I finished the Ken Follett Century Trilogy!!! Fall of Giants covered WWI, Winter of the World continued with WWII, and The Edge of Eternity starts in the 1960s.
One thing I loved about these books is it showed me the continuity between these events. I used to think of WWII as something that happened in the past, whereas events in the 1960s and 1970s were in more “modern” times. Now I understand more the connection between WWI, WWII, the Cold War, Vietnam, and the events leading to the fall of communism.
Edge of Eternity focuses mostly on the children and grandchildren of the original characters from Fall of Giants. It was fascinating that a young man who fought in WWI, if he lived to a ripe old age, would also live through the Cold War. There were characters in the book who endured Nazi Germany, WWII, the Soviet occupation of East Germany, and then saw the Berlin Wall come down. It was incredibly moving to me that Black people who fought for Civil Rights in the 1960s could live to see Barack Obama elected president.
I will say that, while I was reading it, Edge of Eternity was my least favorite of the three books, and I’m still trying to figure out why. The first two focused heavily on Europe, and in Edge the focus shifted to the United States and Soviet Union. There was a lot of detail about politics in the US, and while it was interesting, the story bogged down a little for me. JUST A LITTLE! I still enjoyed it, but whereas with the first two books, I didn’t want them to end, with Edge, I was kind of looking forward to finishing it.
Then… I actually finished it, and the ending was so good that I cried. There was an epilogue, which I was initially annoyed to see- I mean, the ending was perfect, what’s with this epilogue? But then the epilogue also made me cry. You guys- it was so good and I’m so glad I read these books. I’ll be thinking about them for a long, long time.
It was hard to move on to anything else, but I had to forge ahead. I have some library books to get through, so I started this one:
So far, so good! I’m not very far into it, but I’m enjoying it.
Eating-wise, I continued the pumpkin theme with some pumpkin oatmeal. No special recipe- I just add a couple dollops of pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice to my regular oatmeal.
For dinner on Sunday, I went to Nora Cooks and browsed through her “Fall Recipe” section. I ended up making Butternut Squash Curry With Chickpeas.
It was good! The only problem was, I should have doubled the recipe. I like my Sunday dinner to also feed us on Monday, and I should have known one can of chickpeas wasn’t going to do that. My daughter wasn’t a fan of the squash, but she’s obviously insane. You cube the squash and roast it, and add it to the curry at the end- it was delicious.
I’ll echo Engie’s recent question- what was the last book that made you cry?
What are you reading now?
26 Responses
That curry looks amazing. I’m so glad you enjoyed your books! I am reading a book I got from a Little Free Library, “Me Before You”. It’s not literature, but I’m enjoying it. I’m listening to “The Wedding People” and enjoying that too.
i’m pretty sure I read Me Before You. If it’s the one I’m thinking of, I really liked it. And everyone seems to be liking The Wedding People- I’m sure I”ll read it at some point.
Ha, if the ending makes you cry AND the epilogue makes you cry then you know it was a good trilogy.
Yes, that’s true!
That’s interesting that the books gave you the context of how the war led into the post-war and Cold War eras – great when a work manages to entertain and instruct in one go! I haven’t cried at a book for a while, but Katherine May’s The Electricity of Every Living Thing made me feel for my friend who is also a person living with autism who has a small child.
Yes, these books definitely educated me as well as entertained. It was a great combination!
I’m 70% into god in the woods, and still a bit lost but have some clues/guesses.
pumpkin and chickpea are my favorite foods, can’t go wrong with that.
I’m not far enough into the book to have any guesses… but I’m definitely enjoying it.
Oooooh the butternut squash curry looks so good! I’m so happy it’s squash season again. And the pumpkin oatmeal sounds amazing too, I’ve been making overnight oats lately to take to work and I think I need to get a can of pumpkin to spice it up!
Yes, you could easily spice up your oats! And I like making pumpkin oatmeal because it uses up any extra pumpkin I have- like when a recipe calls for one cup of pumpkin, the rest doesn’t end up going bad.
The last book that made me cry was “A Heart That Works” which is a memoir about a couple whose son dies around age 2. Taco was around that age when I was reading it so it really hit home for me and I ugly cried while reading it. It is very well written and so heart breaking!
I think I almost liked the 3rd book in that trilogy the best because I had learned so little about that era of history in HS. We only really got up to WWII and then it was the end of the school year. I did not take any history classes in college which I kind of regret but I really did not want to take Western Civ which was the prereq for the interesting history classes. But oh well – live and learn! I think because my parents were alive during the Vietnam War, it’s extra intriguing for me. My dad decided to enlist in the Navy rather than rolling the dice on his draft number being low. So it really changed my parents lives as they moved to Norfolk, VA. My brother was born and then my dad had to leave for 6 months on a “cruise” (they called anytime he went out on a ship a “cruise” but obv it is far different than an actual cruise as we think of cruises these days). I can’t imagine being my mom – living alone in VA with a newborn baby. She said the wives all banded together and took care of each other. I’m so glad my dad never saw combat – but that is why he picked the Navy as it seemed unlikely that the war would be fought on water.
Anyways… that was quite the tangent! That square curry looks amazing! I loved squash so much, so Angie could pass hers to me! 🙂
Lisa, I had the same experience. We never got up to the Vietnam War in history class. I was alive during that war but too young to know what was going on, so I never really understood what it was all about. This book definitely helped fill in those gaps. And, interesting that your dad enlisted in the Navy! Sounds like it was a great choice- I don’t know if you remember what being in Vietnam was like in this book, but it sounded horrendous.
That’s quite an endorsement re. E of E, I better get to it… And I just put _God of the Woods_ on my list yesterday.
I think I last cried for Kelsey Ronan’s _Chevy in the Hole_, but I’m assured that the Claire Lombardo I’m currently reading will also make me cry.
Your pumpkin meals look SO good! Copying…
I’ll be interested to hear what you think of it! And, I’m still enjoying God of the Woods. I feel like it’s a book where a lot will depend on the ending though.
Oh I’m so glad it was a satisfying trilogy! That’s so rare and so delightful when it works out.
What a great idea, to add pumpkin puree to oatmeal! I will have to share that tip with my husband.
Hmm. I’m not sure about the last book that made me cry. To be honest, I tend to avoid books that might make me cry because I prefer books that stimulate other emotions. I can drum up tears on my own, lol.
Ha, yes I don’t usually seek out books that will make me cry. And it wasn’t like this book was sad at all- I think I was just somehow overcome with emotion at the end.
I’m reading What Remains by Carole Radziwill.
I’m on the waiting list for God of the Woods. I’m curious since it seems to be a love/hate book, so I’m intrigued to see where I’ll land!
I read Summer Romance this month and…meh. I was glad to see Engie felt the same way!
Yes, I saw Engie’s review! This is why I usually avoid romances. I’m enjoying God of the Woods so far- the writing style doesn’t annoy me and I’m interested in the characters. We’ll see how I feel when the story really gets underway.
I agree that the third book was the weakest, but it would have been so incomplete without it. Mostly I just couldn’t stand Woody or the lady who worked for JFK and so I agree with you that the parts in the US were a bit of a slog. I did not care for the epilogue myself (I don’t know if I’ve ever read an epilogue I thought was worthwhile), but it was kind of cool to see events I actually remember in a historical fiction/it made me feel old.
Anything with roasted butternut squash is a winner in my book!
Oh, that’s funny- I liked Maria. But I think you’re talking about Cam Dewar (Woody was his father.) Yeah, he was unlikable. And I didn’t like Jasper too much, and was ambivalent about some of the other characters (like Walli, Karolin, Beep Dewar.) For a while that was making me not like the book as much, but by the end I just accepted it- you’re not going to like everyone. Actually I think I’m going to email you about the epilogue!
I don’t remember if anything made me cry any more recently than Hello Beautiful last year, but man that was such a weeper for me. To put it in perspective, I cried more when our dog died but not harder than when I read that book.
I’ve got my eye on the Follet trilogy. I’ve kind of wanted a longer book since reading 11/22/63, and I’m coming to the end of the Amish murder mysteries.
I’m glad that GOTW is a winner so far. Let me know what I missed out on!
Oh, I’m starting to see why you didn’t like it, possible. I’ll finish it soon and let you know.
I think you would like the Follett trilogy!!!
Someday I will read those. Don’t have time now for long books I’m starting The woman.
I just threw in frozen squash into chili. I also have added some canned pumpkin to my oatmeal. Tis the season.
Yay! Glad you’re embracing some fall meals. And, I know- sometimes I’m not in the mood to start a really long book. I’ll be reading shorter books for a while now.
I’ve just started reading OUTLIVE and it’s so fascinating.
I am so glad that you liked that trilogy; I remember really liking it…but…I agree with you that I also recall that the third one was my least favorite. I think part of it is that they are very long and so sometimes I feel that if it were just a little more concise I would not get distracted. I think for the first and second, the story just flowed a little better. Like you said though, they were good, but the third was just not quite as good as the other two. You may be burned out by Ken by now, but I remember reading his books in the 90s and loving them, so it would have been maybe The Eye of the Needle or the Man From St. Petersburg. I can’t remember which one it was but I definitely read and enjoyed his earlier works too.