VICKI'S 50 BOOKS READ IN 2017

[Pamela]

I'm going to have to start reading this series. I've certainly enjoyed your reviews of these books.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Pamela wrote: "I'm going to have to start reading this series. I've certainly enjoyed your reviews of these books."

I recommend starting from the beginning rather than from the end, like I did.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

27. by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill (no photo)
Finish date: June 21, 2017
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: B-
Review: This is a very scholarly book about the effect on Roman culture of the expansion in the East, bringing Hellenic culture to Rome, where it was absorbed and changed, and then was sent out into the rest of the empire. It was actually a bit too dry for me, but there were some interesting parts. There is a lot of detail about architecture, city maps, couch designs, metal vs. clay lamps, and other everyday items.

[Pamela]

That sounds worth reading just to see what it says about Greek couch designs and lamps. Don't think I've ever come across something like that. Was it just about style or did it make some revolutionary change in concept or use?

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

The section on couches focused on the armrests (?) at each end, and he opined that these weren't used for dining but in other rooms where you might want to lie down. There were lots of pictures and diagrams. And an extensive bibliography which might point you to other interesting books on the topic.

[Pamela]

Oh, I know the ones you mean. I guess I just figured they would have been used for both.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

28. by Kate Quinn
Finish date: June 24, 2017
Genre: Roman fiction
Rating: B
Review: This is the story of four female cousins of the gens Claudia during the Year of Four Emperors. The eldest, Claudia Prima, is married to Piso, who may be declared the successor to Emperor Galba. Marcella, her younger sister, is married to an imperial functionary who's never in Rome, so they don't have a house and she has to live with her brother and his shrew of a wife, but she keeps busy writing a history of current times. Lollia is a gadabout who's been married numerous times. And Diana only lives to be with horses and go to the races. Each one is fleshed out really well, all are different from each other, and we learn about the turmoil of this year through their eyes.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

29. by Elizabeth Peters
Finish date: June 29, 2017
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: A
Review: This third book in the series is the best so far, mainly because of the presence of Ramses, Amelia and Emerson's precocious son. It's not clear how old he is, 4 or 5, and he can't yet pronounce 'th', making his rather long speeches quite amusing. They have taken him to Egypt for their current dig, which is at a mediocre site. Not far away at Dashoor another group is excavating some pyramids, which Amelia has been longing for. Ramses is allowed to do digging of his own as long as he takes along a guardian. Naturally there is mayhem and suspicious characters galore. We also meet a continuing character, the Master Criminal, who appears in some of the subsequent books in the series. Even though I read this around 2 years ago, I had forgotten who he was. I guess my faulty memory for plots is an advantage, since I can reread books and enjoy them anew.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

JULY

30. by Elizabeth Peters
Finish date: July 5, 2017
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: A
Review: It's one year after the previous book, and Amelia and Emerson, along with their son Ramses, have returned to Egypt, this time getting to explore some pyramids. Ramses is now eight and has firm opinions, along with the erudition to back them up at length. They take a couple of young people under their wings who are involved in a murder (naturally). The sinister figure from the end of the last book, the Master Criminal, now called Sethos, takes a major role in the goings-on. I do like Amelia and Emerson, but Ramses is my favorite character.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Great progress Vicki

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

31. by Mary Beard
Finish date: July 5, 2017
Genre: Roman history
Rating: B
Review: This is a history of Rome from its beginning with Romulus and Remus through the granting of universal citizenship by Caracalla in 212 CE. Rather than starting at the beginning, Beard starts with Cicero's consulship in 63 BCE and Catilina's plot to overthrow the government. She says this is because of the extraordinary amount of contemporary documentation of what was going on then, from letters, speeches and other writings. She then goes back to the beginning, for which we have no documentation, aside from what later Romans said about it. She does bring in lots of archaeological data, which was quite interesting. I was put off a bit by the non-linear timeline, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

32. by Lindsay Powell
Finish date: July 17, 2017
Genre: Roman history
Rating: B+
Review: Octavian/Augustus would probably not have been successful without his friend Marcus Agrippa. They apparently met when they were teenagers and were together in Macedonia when word came of Julius Caesar's assassination and his adoption of Octavian. They went to Rome (against the advice of Octavian's mother and stepfather) to collect the inheritance, meeting Marc Antony and Cicero, and getting involved in Roman politics. Powell puts together ancient sources to tell the story of Agrippa's life. It's quite detailed, with many end-notes, sometimes one for each sentence of a passage. There are lots of maps showing his travels. This was a very interesting book about a fascinating man. I was put off a bit by the author's eschewing of the letter J, preferring to use Roman spellings with I, as in Iulius, Iupiter, Iudea, etc.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

33. by Priscilla Royal
Finish date: July 20, 2017
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B+
Review: An obnoxious priest comes to Tyndal Priory from the mother house in France to check up on things and to investigate the reported affair between Prioress Eleanor and Brother Thomas. Soon after arriving, one of the priest's clerks (his favorite one) dies of poison. Sister Anne is accused because she sent a remedy for the clerk's illness. Neither Eleanor nor Thomas can investigate because it will look like they are covering up something. Crowner Ralf and young Gracia (a homeless child from the previous book) do what's necessary and the culprit is found. The priest even learns some humility (but not much).

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

34. by George MacDonald Fraser
Finish date: July 23, 2017
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: C-
Review: This was a rather unpleasant adventure and not amusing, as most Flashman books are. He's been sent to India to discover if Russia is planning to help India break with Great Britain. He woos a beautiful maharani and goes in disguise as an Indian. My dislike is for the gruesomeness of what happened in the 1857 Indian Mutiny. Many English civilians were slaughtered, including women and children, and there's a bit too much description of that. I've liked the previous books but this was too grim.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Good progress

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

35. by Andrew Langley (no photo)
by Anton Powell (no photo)
by Scott Steedman (no photo)
Finish date: July 27, 2017
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: A
Review: I'm including these three together because they are each about as long as a comic book and they all have the same format, that of a tabloid newspaper. Each period of ancient history is summarized by several articles in familiar categories: news, sports, politics, religion, women's news, food. In addition there are sections in each that are specific to the period: army life for Rome, philosophy for Greece and mummification for Egypt. There are lots of really good illustrations and maps. I especially liked the various classified ads. These books are probably aimed at middle-school or high school kids to introduce them to the cultures, but the articles aren't dumbed down and are interesting to adults also.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

36. by Priscilla Royal
Finish date: July 30, 2017
Genre: Historical mystery
Rating: B+
Review: Since this is an even-numbered book in the series, the action takes place away from Tyndal Priory. Prioress Eleanor, Brother Thomas and Sister Anne have come to a manor near Oxford because Eleanor's father has had a stroke and is near death. Soon after their arrival, the nude body of a woman is found hanging in her room. Sister Anne determines it was murder and not suicide. Eleanor's nephew had lost his virginity to her the night before, and thought he saw his father come to her room, so he confesses to the murder. All the Tyndal folk do what they can to disprove this confession and are helped by the sinister Father Eliduc, who had saved Thomas from prison years earlier and used him over the years to spy on various people. Other suspects are a Jewish grandmother and her granddaughters, who were sheltering in the manor overnight, after her son was unjustly hanged for coin clipping (i.e. shaving the edges of coins to collect the metal). I always have a hard time discerning the culprit in these books, but the characters are interesting.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

AUGUST

37, by Robert Harris
Finish date: August 2, 2017
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: B+
Review: This novel covers the last part of Cicero's life, as described by his secretary Tiro, beginning with his exile from Rome, caused by Clodius. Cicero is pretty much out of politics, which have been more or less taken over by Caesar, Pompey and Crassus. We see the events from Cicero's POV, with Tiro sometimes being in exactly the right place to see what happened, such as Milo's killing of Clodius on the Appian Way. It's sort of a third-hand view of history, with Tiro telling us what Cicero thinks, being on the sidelines.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

38. by Allen Drury
Finish date: August 11, 2017
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: B+
Review: This is the first of a two-book series about the pharaoh Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti and brother and successor Tutankhamon. Akhenaten upset the powerful priests of the god Amon when he replaced all the gods of Egypt with the single god Aten, the sun. This book starts with the birth of Akhenaten and follows the palace intrigue around who really has the power in Egypt. It's told in separate narratives by different people near the royal family. I like the viewpoints of these people as they change over time.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

You are moving right along

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

39. by Allen Drury
Finish date: August 19, 2017
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Akhenaten has become quite extreme in his worship of Aten and some powerful people in the court are trying to remove him, in particular Horemheb, who used to be his friend, but who believes he is destroying Egypt. As in the previous book, the story is told by alternating narratives. In particular I liked the ones by Amonemhet, a humble villager who shows up in a few surprising places. The book has a sad, but expected, ending with the death of Tutankhamon. Altogether these two books gave me a feeling of what life might have been like back then.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

40. by Ruth Ozeki
Finish date: August 26, 2017
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Ruth, an author living on an island on the west coast of Canada finds a barnacle-encrusted plastic bag on the beach. It contains a lunchbox with the diary of a 16 year old Japanese girl inside. The book alternates between diary entries and Ruth's reactions to what she's read. The girl, Nao, is thinking of suicide, and her father has already attempted it. We learn about Nao's 104 year old great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun. Ruth is of Japanese extraction, so Nao's story and her fate are especially interesting to her. We also learn a good bit about life on the island where Ruth lives, and about her neighbors. A very interesting story.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

41. by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Finish date: August 28, 2017
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Two sixth-grade girls, Melanie and April, living in the same apartment complex, discover an abandoned storage yard with interesting stuff in it, including a bust of Nefertiti, the famous Egyptian queen. They decide to play at being Egyptians, dragging along 4-year-old Matthew, Melanie's little brother. They learn all they can about Egypt at the library and create elaborate rituals. Before long they've added a few more players. This is a young adult book, but it was interesting enough for this rather old adult.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

42. by David Maine
Finish date: August 29, 2017
Genre: Biblical fiction
Rating: B+
Review: This is the story of Noah (spelled Noe in the book) and his family while they are building the ark, filling it, living on it, and starting the process of re-peopling the world. Each section is from the POV of the different characters. Those of the daughters-in-law were the most interesting to me because the Bible doesn't say much about them. The personality of each person comes through in the writing.

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Good progress Vicki and 109 unique views.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

SEPTEMBER

43. by Gregory Maguire
Finish date: September 2, 2017
Genre: Fiction
Rating: B+
Review: This is a plausible and entertaining expansion of the Cinderella story. Margarethe has fled England with her daughters after her husband has been murdered by a mob. Ruth, the older one, is very large for her age, unattractive and very "intellectually challenged," to put it in PC form. Iris, the younger one, is also not pretty but is very bright. They've come to Holland, to the city of Haarlem, where they have relatives, but these turn out to be deceased. They find shelter and employment at a moderately famous painter's house. One day the girls see an astonishingly beautiful girl at a window - she gives Ruth a toy. Not long after, they go to work for this family. Later on, there's a prince of sorts, a ball and fancy shoes, all the elements of the fairy tale. It's an interesting story, but the only likeable person is Caspar, the artist's apprentice.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

44. by Dan Cryan (no photo)
Finish date: September 9, 2017
Genre: Math
Rating: B+
Review: I took an introductory course in logic in college, part of my BA in math. I enjoyed it a lot, but pretty much all I can remember is syllogisms and truth tables. This book, even though claiming to be an introduction, goes much farther than I remember my class going. Many philosophers, mathematicians and scientists are covered, with drawn portraits of them all. It was really very interesting, even if some of it was over my head.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

45. by Mary Renault
Finish date: September 9, 2017
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: B+
Review: Alexias tells the story of how he met and fell in love with Lysis in Athens during the last part of the Peloponnesian War. He's just a teenager and is pursued romantically by a few men he's not interested in when he notices the slightly older Lysis at one of Socrates' discourses. They are drawn to each other immediately and are soon inseparable. They participate in one of the Olympiads (in different events), fight against the Spartans and endure the siege of Athens at the end of the war. There's a lot about Socrates and we even get to meet Plato as a very young man. It's really interesting to be immersed in a society where same-sex lovers are as accepted as marriage.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

46. by Michael Chabon
Finish date: September 13, 2017
Genre: Historical/fantasy mystery
Rating: B+
Review: This is a murder mystery which takes place in an alternate universe where Jews fleeing from Europe before, during and after WW II are settled by the US government in Sitka, Alaska, where the standard language becomes Yiddish. Also, the state of Israel was crushed soon after its formation. Divorced homicide detective Meyer Landsman is living in a fleabag hotel where the body of a man is discovered who's been shot in the head. It takes a while for Meyer to discover the true identity of the victim - he turns out to be the long-lost son of the most powerful rabbi in Sitka. It's really interesting to be dropped into an alien culture which is also sort of familiar. The plot is pretty complicated, with many unique characters.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

47. by Sue Grafton
Finish date: September 18, 2017
Genre: Mystery
Rating: C+
Review: 10 years ago (in 1979) a teenage girl was killed by a classmate who's just gotten out of prison. Now he's being blackmailed over a tape showing his involvment in the rape of a different girl who was passed out drunk. The parents hire Kinsey to stop the blackmailer. There are 3 separate narratives - one taking place in 1979 showing how the killing took place, one in the present (1989) by a couple of people involved in the events leading to the murder, and one by Kinsey detailing her work on the case. Also, she's being hunted by a man from a previous case who wants to kill her. I always like Kinsey's voice and her friends and it's interesting reading about detective work before ubiquitous cell phones and the Internet. That said, this one is a bit too long.

[Dimitri]

Pity. This kind of Frequency narratives have great potential over a classic contemporary settting with one flashback at the end.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

48. by Nigel Rodgers (no photo)
Finish date: September 23, 2017
Genre: Ancient history
Rating: A
Review: This is an encyclopedia about ancient Rome, divided into sections about history and culture. Most topics are contained in 2 pages, sometimes 4, with 4 illustrations on the 2 pages. The treatment of the emperors is mostly not chronological, but instead by "character" - best, evil, saviors of the empire. There's a lot about architecture, in Rome itself and in various cities around the empire. The sections about the arts, science, religion, everyday life are also interesting. This book is not necessarily to be read straight through, but can be dipped into when the mood strikes you.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

49. by Judith Tarr
Finish date: September 27, 2017
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: B-
Review: This is really historical fantasy, because the heroine, Meriamon, has a sort of guardian spirit she calls her shadow which accompanies her everywhere. She is the daughter of Nectanebo, the last Egyptian pharaoh, who was overthrown by the Persian empire. She travels north to join Alexander the Great's retinue to convince him to come to Egypt and free them from the Persians. Alexander is a very likeable, smart, charismatic leader. Meriamon is frustrated at his dawdling in Tyre, trying to conquer the seemingly impregnable island city (he does). Things get a bit weird when they get to Egypt. For example, they are led by a couple of giant snakes to the oasis of Siwah, where more other-worldly events take place.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

50. by Jonathan Kellerman
Finish date: September 30, 2017
Genre: Mystery
Rating: A
Review: This is an unusual detective novel in that the "detective" is a deputy coroner, who is never called on to solve crimes. Also, the action takes place over a few months, rather than a few days or weeks, as usually happens in this type of book. Clay Edison is called to the scene of what looks like an accident - an elderly man is found dead at the foot of his stairs. But his daughter insists he's been murdered by a man he testified against years ago who was recently released from prison. There are lots of interesting characters at his office and Clay has an interesting back story. The best part for me is that it takes place in my hometown - Berkeley CA. It was lots of fun picturing the streets and buildings he mentions. I'm looking forward to the next ones in the series.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

OCTOBER

51. by Anthony Horowitz
Finish date: October 25, 2017
Genre: Mystery
Rating: A-
Review: This is a very unusual book in that it's about a whodunit, set in the 1950s, that it contains. The first few pages are narrated by the book's editor, and the first half the book is the text of the mystery, missing the last few chapters, so we don't know who the guilty party is. The rest of the book is about the editor trying to find the missing pages, the author having committed suicide. She becomes convinced that the author was in fact murdered and tries to discover his murderer. The internal mystery is rather like an Agatha Christie novel. Altogether a satisfying read.

[Lorna, Assisting Moderator (T) - SCOTUS - Civil Rights]

Vicki, congratulations on reading 50 books.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Lorna wrote: "Vicki, congratulations on reading 50 books."

Thanks, Lorna. It's great to be retired with so much time to read.

[Dimitri]

A good back to carry over the finish line.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

52. by Alan Bradley
Finish date: October 27, 2017
Genre: Mystery
Rating: A-
Review: Flavia has just returned to England from Canada, where she was kicked out of a toney girls' school. No sooner has she arrived than she goes on an errand for the vicar's wife, delivering a letter to a local woodcarver, where she finds a dead body, the woodcarver himself. She does her usual excellent investigating job, meeting new people and renewing old acquaintances. I do wish there had been more of her sisters Daffy and Feeley, and of Dogger, the family's factotum and faithful friend.

[RavensScar]

Congratulations on reading 50+ books ☺

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

NOVEMBER


53. by Edward Rutherfurd
Finish date: November 5, 2017
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: B+
Review: This is quite a long book, giving a view of the history of London from 54 BCE, when Caesar landed in Britain, through the present day. There are a dozen or so stories about what was happening at various points in time, and the characters in the stories are more or less linked through time. There are some good maps and a genealogical chart so you can keep track of the people. I especially liked the story set in Shakespeare's time.

[Pamela]

I liked this one, too. In fact, I liked all of his that I've read but Sarum: The Novel of England is my favorite.

[Dimitri]

How does it compare to the other London biggie ?
by Peter Ackroyd

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

Dimitri wrote: "How does it compare to the other London biggie ?
by Peter Ackroyd"

Haven't read that one, so I can't comment.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

54. by Lewis Grassic Gibbon (no photo)
Finish date: November 14, 2017
Genre: Roman fiction
Rating: B
Review: I liked this one better than Howard Fast's (I thought his portrayals of Crassus and Cicero were way off). It's told more from the viewpoints of the people around Spartacus than from his. It starts with a Greek eunuch killing his master and running off to join Spartacus' band - he's one of the characters who keeps reappearing. There's also a Jewish general who fought in Judea, and was captured and sold into slavery in Syria. Spartacus himself is kind of boring when we finally meet him. Once in a while we meet a Roman general trying to defeat Spartacus, but they're fairly incompetent.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

55. by Daniel Butler (no photo)
Finish date: November 18, 2017
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: B-
Review: This is a collection of very short stories (100 of them) about dumb things criminals have done. It was pretty interesting, a good book for the bathroom.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

56. by Lindsey Davis
Finish date: November 22, 2017
Genre: Roman mysteries
Rating: B-
Review: This is the first book in a spin-off series from the Falco series. Flavia Albia is the adopted daughter of Falco and is following in his footsteps as an investigator. It's an unusual story, with people poisoned by being stuck with needles, based on historical events. Interesting characters and an interesting story, but I like Marilyn Todd's Claudia better as a female PI.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

57. by Kelli Stanley
Finish date: November 22, 2017
Genre: Roman mysteries
Rating: C+
Review: A half-Roman/half-British doctor solves murders during Domitian's reign. Agricola is involved and he's always interesting. Also there's a good bit about Mithraism. The romantic stuff is a bit too pronounced for my taste, but chacun a son gout.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

DECEMBER

58. by Raina Telgemeier
Finish date: December 1, 2017
Genre: Graphic novel, fantasy
Rating: B
Review: This is a graphic novel about meeting ghosts and how to make friends with them. Catrina and her family have moved to N. California because of her little sister's health. Her new friend shows her where ghosts can be found. The Day of the Dead is approaching and there are lots of them around. I don't usually read graphic novels, but this was mentioned in a review of the movie Coco and it sounded interesting, which it was.

[Vicki, Assisting Moderator - Ancient Roman History]

59. by Charles Dickens
Finish date: December 2, 2017
Genre: Fiction
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.