(I’m writing this on the train. The sky is pink and fluffy with the sunset. The waxing moon is peeking through cotton candy clouds. I am listening to Mark Kozelek’s album of Modest Mouse covers, which is as close as I get to actually listening to Modest Mouse. I am bookless and lost in thought.)

So, I’ve finished reading YORAS. And it only took me three months and 25 days (give or take a few hours) to do it!

I’ve gone into a little bit of explanation as to why the book has taken me so long to finish—short-story-like chapters, an unfamiliar author with an unusual narrative style, the Adam Carolla Show—so I won’t go over it again.

The book was a much-needed departure from my normal fare. Beyond the narrative style, which featured ideas and abstract characterization instead of relationships and emotions, YORAS focused on the eastern world to the exclusion of everything European and North American. I’ve read a lot of historical fiction, but it’s always Europe-based, and my contemporary fiction reading lists are the same.

Before I get too carried away, I suppose I should describe the premise of this book. Basically, it’s the story of a group of souls that travel from life to life repeating (correcting, remembering, learning from, forgetting) the same mistakes in a world where the population of Europe was eradicated during the Black Death. China and Islam fight for control and the souls find themselves on every side of the battle. The story spans 700-odd years, from the time of the plague to the present.

This is definitely a guy’s book, and not just because the cover is masculinely swathed in blacks and reds. The characters felt like they were presented at arm’s length, so even though I was seeing the same souls over and over, it still took me more than half of the book to get a good read on them. Also there was a lot of talk about machines and tools and not much talk about clothing and makeup, so that’s always a good indication the book is written with men in mind. (I wish I were kidding. Ah, chicklit, what have you done to me?)

I found it interesting that Kim Stanley Robinson pretty much stuck to our timeframe for inventions and world events. China visited America around the time that the Spaniards did in real life; trains showed up at nearly the same time; the Great War took place in the equivalent to the 20th century; the modern people had e-mail.

But that got me thinking: how much of what we do is based on the individuals performing the act and how much is driven by the momentum of our collective humanity? Would there be opera if there was no Italy? Would explorers have been so quick to take to the seas if Europe was lying open to them, fertile and uninhabited? Would the people of Africa, Australia and America have lived an unmolested, happy life, unaware of the rest of the world, for centuries more than they did?

That’s it. This is too much to think about; I’m back to chicklit. I think C dropped off a book about a bachelorette party? . . .