I just finished this 40-hr long audio book (or nearly 1,000-page book); it took me more than 3 weeks of listening during my commute to/from work. The amazing thing is that I was kept mesmerized throughout the entire time. I am normally not sympathetic to long-winged story but this book is an exception. There are plenty of bad guys to hate (Bull-dog William Helmley, scheming Bishop Wallivan, little-minded Alfred and other monks) and good guys to cheer for (Prior Philip, Alliena, Tom Builder, Jack Jackson, Ellen and etc.)

I utterly enjoyed the subtlety of mason cathedral building. How the original cathedral built by Alfred fell to ground and how Jack managed to re-build it and added so many of the newer/fancier elements he learned from France. I came to appreciate it even more because I was reading the “tiling” book at the same time. The intricacy of ensuring the seemingly strong masonry building from collapsing has a lot to do with the support and allowance for flexing under the strong wind and high temperature excursion. This is the ying and yang of the stone building. If you can balance the ying and yang, the building can last for centuries. If not, it’ll crumble very shortly. The irony of the story is that Jack was the one that burned down the original building and he was also the one who rebuilt it.

The chaos of the time in England were revealed. It’s almost like reading Chinese Three-kingdom (San-guo) Affair. People had to put up with the constant war and the shifting of power. And yet people’s lives go on. The archaic taxing system of the time was to force people to pay rent for the farms and license for the market place. The added restriction that people must use a certain wheat grinder seems very inefficient and yet it’s no different than a tax/tariff.

The complicated and evolving relationship between the monarchy (King Henry and his son) and the Catholic church also played out in the book. Keeping the politics from religion was quite difficult due to the symbiosis as the monarch needs legitimacy from the Church and the church needs protection from the Governing Power. The fact that Kingsbridge needed a wall and Knight Richard’s (Aliena’s brother) protection just to keep Earl William Helmley out is a classic example that a prospering economy needs the protection of the government body. Without it, the economy would collapse due to lack of confidence and the uncertainty.

Another good thing about this novel is that the characters are quite believable and deeply rooted in the reality of the time and yet grounded in basic human emotions – love, hate, hope and fear. I don’t read novels often but I see why novels are appealing to people because the author can make up the emotions and thoughts of the people as the story evolves. In real life, we don’t usually have the advantage in knowing what people are thinking and how they’re feeling at the time. This is especially evident in the love scenes throughout the story. The author thrives at exploring the steamy love scenes making the reading grasping for air. He’s also very good at describing the violent war and rape scenes that make you feel the blood splashed on your face.

A quick comment on the key characters: (You may not want to reach the following if you haven’t read the book yet so I don’t ruin the ending for you)
– Prior Philip: The quintessential high-integrity monk with a relentless pursuit to do good and build a cathedral for the church. When it comes to religion, he played by the book, forcing Tom Builder/Ellen AND Jack/Aliena apart to legitimize their marriage. But when it comes to worldly thing, he’s very smart in getting things done, keeping Bishop Wallivan at bay. He’s exactly the kind of religious leader you want.
– Tom Builder: the central character of the 1st part of the story. Tom went from extreme poverty to being the master builder building the cathedral. He’s the leader of the mason craft persons. He had a grand vision for the church and yet could not complete it before his death. He’s a protector and leader with high-level of integrity. He reminds me of a good engineering lead/manager.
– Ellen: the ultimate liberal. Tom’s mistress/and wife after the death of his wife. A strong-will woman, she brought up Jack on her own in the forest. She reminded me the newly-liberated women in the 60’s.
– Aliena: Born a sheltered daughter of an earl, she was raped by William Hamleigh when her father lost his Earlship to Piercy Hamleigh (William’s father). She became a strong street-smart business woman and could kill to defend her brother Richard. She married Alfred after her wool business was burned down by William so she could continue to support Richard’s knighthood – a promise she made to her father. But her heart was with Jack. She gave birth to Tommy and later went on a search for Jack all the way to Spain and found her. The church rules forced her to live apart from Jack for 10 years and finally married Jack after Richard killed Alfred. Her son, Tommy, later became the Earl of Shailing. The irony is that Aliena is a much better governor/lord of Shiring than her brother. Tommy inherited her genes.
– Jack, the central character for the last half of the story. He was a little boy when he met and became fascinated with Aliena, a girl 5 years to his senior. Living in the forest with his mother and then living with Tom’s family (conflicts with Alfred) and then became an intern monk working for Philip in the church, he’s like the little smart kid that weathers all harsh environments. His artistry for Cathedral took on a fast ramp when he traveled through the rest of Europe to Spain and France. With his quick wit, he brought back the weeping Virgin Mary back and the seed money needed to rebuild the church. Tom’s love and passion for Alliena never diminished throughout the trials and tribulations. To me, Jack is more like an architect and a super civil engineer with the street-smartness to get his way.
– William Hamleigh, the ultimate bully in the story: His crimes were so numerous that the author kept him around to the end to keep the readers guessing how he’s going to die. He was hung. The author portrayed him to be an abused boy by his mother and he was very fearful of the death and his likely final resting place – hell. His redeeming value is that he’s fearful of God and he’s not as scheming as Bishop Waleran.
– Bishop Waleran: the ultimate evil at the high place of Catholic church. He would manipulate William Helmley to get his way. His final straw was when he accused Philip to commit fornication and give birth to Jonathan, Tom Builder’s son. He lost all his credibility when the accusation did not pan out for him and his conspiracy to kill Archbishop Thomas backfired on him. He ended up being a lowly monk, repenting his sins for the rest of his life.

For more characters, read this Wiki page.

Overall, this is one of the best novels I have read for many years. The story was captivating and interesting. The bad guys and good guys all got what they deserved at the end. I’ve learned a few things along the way. Can’t do better than that.

Tiling seems to imply lots of work. I often thought it’s not something I am able to do myself. In fact, I have hired contractors to do the tiles for my kitchen, bathrooms, and even front porch in the past. Through this book, I’ve learned quite a few things to make me feel confident enough to be dangerous.

I discovered the intricacy of tiling like selecting the types of tiles (slate/stone, porcelain, ceramic) for different purposes. And the various degrees of water absorption for each type of tiles was a surprise to me. After reading the book and walking through the tiles isles at the neighborhood Home Depot, I came to appreciate the arts of tiling – its beauty and crafts.

The backboard serves to support the tiles and requires stiffness so the the tiles won’t flex and result in cracks. The author emphasizes this point throughout the book. I believe the success of the tiling depends so heavily on preparing the surface in terms of its smoothness, flatness, and levelness, it’s almost 80% of success if done right. I have seen cracks on tiles and grout; they could be attributed to the poor prep work. Also, installing felt roofing paper or membrane to prevent water from seeping through is also noted as a critical step.

Setting the focal point (could be middle of the room) and tiling from the focal point is something I didn’t expect. I always thought you would tile from the corner or sides and work from there, like hardwood floor. The art of creating symmetry of the tiles all depends on where the focal point is and where the reference lines are drawn. This makes tiling a bit of challenge as you may end up tiling yourself to a corner or many corners.

Maintenance tips for sealing the grout and tile is helpful to prolong the life of the grout and tile. It never occurred to me that tiles would need maintenance. But it makes sense.

The tips on repairing/preparing concrete surface for tiles are very helpful. One must fill in the cracks and patch uneven surface to ensure proper support for the tiles.

The tip about removing all the objects (toilets, vanity sinks, and etc.) for ease of tiling seems very reasonable to me as well.

The reminder to allow thermal expansion of the tiles and caulking (not grouting) the edge where the tiles interface a different material is very critical to ensure long term reliability of the tiles. Often time, we forget that the tiles react to temperature cycles and end up shortening the life of the tiles.

The various grout materials (plain, sanded, epoxy, colored, mortar, and premixed) for different purpose serves as a good reminder that picking the right grout materials to join the tiles are very critical to the success of the project.

The book went into so many different projects (stairs, chair, bathroom, and etc.) that it almost make you think tiles can go on any surface of the home. Perhaps in the old days, there weren’t that many other alternative than tiling. These days, I wouldn’t want to tile over the kitchen counter, and tiling over stairs riser seems to be an overkill to me. On the other hand, the book gives me enough details to be successful in doing a small project. But for big projects, I would still hand it over to the professional.

I have a few ideas on where to try on my newly acquired tiling know-how. Only if my wife would let me …

Got this book from the library. I wanted to learn about increasing the storage space at home. My key takeaways:

– The sink tilt-out tray (on p.55) is really cool. I wanted to get one of these installed in my bathroom but was told by HomeDepot that it’s a custom thing – not available. Evidently, you can buy them on the net.

– The under the sink storage for paper towel, cloth towels and paper bags on p.54 is a good idea. It makes good use of the door.

– Custom designed underbed storage box with casters on p.86. I didn’t know how easy it is to make one, provided you are handy with wood work.

– The ladder towel rack on p.110 is pretty neat. It allows many towels to be hung.

– Newspaper storage box with ‘V’ cut out on each side to allow for strings to be laid down such that the newspaper can be wrapped up fast. Of course, nowadays newspaper are not being wrapped in strings but the design is still pretty cool.

– Glass jars to store nails and they can be fastened to the underside of the shelf.

– Use of the empty gift paper roll to wrap Xmas lights around as a cable organizer.

– The wood work cheat sheets cover all the joints: butt joints, lap joints, and dado joints. I learned a
few things about them.

– Scribe rail is an ingenious idea to make a cabinet flush with the wall.

All these great ideas make me want to go out and buy all the workshop tools to make some storage boxes/cabinets.