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Pillars of the Earth
November 15, 2007 10:56 AM | GeneralMary Beth Sancomb-Moran, Community Information Librarian
The first Ken Follett book I read was the cathedral-building story, Pillars of the Earth. My brother-in-law, as it turns out, also read Ken Follett, and so we traded books. Imagine our surprise when I started reading a more typical Follett book (spies, submarines, etc.) and Greg started reading about medieval cathedrals.
Pillars of the Earth is back. Oprah has just chosen the book as her book club pick, which will no doubt increase interest in the 1989 novel. (It's a good read, by the way.) LIS News provides the details and a few terrific links:
America's pop fiction facilitator has perpetrated a weighty tome upon her public. Oprah's newest book club pick is the The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett's 1989 bestseller about the construction of a Gothic cathedral in 12th-century England. The 973-page epic features "a struggle between good and evil [...] turning church against state and brother against brother," as well as "forbidden love affairs, political power plays, looting, plunder and burning villages," according to the Oprah's Book Club site.
Oprah's Book Club: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett provides lots of supplementary material for readers, including family trees, chapter-by-chapter reading questions and quizzes, biographical information on author Ken Follett, an online discussion, and a printable bookmark. There's also an excerpt so your patrons can get started while they wait their turn for a library copy.
NB: The long-awaited sequel to Pillars, World Without End, was published just last month. Get more information on both books from Ken Follett's website.
