Pillars of the Earth

I just finished reading Ken Follet's The Pillars of the Earth. Many friends recommended it, and it has seen renewed success because it was promoted by Oprah herself at the end of last year. While I enjoyed it, and went through it almost non-stop, it was not as good as I expected it would be. It would have been better as a shorter book with a condensed time-line, but in its current form it seemed to go on forever. I was also surprised by the copious amount of graphic sex and violence. It almost amused me to think of Oprah reading some of the nearly pornographic scenes depicted in the book. While I am far from prudish about such things, I just didn't expect it in a book so heavily recommended by a mature bunch of readers.

Maybe Oprah will read A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin and recommend it someday. It has all the steamy sex and gratuitous violence along with a better story.