Summer Reads

This summer I have read 3 books (Kindle Edition) - Ken Follett’s first two books in the Century of Giants Trilogy and Diana Gabaldon’s first book in her Outlander Series.

Starting with Ken Follett’s - I like Ken Follett and read almost all of his good books and brilliant books like “Eye of the Needle” and “The Pillars of the Earth”. I had postponed buying Ken Follett’s “Fall of Giants” for some time as was not keen on war story. I eventually bought a kindle edition in December last year. Once I started I could not put the book down. Although it’s gigantic (glad I have kindle!) and involved numerous characters –it’s never repetitive or boring. I have learnt much, much more about the Great War. The author provided readers with viewpoints from all sides. This one is almost on par with The Pillars. And although it is the first one in the trilogy there is no cliff hanger. However, I bought the second book immediately after the first one was finished. 

“Winter of the World” is about World War 2. It is also good but not as brilliant as the first book – a bit like reading “World without End” after The Pillars where the sequel is a bit pale compared to the first book. The story in this book carries on from the first one with the next generation of the characters in Fall of Giants but the politics were darker and personal agendas more malevolent. The aftermath was more devastated because of the technology. I am now looking forward to the final instalment “Edge of Eternity” in 2014!

Diana Gabaldon’s Cross-Stitch – What would I say? I was lent this book by a friend of a friend who wanted to start me on her favourite author when she learnt that I like reading. It was very sweet of her but sadly, this book is not my cup of tea ( I abandoned the printed version for the kindle one after the first 10 pages – the book is huge). While I found the main plot interesting, the story is too repetitive and drawn out and some events do not add anything to the book apart from sex scenes. I also found that ‘written’ Scottish accent was quite annoying when used over and over. 

Some of my friends could not read past the first few pages of The Pillars while I still think it is one of the best fictions I have ever read. And the same friend just loves Amy Tan as much as I do – so one book does not suit everybody. Like a lot of readers, I often read reviews on Amazon before buying a book, both negatives and positives of course. They also allow comments on reviews and I am rather amused to see a lot of people hurling abuses when there are negative reviews on their beloved books or authors. People have different views and tastes on books so be open-minded about it.

Note: Photo of “Fall of Giants” is from Amazon