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languorous autodidact ✦
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Rome - Republic and Empire • March 2020
Help select what we'll read and discuss next!
The topic is Rome - Republic and Empire. This correlates to the dates DIX BC - CDLXXVI AD, so any books written in or about that period of Rome would fit. Also, as usual the topic is interpretable upon inspiration, so any of the words of the topic title or ideas they invoke may conjure up nominations not necessarily about ancient Rome but otherwise related to the topic- perhaps something else Roman, or related to a republic or empire. This topic area was suggested because of the Ides of March, so something to do with anything related to that could fit as well. Detailed nominating and voting guidelines can be found here. Basically, nominations are open for about four days and each person may nominate up to three literary selections which will go automatically to the vote. Voting by post then opens for four days, and a voter may give each nomination either one or two votes but only has a limited number of votes to use which is equal to the number of nominations minus one. Any questions, feel free to ask. We hope that you will read the selection with us and join in the discussion. ![]() * Nominations are now complete. Initial voting is complete. Run-off voting is complete. Final results-
Last edited by sun surfer; 03-12-2020 at 02:33 PM. |
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#2 | |
languorous autodidact ✦
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My first nomination is The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. It looks like a fun read and is young adult historical fiction and adventure, although the author wrote 'for children of all ages from nine to ninety'. This is set in Roman Britain and I did hesitate for all of about eight seconds over nominating a book both set in Britain and by an British author for a Roman month as being possibly too divergently on the nose for our tastes with bringing a topic about the Roman Empire towards Britain. But, our tastes are as they will be and I'll leave it to the vote to decide, and anyway this is set in the Roman Empire after all.
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Last edited by sun surfer; 03-04-2020 at 01:38 AM. |
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#3 |
languorous autodidact ✦
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About a day left for nominations.
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#4 |
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I've narrowed down to three for my last nominations, of which I think I know which two I'm going with. I'd chosen one to definitely nominate that didn't have anything to do with Rome but rather another empire, but then for my last nomination I eventually had two left, both set in ancient Rome, that I couldn't decide on. At that impasse I realised I could just leave out the one not set in Rome at all so I think that's what I'll do if I don't change my mind before I post them.
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#5 |
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I will post my nominations later tonight.
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#6 | |
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Next I'll nominate Roman Blood by Steven Saylor. This is the first in an historical mystery series but each book definitely sounds standalone. It sounds very interesting and I enjoyed the preview. Goodreads, Preview, 404 pages, 1991, U.S.
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#7 |
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#8 |
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I've been short of time recently for searching (summer here :-)) and then every book I could find that looked interesting was very long. So I just fell back on 3 long oldie popular novel ones that have sat in my to be read list for ages and that probably most know of even if only through the movies or TV series.
I, Claudius - Robert Graves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Claudius https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18765.I_Claudius Quo Vadis - Henryk Sienkiewicz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quo_Vadis_(novel) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/538845.Quo_Vadis Spartacus - Howard Fast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartacus_(Fast_novel) |
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#9 | ||
languorous autodidact ✦
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My final nomination is Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert. This is set in Carthage. Rome conquered Carthage some time after this but this is on the periphery of the empire and during a time when Carthage was destitute due to the indemnities imposed by Rome as part of a peace treaty. It was a somewhat scandalous book because of descriptions of violence and sensuality. The only Flaubert I've read so far is Madame Bovary and I thought it'd be interesting to see what this one is like in comparison. Goodreads, Preview, 252 pages, 1862, France
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#10 | |
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#11 | |
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Well, I had to pivot because I had planned to nominate 2 of the 3 books that AnotherCat did!
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#12 | |
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#13 | |
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How about a classic, Julius Caesar by Shakespeare.
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#14 |
languorous autodidact ✦
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Here's some of the others I was considering if it might help your search, or just for anyone interested in other books for this topic:
Defying Hitler by Sebastian Haffner (about the lead up to the Third Reich, which of course 'third reich' means third empire after the previous German one and, ahem, the Roman Empire) A God Strolling in the Cool of the Evening by Mário de Carvalho (set in the Roman Empire in what is now Portugal; I really wanted to nominate this but didn't see any ebooks) Fire From Heaven by Mary Renault (about the young Alexander) The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder (about Julius Caesar and in epistolary form, and I loved Thornton's Bridge of San Luis Rey) The Ides of April by Lindsey Davis (a mystery set in ancient Rome) Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi (set in the much more modern Italy, but still in the centre of where the Roman Empire had been and by an Italian descended from Romans, and referencing Christ who of course was famously tangled up in the Roman Empire) The Secret History: A Novel of Empress Theodora by Stephanie Thornton The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare (about a fierce, hotheaded young man bent on revenging his father’s death by forcing the Romans from his land of Israel) Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem Last edited by sun surfer; 03-05-2020 at 12:18 AM. Reason: added some descriptions |
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#15 |
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From sun surfer:
1)The Ides of March by Thornton Wilder (about Julius Caesar and in epistolary form, and I loved Thornton's Bridge of San Luis Rey) 2)Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi (set in the much more modern Italy, but still in the centre of where the Roman Empire had been and by an Italian descended from Romans, and referencing Christ who of course was famously tangled up in the Roman Empire) I thought of these too, especially because I already own the Levi book, but they seem to have limited availability as an ebook geographically. ![]() |
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