April-June 2020 - Ancient and Biblical Times

Prehistory ends (by most consensus) when people begin settling cities and farming. So:

Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt, Ancient Americas – Aztecs, Incas, Mayas - Ancient China, Ancient Japan. Anybody else you can find. Ancient times end when the Middle Ages begin around 500 AD.

Here's a list of possible books that fit: https://www.librarything.com/tag/ancient+times

Visit the Quarterly Theme Reads Wiki Page for more information and add your own books for this quarter’s theme: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Reading_Through_Time_Quarterly_Theme_Rea...

I have tons of books on my shelf for this one. Some possibilities:

The Sign Above The Door by William Canfield
Child of a Dream by Valerio Massimo Manfredi
The Son of Light by Christian Jacq
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Circe by Madeline Miller
Michal, Abigail and Bathsheba by Jill Eileen Smith
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Woman Who Would Be King by Kara Cooney
Boadicea's Chariot by Antonia Fraser
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George
The Last Days of Pompeii by Lord Lytton
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

I also have the seven volumes of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. I have been meaning to get to these for ages but it is something I will really need to ready to commit to.

And lots of ancient mythology books as well.

Looking forward to getting lots of book bullets from this theme!

>2 JayneCM: I loved The Memoirs of Cleopatra, but then, I like anything from George!

I have a 3 book series by Angela Hunt of which I've read the first book. I hope to finish books 2 and 3 this year, so book 2 will fit in here nicely, Brothers, biblical fiction about Joseph. Book 1 was super!

I’ve just acquired I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves, and am looking forward to reading them for this theme.

Lindsey Davis and Ruth Downie are the authors of mystery series set in ancient Rome. Downie’s books are set in Roman Britain.

>3 Tess_W: I have a few of Margaret George's books, but I have only read one! I will have to look for that series on Joseph - sounds great.

I think I will be reading Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran.

Our book club is reading Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff for July. I'll try to get to it before then for this quarter challenge. If not, I know I will not be far behind.

Time frame?

>8 cfk: I would think anything from the dawn of Biblical creation till about 500 AD

A few years ago I read and enjoyed a book that was a modern day mystery but with flashbacks to ancient times named I, Saul. It's not overly religious if that's not your thing. Anyway, I recommend it.

I also have read The Bronze Bow, which is a 1962 Newbery winner and fine for adult reading.

My choice is yet to be chosen.

Addendum: got it! The Darkness and the Dawn by Thomas B. Costain. It's been on my shelves for years.

>10 fuzzi: I second The Bronze Bow!

I am absolutely going to do a complete read of Mahabharata, using the blank-verse (and somewhat abridged) "translation" Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling by Carole Satyamurti, which is highly praised and includes Philip Pullman among its dust jacket blurbs. It'll be a bit of a read at 900+ pages. I've also got The Illustrated Mahabharata, a really beautiful looking read that I might do as a follow-up, or else I may take a stab at the Ramayana.

It would be nice to watch either of those Mahabharata or Ramayana mini-series, but I'm not sure of the quality of the DVDs or of the subtitling and considering the expense of the DVD sets.... Plus, they each run into several dozens of hours.

I read Brothers (Legacies of the Ancient River) by Angela Hunt is book #2/3 in a series. This particular book follows Joseph from his rise to the Grand Vizier of Egypt though the reunion with his father and brothers. Very good historical reads. I can't wait to read the last one. 400 pages 5 stars

I have finished Kochen mit den Römern, in which the author travels across the Roman empire and describes the food produced and eaten in the various provinces. She also offers recipes from Apicius adapted to modern ingredients. Well written and informative. I may even try my hand at one of the vegetable dishes.

I just finished I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Enjoyed it very much. I wish, though, that I had kept a who’s who list. Lots of characters, many names very similar, and convoluted relationships. Up next for the quarter will be Claudius the God.

the BBC series with Derik Jacobi as Claudius is an excellent adaptation of the book, and might help you cue in on the characters! :)

I finished another book about ancient Romans: Trier : Biographie einer römischen Stadt, which is a potted history of Augusta Treverorum or Treveris, as it was known when it was the capital of the Western half of the Roman Empire. Slim, but lovingly illustrated.

With our library system closed for more than a month now, I'm re-reading familiar books, as well as new to me novellas on kindle unlimited. Oh, and the 20 books I grabbed off the shelves of the library the day before the system closed, thanks to a tip by my local librarian. So, unfortunately, I don't have anything available in current monthly/quarterly themes.

Continuing the Ancient Romans with The lantern bearers where Rome abandons her colony of Britannia and Ambrosius tries to fend off the Saxons.

Just finished Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling (>12 CurrerBell:) @900pp. (The actual Mahabharata, depending on its version across various subcontinental and even more distant nations like Indonesia, can run to about seven times the length of the Iliad and Odyssey combined.) I've got what looks like an interesting novel, The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Divakaruni, telling the story from the point of view of the main female character, Draupadi/Panchali, that I want to get on to.

ETA: Absolutely 5*****! Satyamurti (British ethnically, married to an Indian, and who died last year on her 80th birthday) was a sociology professor who just for the fun of it took a poetry-writing course when she was forty-five and became a published and award-winning poet just a couple years later. Her Mahabharata is written in blank verse and was highly praised by Philip Pullman.

Thanks for mentioning the I Claudius TV series. I watched it about six years ago which is what inspired me to read the books. I was thrilled when I recently found two hardbacks with dust jackets at my public library bookstore for $1.00 each. The main characters from the show are vivid in my memory. It was some of the the brothers, sisters, wives and children and their convoluted relationships that made my head spin somewhat in the books. So once I finish Claudius the God for this quarter’s theme, I plan to watch the TV series again.

Just finished Robert Harris' "Pompeii." The explosion of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD has well documented and a recent program on tv reminded me of this novel. After two months our local library is open for curbside pickup, no transfers between branches or systems. So I felt really fortunate to find this one in my branches online catalog.

Marcus Attilius, a young and newly transferred 'acquarius' (responsible for aqueducts in the Roman Empire), takes over the Aqua Augustus in Misenum for his missing predecessor. He is immediately faced with a combination of drought, dropping water level and a strong odor of sulfur. He sets out to locate a breach in the aqueduct, which he believes is near Mt Vesuvius just days before the eruption. Politics, corruption and romance all factor into the story. 4****

I'm reading Ancient Mysteries for this theme and will be lucky to finish it by the end of the year let alone the end of June. Will see how it goes.

July- Sep thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/321370

I read Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran and really enjoyed this historical read. The author has done her research and delivers a good story full of well documented historical detail and at the back of the book, she also lets the reader know what happened to all the main characters, as those in control of Rome were constantly changing.

>25 DeltaQueen50: I have that book somewhere and need to look for it.