Pre-registration for the Doorstopper Challenge is open!
We are constantly inundated with ads, algorithms, and video clips that seem to get shorter over time.
Adult patrons this autumn have a chance to take a break from the swirl of snippets from the 24-hour news cycle and curl up with a Doorstopper for a chance to win gift cards from local businesses. Under these circumstances, a Doorstopper refers to “a book so thick and heavy that it can be used as a Doorstopper” (“All the Tropes”, 2026). These immersive gems come in many genres. Doorstoppers range from recent releases, such as Kathryn Stockett’s The Calamity Club at 640 pages and science fiction author Matt Dinniman’s A Parade of Horribles at 766 pages to Leo Tolstoy’s classic, War and Peace at a whopping 1,200 pages (depending on translation and edition).
Patrons who read one Doorstopper between October 1 – November 15th can enter for a chance to enter the drawings for a $50 Mario Fazio’s or Viridian Bookshop gift card. Doorstoppers should be at least 500 pages and/or be 2 inches in thickness in regular or large print. Patrons have an opportunity to sign up for the challenge on Beanstack or use a manual log.
Participants are also invited to the Doorstopper Wrap-Up Party on Monday, November 9 at the Administration building from 6:30 PM- 8:00 PM. Light snacks will be served.
The Doorstopper Challenge is generously sponsored by the W-E Library Boosters.
Need help choosing a Doorstopper? Below is a list of Doorstoppers released in 2025 and 2026, as well as some websites that will take you to other lists of Doorstoppers, both old and new.
1.) The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown
2.) The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
3.) Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab
5.) Workhorse by Carolina Palmer
6.) By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
7.) Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros
8.) It Happened on the Lake by Lisa Jackson
9.) Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age by Ibram X. Kendi
10.) The Boleyn Secret by Alison Weir
- https://beta.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenge_prompts/ccfa2853-4aec-452b-8786-770bb29c0fc1
- https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Doorstopper
- https://www.goodreads.com/blog/show/3087-100-doorstopper-books-to-level-up-your-spring-reading
