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sublecturas · 1 year

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"Never", de Ken Follett en la #LíneaD

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vreugd-madelon · 2 years

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Pillars of the Earth Review

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet is a 1076 page Historical Fiction novel. The 1st in the Kingsbridge series, and it’s followed by World Without End (#2) and A Column of Fire (#3). I got this book from my mother who found it at a little library.

Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape. Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters into their dreams, their labours, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the prior of Kingsbridge; Jack, the artist in stone; and Ellen, the woman of the forest who casts a terrifying curse. From humble stonemason to imperious monarch, each character is brought vividly to life. The building of the cathedral, with the almost eerie artistry of the unschooled stonemasons, is the centre of the drama. Around the site of the construction, Follett weaves a story of betrayal, revenge, and love, which begins with the public hanging of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

Trigger Warning: Rape, Graphic Violence.

I rate this book 5/5 stars.

I’m astounded by how much I love this book. I will confess my bias and tells that I’ve been raised Christian (Christian school, but not like going to church every Sunday), but I’ve never wanted to see a Cathedral be build so much in my life!

The chapters are insanely long, like chapter 1 was 83 pages! But with the 40 hour audiobook it felt like it was flying by and has an awesome narrator. This chapter follows Tom Builder and his family which was really interesting to see the conversations that they’re having. However the insta-love between him and Ellen was something I’m not a fan of. Luckily their relationship really grows inside these pages and I really wanted them to flourish. What shocked me was his fate at end of part 3. I still feel it in my soul. Chapter 2 follows Peter and I really didn’t see the switch between POVs coming. I really like how his story line picks up from when we meet him with Tom. Chapter 3 is William’s POV and I really dislike him as a person, but love him as a characters. I just love to hate him and it’s been a very long time since I loved to hate and abhor a character so much. His fate at the end is very fitting. After these three chapters I really thought that William’s was the most interest.

A lot happens within these 1000+ pages. I won’t be able to cover all of it, but here are a few highlights: My favourite character I absolutely love is Aliena, and yes, she gets her own POV. She’s a strong independent woman, who needs no man to save her. Yet it’s the silent type that captures her heart. I do like the themes within the book. The hypocrisy within the church is a very large part, especially with Prior Phillip being such a humble and honest man and even he has to give in to trickery at some moments, but he really is a ‘means justify the end’ type of man. Every single character is morally grey. They do good things and they do bad things. They do thing for their own advantage, some do care about the consequences and others don’t care at all or a little less, casting them aside after nothing more than a moments thought. It’s only those special few that actually go out of their way to help others.

I do absolutely recommend this book for anybody and everybody!

Do you have any questions? Or maybe some recommendations? Send me an ask here on Tumblr or tweet me. If you wish to support me, you can buy me a coffee! Or even buy my debut fantasy novel, The Mending Road.

#Pillars of the Earth #Ken Follet #world without end #A column of Fire #historical fiction #cathedral #england #12th century #book review #series #books #reviews #review #religion #The morning and the Evening

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erebus-luckycharm · 1 year

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Emptied out my shopping cart on the second hand books website and snagged a 1959 copy of The Haunting of Hill House, soooo excited for it to arrive in the mail🌝🌚😩😩

#SHIP IT RIGHT NOW!!!#I also bought the oresteia 'trilogy' lol #and a book by ryu murakami #japanese to Turkish translations are more fun to read than japanese to English so I'm happy about that find #and I bought Moby Dick!#never read it before so I'm excited to delve into it #oh I also bought pillars of the earth by Ken Follet for real cheap and books in english are expensive af here so I'm very happy about this #next on my list are american psycho by my boy brettttt and the wide sargossa sea by jean rhys my beloved

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miyakuli · 2 years

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The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)

After The Lion’s Song, I wanted to play another point & click / narrative game. This one kept my attention on Steam, because, well, my family owns the book but I never read it because the religious theme wasn’t very attractive to me. I saw it had a positive feedback in general, so I thought that maybe through a game, the story could be more approachable to me...and I’m glad I was right.

I felt very invested in the story and its characters. I don’t know if my choices followed the canon of the book, but the story evolved very well, full of twists and tension. The game scenery looks beautiful and even though the music are discrete, I thought the OST was really nice! Also it’s neither too short or too long, the perfect duration for a good story (about 15h of gaming for me).

There are however some negative points I could give ; first of all, the game has few bugs (steam version) and it forced me few times to reload it. Also some animations are bit “clumsy”. Some could also say the gameplay is too simple (only easy QTE and quick puzzles). I admit it didn’t matter to me that much because I’m used to games like visual novel without a lot of gameplay, but I can understand their opinion.

I can’t tell if it’s a good adaptation (from the reviews I saw, it is!), but if you enjoy narrative games with maybe not a lot of gameplay, but a very good immersion and a very well written scenario, this is a game for you <3

#and now I think I'll ready someday the book to compare ;))))#Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth #the pillars of the earth #personal #Lola plays games

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emvisual · 2 years

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Las tiniebla y el alba. Ken Follett.

Un libro muy entretenido para el verano. Son unas 1000 páginas que se leen en un ay.

#ken follet #libros #books #las tinieblas y el alba #historic novel #novela historica #ken follett #the evening and the mornig

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noisy-weasel · 5 months

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The only reason I read a 1000pg book on napoleons entire military career was so I could understand fiction books that were set in that time period (of which there are a lot, especially old fiction since it was literally a 20yr affair) and I'm so glad I did honestly it really puts a lot of stuff into perspective

#like when theyre like ahh napoleon has won at austerlitz!! and i have the full context of just how bad jt is #helped massively when reading war and peace #currenrly reading the new ken follet book set 1799-1815 helping a lot knowing everything #alao its just super interesting napoleon was a great military mind and reading of his military years is super interesting #hes also a rat bastard who rests in piss but whateverrr

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xcziel · 7 months

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in New Release news, out today are:

new HC version of The Hobbit featuring Tolkien's own illustrations, $75 list price whew

3rd volume of the english version of the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation manga

Leslie F*cking Jones' (that is the title) new book

4th Thurday Murder Club mystery by Osman

Anderson Cooper's book about the Astors

and thriller Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll, author of Luckiest Girl Alive

also for the season: re-releases of pulp horror stories from the 70s and 80s in Grady Hendrix's Paperbacks From Hell series

also also: midnight release parties are back - Iron Flame (sequel to Fourth Wing) is out November 7 and if you want the fancy first edition binding you may want to check who near you is hosting on the night of Nov 6

#this has been your new release news for tuesday september 19 #next week we got the paperback of the 2nd crescent city book and armor of light by ken follet #also all the nightmare before christmas stuff is in and there's a sequel to the pumpkin queen ya book due next week as well #personally i can't with the writing style for fourth wing but evidently booktok loves it - very hunger games-esque

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aperiodofhistory · 4 months

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20 books in 2024

Another year, another year of a TBR pile. I'm really satisfied with my reading in the year 2023. I read some books I wanted to read for a long time. But still, I left some for the year 2024. So I'm transferring the remaining ones into this year, and adding a few more. I'm happy about the upcoming year, as I want to read a lot of fantasy.

The library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges

Babel by Rebecca F. Kuang

Legends & Lattes by Baldree Travis

Fabric: The Hidden History of the Material World by Victoria Finlay

The Island of missing trees by Elif Shafak

Ways of being by James Bridle

The Gathering Dark: An Anthology of Folk Horror by various authors

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet

The return of the king by Tolkien

A game of thrones by Martin

Shakespearean: On Life & Language in Times of Disruption by Robert McCrum

A court of thorns and roses by Sarah J. Mass

Femina by Ramírez Janina

Anything by Ava Reid

The road by Cormac McCarthy

Red rising by Pierce Brown

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

Spinning silver by Naomi Novik

Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

I'm tagging @artmill-danaan for its book list for the year 2024.

-------

Other read:

Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

The Bridge on the Drina (Bosnian Trilogy, #1) by Ivo Andrić

Love and Friendship by Jane Austen

A court of Mist and fury by Sarah J. Mass

#bookshelves #inspiration #writing #history #bookblr #books #booklr #books & libraries #reading #currently reading #books and reading #bookworm

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thumbtackcurious · 10 months

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Ken Follet's introduction to The Pillars of the Earth lives in my head rent free. It's just so aggressive right out of the gate. There's, like, a couple pages about cathedrals and masons and then all of a sudden he's like:

"This is my MC he's a cool monk and he DOESN'T fuck. It was sooooo hard for me to write. All the main characters in my other books are sexy and sleep around I guess I just have so much sex that it's just what naturally comes to me and I worked really really hard to make this guy un. sexy. I had to physically stop my pen from writing scenes where he gets laid and replace them with ones where he, I don't know, witnesses a wartime atrocity or whatever.

As if I picked this book up, read the intro, and am going to hurl it into a river because I was demanding a book about cathedral building and monk sex. And then the rest of the book includes so many characters with fucking wild skeevy thoughts/actions that you're like "ok I guess I understand what you were going on about. Thanks man."

#pillars of the earth #its especially funny in the audiobook cause HE's reading it #and you understand what his editor probably went through listening to his thoughts on the first draft

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sublecturas · 1 year

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"El envío", de Sebastián Fitzek y "Noche sobre las aguas", de Ken Follett en la #LíneaB

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nightofnyx8 · 4 months

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Thank you for tagging me @roseofbattles!

Greatest Hits of 2023

1. I got my first real job as a teacher! After about 100 applications and thirty or so failed interviews (that was fun eight months of doubting everything about myself), I was finally hired on as the choir and orchestra teacher at a nearby middle school. It has been such a whirlwind (especially seeing as I only took about six weeks of string essentials in college), and I have spent many long days crying at my desk after school. But oh, how I love my kids. They drive me crazy and crack the weirdest jokes and amaze me all at the same time. It's been a lot trying to breathe life into a dying program and I get a lot of pushback from kids who just want to sing pop karaoke all day, but they've grown so much in just one semester. It's crazy exhausting but I honestly would never want to do anything else. <3

2. Reading-I've fallen in love with audiobooks and reading real books again! I've gotten to read a variety of genres and I really feel like it's improved my writing. My favorite this year would probably have to be Eye of the Needle by Ken Follet (thanks to @puolain for the recommendation). I'm currently working through The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews.

3. Travel- I had the opportunity to go to NYC for the first time ever and met some really wonderful friends! I really haven't been able to go anywhere else, but my husband and I are saving up to go to Spain in the coming months!

4. Writing-I've been delving more into chaptered fics as opposed to one-shots, and I'm been enjoying it! It takes a lot more planning and dedication, but that urge to write an original work someday is always on the back of my mind. We'll see :)

5. Piano-I've never been the best pianist, but this year has given me time to really go from the plateau I've been stuck on for the last five years and I finally feel like I'm making some progress again. I'm excited to actually start accompanying my choirs instead of faking it with block chords most of the time.

6. I've really built up my private voice studio this year and it's growing quite nicely. It's kind of fun to teach middle schoolers during the day and then private high schoolers in the afternoon.

7. I was invited to join a semi-professional choir by a few of my colleagues, and it's been such a joy! We've gotten to sing at some beautiful cathedrals and were invited to sing at our state's choral festival alongside some collegiate choirs. Next season's looking to be pretty busy, and the first year we'll be paid to sing!

8. I had to do a lot of first-time "grown-up" things this year (apply for insurance and retirement, bought a new car, first time with a salary-based job, etc), and while part of me longs for that safety net of college, it's exciting to actually start my career and begin the next stage of my life.

9. I've been Journaling a lot more this year! It really helps me get my thoughts out at the end of the day.

10. My husband and I will be celebrating our three-year annivesary in May. He is such a nerd and likes to take me on walks to see exposed infrastructure, but he is such a good man and I'm excited to see where life takes us next.

Bonus: I'm hoping to really be kind to myself and my students in 2024. Being a new teacher is very overwhelming, especially as I'm the youngest teacher in the school and it's been hard not to beat myself up over every bad day. But next year also holds the promise of always learning something new and sharing it with the people I love <3

tagging @whateversawesome @klainelynch @neejmorp @puolain @wondrousmay and whoever else wants to do it <3

#personal

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vaguely-functional-directions · 6 months

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Uhh.... got any book recs? Just feel free to ramble about books at me and I shall ramble in return

Yes I have recommendations and I will talk about them :

The most recent new one I'm waiting on is from the Caraval series/world; it's the sequel trilogy to the main book but I honestly just *love* the vibes the world it is set in gives off. Just the magic and sort of whimsical spect of it like I don't even know how to describe it

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo ; this one is fairly popular I think but I honestly loved it so much and the old-style Hollywood aspect of the setting.

Just to put the similar book titles next to each other, I also really loved the Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. It's like a murder mystery but the protagonist spends ech day re-living the day of the murder in the body of a different guest at the house, so it's like each day he gets the different perspective on the same events to piece everything together.

Ummm what else...

The Priory of the Orange Tree books; I finished the second one recently and I literally love Nikeya and Dumai so much but really the entire series is so well put together and the world building is amazing. Each book is like 900 pages of fantasy (and dragons) so I would 100% recommend if you're into that

Also while on the topic of a priory, I will say that I actually really enjoyed the Pillars of the Earth trilogy by Ken Follet. It's really neat because the books span the entire life of the characters, like 50 years or so, and you can really see everything develop over the course of the story. The first book is set in like the 1100s and the second one is like the 1300s, but set in the same priory town as the first one, and same with the third but is in the 1500s.

And also the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. It's about these sisters who were all adopted by this guy and and now that he's died he left a clue for each sister about her family history and where she was adopted from. Each book is focused on a different sister and it goes back and forth in time to like the present day of the sister, and the story of one of her ancestors. Each one is also based on a different country/culture which was really interesting as well. I haven't read the final book yet but I am so interested to see how everything comes together.

Ok and then the last one I will say is the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins. It's about this kid named Gregor who falls into an underground city below new york, and the kingdom there has a bunch of prophecies, and each of the 5 books is about a different one. This one is a kids series so is more lighthearted but I really really love it so much

#Thanks for the ask this was really fun!!#I am sure I will think of a bunch more as soon as I hit the post button

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jeschalynn · 7 days

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Hello, Jes 💕 8, 23, and 27?

#8 - What’s your favorite band/artist?

omg so many. If I had to list five randomly:

Apocalyptica

Oomph!

Garbage

Muse

Guano Apes

But lately I've been listening to some newer favs on repeat a lot, like Lola Blanc. I also like a lot of instrumental/soundtrack-types too that are a bit more obscure.

#23 - Do you believe in aliens?

Sort of, as in "an alien invasion is my retirement plan and I'm gonna be rooting for them like that lady in Independence Day." But in a more generalized sense, not really. It's mostly wishful thinking. lol

#27 - What’s your favorite book? Or just one you’ve read a few times?

The Kingsbridge series by Ken Follet. Also, She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb.

random asks game

#ask games

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sky-kenobye · 4 months

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Iced coffee!

Iced coffee: Do you like reading? If so, what's your favourite book?

I love reading! I used to read a lot when I was a kid, but now I read too many fics and I barely read any published books anymore 😅

I'm not sure I have one favourite book 🤔 The books I've read the most are probably Percy Jackson, Harry Potter and La Quête d'Ewilan, because I used to re-read them all the time as a kid/teenager.

Some other books that I love, just from the top of my head and in random order: 'The Martian' by Andy Weir, 'Iron Widow' by Xiran Jay Zhao, 'Novecento' by Alessandro Baricco (not what I usually read but I had to read it for school and surprisingly loved it), 'Angel and Demons' by Dan Brown (actually, almost all of his books), 'The Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follet (I've heard his Century Trilogy is amazing but I still haven't read it), 'Loveless' by Alice Oseman (and her other books too), 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen, 'Good Omens' by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett...

And a few graphic novels while I'm at it: 'Woman World' by Aminder Dhaliwal, 'Bolchoi Arena' by Boulet and Aseyn, 'Colossale' by Diane Truc and Rutile, 'Gender Queer: A memoir' by Maia Kobabe.

I'll probably hit post and instantly go "How could I forget this book!!" but I think that's a pretty good overview of my taste :D

(From this ask game)

#sorry if that's too many books i really can't say I like one more than the others #they're all so different #thanks for the asks!

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emilykaldwen · 1 month

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Reblog and add some of your favorite media on the list!

1. Fruits Basket - complete manga or 2020 anime

2. Fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood - anime (do brotherhood, not the other one)

3. The Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy - Laini Taylor. Angels and Chimera! Super fun!

4. Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom - by Leigh Bardugo (I’m not a fan of the grisha books but the Crows are top tier)

5. The Longest Promise - C-drama fantasy on Netflix.

6. The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follet. Takes place during the Anarchy. There’s also a mini series with Hayley Atwell and Baby Sam Claflin and Eddie Redmayne and Dilfy Rufus Sewell. Also check out the sequel ‘World Without End’ which takes place during the plague.

7. Avatar: the Last Airbender - both animation and live action on Netflix, enjoy both! Also I love The Legend of Korra

8. Dune - Frank Herbert. Since everyone is watching the movie

9. The Bioshock Series - video games that hold my heart but I scream a lot (derogatory) about Infinite.

10. Dishonored - hands down my favorite video games of all fucking time. Top tier world building and characters.

Reblog and add onto the list!

#expand your horizons!#also I’m looking for new things to check out #so looking forward to your recommendations

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ichijager13 · 5 months

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Ichi l She/Her l Almost 30 l INFP l AO3 l My original stories l Spotify l Guidelines

Hello there, welcome to my blog!

Check out the new christmas event!

I'm an all-time smiling person, a bookworm, an enthusiast baker, and a lazy couch potato who loves great music, writing, art, and long and calm walks.

I'm an extroverted introvert if this makes sense... A history geek and completely obsessed with Oskar Von Reuenthal from Legends of the Galactic Heroes.

I’m here to share with you my writings about my favorite characters from my favorite animes.

I majored in electrical engineering and now I’m a physics middle school teacher

Favorites

Books : The pursuit of happiness of Douglas Kennedy, The century trilogy by Ken Follet, Six years by Harlan Coben, When the dawn breaks by Emma Fraser, and A Thousand splendide suns by Khaled Hosseini

Songs: Black gives way to blue by Alice in Chain, Flipside and Cinnamon girl by Lana Del Rey, Et s’il fallait le faire by Patricia Kaas, and What sober couldn’t say by Halestorm

Anime: Legend of the galactic heroes, Nana, SNK, Given, BSD, and Vinland saga

Movies: The wind rises, Whisper of the heart and Porco Rosso

Favorite characters (aside from Oskar): Odasaku, Eren Jäger, Walter Von Schönkopf, Toshizo Hijikata (Hakuoki), Itachi, Akane Tsaunemori, Yoshinobu Maeda, Ichinose Guren, and Nana

Non-anime series: How to get away with murder, blacklist and war and peace

Attack on Titan

Eren Jäger

Various characters

Them Discovering You Are Pregnant

Bungou Stray Dogs

Dazai Osamu

Oda Sakunosuke

Legends of the galactic heroes

Oskar von Reuenthal

Some of my works are NSFW, so please, if you are a minor do not interact, I have other SFW stories.

#masterlist #Ichi #attack on titan fanfiction #bungou stray dogs #legend of the galactic heroes #aot fanfiction #bsd fic #logh fanfic

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