From an action scene to a philosophical one

I just completed a mid-book action scene and the next one facing me is a sensitive, philosophical one. Guess that means I'll work on it tomorrow and do other things the rest of the afternoon.

I've checked out a biography of a powerful woman in the eleventh century and am having trouble getting into it. It has to be just me. The book is highly rated, but so far I'm bored. I will give it a chance, though, and read a chapter every day. I think the work would have been much better fictionalized, though.