Tackle Twelve - Spotlight on Read a Tome

As part of BPL’s Tackle Twelve promotion, 16 reading challenges have been issued. This week’s blog takes a closer look at ‘Read a Tome (500 Pages or More)' and offers up recommendations.

Roses by Leila Meacham

Having not married in spite of their true feelings, cotton tycoon Mary Toliver and timber magnate Percy Warwick struggle with deceit, secrets, and tragedies that challenge their children and grandchildren in their small east Texas community. 609 pages

The Passage by Justin Cronin

A security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment that only six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte can stop. 766 pages

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

Retells the legend of Arthur as perceived by Viviane (the Lady of the Lake and high priestess of Avalon), Arthur’s mother Igraine, his Christian wife Guinevere, and the sorceress Morgaine. 876 pages

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Follows the fates of five interrelated families – American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh – as they move through the dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage. 985 pages

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

It is 1866 and Walter Moody has come to stake his claim in New Zealand’s booming gold rush. On the night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of 12 local men who have met in secret to discuss a series of unexplained events. Moody is soon drawn into a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and ornate as the night sky. 830 pages

Natchez Burning by Greg Iles

Penn Cage must investigate when his father, a beloved family doctor and pillar of the community, is accused of murdering Violet Davis, the beautiful nurse with whom he worked in the dark days of the early 1960s. 788 pages

Tom Clancy Commander in Chief: A Jack Ryan Novel by Mark Greaney

With fifty thousand Russian troops poised to invade a NATO nation, can Jack Ryan move swiftly enough to stop (Russian president Valeri) Volodin’s grand plan of global conflict and conquest? 718 pages

Under the Dome by Stephen King

The small town of Chester’s Mill, Maine, is faced with a big dilemma when it is mysteriously sealed off by an invisible and completely impenetrable force field. 1,072 pages

The Woman Who Lost Her Soul by Bob Shacochis

When the humanitarian lawyer Tom Harrington travels to Haiti to investigate the murder of a beautiful photojournalist, he is confronted with a dangerous landscape of poverty, corruption, and voodoo. 713 pages

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Set in the late nineteenth century, this novel chronicles a cattle drive from Texas to Montana, and follows the lives of Gus, Cal, Lorena, and Blue Duck. 843 pages

This readers advisory brought to you by YA Librarian, Chris.