Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year's Reading

I was asked what I would be reading over the New Year holiday and the question gave me pause. Should I begin a new book on New Year's Day to inaugurate a new year of reading, or should I continue a book I am currently enjoying, linking the old year with the new? Midwinter calls for stories, I find, especially at night, and the novel I have begun, Ken Follett's World Without End is just the thing. This is a sequel to Pillars of the Earth, about the building of a Gothic cathedral in England in the 11th century, and centers on the same fictional town, Kingsbridge, and the community surrounding the town, the cathedral, and the monastery. The structure of both novels is an assemblage of intertwined stories about the different people who live, work, love, and fight as time passes. World Without End takes place two hundred years later, allowing Follett to link descendants of the original story to events happening in the 13th century. It is very satisfying and I think I will read this tonight and perhaps start some new book tomorrow. Happy New Year everyone!

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