Book review!...

You may recall a while back I posted Al's Top 10 List of books to read. From among them, I chose Guns, Germs, and Steel to start with. He had warned that it was "extensive and exhaustive" and that it may be best to read it in short doses. Right he was! It is extremely informative about the evolutions of societies around the world, and has proved to be very interesting. And exhaustive. So I took a break when I received World Without End as a Christmas present.

Now I'm not a literary critic but just a leisurely reader, so I can only offer my opinions as such.

World Without End by Kenneth Follett is a sequel to The Pillars of the Earth, which he wrote like 18 or so years ago. From reviews that I read I gathered that his fans repeatedly asked him to write another similar to the Pillars book, and so he provided them one.

The World book is set in the same town as the first, but 200 years later. The characters are descendants of those in the first book, and their personalities are almost mirrored in the sequel. The character Merthin is almost identical to Jack, an intelligent builder ahead of his time, and who will do anything for his lifelong love, a woman who is almost unobtainable. Caris is the same as Aliena, a headstrong woman who becomes a wooler and business owner and saves the town, and who never compromises what she feels is her duty, carrying the world on her shoulders. Ralph is the same as the cruel William, the raping and pillaging warrior, and ever the antagonist. There are other similar characters, but you get the point.

While the story is slightly different due to the Black Plague being the main focus of the second half of the novel, I can't get past the characters being identical to the first book. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed the book and couldn't hardly put it down. But as sequels go, it was just a little too close to the first story. I mean, yes I know it was medieval times, so the same problems were prevalent for many hundreds of years (starving, sickness, land rights, merchant rights, control by the church, yadda yadda) so you can only do so much with a story to make it different. But still...

All that being said, I do recommend World Without End. It is an interesting story, and gives such a descriptive view of life in that period of time. So yes, run out and buy it, it's worth it. Just don't be surprised if it seems like déjà vu if you've read the predecessor.

Alright, now back to the Germs book.

Oh, how true...

Man, ain't that the truth... so many people work their whole life to become something, and once they do they realize it's not what they expected and are unhappy.

And then there's those of us that never try in the first place, because we fear that's what we'll find.

Hmmm.

Mmmm, toasty!...

For these cold winter nights I have 3 words... HEATED MATTRESS PAD. I don't know how I lived so many years without one. We've had this one for a couple years now, and I've probably about worn it out as I use it year-round. It's so nice, a few minutes before going to bed I turn on "my side" to the warmth level I want it to be, and then turn on "Hubby's side" to his level (usually lower than mine!) Then when it's time to get in bed it's all warm and cozy. I'll never go back to a cold mattress again.

The only problem with it is, I can't get my butt OUT of the wonderfully toasty bed in the morning!!!

Oh and another problem with the heated bed... it tends to accumulate cats throughout the night too.

It's not your grandfather's Ford... or is it?...

Behold, our newest purchased vehicle:

Alright, that didn't do it justice. Here's what it normally looks like when its guts aren't exposed with a Chilton's manual on top, a 97 Ford Taurus:

Despite the thought you might have from the top photo, we made quite a deal on it. We bought it from one of our college professors and exchanged some work on his new car for a lower price on this one. Hubby has it dismantled to take the head off as it has a blown head gaskit. We're sending the head out to a machine shop and he's sending out the radiator too to see if it can be salvaged or do we need a new one. However, all that is worth the fact that we only paid $500 for the car. Can't beat that. It rides like a dream, and interior/exterior are in perfect condition. I'll be happy to have it finished. We've always said we'd never have another Taurus after having a 1992 model, but it appears they have improved.

As Howie would say, "We made a GOOD DEAL"

In the meantime, the poor Jeep is sitting dead in the street waiting for Hubby to rebuild the transmission.

Election 2008... are we there yet? are we there yet? are we there yet?...

Is it just me or does it seem like this is going to be one llloooonnngggg election year? The news breaks on the primaries have already been driving me nuts. If I really wanted to know about it I'd be watching the damn things.

What's worse, I'm having to take my government classes this year at school, so I'm sure I'll have to be immersed in the current goings-ons. Yippee.

Did I mention I can't stand politics?

Oh well, in the meantime here's a link to a post on Craigslist about the resemblance of Star Wars characters to the election candidates.

And even with the writers on strike, all the late-night talk show guys will have a year's worth of fodder to make easy jokes about. So at least someone will benefit from the election coverage.

FYI...

I added some links to websites on the left side of the page. I've got buddy Ronnie's racing picks page, Hottalkers site, and a couple other blogs I enjoy. Just some other places to go for anyone bored enough to come to my page, lol.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Yesterday I had to take a drive down to the middle of the state and back... and along Interstate-35 out in the country are all the huge firework stands. Sooooooo.... against my better judgement I stopped and picked up a few gifts for Hubby.... a box of M-1000s, and waterproof mini-dynamites, and some other small stuff. I had to keep it small and on the ground since fireworks are sorta, umm, illegal in our town I think. But knowing how much he enjoys explosives I couldn't resist. Now hopefully he resists the urge to take them apart to form one really big piece of dynamite... like he has in the past...

Hope everyone else has a new year that starts with a bang :-)
Good luck to all