People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.✔✔✓

Some years ago, I read Brooks' first novel, Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, and then last winter, I read about half of March, the book for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. I don't know why, but I find her books boring. The topics are interesting enough, and I'm involved in the first parts of them, but then, my interest wanes.

People of the Book was no different. This was Shirley's pick for our "Birthday Book Event" - two years ago, Shirley, Sandra and I decided not to exchange birthday gifts any longer. Instead each of us purchases a book for ourselves and each of the other two has first dibs on reading it if we wish. We get together for lunch to open our books, talk about them and decide who gets which book first. It's worked quite well and even though the three of us exchange books regularly anyway, it's sort of a special book occasion - we choose a date after the final birthday of the year has passed, which is October. I've already purchased mine, and then one week later, won the same book in one of those monthly draws from publishers!

Now my thoughts have moved on to another sort of "quirky" thing I do about books, and choosing which book to read. Like all avid readers, I have many books on my shelf which I haven't read yet. Presumably they're there because they called out my name from wherever I saw - or read about- them first, but occasionally I really can't decide which one to read next. Often I just go to the library and get something else, but once in a while, I pull six books off the shelf, line them up, and then toss a dice. Whichever number comes up, that's the one I read! And there's no losers - the remaining books may or may not be in the next lineup.

Back to People of the Book, which is about books, and one book in particular- the Sarajevo Haggadah," a beautifully illuminated Hebrew manuscript created in fifteenth-century Spain and recently saved from destruction during the shelling of Sarajevo's libraries". Hanna Heath is a book expert who uncovers the history of the book, a journey which takes her research back to the fifteenth century, during which she uncovers the stories of those who worked on the book.

There are interesting stories to be told, and I particularly enjoyed Lola's story because, during the Nazi headhunt for Jews, she took refuge in the Partisan Army mountain camps of Yugoslavia - one of which Mike, Karen and I visited when we went to Slovenia six years ago. There are others, too, like the Inquisition and its many terrors, especially for Jews.

But then I found myself skimming through to the end. Maybe there were too many stories, too lengthily related, or maybe the subject matter just wasn't strong enough to hold my interest. It could even be my frame of mind at the moment. I'm at least interested enough to skim through to the end, rather than just closing the book, but I may do that only so I can tell Shirley I enjoyed the book.

Two and a half stars for this one, anyway.