just reading this week

Okay, okay, there WAS some sewing this week, but since it was just the cat carrier covers, no photos and nothing truly exciting to report.  (Unless you count the excitement of using up a little more of those bazillion sheets I got a while back?)

And I suppose weeding and harvesting in my garden counts, too, right?  As something?  (The cucumbers just won't quit...)

Of course there were cleaning chores and cooking chores and this morning I made a pineapple upside down cake, so it's not like ALL I did was read.  (And you know I went to work a bunch of days too, of course.)

There was also my little town's Frontier Days festival this past weekend.  Lots of crafty vendors, a rodeo at the fairgrounds, a parade and all sorts of stuff.  The hubby and I checked out the vendors - we often find a Christmas gift or two and this year did not disappoint.

No photos of anything.

The reading?  Just one book:

This one weighs in at just under 1000 pages and I finished it in 6 days.

It's the story of World War I and a little of the times leading up to it and after it was over.  Told through quite a few different viewpoints.  There is a wealthy British (Welsh?) Lord.  A boy who works in the coal mines on the land the Lord owns.  A German diplomat/spy.  The sister of the boy working in the coal mines.  The sister of the Lord.  Two Russian brothers who are very different and bring two more viewpoints.  An American diplomat.  And many other characters with smaller parts, but who do add even more tidbits.

It was interesting and, considering the subject, quite easy to read.  We follow the characters above through their struggles and successes rather than just a list of battles and dates and who won.

It helped me understand that there are a LOT of factors when a country is determining whether to join a war or not.  A lot of consideration of how their actions will affect relations with other countries as well as within their own.  It also explained some about the cost of war and how countries borrow to fund it and the losers are often the ones to pay back those debts.

I enjoyed the stories of the people most, though, if we're being honest!

Two things that bothered me though:

1. (Spoiler alert) Every single main character lived.  Considering how many there are and the dangers that some of them went through, I expected to lose a few.  Lesser characters were lost, but none of the ones fully developed.

2.  The influenza pandemic that swept the globe (and I've heard told helped end the war) was barely mentioned.  I think one person got sick and it wasn't a character we knew much about.  Not one person died from it.  And while this book is about the war, there were enough other side stories that this could have been dealt with a bit more.

In all, though, it was a good book.  I enjoy this author (I've read "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End" - I liked Pillars better) and would pick up more of his if they crossed my path.

And that's it for the week!

(A photo of tiny Lily because the post needs more photos and she wasn't feeling well yesterday, so we need to send her extra good vibes today so she has the strength and energy to make up for losing a whole day of goblining yesterday.  She's doing her best today...)

Happy quilting and reading!

Katie

PS  The baby quilt was loved and the wife of the hubby's coworker couldn't believe I'd made it for them.  Or that I made it.  Uhhh...quilting isn't that hard?!