This month, I succumbed to marketing. I'd seen multiple copies of Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth
around my used book store, trumpeting the new miniseries. Ken Follett seemed like such a familiar name, but I'd never read any of his stuff. So I figured, what the heck?

Well, heck. This sprawling novel plays out like a Behind the Music episode. The good guys get ahead, then SLAM! back to square one they go, over and over and over again. Yet good triumphs over evil in the end.

I was not particularly enamored with the writing in this book. Follett maintains a third-person omniscient perspective throughout, which I found somewhat tedious. "He said," "she thought," etc. It just seemed a bit wooden. The dialogue is a bit too "modern" to really sell the story as a period piece, despite the obvious efforts Follett made to tie the story into real history from the 12th century.

Still, I'm an easy audience. Despite the rather ludicrous Series of Unfortunate Events that befalls the lead characters, and the inevitable triumphs that bring them back from the brink time and again, I found myself fairly engaged. If you enjoy learning a few tidbits about early English history, the Catholic Church, architecture and the building trades, then maybe this novel is right up your alley. It was interesting enough for me to finish in fairly short order, despite its hefty 1,007 page length.

What are you reading?