55 days ago – on the train to Bruxelles on my way to my summer vacation – I started reading “Outlander”. Until I finished reading book 6 yesterday afternoon I carried one of the books of the Outlander series in my bag everyday and wherever I went. London, Glasgow, Highlands, Edinburgh and as well here back home in Germany. I spent most of my spare time (which was rare to begin with) reading about Jamie & Claire, Bree & Roger, Fergus & Marsali, Ian, Germain, Jemmy and all the other members of the Fraser McKenzie Clan.
Sometimes – and during the last two or three books more often then at the beginning of the story – I rolled my eyes about some of the sub-plots. I was a bit bored by some of the detours Diana Gabaldon took in telling her story. What bothered me the most – of the things that bothered me at all – was that quite often I had the impression, that she hadn’t thought the plot through in advance. The last book contains an interview with her and she kind of admits to starting to write and see where it takes her. At least that explained to me how some of the “facts” which were carefully constructed in earlier parts of the story where later dropped with a rather plain and quite often not believable explanation. Like why there were these two gravestones in that Scottish churchyard.
There are a few more things I could criticize more detailed, but I feel like I’m not really entitled to that, because I couldn’t put any of the books down after all. So Diana Gabaldon must have done something right. And she did with creating these characters and with making me care about them so much, that I was moved to tears on a few occasions.
Book 7 will be released (as hardcover) on 22nd September which is much less than 55 days ahead. And from what I’ve read so far about book 7 (at Amazon etc) it’s going to be a lot like book 2, which I liked a lot. I might be on vacation that week and I am already trying to figure out how to get the book that day anyway. I already checked for bookstores which might sell English books near my vacation spot and it doesn’t look good. I might have to order it from Amazon and spend the day at home in the cottage to make sure the postman can actually delivers it to me :-)
And it really feels weird to not be able to escape into this world of fiction when I have a few moments to spare and want to relax ore when I just want to escape the real world. But on the other hand I might finally be able to catch up with season 5 of “The West Wing”. And I also started reading Krista Vernoff’s “The Game On! Diet” Book and I really enjoy it because it’s not just informative but also very very entertaining. I’m determined to play that game as soon as possible and I hope I’ll find a nice team among the Grey’s fans / Gameondieters community on twitter. Or is there anyone among my readers here is up for that challenge as well and might want to team up with me.