North and South (North and South, #1) in The Complete Idiots Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Sep 12, 2020 Monica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1982, ids-guide

Wow!

When this book came to the top of my TBR pile, I was a little hesitant to begin it's reading. With all that is going on in the world right now, do I really want to subject myself to reading about tensions, war, arguments, strife etc? I found out that this was exactly what I needed. The reminders about how there are no easy answers and how even love and friendships are difficult but can be maintained through opposing (or not so opposing viewpoints) is powerful and necessary.

Powerful passage. Wow!

When this book came to the top of my TBR pile, I was a little hesitant to begin it's reading. With all that is going on in the world right now, do I really want to subject myself to reading about tensions, war, arguments, strife etc? I found out that this was exactly what I needed. The reminders about how there are no easy answers and how even love and friendships are difficult but can be maintained through opposing (or not so opposing viewpoints) is powerful and necessary.

Powerful passage.

"...."Regardless of how it comes out-regardless of which side dictates the terms and which side accepts them - we'll all be the losers. We abdicated, George. We let the lunatics reign."
He flung his head back and poured the rest of the whiskey down his throat with a single gesture. After a moment he closed his eyes and shuddered. Slowly and with great care, George replaced the meteorite on the table and stared at it.
Orry opened his eyes. He thought he heard a distant tumult. George stirred,"Yes,the lunatics reign. But what could we have done?'
"I'm not sure. Cooper was always cautioning us with Burke." He struggled to remember and quote correctly. "When bad men combine, the good must associate, else they will fall one by one-"
On his feet suddenly, he reached for the whiskey, "I don't know what the hell we could have done, but I know we didn't ask the question soon enough or forcefully enough. Or often enough."
He poured, drank two-thirds of a glass. George pondered what his friend had said. Then he too shook his head. "That's such a simple answer. Maybe too simple. The problem's incomprehensibly tangled. Sometimes I think one man is such a puny thing. How can he change anything when there are great forces stirring? Forces he doesn't understand or even recognize?"
Orry's reply was the same depressing truth he had admitted a few moments earlier. "I'm not sure. But if great forces and events aren't entirely accidental, they must be created and shaped by men. Created and shaped by positive action and by lack of it, too. I think we had a chance. I think we threw it away." "

Even though this book was 800+ pages, I wanted even more so I am glad that this is the beginning of a trilogy.

P.s. Who knew there was so much promiscuity during that time? (wink wink) ...more

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Aug 16, 2010 Deb rated it liked it · review of another edition

I read all the books in the series many years ago. I only remember that I enjoyed them very much. I'm guessing that my tastes have broadened and become more critical since then:) ...more

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Jul 14, 2008 Tara Lynn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: booklist-for-2008, personal-favorites, best-fiction-series

I was bitterly disappointed when I finished this series. As I've previously mentioned, I've been heavily involved in historical fiction in terms of my reading material for the last month. I LOVED this series, and really hoped that it would continue. I think that the author's meticulous attention to the smallest destails and his ability to carry you along through DOZENS of characters without losing the reader is amazing. I'm definitely going to read his other series.
...more

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