2011-32 - A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, Julian Barnes

32 - A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, Julian Barnes, 310 pages, Cambridge University Press, 1989
WHY I PICKED IT: Someone referred it to me, but I don't quite remember who
ELAPSED TIME: 7 days
RATING: Good

This book is ... odd.  Ten and a half stories that are seemingly independent of one another, but with threads that interweave.  This is less a book of history and more a book tying religion, history, and art into a book of fiction.

In one chapter Barnes tells the story of Noah's Ark ... from the perspective of a woodworm.  In another, he starts with the story of the Medusa, a ship that hit a reef in 1817 (-ish), and the story of the art that it stimulated (in 1819).

Some of the chapters were engaging ... but the lack of a unifying theme made this a difficult book to enjoy.