Chesilbeach, the above is a list of the "doorstoppers" that I have read and that I can think of hand. I often get on a theme kick (i.e. India kick or Africa kick etc.) I loved Half of a Yellow Sun as I was in the mood for it especially after listening to an interview of Adichie.
The Poisonwood Bible was recommended to me by an art director of a New Mexico Museum, but I really did not pay too much attention to it as I thought it might be too religious for me. Silly me. Several months later (during an Africa kick), I picked it up and WOW! I absolutely loved it and could not put it down. It is written from several points of view which I thought might be too disruptive, but the way Kingsolver wrote it, this technique really works. I highly recommend it.
Are you an Ian McEwan fan? Above all, he is my most favourite writer. I am speaking stylistically. He absolutely writes the most beautiful prose. His subjects, however, are so, so dark I sometimes have trouble getting through his books. Oh well, can't have it all.