New member; Edward Rutherford

[Erez]

Hi, Erez Solomon, recently welcomed to Goodreads. Edward Rutherford's novels (brilliant Cambridge educated historian) series of 800-some pages each are a great read: London, Princes of Ireland, those are my two standouts. Recommend them to anyone interested in the long historical novel, or British/Irish literature and culture. English major's dream; and also, great reading aloud to children or students to teach loving literacy.

great group choice.

[Sera]

Good call, Erez. I've read Sarum and Russia by Rutherford, and the latter is on my all time favorite book list. I have London and really need to read to at some point.

[Anita]

I read 'Sarum' first and then 'London' and really enjoyed them both, despite that they are both very long epics. However I was given 'The Forest' recently and I just couldn't get into it at all. I know it was a history of the New Forest, but in parts the author wrote from the point of view of a deer, or of a tree and I'm afraid my mind started wandering. I'm more interested in the people who lived there. But up until then it was similar to the other two. I didn't finish it though.

[Ali]

I absolutely LOVED E. Rutherfurd's "London." I read it right after I returned from a summer abroad studying in London and it was so incredible to read about places where I'd frequented while living there. HIGHLY recommend to anyone who hasn't read it.

[Erez]

Right on, Ali. Rutherford hits the mark when it comes to site specificity. Like I was back on the streets navigating my way from Picadilly/Covent Garden/Bloomsbury/and outskirts--just a few hundred years before I arrived on London turf during my own spring/winter breaks.

One of those books you read right before you want to trek all around a new city--it beats most travel guides in my book.

[Ali]

Couldn't agree more. I lived about two blocks from the Seven Dials and was thrilled to see them pop up so early in the novel. I've even got it on my shelf to re-read when I get a chance.

[Sara W]

I'm only so-so about London (which I hate to admit since you all seem to like it so much). I couldn't get into it at the beginning, so I quit reading it. Then I went back to it a few years later, and I'm still only halfway through it. I can say that once I got passed the first chapter or two, I did start to enjoy it much more. I've been reading a chapter here or there since each chapter is its only little self-contained story. Maybe that's my problem - it might be better read all at once. I do plan to finish it, and I liked it enough so far to buy Sarum and Russka. I tend to like my historical fiction to be based on real people, not just a real time period, so that may be another reason it's kind of a slow read for me.

[Ali]

I definitely think you would have enjoyed it more if you had read it all at once, rather than bit by bit over time. You get extremely involved in the characters. I love the way it tracks the same families over the centuries. Very cool.

[Sara W]

I may have to start it over and commit to reading it all the way through without reading other books in between. I think I'm about half way through, and I haven't picked it up in months, so it wouldn't hurt to just start over.