Grand unified books thread

[Savonarola]

BEE didn't become the banner boy for the archetypal '80s young white male for nothing, Sav.

He wrote what he knew.

Has anyone read "Imperial Bedrooms" (the sequel to "Less than Zero'")?  They have a copy of it at my local library and I was wondering if it's worth the effort.

It wasn't; (even though it's just over 160 pages).  Clay has become some sort of Clay-Patrick Bateman hybrid in the past 25 years; so that he does disturbing things, but just doesn't care.

[Savonarola]

I read the first volume of Will Durant's story of Civilization "Our Oriental Heritage."  It covers Egypt and the Middle East until Alexander and India, China and Japan to then then present day (1934.)

He takes a romantic view of the cultures of China and India; going so far as to praise Indian men for their sexual restraint.   

At the end of the volume he writes of the inevitability of a US war with Japan.  I've read some Monday morning quarterbacking of FDR's foreign policy in the Pacific in the 40s and 50s; so it was surprising to see Durant viewing it as inevitable.  Especially since it was written before even the Second Sino-Japanese war.

It's the weakest of the series by far. The romanticized writing is present in all volumes, but he does it very well.
I enjoyed reading them a lot, especially from vol.4 onwards.

I finished the second volume "The Life of Greece."  It was much better than the first; Durant is clearly more interested in the subject (and more knowledgeable of it as well.)  You're right, the romanticized view is still present and he dwells an awful lot on mythology.  Still it's a fun read; I wish I had read it in high school. 

[Malthus]

Cormac McCarthy - The Road. Well that was bleak.

Better read Blood Meridian next - it's a barrel of laughs!

[Well, not really.  ]

[mongers]

I really should read another book, sometime this year. 

[Savonarola]

I've been going over a tourist book of Ravenna that I had gotten while there.  The translation into English isn't the best, and sometime I have to struggle to figure out what the author is getting at.  My favorite, thus far, is when the author refers to the conflict between the Guelph and Ghibelline not as an internecine war, but instead as an intestine war.

[Malthus]

I've been going over a tourist book of Ravenna that I had gotten while there.  The translation into English isn't the best, and sometime I have to struggle to figure out what the author is getting at.  My favorite, thus far, is when the author refers to the conflict between the Guelph and Ghibelline not as an internecine war, but instead as an intestine war.

Simply descriptive.

As in, "carried out by sticking daggers in their enemy's intestines". 

[Agelastus]

I've been going over a tourist book of Ravenna that I had gotten while there.  The translation into English isn't the best, and sometime I have to struggle to figure out what the author is getting at.  My favorite, thus far, is when the author refers to the conflict between the Guelph and Ghibelline not as an internecine war, but instead as an intestine war.

Simply descriptive.

As in, "carried out by sticking daggers in their enemy's intestines". 

"Intestine" can be used as an adjective with the meaning of "internal"; it's somewhat obsolete but still valid.

I've been informed elsewhere (but have been unable to confirm it, so at the least this may no longer be current) that said usage of the word is still present in the wording of the commission held by commissioned officers of Her Majesty' Forces.

[Malthus]

I've been going over a tourist book of Ravenna that I had gotten while there.  The translation into English isn't the best, and sometime I have to struggle to figure out what the author is getting at.  My favorite, thus far, is when the author refers to the conflict between the Guelph and Ghibelline not as an internecine war, but instead as an intestine war.

Simply descriptive.

As in, "carried out by sticking daggers in their enemy's intestines". 

"Intestine" can be used as an adjective with the meaning of "internal"; it's somewhat obsolete but still valid.

I've been informed elsewhere (but have been unable to confirm it, so at the least this may no longer be current) that said usage of the word is still present in the wording of the commission held by commissioned officers of Her Majesty' Forces.

"Carried out by sticking daggers in their enemy's internals" works too. 

[Savonarola]

"Intestine" can be used as an adjective with the meaning of "internal"; it's somewhat obsolete but still valid.

I've been informed elsewhere (but have been unable to confirm it, so at the least this may no longer be current) that said usage of the word is still present in the wording of the commission held by commissioned officers of Her Majesty' Forces.

I stand corrected; I've never seen it used that way before.

[Agelastus]

I stand corrected; I've never seen it used that way before.

I'm only aware of this because I tried to make a humorous post concerning another poster's usage of it in a thread on the Alternate History forums - only to discover that it was legitimate.

My post started, appropriately enough in hindsight, with "Ouch"... 

[Queequeg]

Anyone know anything on the late Roman Empire?  Like Aurelian, Diocletian, up to the Collapse.  Besides Heather. 

[Maladict]

Anyone know anything on the late Roman Empire?  Like Aurelian, Diocletian, up to the Collapse.  Besides Heather.

Peter Brown is your man. I haven't read his latest, Through the Eye of a Needle, but the reviews were good.
Averil Cameron also had a new book out a few years ago, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity: AD 395-600.

The Later Roman Empire by A.H.M. Jones is still a solid work, even though it is decades old.
Chris Wickham and Glen Bowersock are also quality authors.

There is much more, of course, but you'll need to be more specific.

[CountDeMoney]

You want to read a fascinating bio, The Life of Belisarius: The Last Great General of Rome by Lord Mahon is fantastic despite its age, and a great window into the end-life of Rome.  What an amazing general.

[Maladict]

You want to read a fascinating bio, The Life of Belisarius: The Last Great General of Rome by Lord Mahon is fantastic despite its age, and a great window into the end-life of Rome.  What an amazing general.

Count Belisarius by Robert Graves is good, too. It's historical fiction, but only barely fiction.

[Ed Anger]

IIRC, Goldsworthy has a chapter in In the Name of Rome about Julian's campaign in Gaul.