if I'll ever be ready for Finnegan's Wake, certainly not alone at least

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@nicolerosito2357 thank you, Nicole! I’m not sure if I’ll ever be ready either! 😳

[@RaynorReadsStuff]

Pat that was fabulous 😊. You can tell you work out. Great answers to the prompts. Your tag videos are always fab 😊

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Thanks for the tag, Debs! This was fun!

[@bigaldoesbooktube1097]

Wow you’re really flexing those guns Pat 💪. Thanks so much for doing the tag 🫡.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Thanks for creating such a fun tag, Al! Happy Holidays! 😊

[@_aileenmaria]

I read the Covenant of Water this year. I loooooved it and it is one of the contenders for top book of the year for me. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! Big books tend to be some of my favorites. I definitely have a list of some to conquer in 2025!🎉

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Oh I'd love to hear some of the big ones that you hope to read in 2025. I'm sure I'm going to love Covenant of Water. I loved his earlier novel as well.

[@literarylove123]

Such a fun tag!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Hi Jen! It was fun!

[@Ali-AvidReader]

This was a fun tag Pat, there are some serious chunksters in that pile!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Hi Ali! It was fun to do. I was just glad I was actually able to lift the pile!😉

[@Ali-AvidReader]

I was very impressed you could lift it! Holding one book to read will feel a doddle🤣

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@Ali-AvidReader ha!! True!!

[@marnasorensen988]

I just ordered The Covenant of Water. Am reading and enjoying the Mary Beard. One of my favorite big books is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@marnasorensen988 I’m really looking forward to both the Mary Beard and the Abraham Verghese books. I have not read Infinite Jest. What made it one of your favorites? I know many people who also really loved it.

[@marnasorensen988]

@BookChatWithPat8668 it was a wild ride; irreverent and profound.

[@kevintowle9665]

Awesome video Pat, and thanks for tagging me! I will work on this one, so fun! And look at you muscles! 💪

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Funny! You read a lot of big books, so I figured you might like to do this one. This one kind of cracked me up!🏋‍♀🏋‍♂🏋

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

Power book lifting! 💪 Native Son is an awesome book. I’m With the Banned should definitely consider it. I would reread.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Hi Greg. Thanks again for the tag. This one was really fun. Yes, I'm with the Banned might want to consider Native Son. That would be great.

[@bighardbooks770]

_First!_ Id like to read _Emperor of Rome,_ Ive heard so much about it. _Native Son_ really moved and affected me, greatly (what a wild novel)! 8:50 *Pat lifts her stack!* Cant hardly wait to revisit _The Bros K,_ w y'all 🎉

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@bighardbooks770 this was a lot of fun to do! 😉

[@helenclare3250]

Fun tag and great job lifting them! Big books scare me. Even breaking them down into parts. Maybe one day I'll tackle one or two.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Hi Helen. If a big book is great, then I love being immersed in it. If it's not, well, that's another story altogether. Les Miserables was unlike any other "big book" I'd ever read. The tag was a fun one, though. We'll see what I'm actually able to do. Merry Christmas, my friend.

[@muhlenstedt]

Body and mind so well trained! 😊🎉

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Thank you! Happy Holidays!

[@RandomReadingPathways]

I’ve had my eye on that copy of Doomsday Book for a while, might have to pick it up to check it out. I’ve read Passage by Connie Willis which was phenomenal and have a few more of hers on my TBR. Hope you enjoy all of those.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@RandomReadingPathways oh that’s good to know that you’ve enjoyed other books by Connie Willis. Thanks! 😊

[@Partyofone63]

Pat you will absolutely love The Covenant of Water, it was in my top three books last year.Enjoy the journey

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@Partyofone63 oh how wonderful!! Looking forward to it!

[@noteworthyfiction]

How fun! Those are some great choices (I own quite a few of them myself). Thanks for tagging me! I might have to do this one!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Hi Nicole. I thought that this would a perfect. tag for you! No pressure, of course, but it's a fun one. Happy Holidays, my friend!

[@noteworthyfiction]

@BookChatWithPat8668 same to you Pat!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@noteworthyfiction Thank you!

[@ffridiejr]

Solid lift. Good job!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@ffridiejr Thanks!! 😊

[@TriumphalReads]

Looking swole Pat ! Glad to see some ancient history in there too

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

You made me laugh, Justin! This was a lot of fun, and no pressure ever, but this is a perfect tag for you, my friend!

[@JamesRuchala]

Thanks for the tag! How has triumphal Justin not done this yet?

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

I don't know, but I've tagged him, and hopefully, he will do it too!

[@KCRReads]

Oh my gosh! My husband is a Joyce crazy person. A few years ago he read Finnegan's Wake and had a Companion book of some sort. I don't know that he enjoyed it but is happy he read it. I've read Portrait of the Artist and The Dead and that is as far as I have progressed with Joyce. I will be looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@KCRReads I will most likely get a companion book too! That’s how I read Ulysses three times too. I wish I could say I was feeling optimistic about FW, but….Well, we’ll see how it goes! I’m glad your husband was ultimately glad he read it!

[@paperpagespossibilities]

I love question 5 and kudos to you for keeping up a workout routine, I bet you put many beefy book lovers to shame!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@paperpagespossibilities thanks, Christina! Happy Holidays!

[@ellenmadebookclub]

What a fun tag! 😊 It was worth it just to hear you say Do you even lift bro? 😂 Great stack! I have no doubt you can get through all of them!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Hi Ellen! I cracked myself up with "Do you even lift, bro?"!! And yes, bro, I DO LIFT! I was just lifting at the gym this morning!

[@ellenmadebookclub]

@ 🏋️

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Absolutely!

[@booksoffthebeatenpath]

Great list! I adore Roy! Good luck with this challenge, but I know you will crush it ❤

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Thanks, Meg. It was a fun tag. Roy is a treasure, for sure! Happy Holidays, my friend.

[@StephaniePatterson-jb5it]

Honestly, you can an equivalent amount of lifting just by hoisting “Th e Collected Letters of Kingsley Ami’s and Philip Larkin” I use it when I need to work on my shoulders.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@StephaniePatterson-jb5it excellent suggestion! Thank you! Happy Holidays!

[@GenreBooks23]

Half of mine are on Kindle- this lifting will be a breeze :)

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@GenreBooks23 that just made me laugh out loud!

[@patriciah8579]

You go girl! 🎉📚

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@patriciah8579 we’ll see….😳

[@awebofstories]

I'm impressed that you can lift all those at once! I hope you enjoy The Doomsday Book! I read that years ago and really enjoyed it. Thanks for the tag!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Hi Melinda. I've heard great things about The Doomsday Book. No pressure on the tag, but it was a quick, fun one. Hope you've been having lovely holidays. Wishing you all that is good in the new year.

[@JessBookgirlTV]

😊

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Hi Jess!

[@AZsunflower]

Going to reread "East of Eden".

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Oh that’s a great one!

[@kavan30013]

Doomsday Book is an amazing read.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

That's good to hear! Thanks!

[@AaronReadABook]

Connie Willis is brilliant. Domesday book is a bit depressing but it is followed by a wonderful Victorian romp. The whole series is great though. She's also the person who has won the most Hugo and Nebula awards, which are the biggest awards in scifi, so a great person to check out on your SF journey.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@AaronReadABook excellent! Well, I guess I’ll just have to read beyond the first volume! Thanks, Aaron. I did not realize that she’d won more Hugo and Nebula Awards than anyone. Wow! That is quite a claim to fame!

[@stuartgriffin1001]

Interesting tag. You have some big books to read in 2025

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

We'll see what happens, Stuart....

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

Good luck with all those beefy books. Like you I have an ongoing Dickens challenge. The Pickwick Papers is one of the most humorous of Dickens novels, although at times it reads more like a collection of vignettes than a novel. The big books I plan to read in 2025 are Barnaby Rudge, which I have already started, Nicholas Nickleby, which will finish my quest to read all of Dickens' completed novels and Cryptonomicon, a weighty tome by Neal Stephenson, which I have twice DNFed in the past. Ulysees is a Joyce too far for me, I have no intention of reading Finnegan's Wake. I have a copy of the first volume of A La Recherche du Temps Perdu in French on my shelves, but I think it will stay on the shelf gathering dust, it has been a few years since I read a book in French. I also have vague plans to reread Moby Dick sometime in the year, but I don't have a full TBR for the year... heck, I don't have a TBR drawn up for January, yet!

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

I know what you mean: I’ve never planned out a year’s worth of reading ahead of time either. We’ll see where I get with Finnegans Wake. I am not at all convinced I’ll be able to stick with it. We’ll see…I am impressed that you can read whole novels in French. There was a time when I could read whole novels in Spanish, but I’ve mostly lost that ability over time….I haven’t read Nicholas Nickleby yet. One day….

[@Uncommon_Reader]

Hi Pat, I LOVED Verghese's book! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it. A female author I like for Sci-Fi is Martha Wells, she wrote The Murderbot Diaries, a series of short novels. I only read one but will continue the series soon. I also plan to read Pickwick Papers in 2025, found a Penguin edition in english at a local library here in Italy.. I'll put together a list for this, I know I'll be adding Shantaram to it, just got it for Christmas. This is a challenge I was already thinking about, I am usually scared of BLOCKS (this is how we call books over 400 pages in Italy.. is there a name in English too?) but need to get over it 😉

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

I’m glad to hear you loved Verghese’s novel. I hope I do too! I guess we have different nicknames for these really big books-bricks, chunkers, doorstops, mammoths-those are a few I’ve heard. 😊

[@LibroParadiso-ep4zt]

I've had Finnegan's Wake for over 35 years and I still haven't read it. Not even the great Anthony Burgess has convinced me to read it. Good luck, Pat:) Swann's Way I've read twice, but have not read the other volumes. One day I'll wake up and be in the mood and do it, until then, "goodnight, Swann." There is also a good film adaptation starring Jeremy Irons and Ornella Muti.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

I can't believe I've said yes to Finnegans Wake. I was adamantly saying no in the summer after the third go-around with Ulysses. I'm not committing to anything beyond Swann's Way at this point. We'll see how it goes....Wishing you all good reading in 2025!

[@LibroParadiso-ep4zt]

@@BookChatWithPat8668 One month into Finnegan's Wake..."Whatever happened to, Pat, Libro, haven't seen a video in weeks?" "She began reading Finnegan's Wake, James." "No!" "Yes." "Oh, no..." "Oh, yes."

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

@@LibroParadiso-ep4zt Oh no!!! Lol! Promise me that you'll come looking for me if that happens....😳

[@LibroParadiso-ep4zt]

@@BookChatWithPat8668 One Ranger, one posse!

[@troytradup]

I try to never say never myself, but I can honestly say NEVER! to Finnegan's Wake. Life is way too short for that. But enjoy! 😉

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

We'll see what happens....

[@RobertGReaderofBooks-r3p]

"Finnegan's Wake'?!?!?!? That way madness lies.

[@BookChatWithPat8668]

Right? It's the only Joyce I've never read and one I said I never would read. And then I allowed myself to get pulled in....We'll see how it goes. I love the people I'm reading it with, so I'm sure that that will help. Stay tuned....