The Historian

This week I plowed through The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I had hesitated to pick up the book in part because it was a 640 page hard back - and who wants to lug that around - but also because my friend Pam who died suddenly last year had recommended it to me. She had read it and suggested it would be a great book for my upcoming vacation in Poland in November 2005. I hauled the book there and back, but never opened it.

More recently it has sat in my "to be read pile" on my desk and has made me smile and think of Pam daily and I didn't want to necessarily give that up.

But, last weekend in the rain it seemed the perfect adventure, so I grabbed it and, just like Pam would've wanted, jumped into a hot tub. It was a great, fast, fun read that travels you through the Netherlands, England, Romania, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria and the States.

The book's chapters are short and it's divided into three parts. So it's easy to put down and pick up several times a day, though you're likely to find yourself drawn right back to it like the characters are drawn to the mysteries of Dracula themselves.

I highly recommend it as a summer beach read or during long baths with a glass of wine, perhaps followed by a long Saturday morning in bed with coffee.