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One of the good things of being self employed is being able to vary ones working day, but there is a downside to this work does not stop at 5 or when ever you stop work, it stops when the work that needs to be done is done. This does mean that when things get busy, there is not time for updating blogs. Also my reading went into the slow lane, as was too shattered to do much. During the remainder of August I read a little and these three books take me up to the 52 books and I will record them as being read in 43 weeks Book 50 Solitude Creek by Jeffery Deaver Book 51 Simple Genius by David Baldacci Book 52 Wars of the Roses by Conn Iggulden I am sorry to say I do not have time to write any detailed form of review other than to record that I read them. Hopefully over the next few weeks things will get back into balance and I can spend so more time on this.
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This is my review of the book Emperor – The Gods of War by Conn Iggulden which I read recently. Well back to historical novels in my book list. Amazingly I have power, an internet connection and am writing this to add it actually on the correct day. Lets hope it carries on so I can get it added. Though I still have five books to add from my backlog that accrued during my travels which I am adding slowly. So this is the continuing biography of Julius Caesar and book four in the Emperor series. I found it interesting as I read this book that it swerved from the history I thought I knew about Julius. The book paints him as essentially a good man trying to right the wrongs of greed, money and power that Pompey was showing. Julius is called back to Roman from Gaul. Fresh from triumph in Britain and Gaul, Julius marches on Rome with his legions of hardened veterans. Pompey needs to be unseated. Will this mean a civil war. Pompey makes the decision for him in fleeing from Rome. So Julius has to chase him across the Mediterranean, eventually ending up in Egypt. Here he meets Cleopatra and that is a story in itself. Sadly running parallel to this is the ongoing tensions between Julius, Brutus, Mark Antony and Octavian. Julius tries to upset the apple cart and has to pay the consequences.. A very enjoyable and interesting book, giving a very different perspective on a story that I thought I knew very well. I will record this as book 25 week 22 fiction 23 (audio books 4) non fiction 2 Friends
This is my review of the book Emperor – The fields of swords by Conn Iggulden which I read recently. This is the third book in the series about the life and times of Julius Caesar. When we were the other side of the world it did not seem that strange that we had internet connection problems but back at home we are brought back to reality of living in rural Scotland, as we had a power cut for five hours. Of course this means no central heating, mains light or internet. As were were first told it would only be a short time we did not bother to get the generator going, but we were very pleased that we have a gas hob for cooking and a wood burner for heat and lots of candles. Our friends who live in more urban areas find it hard to believe the number of power cuts we get. Still this is nothing to the life that the Romans lived, and our biography of Julius Caesar now moves to his Gallic campaigns. Julius has taken his legions north to battle the Gallic tribes. But as his successes mount, overwhelming ambition and new alliances begin to threaten his one true friendship, with Brutus. Marcus Brutus was instrumental in the conquest of Gaul and so in restoring Caesar’s reputation as a hero of Rome, but slowly the cracks in the friendship start to appear, as Julius wants to restore the old ways of Roman, but wealth ambition and family ties all get in the way. I will record this as book 23 week 21 fiction 21 (audio books 4) non fiction 2 Friends
This is my review of the book Emperor – The death of kings by Conn Iggulden which I read recently. This is the second book in the series of four about the life and times of Julius Caesar. As a young officer in the army he is serving on board a war galley. The ship is captured by pirates is captured and he is abandoned on the North African coast. The families are asked for a ransom to get them back, which they pay. Julius vows to get revenge and the money back so he gathers a legion of men powerful enough to gain vengeance on his captors and to suppress an uprising in Greece, he returns to Rome a hero. At the moment of his triumph, Julius finds he must fight again. A savage rebellion threatens the city, led by a gladiator named Spartacus… This was a good page turner of a book and really wet my appetite for the next book in the series, which I will hopefully read soon. I will record this as book 21 week 21 fiction 19 (audio books 3) non fiction 2 Friends
This is my review of the book Emperor – The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden, which I read recently. This book is the first of a series of books on the life and times of Julius Caesar. This book deals with his early years. At school I studied Roman history which included this time, and I have been to see Shakespeare's play about Julius. In both cases the person presented as Julius was very different to that of the one presented by Conn Iggulden. I know with time our views of history change but I did find this perspective very interesting. The story is full of all the staples of a Roman tale, gladiatorial combat, power struggles, betrayal and civil war with citizen fighting citizen. All the ground marks required by to give Julius the perfect start in life to enable him to become one of the greatest Romans of all. This is book one of a series and I will hopefully be reading the rest soon. I will record this as book 19 week 21 fiction 17 (audio books 3) non fiction 2 This is book five in the Conqueror series, about the Dynasty of Genghis Khan, during the latter half of the thirteenth century. It continues the saga of the great family, and how they ruled a very significant part of the world during this time.
The text is beautifully written painting pictures of what life was like as a Mongol warrior during this time as they rode thousands of miles from one side of their known world to another. The plot line is all about the brothers in competition with each other, a scheming mother, murder and double crossing. - Civil war. My only grip was that there was a family tree at the start of the book which was very helpful in putting the characters in context, but it also allowed one to work out the outcome of the various struggles between brothers, as it gave the dates of their deaths and marked who was the Khan at that time. Still that did not really spoil a very well written story. The numbers of warriors and horses involved were staggering, especially as it is a story told around historical fact. To recall just one he sites the siege and fall of Baghdad by Hulegu. Here over 800,000 of the population were killed. The ruler of Baghdad the Caliph had a harem of 700 women. Compared to our lives now this is all very hard to comprehend, and the way the story is told brings it all to life. It is a shame that this is the last of the series. I look forward to the next one coming out but as I have not read Conn's earlier series on life with the Romans I will have to look that out and put it on my future reading list. |
Tim Fuller
Dyslexic doodles on photography, food (growing, cooking & of course eating), faith and other fascinating things. This is a personal blog expressing my views. Archives
November 2015
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