august: 24 & 25

i read two long books this month - both of which i really liked!

the pillars of the earth, by ken follett (okay, this book was really hard to put down.  and i thought about it a LOT when i wasn't reading it.  i'd wanted to read this book for a while, but its length really deterred me.  do not let it deter you!  it's very much worth it, and an easy read, though you'll be reading it for a while.  i know more now about the 12th century in england than i had ever cared to know, but it was really interesting - follett captures what life was like then in a way i found both intriguing and believable.  tangent time: when we were going through all my grandma's old pictures, we found an album of photos that my grandpa took when he was in europe for world war 2.  including this photo that we believe he took on d-day (!!) - he landed at utah beach:

we also found this photo of him in front of a gorgeous building:

i decided it was a cathedral, and my sister's boyfriend googled "european cathedrals" and then clicked on images...and we found this about 30 seconds later.  (my grandpa was stationed in england before d-day.)  the building of wells cathedral began in the 12th century, so i felt like i knew ALL ABOUT IT from reading pillars of the earth.  the moral of the story: this book was definitely good for something, in addition to being a great read.  i also now i have a new place i need to visit the next time i go to england!)

11/22/63, by stephen king (the premise: a man goes back in time to try to stop the kennedy assassination.  great premise!  and i knew i liked king's writing...and this wasn't going to be a horror story like many of his books are, so that was a plus.  VERY interesting and imaginative and i love the way the time travel works in the book.  i'd really recommend it!  again, it's a long one but it went very quickly because i enjoyed it so much.)


now i'm reading a book that i am NOT running home to read, even though it IS good.  ugh.  i take these pageturners for granted when i'm reading them...this book that i'm currently reading is making me appreciated august's reading even more than i did when i was immersed in it.