Tale of two historical novels

On the recent trip to Madrid, I took two books for the flights. 

By pure chance, they were both historical novels. 

One I loved, one I detested. Can you guess which?

    

I know that I am probably in the minority, judging from all the glowing reviews on Amazon, but I somehow could not stomach Philippa Gregory's The other Boleyn Girl.  First of all, all the distortions of historical facts were somewhat difficult to stomach, especially since the distortions were made in order to make the story seem more sensational and juicy. Anne a villainess and Mary an innocent? Anne the older and Mary the younger sister? I think not. In fact, Mary was the older, promiscuous sister who was sent home from the French court in disgrace. And Anne committing incest? Oh, p-lease.... Not only were the facts distorted, which, for me was difficult to get around but the characters were one dimensional, Anne - the jealous, manipulative, backstabbing witch and Mary - the innocent maiden. Makings of a great soap opera, maybe, but definitely not my favorite book.  

On the other hand, The Pillars of the Earth was a perfect amalgamation of historical events with fully developed characters. The focus of this novel is clearly on characters who are not in the political focus (in contrast to The other Boleyn Girl). They are a prior of a small monastery, a builder and his family, and an earl's daughter turned penniless after her family's fall from grace. The main event of the story is the building of a cathedral in a small town, Yet in depicting the lives of these characters (rather than kings and queens) and in weaving a tale of building a cathedral, Ken Follett reveals perfectly, the mood and sentiments of the era and the important historical events of that era. Bravo, Ken Follett!  

Have you read these books yet? 

If you have, what are your thoughts?