An S Book

I just finished an S book for my A-Z challenge: The Spiral Staircase, My Climb Out of Darkness by Karen Armstrong.



This is an excellent book! I never would have read it, however, if my book group at church hadn't chosen it (in fact, it was my choice - little did I know...)! I learned about it from an adult education hour at church. They highlighted several authors, one a week, for about a month. Karen Armstrong was the last one they discussed, and this book sounded interesting, so I chose it when it was my turn to choose.

Karen Armstrong is brilliant, and it shows in her scholarly style and deep thinking. This book is rather dark and depressing at first. I probably would not have kept slogging through it.. well, that word choice is bad. I don't mean I needed to slog through it. But it was slow going for me for a good part of the book.

Today I had to read about 150 pages to get it done before our group met at 6:30 p.m. It took me all day! I finished it an hour before our meeting time. And this is what happened: I absolutely loved the last 80 pages! I found myself being in awe of what she discovers and learns. It was very exciting. I loved the whole book by the time I finished, even though the first part was hard to get through. This is the kind of book I needed to read with a group.

I've been working on a E book, but it's kind of odd, and it hasn't grabbed me yet, so it is also very slow-going. I have the feeling it also will grab me later in the story, so I'm keeping on, but slowly.