Quicksilver

This is how you do historical fiction! A wide-ranging tale covering the history of royal families, court intrigue, early espionage and cryptography, scientific invention, finance, etc. Epic in every way. ( )

tried 2x and couldn't finish

Great historical fiction of Europe during the Age of Enlightenment. It was a little tough to get into at the start due to all of the characters and background that needed to be established, but it picks up quite a bit in the last two thirds. I also like that I learned something about the people and events of the time period, which is something I don't get from the usual sci-fi/fantasy books I read. It was fun looking up some of the characters and events and finding that they really did exist or happen.

I'll probably take a short break to read some shorter books that I have been putting off, but I am looking forward to reading the other two ~1000 page books in the series! ( )

A charming tale of kidney stones, Vagabonds, and economics. ( )

Delightful, if perhaps not for everyone's tastes. Stephenson sets this doorstopper of a novel in the early Age of Enlightenment, among such historical luminaries as Newton, Hooke, and Leibnitz, as well as their political contemporaries such as Charles II, Louis XIV and William of Orange. The author of [b:Cryptonomicon|816|Cryptonomicon|Neal Stephenson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327931476s/816.jpg|1166797] (to which this book is loosely connected) draws on similar themes about science and communication, but set centuries earlier. Stephenson clearly did abundant research into the period, and sprinkles his work with both obscure references and just the right amount of period jargon. As someone who's read a decent amount (but by no means extensively) about the period, I loved almost every page: even when the action lagged (as it sometimes did, especially in the first third, where Stephenson added a framing story involving a battle against pirates seemingly just to liven up the less exciting action of his main plot, and near the end, when too much of the action is told in the form of cyphered letters) the setting was immersive and enlivened with a droll wit. People who don't know their Leibnitz from their Leipzig might find the exhaustive detail less charming than I did, though the storytelling style is certainly much more accessible than, say, the self-consciously arty grammar of Wolf Hall. ( )