Between two books

I am in between two books right now. Fall of Giants and the The Sugar Queen. Fall of Giants I am reading for my book club so it was picked for me as opposed to picked by me. I have to say that I am enjoying The Sugar Queen more. Maybe it is all of the candy the author talks about or the light and airy feel of the book. I am so enchanted by the characters one of which is basically being stalked by self help books which pop up in unexpected places, like her box of cereal. The flow and use of words that the author, Sarah Addison Allen, is so well done that I can almost swear I smell the food she is describing. Because I often crave the candy which is named throughout the chapters and as the chapter names themselves. I have begun to keep a bowl filled with candy next to my reading chair. Ms. Allen should receive some sort of compensation for the increase sale of SweeTarts, Sugar Daddys and Now and Laters. I have read three of Ms. Allen's books so far and I have enjoyed each one immensely. I find myself wondering about the characters long after I have put the book down. This is how I usually judge a book. If I am thinking about the book and the characters when I really should be doing something else......like reading Fall of Giants then it is a good book.

Fall of Giants is......well not as good as Pillars of the Earth. I am struggling to get through this book. I find that their are too many characters. In fact the beginning pages of the book consists of a list of all of the characters. I am constantly flipping back to the list to remember who is who. I am very nearly done with the 985 page monster. The truth may be that I am just not in the mood for this type of book. I pick it up and frown at it like its homework. It could be that I am intimidated by the immensity of it, I really don't know.

I do know when its time to pick up The Sugar Queen, Sarah Addison Allen, makes all the unhappiness of war, met between the pages of Fall of Giants, fade away in a delicious fog of candy infused magic.