Task #16: Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman

[Renee]

Jubilee by Margaret Walker is excellent! It came out before Roots, I read it in the 70’s, it’s 528 pages, tells the story of the author’s ancestor, and is a worthwhile read.

[Emerging]

I have had The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher on my shelf for years and think I might pick it up for this task.

[kennedy]

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

[Mya]

Some titles on my to-read shelf that qualify.


The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (nonfiction by an author of color)

Success with the Gentle Art of Verbal Self-Defense by Suzette Haden Elgin (nonfiction by a white woman)

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (an author of color)

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh (speculative fiction by an author of color)

Hild by Nicola Griffith (historical fiction by a queer white author)

Carpentaria by Alexis Wright (an indigenous author)

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden (queer graphic novel)

A Thousand Forests in One Acorn: An Anthology of Spanish-Language Fiction, edited by Valerie Miles

Lilith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler (an author of color, this is a compendium of 3 books in one)

[Chickadee]

I'm going with A White House Diary

[Michelle (RavenLily)]

I will read The Black Witch

[Maryam]

I will read The Kingdom of Copper but any book by Samantha Shannon would count also if you are interested in fantasy.

The Bone Season
The Mime Order
The Song Rising
The Priory of the Orange Tree

[Nancy]

Came here to recommend my all-time favorite book, The Mists of Avalon - it's a retelling of the King Arthur story from the viewpoint of the women in the story

[Sarah]

I read A Little Life this year and really recommend it, but the subject matter is brutal. Am thinking of tackling Ducks, Newburyport this year- am I a masochist?

[Bonnie G.]

lol, I plan to read both A Little Life and Ducks this year, so if you are a masochist I am the literary equivalent of The Gimp in Pulp Fiction.

[Sarah]

haha buckle up Bonnie! it's going to be one hell of a year.

[Carolina]

Lynn wrote: "Am reading The Starless Sea and would heartily recommend it! Love Morgenstern's writing!"

I'm in the middle of this, and it's brilliant, but depending on how literal you want to take the challenge, this is a fraction under 500 pages.

[Stacy Renee]

I'm going to use this as an opportunity to read The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon or The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon!

[Sabrina]

I'm giving myself an extra challenge for this one and reading the longest post 1950 female author doorstopper on my TBR, which is either The Priory of the Orange Tree, or Queen of Air and Darkness, which is definitely longer but I don't think I'll have time to get through the dark artifices this year.

[Book Riot]

Happy New Year, everyone! Our rec post for this task is now live. https://bookriot.com/2020/01/02/1950-...

[Andrea]

I started reading The Great Alone and am really enjoying it! It's 549 pages ... just over the 500 page mark!

[Kelsey]

Andrea wrote: "I started reading The Great Alone and am really enjoying it! It's 549 pages ... just over the 500 page mark!" I just unexpectedly got this one for Christmas so looks like it will be my pick, too!

[Cheryl]

I was thinking about The Great Alone, but I think I'm going to go with Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko. I'm trying to choose as many books by Native American authors as possible to get more in touch with my own Native heritage.

[[deleted user]]

For those also doing the Reading Women Challenge (many categories overlap or are complementary), N. K. Jemisin's The Fifth Season should also count as an Afrofuturism novel written by a woman.

[Elise]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested Atlas Shrugged. 1957, and definitely a doorstopper.

Of course, Rand is also a nutter, so be sure to calculate that into your decisions!

[Elise]

Carolina wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Am reading The Starless Sea and would heartily recommend it! Love Morgenstern's writing!"

I'm in the middle of this, and it's brilliant, but depending on how literal you want to take the challenge, this is a fraction under 500 pages."

According to Goodreads' main page, it's 512. So I think you're good!

[Carolina]

Elise wrote: "Carolina wrote: "Lynn wrote: "Am reading The Starless Sea and would heartily recommend it! Love Morgenstern's writing!"

I'm in the middle of this, and it's brilliant, but depending..."

Oh ok fair enough. My copy has 498 pages. Enjoy!

[Wendy]

These Truths, Jill Lepore

[Tammy]

I'm reading The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. Of course it's 499 pages! It does definitely count for the non WWII historical fiction task, though, and is quite enjoyable, though a bit weird.

[BookWormBen]

Does The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern count for this challenge? It is approximately 512 pages long and published last year.

[Vicki]

I’m reading The Last Tudor by Philippe Gregory. I do love her as an author and enjoy the Bibliography at the end of each novel.

[Hope]

Wondering if it’s a stretch to include the epilogue in the final page count? Carry On by Rainbow Rowell is 492 pp without the epilogue and 517 with.

[Emily]

In addition to Doomsday Book, which has been mentioned, Connie Willis has written some other books fitting this prompt, including:

To Say Nothing of the Dog (much, much lighter and sillier than Doomsday Book)

Passage (my personal favorite of the three, although it deals a lot with death and what happens after and may not be for everyone!)

[Linda]

Elise wrote: "I'm surprised nobody has suggested Atlas Shrugged. 1957, and definitely a doorstopper.

Of course, Rand is also a nutter, so be sure to calculate that into your decisions!"

LOL! I'm NOT surprised at all!

[Chrissy]

Hope wrote: "Wondering if it’s a stretch to include the epilogue in the final page count? Carry On by Rainbow Rowell is 492 pp without the epilogue and 517 with."

The epilogue is part of the story, no? And you read it? This isn’t even a stretch to me.

[Brandi Rae]

I'm going with Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for this one. On the app, Goodreads has it listed as 477 pages, but the paperback copy in my hands has 588 pages, sooo....

[KLC]

I've been wanting to read A Little Life for a long time and I finally picked it up from the library today!

Side story: I live in Kentucky and I've always known it to be lacking in diversity, education, and general open-mindedness, but I was actually astonished that none of the librarians had ever heard of this book. They were all nice and extremely helpful, but come on.

[Jessica]

Clan of the Cave Bear has been on my list forever. But it is just shy of 500pgs URGH!

[Ann]

Night Film by Marisha Pessl is an interesting suspense/thriller I’d recommend it’s almost 600 pgs

[Elise]

Jessica wrote: "Clan of the Cave Bear has been on my list forever. But it is just shy of 500pgs URGH!"

Depends on the version. Considering that there's at least one version that's over 500 (https://www.amazon.com/Clan-Cave-Eart...), I say it counts.

[Lauconn]

Linda wrote: "Elise wrote: "I'm surprised nobody has suggested Atlas Shrugged. 1957, and definitely a doorstopper.

Of course, Rand is also a nutter, so be sure to calculate that into your decisions!"..."

HA! The Fountainhead, to me anyway, was nominally less painful than Atlas Shrugged, but that's not really saying very much.

[Sarah]

Can we all agree that it counts if Goodreads says it's over 500 pages OR if the copy we have is over 500 pages?

[KLC]

Sarah wrote: "Can we all agree that it counts if Goodreads says it's over 500 pages OR if the copy we have is over 500 pages?"

Good enough for me.

[Renee]

I’m reading The Weight of Ink, by Rachel Kaddish, it’s fairly new, a cache or papers from the 1660’s is found by a couple renovating their British home. The story goes back and forth between the timeline of the papers, which document Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal, and the academics who initially translate the cache.

[KLC]

Renee wrote: "I’m reading The Weight of Ink, by Rachel Kaddish, it’s fairly new, a cache or papers from the 1660’s is found by a couple renovating their British home. The story goes back and forth between the ti..."

I've never heard of it, but that sounds really interesting.

[Caitlin]

I recommend "Blonde" by Joyce Carol Oates! I read it last year and it was a really fascinating read about Marilyn Monroe. Plus, there's a movie adaptation coming out so you can have an informed opinion on if the book is better than the movie.

[Gwyneth]

I just sorted my books list by page length, and came up with some other recommendations:

Life After Life - one of my all-time favorites
Crooked Kingdom - Another favorite. If you haven't read this yet, what are you waiting for? her newest, King of Scars, would also qualify
The Paying Guests
The Mirror & the Light - can't wait to read this!
The Dovekeepers - Cutting it close, but Goodreads has it as 504 pages, and it'a wonderful novel.
Children of Blood and Bone - I just thought it was OK, but I know it's on a lot of people's TBR list
The Fountains of Silence - the latest from Ruta Sepetys

[Jessica]

Sarah wrote: "Can we all agree that it counts if Goodreads says it's over 500 pages OR if the copy we have is over 500 pages?"

Ahh perfect. In doing my searches I was wondering why I kept seeing a few (e.g. Americanah) that Goodreads said were under 500 but kept getting on this list. That's why!

I have a bunch on my potentials list that were not yet listed here (I think). A bunch are non-fic/memoir.
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir
"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide
Middlegame
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
The Women's War
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate
The Casual Vacancy)

[Bonnie G.]

I swore this was going to be my push to read A Little Life but then I was visiting my sister and needed a book and The Paying Guests audiobook was sitting there waiting for me so I listened to that (also for the historical fiction prompt) and now I have launched on to Ducks, Newburyport (a true doorstopper at over 1000 pages) and I still REALLY want to read my intended book. Looks like its going to be a year filled with long books.

[Sarah]

Has anyone read The Eighth Life by Nino Haratishvili? A German colleague recommended it, it's won tons of award but only just been translated into English. It's a beast at 900+ pages.

[Bookstacksandalatte]

I've read it before and I'll love reading it again. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, first published in 1982 and well over 500 pages.

[Brittany]

I read A Court of Thorns and Roses last year and I always have a hard time fitting in sequels with all the challenges I do so I’m going to most likely use this prompt to read A Court of Mist and Fury.

[Michelle (RavenLily)]

Sharon wrote: "I've read it before and I'll love reading it again. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, first published in 1982 and well over 500 pages."

Another good Aurthurian book from a woman's pov, written by a woman, published in 2019, and over 500 pages is The Lost Queen

[Siobhan]

I'm reading Jade War but if you haven't read the first book in that series (Jade City) it would also count and you absolutely should.

[Melissa]

Stacy Renee wrote: "I'm going to use this as an opportunity to read The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon or The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon!"


I am going to read this too :) I changed my mind from These Truths. In a Goodreads group called Nothing but Reading Challenges, there is a buddy read link for Priory. A group of us are going to read it for the month of February. If you are interested, the link is:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...