VICKI'S 50 BOOKS READ IN 2016

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

37. by Emily Brightwell
Finish date: June 28, 2016
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B-
Review: Inspector Witherspoon works for Scotland Yard, but isn't much of a detective. Luckily for him, his housekeeper Mrs. Jeffries is, and along with others in the household, she helps him solve the poisoning death of a local doctor. An amusing and fairly short Victorian mystery.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

JULY

38. by Jo Walton
Finish date: July 4, 2016
Genre: Fantasy, philosophical fiction
Rating: A
Review: The goddess Athena decides to create the Just City that Plato described in The Republic. She chooses an island that will be destroyed by a volcano in the future, collects 10,000 10-year old Greek-speaking children by buying them from slavers, and collects a few hundred teachers, intellectuals throughout the ages who have prayed to her. There are also robots, imported from the future to do the heavy work. The story is told in alternating chapters narrated by Simmea, one of the children, and Maia, one of the teachers, who was a studious young woman from Yorkshire in the mid 1800s. Apollo also contributes a chapter here and there. About 5 years into the experiment, Socrates is brought to the city to teach some of the children rhetoric. He has lots to say about the way the city operates, and disagrees with lots of it, especially since he's the mouthpiece for Plato in The Republic. Having just read The Republic, this was a fascinating look at how the city would come about. There's lots of philosophical discussions, but it's not at all dry.
by Plato

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

39. by Steven Saylor
Finish date: July 12, 2016
Genre: Roman mystery
Rating: A-
Review: This one isn't quite as good as the first in the series, Roman Blood, but then Crassus isn't as interesting as Cicero. You do get a good feel for life in a seaside estate, with the many, many slaves required to run it. Also, there was the quite legitimate underlying fear of slaves at this time, since many owners and their families were murdered by their slaves during the Spartacus revolt. Naturally, there's a happy ending for (almost) all but the culprit.
by Steven Saylor

[Skeetor]

Vicki wrote: "39. by Steven Saylor
Finish date: July 12, 2016
Genre: Roman mystery
Rating: A-
Review: This one isn't quite as g..."

Added the series to my tbr list. Thanks!

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

40. by Tony Perrottet
Finish date: July 17, 2016
Genre: Travel, ancient history
Rating: B+
Review: The author and his pregnant girlfriend travel to places the well-to-do ancient Romans would have gone. They encounter problems the ancients would have had to put up with (unpleasant landlords) as well as more modern ones (a car that keeps breaking down). They visit Olympia, the site of the ancient games, the supposed site of Troy, Ephesus, Rhodes, Alexandria and the pyramids and many more. There's an description of ancient Latin-Greek phrasebooks that appear to have been used while on vacation at the bathhouses. An interesting mix of history with contemporary travel.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

41. by Ellis Peters
Finish date: July 28, 2016
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B-
Review: This is probably my least favorite Brother Cadfael story, mainly because it's not set in Shrewsbury, so we're missing many of the interesting characters who live there. Cadfael accompanies his friend Brother Mark to Wales on an ambassadorial mission to some bishops there. They get caught up in fighting between some of the Welsh lords and there's the usual side plot of a romance.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

My goodness Vicki - I am impressed

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

AUGUST
42. by Jo Walton
Finish date: Aug. 24, 2016
Genre: Historical fiction, fantasy
Rating: B+
Review: The City founded by the goddess Athena based on the principles espoused by Plato in The Republic (in the first in the series, The Just City) has broken up and people have gone to live in various other cities, which sometimes raid their neighbors for art. Pythias (the incarnate god Apollo) goes with his children to the other cities, searching for a man he holds responsible for his wife's death. Along the way they discover how the other cities are set up - one is female-directed, sort of like Amazons. The philosophical discussions are really interesting.
by Plato
by Jo Walton

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

SEPTEMBER
43. by Simon Blackburn (no photo)
Finish date: Sept. 1, 2016
Genre: Philosophy
Rating: C+
Review: An analysis of Plato's The Republic, with comments from later philosophers about what he wrote. A pretty good discussion of the subject.
by Plato

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

44. by Lindsey Davis
Finish date: Sept. 19, 2016
Genre: Roman fiction
Rating: C+
Review: Set during Domitian's reign in Rome, this is the story of the relationship between Vinius, a Praetorian guard, and Flavia Lucilla, hairdresser to the royal family. It was interesting that it took a long time for them to finally get together, although they were attracted to each other early on. We also learn a lot about Domitian, a rather unpleasant and increasingly crazy character.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

45. by Leonard Cottrell (no photo)
Finish date: Sept. 23, 2016
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: B
Review: This book describes various aspects of life in Egypt around 1500 BC - houses and furniture, school, the army, medicine, commerce. Interspersed between the narrative about the different subjects is a story about a particular family, that of the Vizier Rekhmire, a real person we know about from the decorations on the walls of his tomb. I liked the personal aspects of the story; it made the non-fiction parts much more interesting.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

OCTOBER
46. by Ellis Peters
Finish date: Oct. 7, 2016
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B
Review: The reliquary with "St. Winifred's" bones has gone missing from the abbey during a flood. There are a few suspects and Brother Cadfael solves the mystery as usual.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

47. by Peter Stothard (no photo)
Finish date: Oct. 26, 2016
Genre: Ancient history, travel
Rating: B-
Review: The author travels to places in Italy where Spartacus and his army went. Along the way he meets a few other people interested in Spartacus, most notably a South Korean couple. It was pretty interesting, but the maps were not very good, there were no footnotes, although he did provide a list of books he used for research, and the pictures were unlabeled, with titles for them in a list at the end of the book.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Good progress this year Vicki - you are almost to the 50 mark - not something you have to do but you are close.

89 unique and different members are reading your reviews and thread.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

48. by Ellis Peters
Finish date: Oct. 29, 2016
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B
Review: This is the last Brother Cadfael book, and he does something unthinkable - leave the abbey in order to find his son. Olivier has been fighting for Empress Maud in the struggle between her and King Stephen and has been captured but no one knows where he is. Cadfael wants to get him ransomed - there are people who would pay the ransom, but need to know who has him. Lots of intrigue in this one, with good and evil people on each side of the fight.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

NOVEMBER
49. by Caroline Roe
Finish date: Nov. 5, 2016
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B
Review: This is the second in a series about blind Jewish physician Isaac from the Spanish city of Girona. It takes place in the 1300s and is interesting because this is before the persecution of Jews in Spain. In fact, Isaac is counts the local bishop as one of his best friends. The plot concerns the death of three young friends who were trying to learn arcane wisdom from an itinerant scholar. The secondary characters are as interesting as the mystery. Yusuf is a young Muslim who is Isaac's assistant and Rachel, Isaac's daughter, is also an assistant and has learned a lot about medicine and the body.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

50. by Paul Doherty
Finish date: Nov. 16, 2016
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B
Review: Pharaoh Tuthmosis II has returned to Thebes after victory in battle, but dies that same day. His wife Hatusu (aka Hatshepsut) enlists the aid of judge Amerotke to discover who has killed the Pharaoh. Lots of interesting stuff about the courts in ancient Egypt.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

51. by John Maddox Roberts
Finish date: Nov. 19, 2016
Genre: Roman mystery
Rating: A
Review: Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger is now a quaestor, working in the Temple of Saturn, where the treasury is kept. He finds an odd assortment of weapons in one of the little-used rooms in the temple. At the same time, there is a series of seemingly unconnected murders in Rome. There is suspicion that they may be connected to a possible conspiracy to overthrow the government, led by Lucius Sergius Catilina. Decius is encouraged to look into all this by one of his relatives in the government, so he insinuates himself into Catilina's group, mostly made up of reckless and indebted young men. As we all know, Catilina was foiled (thanks to Decius?).

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

You did it.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

DECEMBER
52. by Ann Patty
Finish date: Dec. 1, 2016
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: A
Review: When the author retired from book editing, she was worried she'd be bored and slip into alcoholism like her mother. She decided to take up the study of Latin since she'd always been fascinated by words, and her mother had been an excellent Latin scholar in school. She finds some college classes to audit and makes friends with the teachers and other students and discovers a whole new community to be involved with. I tried for a few months to study Latin on my own, but was too lazy. This book makes me want to try again.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

53. by Robert Colton
Finish date: Dec. 2, 2016
Genre: Roman mystery
Rating: B
Review: Young Marcellus returns to Rome thinking that his father has died, but the old man is still alive. At least until he hits his head during a tirade at Marcellus. The old man's hangers-on think the son killed him, so he flees to Pompeii with his Egyptian slave Tay. In order to remain hidden, Tay and Marcellus trade places; Tay is a much better actor than Marcellus so he tells everyone they meet that his slave is mute. The only people who can testify that Marcellus didn't kill his father are killed also and Marcellus and Tay are left with the new-born baby of one of the victims. It's a pretty complicated story, but it works out in the end. I was expecting the eruption of Vesuvius to play a part, as it always seems to in any novel set in Pompeii, but the story takes place in 62 CE during a large earthquake. There are a good many typos and misspellings, but they only distract slightly from the story.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

54. by Marilyn Todd
Finish date: Dec. 10, 2016
Genre: Roman mystery
Rating: B
Review: Claudia is married to a rich wine maker and her life is very good, except for her gambling problem, which she finances by working as a dominatrix. When some of her clients turn up dead, she's worried she'll be outed. To make matters worse, the man investigating the murders, Marcus Cornelius Orbilio, is very attracted to her, and vice versa. This is the first in an interesting series - it's unusual to have a female protagonist in a Roman mystery.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

55. by Charles Dickens
Finish date: Dec. 15, 2016
Genre: Christmas story
Rating: A
Review: I love this edition. Ronald Searle's illustrations are just perfect. I bought this book over 50 years ago, not long before I met my future husband. On an early date, I tried to read part of it to him, but he just wanted to make out. He was not really a Dickens fan. But I am, and I try to read this every Christmas.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

56. by Seneca
Finish date: Dec. 29, 2016
Genre: Philosophy
Rating: B
Review: Seneca writes many letters to his friend Lucilius about how to live your life in the Stoic manner. They cover many topics, such as not grieving too much over the death of a friend, not freaking out when your slaves run away (?!?), basically moderation in all things. My favorite is #114, wherein he complains about the current "corrupt literary style," in particular going on and on about Maecenas, whose "eloquence resembles a drunken man's." Most of the others are more moderate in tone. This edition doesn't have all the letters but it does have a very good introduction.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

57. by Ian McEwan
Finish date: Dec. 30, 2016
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A
Review: This must be the first, and very probably last, story narrated by a 9-month old fetus. He doesn't have a name, but we know he's a boy because he tells how he discovered his male member some months ago. His mother Trudy is separated from his father John, a poet and publisher of a perpetually in-debt poetry magazine. She lives in John's valuable but run-down family home, and is having an affair with John's boring brother Claude. (Note the resemblance of the names to characters in Hamlet.) Our narrator overhears Trudy and Claude planning to kill John so they can sell the house and live comfortably together. Naturally this is very disturbing to him, but what can he do? This is a thoroughly delightful book that keeps you in suspense, hoping things will work out for the baby.