Fall of Giants

by Ken Follett

Because Ken Follett can do no wrong, in my eyes, I expected nothing less than greatness when I cracked open "Fall of Giants," a Christmas gift from my mother.

I was not disappointed.

Again following his masterful pattern of taking readers through history by creating small family groups to experience society and events, this book starts readers off in Russia, England, Germany, Austria, Wales, Scotland, and the US in June of 1911, takes them through World War I and the Russian Revolution, and leaves them in January of 1924.

With a cast of characters list six pages long prefacing the start of the book, I worried that I'd be confused at trying to keep everyone's names and whereabouts straight.

But I forgot it was Ken Follett.

I need not have worried.

The characters, stories, subplots and dramas woven into history are so engrossing that, I have to confess, I became somewhat of a nut about reading this book. At 983 pages long, I expected it to take me at least a week, if not a bit longer.

Or, you know.......three days.

Granted, I am a speed-reader, but the length of time it took me to finish this book definitely speaks more to the amazingness of the book than of my skills.

The best part?

It's only the first installment of "The Century Trilogy."

Which means THERE ARE TWO MORE COMING.

*HAPPY DANCE*

The next book is due out in 2012, and will (according to Ken Follett's website) feature the children from Fall of Giants during the Depression and World War II. The third is not due out until 2014 and will feature (again according to the website) future generations during the Cold War.

This trilogy's timeline is of particular significance to me, and many I'm sure, as it depicts the era that our grandparents or great-great grandparents were born into. I can't help picturing my maternal grandfather, born in 1917 and just a year or two younger than several of the children in the book, and my grandmother, born shortly after. My grandparents would live through the Great Depression, with my grandfather surviving health scares that claimed the lives of many. He and two of his brothers would go on to fight in World War II. I look forward to reading the future volumes for the rich detail I know they'll contain about the time my grandparents lived in.

The Bride Quartet

Vision In White
Bed Of Roses
Savor The Moment
Happy Ever After
by Nora Roberts

As sugary-sweet as wedding cake icing are The Bride Quartet books, a series about four friends in Conneticut who find their own happy endings while running a bridal business on the grounds of the Brown Estate.

Despite their predictable patterns, these lace-laden, rose-strewn, bliss-bringing books are a fun little indulgence and, for those of us who work in the wedding industry, a remarkably accurate portrayl of what goes on behind the scenes at an event (if not in our daily lives aside from the events. Seriously, they all -even the florist- routinely get up at 5 AM to exercise. Let me tell you, not in my case, baby.)

As Laurel, Mac, Emma and yes, even the Type-A, Tums-popping Chief Planner Parker find love in unexpected places, the lush wedding details of the various events they plan in the meantime are a guilty pleasure (and a wealth of inspiration!) for this florist.

And let's face it, Nora Roberts is really damn good at writing hot sex.

So there's that.

I was given the first two books by a former bride and purchased the third and fourth shortly thereafter, and though it is fun to read them all together, not neccessary to following the plot line. I would reccomend, however, reading them in chronological order as some of the longer events carry through all four books (i.e. a wedding they begin planning in book 1 actually takes place in book 4). You won't ruin the story if you don't, but you'll enhance it if you do.