2 of 13 in 13 Challenge

Yup I finished another book.

I had a wisdom tooth extracted on Tuesday and so haven't felt like doing much over the last couple of days.  SO I made the decision to accept it and get another book read.  I really did try to get into Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins but I have come to the conclusion I really need to be out of a pain hazed state before I attempt that one.

I decided that with was time for something lighter and fluffier so I turned my attention to fiction.

I found 'A Trail of Fire' by Diana Gabaldon in my local library and as it is on my list thought now would be a great time to read it.  It didn't take me long.  I am so used to her Big Epic Books (BEB) that this one surprised me as to how fast I read it.  It is in fact 4 smaller books that she calls Bulges, they deal with secondary characters from the BEBs and usually answer questions that may have arisen in the readers mind while reading the BEBs.  Although in the last story of the 4 'The Space Between' she raised more questions in my mind that answers, maybe that was the intention.

Diana Gabaldon is the author of the Outlander Series.  It currently consists of 7 BEBs with an eight due out this year (I think).  They follow the story of Claire who, in 1945, wakes through a set of standing stones and wakes up in 1745.  The BEBs centre round her and her husband Jamie as well as their daughter (Brianna) and her husband (Roger), Jamies son (William) and Williams stepfather (John Gray), and Jamies nephew Ian.  Needless to say they can get quite confusing at times.  The last book in the series 'An Echo in the Bone' has these four stories running parrallel and jumps from one to the other frequently.  The series follows Claire and Jamies story through the Stuart uprising in Scotland through to the American revolution and everything in between.

I first discovered her books in New Zealand in 2000.  We were about to take the ferry from the North Island to the South Island and I needed a book to distract me from the movement of the boat (I do not do well on boats).  Anyway I picked up the first in the series 'Cross Stitch' (also known as Outlander in the US) and was hooked.  I didn't notice the movement of the ferry at all and in fact when R came to tell me we were about to get off I was disappointed I had to put the book down.  By the time we did the return trip two weeks later I think I was onto the Third book in the series.  I read the first four in quick succession (as they were all already published) then had to sit and wait for the rest to come out as they were written.

I do enjoy this series, especially the first three or four books before they started to get complicated to follow and I will be reading the 8th book as soon as I can get my hands on it :).  The characters just seem to suck you in.

I enjoyed this anthology of Bulges especially the one that dealt with Rogers parents and the one that dealt with Ians brother Michael.  You can read this as a stand alone book without having read the BEBs but if you want to read those you really need to read them in order or you will get frightfully lost.

If you are a fan of historical fiction then go and check these out (I really would recommend starting with Cross Stitch) as the historial settings really bring the characters to life.

So two books ticked off my list.  Feeling very happy with myself now.  I wonder what number 3 will be.