Tag: book recs

The Ides of March

kristenLeave a comment

vincenzo_camuccini_-_la_morte_di_cesare“Beware the Ides of March.” There are few among us who don’t know this phrase, uttered by a soothsayer to Julius Caesar before his assassination, made famous by Shakespeare’s pen. But what IS the Ides of March (what ARE the Ides? What is an Ide?)? Welp, originally, the calendar used to be more lunar. The earliest Roman calendars, in use around 753 BCE, had ten months and each month used three lunar marks: Kalends, Nones, and Ides. Kalends was the new moon, the first day of the month. Nones was the first quarter moon, usually around the fifth-seventh day. Ides was the full moon, usually around the 13th-15th. March 15th used to be the new year and was a time of celebration. Julius Caesar himself was the one who changed the Roman New Year from March to January. He consulted with astronomers, then added ten days and a leap year and thus was born the Julian calendar. People liked the new year being in March; maybe changing that holiday was the straw that broke the camel’s back and Caesar made his own bad luck. Probably not, but you know. I had to wonder. 

So the Ides weren’t originally associated with anything bad or doom and gloom. It was just part of the old calendar. I rather like it, myself. I have a dear friend whose birthday is on the Ides of March. It was after Caesar’s assassination that the date acquired its darker connotations, and mostly only after Shakespeare’s play. Other things have happened on March 15 that contributed to the date’s bad reputation: the classification of the SARS virus as a global health threat in 2003; Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939; a bigass blizzard in North Dakota in 1941, which occured without warning; and, probably the worst thing, online chat rooms debuted, triggering the demise of grammar across the globe…way back in 1971. Holy shit. I am an old. Not as old as ancient Roman stuff, but sometimes I feel like it. 

Here are a couple books I’ve enjoyed about the Roman Empire, either in a general sense or which were set specifically during Julius Caesar’s time. 

Roman coin

SPQR by Mary Beard

A great history of ancient Rome by one of the premiere Classicists of our time. This is a big book but it was a quick read nonetheless.

Calendar: Humanity’s Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year by David Ewing Duncan

Really this is here because it has a great section on the Roman calendar and how it got changed from the old system they used to the system Caesar implemented. Also, the idea of a microhistory about time has a pleasing irony to it.

The Gallic War by Julius Caesar

I figure a list of books about Julius Caesar ought to include something by the man himself. Gird your loins for some serious megalomaniacal commentary. His ego may have put Trump’s to shame. The difference is that Caesar was literate. 

The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George

As the title suggests, this focuses more on Cleopatra. But her story and Caesar’s are so entwined it is hard to imagine one without the other anymore, which is a little sad since Cleopatra was very much her own person, separate from any man. 

Caesar Against the Celts by Ramon L. Jiménez 

This makes for a good read-along with The Gallic Wars. 

Imperium by Robert Harris

A novel about Cicero, told from the first person point of view of Tiro, his real life scribe. Tiro really did write a biography of Cicero, which is now tragically lost to us. I would read the absolute shit out of that. I thought that was clever of Harris, because it lets him write his books as though Tiro is the author. I quite enjoyed this series. 

References:

Staff writers. “What Are the Ides of March?” History.com, 12 March 2014, http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/what-are-the-ides-of-march. 

Stezano, Martin. “Beware the Ides of March. But Why?” History.com, 13 March 2017, http://www.history.com/news/beware-the-ides-of-march-but-why. 

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20 Books about Fire

kristenLeave a comment

fireI often enjoy reading groups of books that are thematically similar, or pair well together. For one thing, I find it easier to remember titles if I group them. Sometimes I even remember plots! I swear I do a memory dump every time I finish a book and couldn’t tell you a single plot point or character name, even if I loved it. I really hope I don’t ever meet an author who wants me to tell them my favorite part of a book just on the spot. I’ll be reduced to screaming, “I loved your book! I READ ALL THE WORDS!!” Then, of course, I would just melt into a puddle of embarrassed flaming goo. 

So because embarrassed flaming goo is apparently on my mind, I thought I would give a list of books that are, in some way or another, about fire, burning, explosions, etc. Maybe it’s in the title, maybe it’s related to the plot, maybe both. Who knows. No, I am not going to list any of the Game of Thrones books. Do you have any other recommendations?

  1. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Seemingly perfect lives all go up in flames! Literally and figuratively.
  2. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin. Necessary reading regarding racism in America.
  3. A Burning by Megha Majumdar. Three people trying to rise in life, connected by a shared catastrophe.
  4. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty. A medievalist takes a job at a crematory and learns about the culture of caring for the dead.
  5. The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward. Using James Baldwin’s narrative, several writers offer essays and poems on race.
  6. A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. A galactic war brought about because a person’s potential is determined by its location in space, known as regions of thought.
  7. The Incendiaries by R.O. Kwon. A young woman at an elite university is drawn into domestic terrorism by a cult with ties to North Korea.
  8. The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan. A bomb in a market in Delhi impacts the life of a survivor in ways that may seem impossible.
  9. Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao. Two girls in India find a friendship that helps them survive a life of crushing poverty, abuse, trafficking, and immigration.
  10. Smoke Signals by Sherman Alexie. Two Native American boys, Victor and Thomas, on a journey and the lessons they learn along the way.
  11. Smoke by Dan Vyleta. In an alternate Victorian England, people who are sinful are surrounded by smoke and soot while the virtuous are clean and pure. 
  12. A Burnable Book by Bruce Holsinger. In 1380s London, a seditious book predicting the assassination of Richard II is causing a lot of problems. So bureaucrat Chaucer asks poet and information trader Thomas Gower for help.
  13. Miracle Creek by Angie Kim. A hyperbaric chamber at a specialized treatment center explodes. Layers of mystery and secrets lead readers to discover who is behind the explosion.
  14. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg. A woman loses her entire family in one horrible accident. She drives across the country to get away from the memories, and finds connection in shared heartbreak with others.
  15. The Fire Line by Fernanda Santos. The story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an elite team of firefighters, and the Yarnell firestorm tragedy.
  16. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson. Lillian and Madison, best friends from college, drifted apart after they left school. Years later, Madison contacts Lillian, begging her to come and take care of her twin stepchildren who spontaneously combust when agitated. Lillian figures why not. 
  17. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman. Short stories by Neil Gaiman. What else do you need to know?
  18. Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center. Cassie is one of the first female firefighters in Texas, she is great at dealing with emergencies. And then her mother asks her to move home to Boston to tend to a different kind of emergency.
  19. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan. Astronomer Sagan discusses why scientific thinking is necessary both for the pursuit of truth as well as for the health of society. Because how can you make good decisions if you don’t know the difference between myths, pseudoscience, and actual testable scientific fact?
  20. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. In the future, all entertainment is on the TV and literature and books are forbidden. Firefighters are those who seek out and burn books. One firefighter, Guy Montag, begins to question everything he thought he knew.