Grand unified books thread

[Sheilbh]

Can anyone recommend a good readable biography of Simon Bolivar?

This is not what you're asking for but ( sorry), I'd recommend Marquez's The General in his Labyrinth. It's a really excellent entry in the canon of Latin American dictator novels.

[Admiral Yi]

I finished that a month ago and agree - 5/10. Not bad on his personal life but doesn't really set the scene properly and too disjointed.

I felt at times I was reading a magic realism novel.

[The Brain]

Finished Akbar: The Great Mughal, by Ira Mukothy. A very nice and readable biography of the most fascinating of the Mughals. I think it's good if you at least have some idea about Indian or Mughal history before reading it, but it's not necessary. I had read a few general histories of India and of the Mughals, but no Akbar bio. There are no color photos and no maps, this didn't bother me at all but some people may be annoyed. There's a lot of names, but the most important persons can be found in a helpful Cast of Characters. There's a lot of Indian terms that weren't immediately known to me (AFAIK the book is written with an Indian audience in mind), again this didn't bother me. I only started reading about Indian history a few years ago (it was on my list for decades), there's a lot of interesting stuff there.

[mongers]

'The Lord of the Rings'

Well crafted high fantasy.

First re-read in probably 20 years, a bit disappointed that I remembered nearly all of it, the only scene I didn't recall was a chat between Frodo and Gloin at the meal in Rivendell.

[Maladict]

'The Lord of the Rings'

Well crafted high fantasy.

First re-read in probably 20 years, a bit disappointed that I remembered nearly all of it, the only scene I didn't recall was a chat between Frodo and Gloin at the meal in Rivendell.

About 30 years for me now, plus I read a translation at the time. Maybe I should give it a go 

[Habbaku]

Latest re-read was ~2 years ago for me. I didn't recall Aragorn being such a sulky whiner at the start.

[The Brain]

What's with the stutter?

[Josquius]

I recently finished the hyperion series. Anyone else read this one?
Lots of interesting aspects to it. Though it goes in hard for the Christianity mega fan stuff.

[Razgovory]

I read the hyperion cantos about a decade ago.  There was some sequels but I didn't read them.

[Josephus]

I recently finished the hyperion series. Anyone else read this one?
Lots of interesting aspects to it. Though it goes in hard for the Christianity mega fan stuff.

I read the first one, which was sort of a Canterbury Tales thing. I started Book Two, but stopped about half way. Couldn't get into it.

Dan Simmons is actually a really fascinating writer, but his Sci-Fi is to me his least interesting genre. He dabbled in horror for a while after sci-fi, and then in sort of historical fiction. (AMC's The Terror was based on one of his books, which was about how the crew of the Terror and Erebus were stalked by a ghostly polar bear-- no really).

The Abominable was very good. A well told and researched, realistic telling of the first Everest climb with Mallory and Irvine....well realistic except for the ghostly snowman thing. And you thought Mallory just fell off...ha!



And Drood, is a creepy gothic tale of the last years of Charles Dickens' life. Pretty realistic too, except for the....well, wouldn't want to spoil it for you.

[Razgovory]

The reason I read the Hyperion Cantos was because I liked the Terror so much.

[Admiral Yi]

Am reading SPQR and I finally know what caligae means.  Also learned that Caligula was a nickname, not his real name.

[grumbler]

Am reading SPQR and I finally know what caligae means.  Also learned that Caligula was a nickname, not his real name.

Indeed.  Aristocratic Romans typically went by nicknames, because they reused the same few names over and over again in their families.  Gaius Julius (son of Gaius Julius, grandson of Gaius Julius) went by the nickname Caesar (also the nickname of his father and grandfather), as did Pompey, Crassus, Cicero, Augustus, etc. Become known by theirs.   Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus had three nicknames, and picked up the fourth, Caligula, early in his life.

Interesting fact:  daughters of aristocratic Romans didn;t have personal names; they all went by the family name (thus Caesar had two aunts, both named Julia, a sister Julia, and a daughter Julia). 

[The Brain]

(thus Caesar had two aunts, both named Julia, a sister Julia, and a daughter Julia).

Does pretending they were different people make you sleep better?

[Maladict]

Am reading SPQR and I finally know what caligae means.  Also learned that Caligula was a nickname, not his real name.

Indeed.  Aristocratic Romans typically went by nicknames, because they reused the same few names over and over again in their families.  Gaius Julius (son of Gaius Julius, grandson of Gaius Julius) went by the nickname Caesar (also the nickname of his father and grandfather), as did Pompey, Crassus, Cicero, Augustus, etc. Become known by theirs.   Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus had three nicknames, and picked up the fourth, Caligula, early in his life.

Interesting fact:  daughters of aristocratic Romans didn;t have personal names; they all went by the family name (thus Caesar had two aunts, both named Julia, a sister Julia, and a daughter Julia).

I'm not big on Roman names, but I think Augustus was a title, not a nickname. As was Germanicus, Britannicus etc.
And Julius Caesar was more of a double surname than a nickname, denoting a branch of the Julii. It's odd that Caesar, of all people, never had a personal nickname.