Summer Reading: Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

I know I'm in France to learn French but sometimes you just need a break. I bought a few books in Paris but I finished them by the time I got to Cannes. Luckily there is an English language book store here. Apparently one of only six in France? Anyway, I went in one day and found this book. I have two complaints about it. Considering it has 850 pages, it's WAY too easy to read and, it's "Book One of The Century trilogy" but book two is still only available in hardcover and book three isn't even written yet!!!

Other than that, to say I enjoyed it is an understatement. I forced myself to leave it downstairs so I would only read when I was taking a break or waiting on someone or something but even then I plowed through it. If I had taken it up to my room I would have finished it in a few days.

It deals with the First World War, starting in 1911 and ending in 1924. It follows the stories of six families and associated characters who get caught up in the events of the war. I'm confident that anyone would enjoy it but for me it was particularly appealing for a few reasons. First, I recently visited a lot of the places mentioned in the book. Paris, Berlin and various battlefields. Second, Follett is great at weaving historical events into his fictional works and the History nerd in me got excited every time he mentioned one. Particularly events having to do with Mexico and the US like the Zimmerman Telegram and the Occupation of Veracruz. I studied both in detail in Georgia and even wrote a book review on a book that dealt with the Occupation. Aside from that the book is just really well written and I found myself thinking about different characters and wondering what was going to happen next. Book two deals with their children and I can't wait to read it.