Review of The Historian

I finally finished The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, and I think this is the first book that I have read for pleasure that took me so long to finish.

I liked this book overall, and I certainly liked the idea of the book, but I think the thing is that the action never really took off and made this book one I couldn't put down. There were many details about monks and monistaries and not enough character development I think. This book read more like a history book than most historical fiction novels I have read. Unfortunately, I loved Dan Brown's Davinci Code. That historical novel had detail, but it had enough non-stop action to keep the reader involved and interested. His characters we more believable I suppose.

Even the love stories in this book, and I believe there are two, were weak and not well devoleped. There is little passion in this book at all, except perhaps the auther has for the old monistaries. I just kept feeling like something was missing. I was able to finish the book, but I won't really be adding it to any of my Christmas lists this year.

From the Stacks Reading Challenge List

Against my better judgement, I entered another reading contest. This is only my second one ever, and I am doing them both at the same time, but honestly, I read enough that I should be able to get through both just fine. For this new contest, I have found the following books on my shelf that I would really like to get to:

1. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
2. Lisey's Story by Steven King
3. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
4. Jude by Kate Morgenroth
5. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce