[books 2016] SPQR

12. SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard

I have very little interest in ancient Rome itself but a lot of interest in matters around the periphery (both temporally and spatially), and my knowledge of the core history of the Roman Empire was probably 20 years out of date, so when this came out I decided that a one-volume history for the general reader was exactly what I needed to give myself an up to date grounding.

Obviously, I am not a classicist so I can't comment on accuracy, but she has been a prof at Cambridge since forever so I assume it can't be too shabby.

It's very readable. A lot of it is more basic than I needed, but that's a risk I always run with histories for a popular audience. I did learn that bread and circuses didn't work the way most people think, and I had previously failed to appreciate to what extent the Eastern part of the empire never did adopt Latin language and culture. I *still* don't understand the Catiline conspiracy with which Beard opens the book (I think the take-home is I don't care and my brain switches off) but I take her point that you can't trust the sources. I also have difficulty working up to caring about the Senate and Roman politics, so for me the best bits were the chapters on how the common people lived and (naturally) contact with non-Roman peoples and assimilation (or not) into the empire.

[books 2016] Station Eleven

13. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

This month's book club selection.

It's a post-apocalyptic world (brought about by a very fast-acting flu pandemic) that has had really good reviews.

My (and everyone in the group's) feelings were mixed. It is beautifully written and very well plotted - the many disparate strands slot into place seamlessly at the end. The problem is that she didn't think her apocalypse through as well - it's 20 years after the outbreak and nobody has resurrected electricity or running water yet. I like that it's set around a troupe of travelling actors/musicians - in the pre-recordings age, that is how entertainment happened. There is also a strand of the story that takes place on the eve of the outbreak which explains how some people survived. The best bit, for me, is the character who is trapped in an airport while the world ends (but they don't know the world is ending) and the interior monologue he has while he's waiting for the airport to open up again. I wish there was more about the society that develops amongst the people who stay in the airport over the years because it's very peaceful and cooperative.

The first half annoyed me but I ended up being very fond of it indeed. Apparently there's going to be a sequel. I will read it.

As an aside, I think I know the island that one of the characters come from. It sounds a lot like the island where my dad's hippy brother lived for a few years in the 70s.