Archive for the ‘Literature’ Category
A Roman PI
Steven Saylor’s Roma Sub Rosa series, 1991-ongoing, 10 novels & 2 short stories collections.
I own ten books by Steven Saylor all of them belong to his Roma Sub Rosa series featuring Gordianus the Finder: A private detective working in ancient Rome, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, around the middle of the first century BC. Some are subtitled ‘A Mystery of Ancient Rome’ others as ‘A Novel of Ancient Rome’.
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Redreaming the dream
Iain Pears’s The Dream of Scipio, 2002, about hundred and sixty-five thousands words in three parts spanning 392 pages.
Three characters separated by time but connected by a single text. The first character writes the text, but only the second character is able to demonstrate the courage expressed in that text, while both the first and third fail. The narrative jumps from one story to the other with the connection only ‘understood’ at the end of the narrative.
You would be forgiven if you thought the above is about the film The Hours (2002, directed by Stephen Daldry) but actually it is about the novel The Dream of Scipio.
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Gertrude & Claudius
John Updike’s Gertrude & Claudius, 2000, about sixty-five thousands words in three parts spanning 210 pages.
Here is a short review I shared with a couple of friends some years ago:
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Barry Unsworth
Born in 1930, his books include:
* Pascali’s Island, short-listed for the 1980 Booker Prize.
* Stone Virgin (1985).
* Sacred Hunger, joint winner of the 1992 Booker Prize.
* Morality Play, short-listed for the 1995 Booker Prize.
* Losing Nelson (1999).
* The Songs of the Kings (2002).
* The Ruby in Her Navel (2006).
The three novels I read were all historical set in different areas and eras and written in different style. Below is a short review of each one:
