Blame it on James A. Michener's Poland. I don't understand why I thoroughly enjoy sprawling sagas that take place over the course of x generations spanning centuries. Am currently finishing Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd, his first novel, which I bought because it was only PhP55 at Book Sale and had a picture of Stonehenge on the cover. It's quite funny that character traits can survive generations but then I've seen some survive survive from my grandfather to my father to myself.
Maybe I like this book because I like England; I'm a closet Anglophile, I guess. My most favorite things about England are the druidic mysteries, Stonehenge, the Arthurian legends (which are touched on in Sarum), and Elizabeth I. In this vein, I thoroughly enjoyed Marion Zimmer Bradley's Avalon series: The Forest House, Lady of Avalon, Priestess of Avalon and The Mists of Avalon.
About James Michener--although he has many a sprawling generational saga, two of his books that I thoroughly enjoyed didn't exactly span centuries. Instead one was about the space race (Space) and the other was about writing and literary criticism (The Novel). It's highly probable that the sophisticated tastes of today's literary purveyors have outgrown Michener, but I must admit that the old guy told an entrancing tale. Here's to Michener, bard.
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