First, a sidenote: When I was in Barcelona in 2006 I went to check out the Sagrada Familia Basilica. Fun fact: it was designed by Antony Gaudi, began construction in 1882 and has an anticipated completion date of 2026.
I only bring that up because I can kind of understand Ken Follet's obsession with cathedrals. I mean, I was at Sagrada Familia for maybe an hour five years ago and I can still remember those facts. If you haven't read the book, it's set in England in the 12th century, and is basically a story about the building of a cathedral. And lets face it, building a cathedral is no ordinary task. The book is full of detail about how to build a cathedral, should you feel the urge.
The Pillars of the Earth is an entertaining read without being amazing. I was suprised to see how divided people are about it on Goodreads. It seems to be a book you either love or hate, which makes me in the minority, because I have absolutely no strong feelings about it either way. Yes the characters were pretty generic, and I was getting a bit tired by about the 800 page mark (it's an epic tale), but I still enjoyed it.
On a completely unrelated topic, I also read The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and I'm annoyed for two reasons: it turns out it wasn't on my list, AND I didn't like it at all. If you've read it can you please explain what the attraction to this story is because I just do not get it.
I loved this book. Mostly because I love a good villain and he JUST WON'T DIE! Obviously it's not the best literature ever written, but the story had me completely absorbed. I haven't read the 'sequel' but have a copy on my TBR shelf I'd like to get to one day. Have you seen how enormous his latest one is?
ReplyDeleteI haven't! But I can imagine.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, William was a slippery customer. He was my favourite character in a way. I liked that Remegius redeemed himself too.
so this is one i bought about three years ago because someone raved about it, and which i still haven't gotten around to reading.
ReplyDeleteyour review has made me decide to persist in my current noncommital behavior. ha.
You know what? It would be a great holiday read. It's entertaining without being challenging.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this book, but then and did notice that it is one of those books where people are divided about it - that love hate thing.
ReplyDeleteAs for Kafka...I get what your saying. I can't understand how something so simple could be discussed so much.