Sarum

Now this is a good Stonehenge book. Along with anything else that ever happened in Great Britain. This is one of those books that you have to say is 'sweeping in it's scope.' This book starts with neolithic man arriving in the Sarum area and follows certain bloodlines all the way to present day. It' Leggi tutto

Given that I, slow reader that I am and often in need of days long breaks from a narrative of any size was able to finish, without skimming, a 1,033 page novel, said novel must have had something going for it. Sarum certainly does on several levels. I will say, however, one should go into it complet Leggi tutto

It took me a long time to read this one, it's huge but worth it. It's a history lesson disguised as fiction, and it's gorgeous. The book follows five families from prehistoric to modern day, jumping through some of the most important moments in the history of Sarum and England. The last two chapters Leggi tutto

Oddest thing -- it is the best and most compelling book that I did not like reading at all. Don't get me wrong -- I am duly impressed by Rutherford's undertaking and his research (although sometimes flawed or biased). Further, the idea is spectacular. The problem was that I did not enjoy it -- I fel Leggi tutto

The story of the small portion of humanity that settled in and developed Salisbury (“Sarum”: being an abbreviated rendering of the Roman name Sorbiodunum) from the stone age to the 1980s. Following the struggles, fortunes, tribulations, and remade fortunes of five lineages, the novel details how wav Leggi tutto

This is another book that gets 5 stars for being a great big hunk of enjoyable cheese. But it's historical cheese! Sarum tells the entire history of England, from its ice-age prehistory when the first men arrived on the island to the 1980s, by focusing the passing of ages on the city of Salisbury, on Leggi tutto

*** 3.65 *** This is a very ambitious undertaking, and I think the author bit a bit more than he could chew... The span of history he attempts to cover can never be adequately dealt with in one book. Something has to give, and I think in this case character development suffers the most. Yes, this is Leggi tutto

I took my dear sweet time reading this novel, and cherished every second. Historical fiction works, and works well, when it can be lingered over, savored; when it can be read, then re-read, as the author's glowing accounts of historical events come to life right off the page. James Michener was a ma Leggi tutto