Pillars of the Earth

I've never read anything by Ken Follett before, but this book was recommended to me (by someone I don't know well). I tried to like it, I tried for about 100 pages, but I just couldn't get into it. The story is set during the 12th century in England, right around the time William the Conqueror dies. It focuses on a few different people - Tom the builder, Ellen (who might be a seeress), Monk Phillip, and some others. Everyone seems to be hungry and miserable, and there are a lot of mean people who want to hurt and/or kill other people. I wanted to like it, but it's just depressing. I'm usually a big fan of historical fiction, but I think this was just too... real for my tastes. Oh well, someone else out there might like it.

A Discovery of Witches

This is a really neat (and deeply researched) novel about witches and vampires (and demons) living among us, and also about history, evolution, and love. Diana Bishop is a direct descendant of a Salem witch, but ever since her parents' death when she was a child she's tried to turn her back on her magical powers. She's made her life with her intellect, and is a now a well-respected historian. But her discovery of an ancient manuscript - long considered lost - awakens the magic all around her, and what's inside her as well.

Enter Matthew Claremont, a 1,500-year-old vampire. Diana and Matthew find themselves drawn to each other, despite the fact that witches and vampires are historically enemies. The action that develops is fantastic, intriguing, and exciting and makes for a book that's hard to put down. The characters are well-developed and interesting too, and likeable in their humanity (well, except most of them aren't humans, they're witches and vampires and demons). Anyway.

The author, Deborah Harkness, is a historian, so she brings a lot of detail to the story. I found it interesting that she tossed out some or our usual assumptions about vampires: they won't burn in the sunlight, and they don't have fangs. I found it a little bit of a stretch that Matthew interacted with so many noted historical figures, but it didn't make me enjoy the novel less. I can't wait for the sequel!

A Discovery of Witches: A Novel

Talking to Girls About Duran Duran

If you are an 80's music lover - or just someone who came of age in the 1980's - then you'll really enjoy this book. The author, Rob Sheffield, is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a guy who was born around the same time I was, so much of what he wrote about really resonated with me, and was downright funny too.

Each chapter is named for an 80's tune, but that's really just a jumping-off point to talk about a topic that's semi-related. For instance, his chapter named after Haysi Fantayzee is mostly about the concept of the one-hit wonder (and has this great line: "The gods of pop music are fickle bastards.").

Sheffield has a lot of great stories and I found myself, again, reading whole sections to Mike, and also almost laughing out loud on the Metro. He's way more into music than I ever was - obviously, it's his life work - but because of the era he's talking about that's never an issue. This is just a really enjoyable book about growing up.

Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut