What are we reading? 26/08/2024

[Bill]

Logger24 wrote: "Anyone here read the Robert Harris Cicero Trilogy? Comments I’ve seen range from “one of the great triumphs of contemporary historical literature” to “good enough for some holiday reading”. The que..."

I've read Fatherland and didn't like it very much; on the other hand, I highly recommend Harris' early work of non-fiction, Selling Hitler.

[Berkley]

I haven't read much historical fiction set in ancient Rome but I'm going to try to get to some of the most famous ones. I made a start earlier this year with Bulwer-Lytton's Last Days of Pompeii, which I found highly entertaining.

Not sure which I'll do next - I'm a bit turned off by the heavy-handed Christian messaging that seems to be the main concern of many of the 19th-century books of this kind. There was a bit of that with Bulwer-Lytton but not so much as to spoil his novel as a whole for me.

[RussellinVT]

Robert Harris - Thanks for the tips, everyone. I think I'll ask the library to find the first of the Ciceros and I'll see how it goes.

[Berkley]

giveusaclue wrote: "An anecdote - having studied Latin at school I always pronounced it Cicero as in sister but a friend who didn't but learned Italian always pronounces it Chichero as it would be in modern day Italian. Will have to ask her Italian husband. "

And the Romans would have pronounced it Ki-ker-o, would they not? Like Caesar would have been something like Kai-sar.

[Robert]

Bill wrote: "Logger24 wrote: "Anyone here read the Robert Harris Cicero Trilogy? Comments I’ve seen range from “one of the great triumphs of contemporary historical literature” to “good enough for some holiday ..."

Selling Hitler was a jewel.

[Robert]

Berkley wrote: "I haven't read much historical fiction set in ancient Rome but I'm going to try to get to some of the most famous ones. I made a start earlier this year with Bulwer-Lytton's Last Days of Pompeii, w..."

Many years ago I read Thornton Wilder's The Ides of March, a novel in letters between Caesar and his contemporaries. I was much taken with it then; I ought to re-read it.
Yourcenar's The Memoirs of Hadrian, set in a later century in a very different style, is a fine novel-- though I appreciated it far more when I read it as a man of about Hadrian's age, than in my first attempt, in my twenties.

[scarletnoir]

AB76 wrote: "both here and the G have gone very quiet, suprised me as the holidays are over and things should be returning to normal"

I tried to post a comment on the G's WWR a couple of weeks ago, but it simply wouldn't load despite being entirely non-controversial. I have had no problem posting on other topics on the G. Odd. (As for here - have been slow, not finished anything for a while...)

[scarletnoir]

Berkley wrote: "Wild Geese is definitely high on the list, as it sounds like one of the more unusual examples of this sub-genre. I remember finding Mitchell's Vanishing Point one of the better Canadian novels I had to read..."

I'm finding these titles pretty confusing, as there are films of the same name, though I assume telling very different stories...

(Wild Geese - mercenaries in Africa, starring Richard Burton, Roger Moore and Richard Harris; Vanishing Point - crazy fast driving epic starring Barry Newman.)

[giveusaclue]

scarletnoir wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Wild Geese is definitely high on the list, as it sounds like one of the more unusual examples of this sub-genre. I remember finding Mitchell's Vanishing Point one of the better Cana..."

Me too. My immediate thought was the film.

[scarletnoir]

Logger24 wrote: "Anyone here read the Robert Harris Cicero Trilogy? ."

I posted this in 2021:

"I tried Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome, about Cicero... and was put off by the clunky style. I finished it, just about, but won't read another."

Now of course my view of 'good style' does not necessarily match yours, or others who comment! I know that some of you are what I'd call 'far more tolerant' when it comes to such matters than I am - and reject books I like using different criteria.

And that's entirely as it should be.

[giveusaclue]

Berkley wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: ".And the Romans would have pronounced it Ki-ker-o, would they not? Like Caesar would have been something like Kai-sar."

Not sure, and unfortunately there aren't many ancient Romans to ask!!

I watched a programme "Finding Italy's Lost Empire" about the Etruscans. What did happen to them? Did the Romans annihilate them, were they absorbed?

[scarletnoir]

Berkley wrote: "I haven't read much historical fiction..."

Neither have I, and I'm not sure if Robert Graves' I, Claudius/Claudius the God count as 'fiction', but those are superb books.

[AB76]

giveusaclue wrote: "scarletnoir wrote: "Berkley wrote: "Wild Geese is definitely high on the list, as it sounds like one of the more unusual examples of this sub-genre. I remember finding Mitchell's Vanishing Point on..."

LOL.....

[RussellinVT]

scarletnoir wrote: "Logger24 wrote: "Anyone here read the Robert Harris Cicero Trilogy? ."

I posted this in 2021:

"I tried Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome, about Cicero... and was put off by the clunky style. I finished it, just about, but won't read another."

Oh dear. And since we agree that the two by Graves are superb, I expect I’ll find Imperium exactly as you say, clunky. (I faintly recalled Harris being discussed here.)

[giveusaclue]

Nice interview with Dan Jones, my favourite history writer, in the Daily Telegraph today. Looking forward to his book Henry V coming out next year.

[AB76]

giveusaclue wrote: "Nice interview with Dan Jones, my favourite history writer, in the Daily Telegraph today. Looking forward to his book Henry V coming out next year."

he used to write a good column in the Evening Standard, a good read in my commuting days. Sadly the Standard is now basically toilet paper but i dont have to read it anymore!

[Gpfr]

AB76 wrote: "the Evening Standard, a good read in my commuting days..."

It's online only now, isn't it?

[Gpfr]

The Wild Swimmers
I like William Shaw's series about Alex Cupidi, a police officer who lives on the coast at Dungeness with her daughter, Zoe. She has moved there from London, ostensibly because it would be better for Zoe.
Shaw has also written the Breen & Tozer series set in London in the 60s. I didn't at first realise that these are Alex's parents.

[FrancesBurgundy]

Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "the Evening Standard, a good read in my commuting days..."

It's online only now, isn't it?"

No, but just gone three days a week, Tuesday to Thursday, since so many people are wfh on Mondays and/or Fridays. And not quite toilet paper - has a good puzzle page with a fiendishly difficult sudoku. Though that's usually the only page I 'read'.

[RussellinVT]

FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "the Evening Standard, a good read in my commuting days..."

It's online only now, isn't it?"

No, but just gone three days a week..."

It’s a shame. I picked one up when I was in London a few weeks ago and it seemed to be going the way of other frees – so much blander than when people like Simon Jenkins, Brian Sewell and AN Wilson were weekly contributors. You might not agree with them, but their columns made for a zesty read on the way home.

Still, if they do a killer sudoku, I shall take one from the pile when I’m next there.

[AB76]

FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "the Evening Standard, a good read in my commuting days..."

It's online only now, isn't it?"

No, but just gone three days a week, Tuesday to Thursday, since so many peopl..."

i think its going online only at end of Sept...there will be a weekly magazine. its sad but since Lebedev took over it started to lose volume and become very tacky

all print papers are shrinking, i love the FT weekend, especially the Arts section but its losing page numbers fast. (i remember the Media guardian was a lunchtime pleasure on Mondays at work throughout the 2000s, by 2012 it was 2 pages or maybe 3 and no longer worth it_

[RussellinVT]

AB76 wrote: "FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "the Evening Standard, a good read in my commuting days..."

It's online only now, isn't it?"

No, but just gone three days a week, Tuesday to Thursday, since so many peopl..."

i think its going online only at end of Sept...all print papers are shrinking, i love the FT weekend, especially the Arts section but its losing page numbers fast"

The weekend print version of the WSJ has had an outstanding Review section for about the last decade, which starts with a two-page essay on some current issue, often extracted from a forthcoming book, and then several other essays and shorter features, plus always six pages of book reviews (with no advertising blocks), and a full page of good puzzles, if no sudoku. No signs yet of shrinkage. I don’t suppose it’s available in the UK. I like to read it while enjoying a Saturday morning latte. There’s never a single other person in the café reading a print newspaper.

The daily print version of the FT, btw, is strangely available upstate, at the food cooperative in Middlebury, and out of the way country stores.

[AB76]

Logger24 wrote: "AB76 wrote: "FrancesBurgundy wrote: "Gpfr wrote: "AB76 wrote: "the Evening Standard, a good read in my commuting days..."

It's online only now, isn't it?"

No, but just gone three days a week, Tue..."

Reading print versions is my fave, all my subs (NYRB-LRB-TLS) offer me a digital version but i leave it alone, while i read the Guardian entirely digitally, its the only news source i do that with, i like the linear front to back experience of reading and for as long as i can i will keep doing it

Around 2013 for 2 years, i subscribed to Haaretz weekend edition, it was a wonderful bundle of arts and news, all in english, with that brilliant jewish style and flair which made me think of the great jewish feulliton writers of the 1900-1920 period. Then they switched that to digital only and i left it behind. Reading anything off a PC screen is so different to sat in a chair holding it

I must see if the WSJ weekend is stocked locally, the NYT weekend is and i enjoy that

[AB76]

Nature is blessing my small neck of the woods recently, after a dreadful insect summer(indoors... have not seen a wasp all summer, just 2 honeybees all summer),however........ the Ivy Bees have returned in diminished but still lovely numbers. these charming almost stingless solitary bees come out in late August and Sept, as the ivy flowers and cover a small section of grass accross the road with their jittery, zaney flying.

Elsewhere i witnessed a small rodent chewing on the blackberries ,oblivious to my attention and the spider activitiy indoors is amazing, one was trying to build a web around my discarded bookmark and have had a number of small red spiders that climb down from the ceiling on warmer nights

Nowt bout books, just wanted to post a nature update!

[Robert]

giveusaclue wrote: "Berkley wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: ".And the Romans would have pronounced it Ki-ker-o, would they not? Like Caesar would have been something like Kai-sar."

Not sure, and unfortunately there aren't..."

From the Graves Claudius novels, I'd gather that they were conquered and absorbed by the Romans. The fictional Claudius still honors the religious rituals of his Etruscan ancestors.

[Robert]

Berkley wrote: "giveusaclue wrote: "An anecdote - having studied Latin at school I always pronounced it Cicero as in sister but a friend who didn't but learned Italian always pronounces it Chichero as it would be ..."

That's one of the reasons that I prefer "Czar" to "Tsar." It takes me back to the Roman root.