THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY

too distracted by words i don't know. overwhelmed with the vagaries of players fascinating but whose characters are underdeveloped and sometimes irrelevant. much too much about the minutiae of architecture that erode curiosity and penchant for learning.

supposedly the plot gets interesting but i couldn't get past all of the above.

i learned a lot. but forgot as much.

one thing that did stick was the brilliant solution to chicago's damp earth that enabled the inception of the skyscraper. steel frames. dope.

a friend gave me pillars of the earth last christmas. it might be one of only a couple of books in my study that i haven't started reading. um, that's not gonna happen right now.

so hello, wall. we meet again. might i mention that your concrete skin is harshly frigid to the touch?

update: 1/26/09

FINALLY, i finished this book. pages 30ish to 150ish were tough to get through. i think because there was a point where all of these characters were introduced and the plot was at a standstill. i picked up the book again last week and was relieved that the story picked up too. i was disgusted and offended to read about that killer, but then i was just in shock when i remembered that stuff really happens. the interweaving of the various influential players of that era was amazing, and amazing to discover. and i do credit the author for being able to pull off an entertaining read, albeit after a slow start.