Reading "The Pillars of the Earth"... in Italy

This past month, David and I -- and by "David and I" I mean "David and I without children" -- went to Italy. We were in Rome and Florence for eight days and, good golly, I would go back now if I could. Something about being in small towns that impacted the entire world over several different times in history. Seeing art and architecture that still influences artists and engineers today. To visit ruins where politics and religion were completely changed the world. To sit outside for three hours over dinner, wine and gelato. To not be concerned about naptimes, packing lunches or Speed Racer (but a big shout out to the grandparents, aunts and uncles who were during that week -- thank you!). It was a vacation, not a trip; a trip is when my life and responsibilities goes with me. (It is one of the reasons I do not want to go camping -- to me, it is job relocation, with a demotion.) I could go on and on, but this is not a travel blog -- if it was, most of my posts would be about my recent ventures to Target, Trader Joe's or, on a day when I am feeling crazy, Costco.

As I made lists of clothes and documents to pack, the thought kept coming to me: what am I going to take to read? That is a long flight and there is no way I am going to get stuck without something to read. I mean, how awful is it to be on vacation with a book that stinks? I wake up in a cold sweat over something like that. So, I knew I had to take something that "promised" to be good, a standard/go to/faithful read that I can reread and enjoy, and something that would challenge. And yet, also something that would not send my luggage into the double-digits on the airport scale. What to do, what to do!?

Well, the latter was easier to solve: the Kindle. I just love my books in hardback with the dust jacket left behind in a bin labeled "book dust jackets" in the attic (yes, I have onel actually two), but there is no way I could drag three to five books with me. So, while I have many titles on the Kindle, the ones I specifically took for the trip were "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett, "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry and "The Praying Life" by Paul Miller.

I have not finished "The Praying Life" yet, so I am not ready to fully comment, but what I have read so far -- and what I have been taught in the accompanying seminar, taught by family friend Bob Allums -- is life changing. Prayer is one of the greatest gifts and assets the Lord has given us for this life on earth and learning how to embrace, apply, enjoy and thrive it is a huge blessing. I highly recommend it, friends.

"Lonesome Dove" -- I didn't even get to it, but that is alright. It was enough to know that if I didn't like my other selections, I would completely satisfied with Larry McMurtry's classic about Texas rangers who settle the first cattle ranch in Montana. Now before you give a sarcastic "hyah!" it is one of the best examples of writing rounded characters I have ever read. McMurtry creates characters that are fully detailed and whether you like them or not, you know them. They are flawed and real. And one of the things I love about McMurtry -- and simultaneously despise him for -- is that for the sake of the story, he will kill off a beloved character. So, chances are, if you love "Lonesome Dove," your heart may break at some point during the reading. That said, it is nearly 800 pages, so you have to commit.

I -- perhaps foolishly -- wanted to find a fabulous book for my trip and was afraid of finding something that would disappoint. "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett had been sitting on the shelf and friends had raved about it. I had seen the miniseries (I love a good miniseries and wish the genre would be revived as it was in the days of "Roots" and "The Thorn Birds") -- see it, whether you read the book or not -- and found the story very interesting, so I felt ok about taking it. I was debating whether that would be my vacation story when I met good buddy Tara VanDyke for a lovely outdoor lunch at Cellar Bistro. Tara and her family had just returned from Rome and Florence and she was helping me plan our trip. When I told her I was considering taking "The Pillars of the Earth" on my trip, she highly recommended it as I would be visiting old cathedrals -- and the building of a cathedral is at the center of the book. (And, really, if you know Tara, you know she does not often tell people "you >have< to do this" (her kids may disagree!), so when she said "you >have< to read that book on your trip," my mental response was "ma'am! Yes, ma'am!")

"The Pillars of the Earth" is an epic novel -- by that I mean it is wide in scope, characters and takes place over many years. The book takes some buying into and it is long so you are with these characters for quite a while. (20 hours on a plane and eight days in Italy and I still didn't finish the book until over a week after I had returned from my trip.) That said, it is a worthy journey.

Taking place in England from 1123-1174, the action revolves around the building of what is hoped to be the most amazing Gothic cathedral in all of Europe. The characters include the local prior and his monks, the master builder and his family, church leaders, royalty, those of privledge trying to secure land and a future. Their stories are intertwined throughout the years; some of friendship, some of vengeance, some of love. It is detailed as you are living with many of these characters for the entire book -- and 50 years is a long time to know someone.

And Tara was right -- it was a great book to read as I visited some two amazing cathedrals: the Duomo in Florence and St. Peters in Rome. We are so used to seeing buildings and scaffoldings and even some going up over a relatively short period of time. We expect engineers to use their computers and tools and mechanical machinery to get the job done. To read about a time when such buildings too decades to build, were truly built by hand, builders and masons risking their lives every day, formulas and engineering done by human skill without the help of software. To envision something that had not been done before -- how to make a dome withstand the pressures of weight and weather; how to make the towers go unbelievably high and stay there. To actually see cathedrals such as the one written about in the book -- it made it even more amazing.

The book takes a committment, but if you love a good story, you will not be disappointed. I do not find Follett to write amazing sentences or phrases (like Markus Zusak of "The Book Thief," for example) -- I did not flag sentences or reread parts because he had written them so beautifully. His gift is in the story as a whole -- he is a storyteller. He weaves the action and dialogue to move the story along and keep the reader interested and curious as to where he will go next. If you are looking for a good story -- and you have the time to dedicate to this nearly 1,000 page book, I really think you will like "The Pillars of the Earth."

Follett wrote the sequel "World Without End" last year and it, too, is another 1,000 page book. I have not picked it up yet as I am not sure when I will have another chunk of time I can dedicate to one book -- sounds like a summer project. And perhaps another trip back to Italy.

David and me on top of the Duomo in Florence.

This is the Duomo in Florence. We took the "Terraces and Dome" tour, not knowing it meant we were literally walking around the outside of the cathedral. If you look carefully at the photo above, you will see the large center circle and to the sides on both the right and left sides, you will see some of the facade is popped out. Especially over the facad on the right side, you can see a dark rectangle -- that was the door we walked out of to walk around the outside. The wall came to my mid-thigh, so if I wanted to touch the wall, I had to lean to the side (you can imagine where that wall hit on my 6'6 tall husband). It was crazy high and felt very unsafe -- guess the Italians are not overly scared of lawsuits like we are in America. (David did promise to rename it the Paula Duomo if anything happened to me and the cathedral was awarded to him in a lawsuit.)

This is Scared Paula inside the dome passageways -- I was waiting for David as he walked around the inside of the dome. It was just so high up; at least I am smiling here.

David inside St. Peter's in Rome.

Again, crazy scared Paula on top of St. Peter's. Look at how tightly I am holding that railing.