Ken Follett

[Cosima___J]

Are there any Ken Follett fans out there?

(I was prompted to add this thread when I read the quote in another thread that said "Dostoyevsky is much better than Ken Follett." To which I would add "Yes of course, Dostoyevsky is one of the all-time greats! I've read The Brothers Karamazov at least 4 times)

So OK, Follett is no Dostoyevsky. But nevertheless he's an entertaining writer. I couldn't take a steady diet of Dostoyevsky-like intensity.

Right now I'm reading Follett's "Fall of Giants", which is the first of a trilogy about the 20th century.

I very much enjoyed his "The Pillars of the Earth" which took place in 12th century England and the follow up book "World Without End" set in the same English town two centuries later.

[ravel30]

Are there any Ken Follett fans out there?

(I was prompted to add this thread when I read the quote in another thread that said "Dostoyevsky is much better than Ken Follett." To which I would add "Yes of course, Dostoyevsky is one of the all-time greats! I've read The Brothers Karamazov at least 4 times)

So OK, Follett is no Dostoyevsky. But nevertheless he's an entertaining writer. I couldn't take a steady diet of Dostoyevsky-like intensity.

Right now I'm reading Follett's "Fall of Giants", which is the first of a trilogy about the 20th century.

I very much enjoyed his "The Pillars of the Earth" which took place in 12th century England and the follow up book "World Without End" set in the same English town two centuries later.

I own a copy of the "Pillars of the earth" and I always wanted to give it a read. Now I am totally convinced. Thank you Cosima_J.

Oh and I own a copy of crime and punishment since I am 16 and I still have to read it.

Matt.

[HoustonDavid]

Cosi (and Matt), I have been a fan of Follett for years and thought he outdid himself
with "Pillars of the Earth" and have "World Without End" waiting on my shelf until I
finish a major project. It is long and complicated (which I love in books), so it needs
more attention than I can give it right now.

My project is a major digitizing of some 2000 family photographs, some going back to
the 19th century. As anyone familiar with disasters of family consequence, the first
thing people agonize over the loss (after life, of course) is family pictures. Digitizing
them and distributing digital copies to family members at least gives them a chance
of surviving a few generations.

I have divided them into what amounts to records much like genealogical histories,
family trees of photographs. All of which led me to gather additional family information
via Ancestry.com, and now I am in the midst of going back through the centuries to
follow various major family branches to their ultimate conclusion.

Which brings me back to Ken Follett, whose "Pillars of the Earth" takes place in 12th
Century England. I can now do him one better: my father's blood line (Thurston) is well
documented back to that time with historic speculation of ancestors going back to 1066
(hugely important in English history, the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest
of Saxon England).

My adopted father's "Sherman" ancestors date back to the 13th Century as well, and are
also well documented. Of course it helps to have relatives on both sides who had money
to invest in genealogy and hence make it easy for me to find their trail at Ancestry, but it
is a subject many people have spent their lifetimes delving into, and I have only been at
it for a couple of weeks!! Still, it was fun and exceptionally informative, needless to say.

Is anyone else here at CMG into genealogical research? I'm sure you are out there some-
where and it might be fun to compare notes. Ken Follett has all the historic details, but
I have the documented ancestors, heraldic flags and all, to go with mine. I'll be done in
a few weeks, I hope, and will get back to more regular posting here at CMG. I'm lurking
but not contributing much, so you'll have to forgive my temporary absence.

David "Le Shearman" (1300's) Sherman

[Cosima___J]

David, hurry and finish your project so you can read "Fall of Giants" and can start posting more often at CMG.

By the way, your project sounds really fantastic. I remember the Battle of Hastings (I mean, I wasn't there of course ). I love English history and that was a tremenduously important event. So maybe one of your ancestors fought there! Cool!

[Guitarist]

Oh and I own a copy of crime and punishment since I am 16 and I still have to read it. Matt.

It's a must-read! I'm teaching it to my AP seniors at the moment--most just love it. It's not an easy read due to its depth and intensity, but that is what makes it so great!

[HoustonDavid]

I did manage to finish Ken Follett's "World Without End", the sequel to "Pillars of
the Earth", which covers a period 200 years later. The church is still standing and
a variety of characters interact in and around the cathedral, as could be expected.
The 1300's is the time of King Richard III, famous in Shakespeare for the "Band of
Brothers" speech and the defeat of the French at Agincourt.

Turns out the English weren't quite as successful with the remainder of their campaign
in France. The plot is relatively predictable, more-so than I thought was necessary to
move it along, but Follett keeps dropping tidbits of interesting history along the way,
which I do enjoy in a fictional setting since I am too lazy in my retirement to do any
serious research outside that which I had an immediate part in, such as the invention
of the wheel and the origin of Pythagorean mathematics.

I do recommend the book especially to those who read and enjoyed "Pillars of the Earth".
I have a strong suspicion that his publishers will twist Follett's arm for another sequel,
which, predictably, will be again set 200 years into the "future", the 1500's, which as
other history buffs will bear out, is the lovely age of Good Queen Elizebeth I and William
Shakespeare.