The Great Fire of London

I thought it would be a no-brainer I would like this. It’s a historical account of London around and during the great fire of London in 1666, which burned down much of The City as well as burned out the plague (to name one good thing that came from it). The signs of the fire are still present in modern day London, i.e. there’s the monument commemorating it which is simply called The Monument, and thatched roofs have been prohibited (notable exception being The Globe; which given the fact that the original Globe burned down (not during the great fire but at another time) may or may not have been the smartest of decisions. It looks lovely though).

But I digress, I was expecting to like this a lot – but I didn’t really. Unquestionably, this has been a very important work for historical value, but reading it is rather dull. I know it is rather surprising that reading about a massive fire is dull, but it is the writing which just really wasn’t that good. One thing that stood out for me, were the little dramas of people who were constantly trying to save their possessions by moving them a couple of streets down, only to have to repeat the process over and over as the fire progressed.