Confessions of an All Night Reader

Okay, I admit it, I am a compulsive reader. I have been known to stay up until 1, 2 or even 3 a.m. just to finish a good book. As a teenager, I can remember huddling under a big pile of blankets in my extremely cold basement room trying to finish the Sword of Shanara by Terry Brookes. I enjoy many, many genres from fantasy, sci fi, to detective, murder mysteries to historical romance and plain historical fiction (the non-romantic kind). I love to read. I get restless when I don't have something good to read. I have been known find an author that I enjoy and tear through everything he/she has written only to pine away waiting for something new from them. (George RR Martin you break my heart waiting for the next installment of the Fire and Ice series and your last book was just not a tasty enough morsel!) Why must it take soooo long for a new book to come out! I will admit to staying up until 2 a.m. at Karen's one summer to finish Harry Potter #6 shortly after it was released only to realize that I would now have to wait at least two years for another! (Actually had to wait 6 years for the untasty morsel from George RR Martin--and am still waiting for closure!)

I think the one genre that I enjoy the most is historical fiction, particularly medieval fiction and here are two of my favorites. Now I know that Oprah recently chose Pillars of the Earth as one of "her" books but I am so way ahead of her! (And let's not even go into Oprah and "her" things! I could rant for hours!) I read Pillars of the Earth when it first came out in 1989! I loved it then and have since read it at least two other times that I can think of, maybe even a 3rd. Imagine how pleased I was to hear that after 18 years Ken Follett had written a "sequel" (sort of, you could read them in any order) World Without End. I put it on "hold" at the library so that as soon as a copy came available I could read it, but when you are about 251 of 432 people, you know it is going to take a long time to get the book. Dennis was way ahead of the game in reserving it and actually got a copy just before Christmas. Unfortunately it is a very long book (over 1000 pages so no quick read here--even if you do stay up late) and Dennis couldn't finish before it was due back and no renewal since there were so many people waiting to read it. So, I purchased a copy and gave it to "us" for Christmas. I just finished it last night (only stayed up until 10:30--however I had stayed up until almost midnight one night just to get to a "good stopping point"). It was not as good as Pillars of the Earth but it was enjoyable. Not as much history as in the first one but stuff I was familiar with--the plague, the Battle of Crecy, Edward III and the mystery of his father's death. All things I had previously read about in other books. Pillars of the Earth covers Thomas Beckett, Henry I and Henry II, cathedral building, monastery life. They are a well-written peek into medieval life.

If you are a fan of medieval fiction, Sharon Kay Penman is definitely worth getting into. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross is also a fascinating read. I actually keep a list of authors in my palm pilot because I can't ever seem to remember who wrote things I have read. Periodically I check the library to see if any of them have any new books out because naturally I have read everything old they have written. Others I recommend are Laura Joh Rowland (great series about a Samarai "detective" in 12th century Japan; Parnell Hall (the puzzle lady series) and Owen Parry (Civil War Welsh detective). There's tons of others but of course I can't remember the authors. Always on the hunt for great books to read (just started plowing through Jodi Picoult upon Karen's recommendation--loved My Sister's Keeper) so if you have some recommendations I would love to hear them--particularly of the historical fiction kind.