Reading Matters

I’m slightly late with this post, given we’re more than halfway through December, but for those of you participating in Laura Tisdall’s Doorstoppers in December, I thought I would compile a list of chunksters I’ve reviewed on this site that might whet your appetite. And even if you are not participating, there may be something here to pique your interest for another time.

Admittedly, my reading preferences tend towards the shorter novel (or novella) — books that are around the 250-300 page mark are the sweet spot for me. But every now and then, I do like to get stuck into something more substantial and whenever I read a big novel I wonder why I don’t read more of them. They tend of be wholly immersive, perhaps because they depict lives and characters in exacting detail.

So here’s a small handful of doorstoppers I’ve loved. As ever, they have been arranged in alphabetical order by author’s name — just click the title to see my full review:

‘The Crimson Petal and the White’ by Michel Faber (833 pages)

One of the best books I have ever read — and potentially my favourite published in the 21st century — this epic tale is about a prostitute’s rise and fall in Victorian England. As you might expect, given the subject matter, it’s lewd and bawdy, gritty and real, but its depiction of the sordid, carnal world of an 1870s streetwalker is absolutely compelling. Highly recommended!