Five days left. June went by pretty fast. Now I'm kinda getting sad to see the old site go.
I finished The Pillars of the Earth a couple of days ago. Wow, what a long book! But fascinating. It takes place in the 1100's and the story mostly focuses on the events surrounding a priory in south western England and their cathedral project. The political, cultural, economical and religious descriptions are engaging and informative. And the plot is epic. For a reference think of the setting and politics of Braveheart. Then put those politics on steroids and add the Church into the mix. Then move it into a slightly more economically sound setting than the rocky highlands of Scotland. Now you are getting close. But instead of Scottish rebellion you have a Prior's attempt at building a cathedral when all his neighbors are conspiring against him. Good stuff.
One down side is that the author is a little too graphic for my tastes when it comes to the smoochy smoochy parts. I can see where it was necessary in places but I think he showed himself to be a little too interested in the details, if you know what I mean. If you have ever read John Jakes' North and South trilogy you will know what I am talking about.
For the last three days I read the book I would dream about the world and characters of the book except that I would dream that I was reading it. or I guess it would be better said, in my dream I was reading the book, except that what I was reading was my own additions to the story. Which was weird because it was like I had my dream published. That is what comes of reading a book until three in the morning several nights in a row.
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A game in which players toss a jackknife in various prescribed ways, with the object being to make the blade stick firmly into the ground. [From the phrase mumble the peg, from the fact that originally the loser had to pull up with the teeth a peg driven into the ground.]
5 comments:
I read that book last month, and enjoyed it also. It wasn't earth shattering, but quite interesting/fascinating. And I would dream about the characters also! I really missed them for a few days after I finished it!
I don't know how much of the graphic stuff was necessary or not, but it did make me realize how differently our culture functions(generally) in that respect, and how matter-of-fact that stuff was in that time period. Definitely different from the prude Victorians!
Well, that assumes he was accurate in regard to his portrayal of love in the 12th century. I don't doubt the terrible stuff, but I wonder if he went a little to far into Fabio-land with the "good" stuff. Actually, it wasn't so much what happened that bothered me, it was how often he went down that road to communicate the love between the characters. A nice Tiddly Winks scene or a romantic game of chess would have been nice.
I'm just glad to know that now that the blog is in its last death throws, I find someone else on here is literate.
You can count on Elizabeth to class up the joint.
wouldn't the format of the blog presuppose that those who participate are literate? I guess you could just infer the topic from the pictures, but then it would be hard to comment.
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