I've read several of Bryson's books. His curmudgeonly sense of humor appeals to me. In this one, he's pretty hard on people who are fat or old, and for that reason I'd hesitate to recommend it. At least he's honest. Isn't that what the Wrong-Righters say about what's-his-name? Is being an honest bigot better than keeping the ole mouth shut on some things? He wouldn't think kindly of a race bigot, but the fat and old are somehow fair game.
I think this was written in 1987, not a banner year for me, and I hope both he and I have learned some things since that time. At this time, he lived in England, but came back to visit his mother in Iowa, borrowed her car, and spent some months driving around the country. If I did that, I'd sure pick some other spots, but it's his book. And because I'm fat and old, and female, it would be more dangerous for me, not to mention concerns about my driving.
I did laugh out loud several times. I just didn't love it as much as some of his other books. He refers to one person sarcastically as Cicero (the subject of the book I just read) and there's a part about a group of people I've been reading about in my genealogy research. ( I can't figure out if the name given to them is generally offensive, so maybe I won't include it here.) I can count on Bryson to cover a lot of ground in more ways than one, and I know I'll be reading more of his works.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
2. Dictator, by Robert Harris
One argument for belonging to a book group is that it encourages one to get out of a rut. I wouldn't have chosen this one or plowed on through it without anticipating the future gathering of reader friends. I've never been up on history, especially of a time and place so far away.
This book is about Cicero, the third in a series of bestsellers that together are his fictional biography, as told by his secretary and slave, Tiro. The author says Tiro really did write a biography that has been lost. What I know about this period in Roman history is mostly from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. I appreciated the two maps and the glossary. A map of the city of Rome, had it been there, would have helped me out. There was a lot of research to put this together, and I admire the author for that.
To think about a time of voting, not exactly as we do but citizen participation anyway, being replaced by a system of dictators then emperors, is worrisome to me. Also, I find the whole idea of slavery being accepted by society so confusing. How the great orator could, like Thomas Jefferson, talk about freedom while keeping slaves is just mysterious to me.
In my own time, I worry how long our government can last given outrageous borrowing, war-making, and the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor. I worry about overpopulation, which contributes to almost every other problem here and in the world.
I don't plan to read the other two books in the series, but I believe a person with wider history interests than mine would appreciate the series more. It will help me fill out the character of Cicero in my head if I run across him again in Shakespeare or other literature.
One argument for belonging to a book group is that it encourages one to get out of a rut. I wouldn't have chosen this one or plowed on through it without anticipating the future gathering of reader friends. I've never been up on history, especially of a time and place so far away.
This book is about Cicero, the third in a series of bestsellers that together are his fictional biography, as told by his secretary and slave, Tiro. The author says Tiro really did write a biography that has been lost. What I know about this period in Roman history is mostly from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. I appreciated the two maps and the glossary. A map of the city of Rome, had it been there, would have helped me out. There was a lot of research to put this together, and I admire the author for that.
To think about a time of voting, not exactly as we do but citizen participation anyway, being replaced by a system of dictators then emperors, is worrisome to me. Also, I find the whole idea of slavery being accepted by society so confusing. How the great orator could, like Thomas Jefferson, talk about freedom while keeping slaves is just mysterious to me.
In my own time, I worry how long our government can last given outrageous borrowing, war-making, and the widening gap between the wealthy and the poor. I worry about overpopulation, which contributes to almost every other problem here and in the world.
I don't plan to read the other two books in the series, but I believe a person with wider history interests than mine would appreciate the series more. It will help me fill out the character of Cicero in my head if I run across him again in Shakespeare or other literature.
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Happy New Year 2018
Books. Since retiring, I've picked up more books than I've read, and thus, am farther behind on reading than ever. My bookworm buddy has resolved to read a book a week, That's more than I'll read, but maybe I can shoot for half that. So I'm opening up the blog again to keep track.
#1: I actually finished this one on New Year's Eve, but I'm counting it anyway. I reread parts of it after the year changed.
Their Finest, by Lissa Evans
For my book group, and sometimes I don't care for the choices, I really enjoyed reading this. Set in the early years of World War II in England, it follows separate lives that come together in the making of a film. We know the thoughts of three, sometimes four people, and others by their actions. The author has such a light touch that she can be funny and also poignant without it becoming painful or sappy. I went back and re-read scenes that stayed in my head. One I especially liked involved someone who is the same kind of pet person as me, which is to say, not exactly. Another passage I reread was the thinking of Caitlan, more or less the main character, about what is important, and dealing with everyday issues in an age of calamities. In a way, I think this is the central theme of the book. There is a movie and I'll probably want to watch it, but I wonder how the funny things people think could come through.
#1: I actually finished this one on New Year's Eve, but I'm counting it anyway. I reread parts of it after the year changed.
Their Finest, by Lissa Evans
For my book group, and sometimes I don't care for the choices, I really enjoyed reading this. Set in the early years of World War II in England, it follows separate lives that come together in the making of a film. We know the thoughts of three, sometimes four people, and others by their actions. The author has such a light touch that she can be funny and also poignant without it becoming painful or sappy. I went back and re-read scenes that stayed in my head. One I especially liked involved someone who is the same kind of pet person as me, which is to say, not exactly. Another passage I reread was the thinking of Caitlan, more or less the main character, about what is important, and dealing with everyday issues in an age of calamities. In a way, I think this is the central theme of the book. There is a movie and I'll probably want to watch it, but I wonder how the funny things people think could come through.
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