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The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett. Great historical novels! There is a lot of information on the politics of religion in that time, and how religion was involved in medicine and the state of healing, if you can call it that. These were two of the best novels I have ever read, and I read more than fifty per year.
Pillars of the Earth
In a time of civil war, famine and religious strife, there rises a magnificent Cathedral in Kingsbridge. Against this backdrop, lives entwine: Tom, the master builder, Aliena, the noblewoman, Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge, Jack, the artist in stone and Ellen, the woman from the forest who casts a curse. At once, this is a sensuous and enduring love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age.
On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.
As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.
Thank you all for such great suggestions on reading. I will do search on each book you guys mentioned. I hope to find a place where i can buy them the cheapest, 2nd hand, etc.
Thanks again. I see lots of reading ahead.
Just a side note, i'm reading "Political Zoo" by Michael Savage. It's hysterical!
Well, since you asked, Mark Twain lived and wrote in the American west at the same time as Bret Harte, and Jack London, most folks don't think of him as a writer of westerns, but, he wrote one, called Roughing It, and it is a really good read. His take on the american west is unlike any other western writer. But, then again, his perspective has always been a bit peculiar, therein lies his charm.
Well, since you asked, Mark Twain lived and wrote in the American west at the same time as Bret Harte, and Jack London, most folks don't think of him as a writer of westerns, but, he wrote one, called Roughing It, and it is a really good read. His take on the american west is unlike any other western writer. But, then again, his perspective has always been a bit peculiar, therein lies his charm.
Roughing It is one of my favorite books!
But it's not a western as much as a semi-fictional memoir of when he was traveling and working in the West. In this book, Twain describes his meeting with Brigham Young while traveling through Salt Lake - fascinating!
Location: In the North Idaho woods, still surrounded by terriers
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sanspeur
The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett. Great historical novels! There is a lot of information on the politics of religion in that time, and how religion was involved in medicine and the state of healing, if you can call it that. These were two of the best novels I have ever read, and I read more than fifty per year.
Pillars of the Earth
In a time of civil war, famine and religious strife, there rises a magnificent Cathedral in Kingsbridge. Against this backdrop, lives entwine: Tom, the master builder, Aliena, the noblewoman, Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge, Jack, the artist in stone and Ellen, the woman from the forest who casts a curse. At once, this is a sensuous and enduring love story and an epic that shines with the fierce spirit of a passionate age.
On the day after Halloween, in the year 1327, four children slip away from the cathedral city of Kingsbridge. They are a thief, a bully, a boy genius and a girl who wants to be a doctor. In the forest they see two men killed.
As adults, their lives will be braided together by ambition, love, greed and revenge. They will see prosperity and famine, plague and war. One boy will travel the world but come home in the end; the other will be a powerful, corrupt nobleman. One girl will defy the might of the medieval church; the other will pursue an impossible love. And always they will live under the long shadow of the unexplained killing they witnessed on that fateful childhood day.
I loved Pillars of The Earth...but could not stay interested in World Without End. I'm not sure why. It seemed disjointed to me. But Follett is always a great read!
How about a short commercial about a book I've co-authored with a full blooded Lakota (Sioux) Native American pastor who lives on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of SD? The book was just released by the publisher.
It is the story of Darrell New Plenty Stars' life from abandonment as a infant, through the Vietnam War--where he was critically wounded, awaking shackled to a US prisoner of war cot having been mistaken for the enemy, returned to the Rez filled with hate wanting only to kill those he regarded as his enemies. It was 1973 during the standoff between militants with the American Indian Movement and government agents at Wounded Knee. Soon after, on a cold snowy night Darrell was drawn to the Lord. He has now served for over 35 years as a shepherd-pastor to his people.
You can read more about the author in our book, From the Flames of Wounded Knee to the Center of God'sWill. on our website: [URL="http://www.GodLovesNativeAmericans.org"]www.GodLovesNativeAmericans.org[/URL].
As an interesting sidelight, Darrell's great grandfather, Red Fish, was among some 300 Indians massacred at Wounded Knee in 1890. Fourteen years before that, Red Fish took part in the Battle of the Little Big Horn when Custer stage his last attack on an Indian village.
Last edited by Eelyvi; 11-24-2008 at 07:38 PM..
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