David McK (3372 KP) rated The Silver Eagle (Forgotten Legion Chronicles, #2) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Mostly fairly formulaic stuff, and this book has less of the, ahhh .... shall we say ... purple sections of prose than the first, as Fabiola is now a Roman citizen rather than the prostitute, some of whose actions are explicitely described in the previous volume.
David McK (3372 KP) rated Revenge (Roman Arena, #4) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Unlike the previous entries (most of which followed the same format, ending with a gladiatorial bout), the majority of this one is set in and around the circus itself, and also ends with Pavo moving closer to his ultimate goal of gaining revenge for the death of his father.
Mystery & Mayhem
Robin Stevens, Frances Hardinge, Katherine Woodfine and Julia Golding
Book
Twelve mysteries. Twelve authors. One challenge: can YOU solve the crimes before the heroes of the...
A Wonderful Heart: The Films of William Wyler
Book
Revered by his cinematic peers, William Wyler was one of the most honoured and successful directors...
Kim Newman recommended Rosemary's Baby (1968) in Movies (curated)
Metamorphoses
Book
Prized through the ages for its splendor and its savage, sophisticated wit, The Metamorphoses is a...
David McK (3372 KP) rated The Eagle of the Ninth in Books
Jan 28, 2019
But how did it come to be there?
While no-one knows for certain, those 2 facts together form the starting point for this story, which sees the son of the last commander of said Legion traveling North 'beyond the [Hadrians] wall' to search for and return said Eagle after his partial recovery from his laming during an attack on his outpost, and after he hears rumours of an Imperial Eagle in the Celts hands.
He is accompanied on this journey by his freed slave, whom he had previously (before the journey, during his recovery) rescued from the Arena.
While I had previously seen the 2011 film of the same name, I'd actually never read the source material before, so was unable to say how truly it stuck to the same.
Now I have, and I have to say: said movie does stick remarkably close, even if not entirely faithfully. the book, I found, could be a bit slow at times, and also tended to gloss over the less pleasant (shall we say) aspects of Roman society, with the Romans largely portrayed as civilized as compared to the uncouth Barbarians.
But then again, this is -supposedly - a children's book, and also a product of its time (first published, remember, in the 1950s).
Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide
Filippo Coarelli, James J. Clauss and Daniel P. Harmon
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This superb guide brings the work of Filippo Coarelli, one of the most widely published and...
The Economy of Pompeii
Book
This volume presents fourteen papers by Roman archaeologists and historians discussing approaches to...
A Reading of Lucretius' De Rerum Natura
Book
Lucretius' philosophical epic De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things) is a lengthy didactic and...