The Pillars of the Earth

The example I eluded to of a fantastic book that was unfortunatly picked up by Oprah, or at least her army of slave readers who actually read the books and setup the book o' month mumbo jumbo, was The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. It was amazing! The center of the story is a cathedral which is being built. As this takes a long time the characters come in and out and you experience each of their own stories. A few characters you see born and then grow into old age, all while the cathedral is being built. It touches on the the economic impact and significance of a cathedral in those times and the descriptive language in first rate. Transporting you to medival times in a way Ivanhoe certainly never did.