What Fiction are you reading this week, October 5, 2025?

[rsdsharp]

2. I'm still reading Circle of Days by Ken Follett.

I’m a Follett fan. I’ve read virtually all of his books over the last 40 years or so, and I’ll admit he can be hit or miss. Pillars of the Earth is one of my favorite books, but a good friend of mine said it’s characters were cardboard cutouts, and the plot was flimsy.

I was gobsmacked by that critique, but it’s apt when applied to his latest book. I’m about 2/3rds of the way through a 700 page book ostensibly about Stonehenge, and a couple of the characters are just now starting to THINK about remaking “the Monument” in stone.

This book is about the interaction of three separate groups — the herders, the farmers and the woodland people — who live within walking distance of each other on “the Great Plain” (presumably Salisbury Plain), and yet they have wildly different customs and lifestyles, and one of the groups doesn’t speak the same language as the other two. Maybe that’s for the best, because the dialog is often stilted.

In short, this isn’t Follett’s best effort, at least in my opinion. Maybe the last third of the book will be better.