Daily Archives: December 20, 2012

Three Books At One Time

Posted on by

I am the original “pick it up, and read it right through, one book at a time” girl.  I’ll start a book and be unable to put it down, staying up way too late into the night just to see how it ends.  I know I’ll be a wreck the next day, but I cannot reason with myself and PUT THE BOOK DOWN!

I’ve been reading “Fall of Giants” by Ken Follett.  It’s full of the details leading to WW I, and despite the fact that it is based on fictional characters, it’s still slow going, trying to understand all of the interactions between countries.  It’s a period where major change is going to take place politically and socially, and Follett has an amazing amount of information to share.

When I was about a quarter of the way into “Fall of Giants,” a shipment of books arrived from Amazon.  I wasn’t going to order any more books.  I was going to use the public library more.  I didn’t want to have to box up more books!  I couldn’t resist.  I picked up Donna Leon’s new book, “Jewels of Paradise.” and waded in!

I was at least halfway through that book when I needed to take Dear Husband to physical therapy, and I couldn’t lay my hands on the book.  One of the “Inn Boonsboro” trilogy from Nora Roberts was, though, so I had THREE books going at one time.

Okay, I’ve finished two of the “Inn Boonsboro” books, and I’m well into the third.  By the end of the weekend, I should be down to two books.  If it wasn’t for gift wrapping, I might even finish the Donna Leon book, too! *G*  GIft wrapping is important, and it can be fun.  It’s part of our celebration of the season, and I really don’t mind.  The books will hold.

I think the next book I need to read, and use, is Ina Garten’s “Foolproof Recipes.”  That woman knows how to cook, and how to entertain!  I need to take lessons!

 

 

World War I

Posted on by

It seems to me that World War I is surprisingly present in my thoughts these days,so much so that I’d be interested to read more on the history of the time.  It started when I began watching the second season of “Downton Abbey.” The story opens with both servants and the upper class going off to war.  The Abbey is turned into a convalescent home, and the kitchen participates in a soup kitchen for soldiers who have returned and cannot support themselves.

World War I appeared the second time this month in the book “Fall of Giants,” by Ken Follett.  I’ve enjoyed his historical novels set in earlier centuries, so I thought I might like this story, which opens just prior to the start of the war.  It’s fascinating to read that the war could have easily been averted, but previous treaties funneled Europe and Russia into a conflagration that covered more than Europe.  I’m barely a third of the way into the book, and the war is about to start.  I’m confident that I will learn a lot about the war, and Follett may give me enough information to know what else I might want to read.

The last of the appearances of WW I came when my husband who is recuperating from knee surgery and trying to find something on TV that he can bear to watch, turned on “War Horse.”   It’s an amazing story, parts of which are very difficult to watch.  In one scene, the horse is tangled in concertina wire in the no-man’s land between the English and the Germans.

I wonder why there is so much focus on this period of history right now?

I hope, as I work my way into “retirement” that I will be able to make the time to read more history.  I’m particularly interested in the period from 1750 to WW II.  These fictional histories have whet my appetite for the information I missed when I studied history at school, low those many years ago.