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Catullus’ Bedspread: The Life of Rome’s Most Erotic Poet by Daisy DunnHarper, 2016Hardcover, 336 pages An attempt to get back in the swing of posting… Catullus’ Bedspread by Daisy Dunn, released to coincide with her translation titled The Poems of Catullus (also from Harper) looks at the life and work of the poet […]
Netflix’s series Roman Empire: Reign of Blood follows the recent docu-series movement, mixing historians, narration, and drama over multiple episodes. It also continue the trend moving from sword-and-sandal epics to blood-and-boobs entertainment (to paraphrase a line from Adrian Goldsworthy). The story starts with the end of the emperor Marcus Aurelius’ reign and focuses on his […]
A note from Mark Twain, to help put the animated comments of the day in perspective. Heated moments when dealing with elections are nothing new… I’ve been reading books with the boys this year that tie into their history studies. We spent a day on Chapter 13 of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King […]
There’s always plenty to enjoy in the Asymptote journal, but I wanted to recommend two articles in the October 2016 issue. The first is a scene from György Spiró’s Prah. I’m a huge fan of what I’ve read so far by Spiró. I’ve posted on his play The Imposter and really need to post on […]
Heal Your Child From the Inside Out: The Five-Element Way to Nurturing Healthy, Happy Kids by Robin Ray Green Hay House: 2016 A little bit of shameless self-promotion. Or rather promoting my wife’s book, which is being released tomorrow… I can’t improve on the work she’s done, so please check out her page on the […]
Once again, I apologize for the silence. I’m dealing with an intense amount of pain that just doesn’t seem to lessen…it just changes forms. Speaking of which, are there novels that deal with intense physical pain more than just in passing for a character? Not that I want to read it, now or ever. Mental/emotional/psychological […]
I think it’s clear I’m a huge fan of the Landmark Ancient Histories edited by Robert B. Stassler. For anyone else wondering what is forthcoming in the series and the timing, I stumbled across this note posted by Mr. Stassler to a query on an Amazon.com board: I am very much alive, and up to […]
Well, August has been anything but fun…two trips to the hospital and some surgery, for starters. Hopefully the pain levels will recede and I’ll feel like reading and posting again soon. I apologize for the break but I’ll get going again soon.
It will be a little bit before I write on Marketa Lazarová by Vladislav Vančura, but I wanted to share something I stumbled across yesterday. Someone (I’m assuming Stefano Leone, who posted it) paired Joy Division’s “Shadowplay” with scenes from Marketa Lazarová, a stunning combination. The scenes are as haunting as the song. Speaking of […]
There are some movies currently streaming online that I wanted to pass along to readers. First up is Coriolanus available for free to Amazon Prime members. Directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes while John Logan adapted the play for the screen. I was impressed by the whole production, which was as troubling on the screen […]