"To compensate a little for the treachery and weakness of my memory, so extreme that it has happened to me more than once to pick up again, as recent and unknown to me, books which I had read carefully a few years before . . . I have adopted the habit for some time now of adding at the end of each book . . . the time I finished reading it and the judgment I have derived of it as a whole, so that this may represent to me at least the sense and general idea I had conceived of the author in reading it." (Montaigne, Book II, Essay 10 (publ. 1580))

Thursday, January 30, 2020

The Second Sleep (Robert Harris, 2019)

(298 pages)

I like this author's writing style quite a bit (this one, for example).

Here, a young priest travels into a somewhat remote area west of London to attend to the burial of the local priest.  The setting is a world reminiscent of the Middle Ages, but the time is hundreds of years after an unspecified apocalyptic event that caused devastation starting in early 21st century.

Knowledge of pre-deluge events is prohibited; technology is feared.  But of course there are a few folks who insist on digging around, and get in trouble with the authorities (some of whom also are interested in digging around).

Young priest encounters impoverished noble lady; wealthy local interested in improving weaving technology; various others.

I liked the book; somewhat overlapped with (but didn't run nearly as interesting) as this one (which is among my very favorites).
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