The Pillars of the Earth
Last month I read The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. For several years I've noticed that The Woolery sells this book as one that spinners, weavers, and knitters might enjoy, and I wondered why as I knew it was historical fiction about cathedral-building in the 12th century. Now I get it - one of the female characters, Aliena, rebuilds her fortunes by buying and selling wool, weaving it into cloth, then felting it. But that's a minor part of this thick book.
The plot in a nutshell: three men desire to build a large, beautiful cathedral in Kingsbridge, England. Prior Philip, Tom Builder, and Tom's step-son Jack Jackson manage to succeed in getting the cathedral built, despite many obstacles including war, the bitter hatred of various clergymen and earls, fires, death, political intrigue, economic downturns, and other calamities that I've forgotten by now.
This was a page-turner, and I'm looking forward to reading the not-really-a-sequel, World without End.
Labels: books
posted by Laura at
2:03 PM
7 Comments:
Oh, I loved Pillars of the Earth!!
And just picked up World Without End, at that small library in Ball Ground I talked about.
There's enough Follett that I have read to keep my busy for several years to come.
I have Pillars of the Earth and World Without End on my TBR list. Thanks for the review.
I was so surprised at how fast a read this one was considering its size. I am glad to hear you enjoyed it. IT was quite good!
I just recently bought this book so I'm glad to read a favorable review of it. Also glad that it's reqads quickly for such a large book.
(found review on Semicolon). I read this book several years ago and remember really liking it despite the length. I received World Without End for Christmas, but its length is a little intimidating.
I LOVED Pillars of the Earth, and am now reading World Without End. While the storytelling is good, I'm a bit disappointed with some of the storylines. In fact I've gotten so disappointed I've put it down for the last couple of weeks unable to pick it back up. I'm afraid he's bowing to some real "modern" takes on medieval life, which is unfortunate.
Perhaps I'll start reading it again and get a review up in the next week or so. I'm about 1/2 way through it.
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