The Michener Library at the University of Northern Colorado houses his research materials for Centennial; his hand-written pages engender great appreciation for the secretary who had to transcribe them. He was the first writer, for me, whose work invited re-reading. He also shares space on the list of those whose compelling narratives had me pulling all-nighters; Wouk's Winds of War and War and Remembrance are on that same shelf. Auel's last book was, at best, disappointing, in that she just seemed to lose interest in writing it.
Follet's "Century" trilogy was my most recent big read, informative and often disarmingly prescient. These days, reading has become tricky as my arms tend to fall asleep while holding a book, and I tend to nod off while reading online for more than a few minutes at a time.
Years ago, when I was laid up for a few months, a friend brought me a box of books from a yard sale. It was a set of small paperbacks, a series depicting (ostensibly) the westward expansion of the country, each book named for the state in which the story took place. They were very easy reading, most could be done in a day. But the lack of basic research was sometimes distracting; case in point, when a child begged her daddy to stop the covered wagon so she could get out and play with the prairie dog "puppy" that had been chasing them. Seriously.
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