The Golden Notebook

In "The Golden Notebook", Anna is a writer who has written one wildly popular novel and now maintains four notebooks. In a black-covered book, she discusses her previous year in Africa and the details of her literary life. In a crimson notebook, she chronicles her political life and disenchantment with communism. Next, she creates a yellow book in which the protagonist of the story relives a portion of her own experiences. Then, in the blue book, she maintains a personal journal about daily events in her life. Anna, attracted to an American author and faced with insanity, attempts to bind the four novels into a single golden notebook.

This ambitious novel by Doris Lessing is regarded as one of the finest literary masterpieces of the mid-twentieth century, and a seminal text of the women's revolution of the 1960s. Passionate, sincere, and innovative in its structure, "The Golden Notebook" is indeed a foundational work that leaves a lasting impression on the reader. It is one of the best feminist books to read.

Author: Doris Lessing

Year of Release: 1962

Goodreads Score: 3.76 stars (from 21,116 reviews)