Books without End, Year of Slow Reading: The Book List
The book list isn’t going particularly well. My reading has slowed down to a veritable crawl and I’m finding it difficult to get motivated. I’ve now added another book to my “Currently Reading” list, the 1989 bestseller The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Last year’s World Without End was the sequel to this novel, which I am not finding as engaging as late-1980s readers did. Perhaps it’s because I already know a lot about medieval cathedrals and find the exposition of their setups mildly annoying and almost tangential as to what’s happening to the characters. It’s the clunky, jammed-in technical jargon that writers must find a interesting way to insert. So far, Ken Follett isn’t doing it for me. Let’s hope it picks up for here on end, but I’m not so sure. I’ve read good historical fiction and bad historical fiction. This is leaning towards the bad. However, that may be because of my knowledge in the area. Let’s just summarize by saying that this isn’t encouraging me to buy the sequel once I (perhaps) finish its predecessor.
I have ordered a few new books, though. I still have some “old” new books sitting on my shelves, including one by Geraldine Brooks. IP read it first and was horrified by how bad it was; I’ve read Brooks’ Year of Wonders and was less than impressed, but decided to give her a chance to see how she handles the rare book world. IP couldn’t believe that Brooks’ writing was ever good enough to win a Pulitzer, and while I saw some potential in Year of Wonders, it appears that I have another dud on my hands. Perhaps Brooks is suffering from a junior slump (since her sophomore effort produced a Pulitzer). I knew it, though — should’ve gone with March instead of being tempted by a story about rare books. However, rare book versus Civil War, rare book versus Civil War . . . the distant past will always win out for me. Anyway, I still have a biography on Katharine Hepburn to go, also; I found her autobiography to be funny, touching, refreshingly honest and a classic voice. I’m interested to see what another has to write about her.
The new books I’ve ordered came as recommendations from a friend. I don’t think they’ll be particularly challenging as one is a young adult book, but she told me that if I needed something similar to a Harry Potter fix, these books would approximate it. They’re being delivered today and will provide the distraction I need as I travel long distances for business once again. They will also, hopefully, help me as I wait for IP on the Big Island of Hawaii to begin our vacation (I arrive very early in the morning in Kona; IP arrives in the afternoon; I will attempt to get into my hotel room as early as possible, but I’m not sure how that’ll work).
Onto the book list:
Finished:
1) Flesh and Spirit: Private Life in Early Modern Germany by Steven E. Ozment
2) Women at the Beginning – Origin Myths from the Amazons to the Virgin Mary by Patrick J. Geary
3) Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
4) A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts by Robert Bolt
5) Lisey’s Story by Stephen King
6) 1776 by David McCullough
7) The Savage Detectives: A Novel by Roberto Bolaño (Translation by Natasha Wimmer)
8) The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
9) Duma Key by Stephen King
10) The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
11) Me by Katharine Hepburn
12) The Know-It-All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by A. J. Jacobs
Re-read:
Empty
Currently Reading:
1) The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
2) Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes by Eamon Duffy
3) The Aeneid by Virgil (Translation by Robert Fagles)
Waiting To Be Read (Already Purchased, Got as Gifts, Borrowed from My Boyfriend, or Otherwise Accessible without the Use of Funds, But Not an Assurance That I Will Read These Before I Buy More Books):
1) People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
2) Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn by William J. Mann
3) I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley
4) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5) The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel by Jasper Fforde
