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What's the last book you read?


aiden12

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Celt And Roman by Peter Berresford Ellis.

 

 

Was this any good? I had read another book by Ellis and he was, uh, very biased toward the Celts.

I read your review on that book, and I am trying to get a copy ;)

 

I personally like it because it smashes the usual view of the Celts as mindless barbarians. I am an admirer of the Celts, and it is nice to see a book that is praising them for a change. It does quote a lot of Celtic achievements and smashes a lot of myths, but I do not think it is biased, but actually quite enlightening (although others may disagree, because it is quite anti-Roman as well).

 

However, it has good information in it, and I am enjoying it a lot. I recommend it to you if you want to learn more about the Celts in Italy.

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I've been reading Adrian Goldsworthy's "True Soldier Gentlemen", set in Napoleonic era Portugal (Battles of Roli

Edited by Macerinus
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Il Paese d'ombre--the story of one Sardinian town in post-unification Italy. This is good historical fiction by award winning Italian author Giuseppe Dess

Edited by Ludovicus
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Goldsworthy writes fiction? News to me.

 

Yes he does apparently, and it was also quite a surprise for me, but he does it brilliantly

 

My first novelTRUE SOLDIER GENTLEMEN, my first novel, will be published in the UK by Weidenfeld and Nicolson on the 27th January 2011. It is the first of a series of adventures set in the Regency era, telling the story of a group of young officers fighting in the Napoleonic Wars.

 

For much more information, check out the new Fiction pages on the website.

 

This is a new venture for me, and has been a lot of fun to write. There is a great freedom in making up a story, and this period has always fascinated me, almost as much as the Romans! However, the historian in me is still strong, and I have done my best to make all the historical detail in the story as accurate as possible.

 

To find the book on amazon, go to:

 

True Soldier Gentlemen

 

By the way, although I am looking forward to writing more novels - the sequel BEAT THE DRUMS SLOWLY is released in August 2011 - this does not mean that I am quitting writing ancient history. I am already working on the biography of Augustus, and looking forward to dealing with plenty of other aspects of the ancient world in the future.

 

Source:

http://www.adriangol...hy.com/blog.php

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Just finished Hesiod's Works and Days and Theogony . Very good reads if you want to understand mythology from one of the oldest poets of Greece. They are quite easy to read because they are not very long, and although I picked him up to kill some time, Hesiod is a brilliant writer, and has been catapulted to one of my favourite ancient poets.

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What's the last book you read? What was it about? Did you like it?

 

I have just completed the first two books of Robert Harris' fictional account of the life of M. Tullius Cicero: Imperium and Conspirata. The first is concerned with Cicero's rise to the consulship, while the second tells the story of Cicero's suppression of the Catalina's conspiracy, and the rise of Caesar. The stories are told as if a biography written by M. Tullius Tiro, Cicero's personal secretary,stenographer, and eyewitness to the death of the Republic. Tiro is, not unexpectedly, a partisan of Cicero and paints a none too flattering portrait of Caesar. Harris, unlike some authors, is very careful to get his facts rights, and as journalist, tells a convincing and engrossing tale.

 

I also want to put a plug in for the "Roma Sub Rosa" series by Stephen Saylor as well as his books set during the Republic and the Principate. The Roma Sub Rosa series concern the activities of Gordianus the Finder who is a detective. Saylor's invetive stories are seamlessly interwoven with historical fact, e.g., the trial o Sextus Roscius, the murder of Publius Clodius Pulcher, the Cataline Conspiracy ( Saylor is much more sympathetic to Catalina than is Tiro (Harris)) to name a few.

 

Roma and Empire, also by Saylor are expansive fictional accounts of the founding of the city through the reign of Hadrian as seen through the eyes of the members of two historic clans, the Potitii and the Penarii. Reminiscent of Michener's Hawaii , these novels, like his Gordianus novels, seamlessly weave history and fiction for highly enjoyable reading.

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I've just finished the latest Simon Scarrow novel, The Legion starring the brilliant Macro and Cato. These books just get better and better, this one has probably been my favourite one of the whole series so far...... Just brilliant!

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I've just finished the latest Simon Scarrow novel, The Legion starring the brilliant Macro and Cato. These books just get better and better, this one has probably been my favourite one of the whole series so far...... Just brilliant!

The plot is certainly thickening, but my all time favourite would have to be The Prophesy when they served with the navy.

 

I am really looking forward to the next book, which will be set in Rome. I sense a lot of political intrigue coming along :D

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Not read yet, but soon to be, the books I bought in London and Oxford this week-end :

 

- Christian Cameron : Marathon (Arimnestos of Platea vol. 2)

 

- Ben Kane : Hannibal, Enemy of Rome (signed by the author and left on Waterstone Picadilly's shelfs, unfortunately the cover has a defect)

 

- Anthony Riches : Fortress of Spears (Empire vol. 3)

 

- Harry Sidebottom : The Caspian Gates (Warrior of Rome vol. 4)

 

That for the novels, but I also got myself about half a dozen books on ancient warfare (mainly on Alexander and the Successors), one on ancient roman armor (Hilary and John Travis - Roman Body Armour, that I shall compare to the recently bought D'amato and Sumners)and the complete loeb editions of Strabo's geography and Fronto's Stratagemata.

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I read The Meadhall by Stephen Pollington (2nd edition). It explores the role of said building in Anglo-Saxon culture. A nice look at Germanic religion and culture, and adds some nuance to many passages of Beowulf.

Prior to that I had read Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Magic by Bill Griffiths. That book is a textbook example of how a stuffy academic's dull prose and overly dry analysis can kill a subject that should otherwise be inherently interesting.

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