BB FANS

ROFL!

I am reading Persian Fire by Tom Holland which is enthralling so far. It's about the war between East and West before the Crusades and the rise of the Persian empire. Fascinating reading, but definitely not a quick read. I keep having to go back and refer to the maps in the book, as my geography is hazy at the best of times.

What!? You don't have a detailed knowledge of the geography of ancient Persia?

What a Philistine!! (Go look it up on a map.)

And to think you snickered at the BB HMs for not knowing where Australia is. Such hypocrisy!!



I bet you are only reading it to see if the Spartans were really all greased, half-naked bodybuilders with hard, well-polished swords.

The book sounds interesting though, think I'll go have a look on Amazon.

Australia? I have a friend who lives in a village in the Midlands called Ashby de la Zouche, which for a long time, I thought was near Southampton lol.

I would recommend the book though and his earlier one on Rome was excellent also.

Unfortunately, it isn't illustrated for the pics of the greased up warriors, but I do have my imagination for that

I am interested in ancient civilisations, especially Roman and Greek.

One of my favourite novels, by one of my favourite novelists:



As the title suggests, this is a fictionalised retelling of the slave revolt in ancient Rome led by the gladiator Spartacus. The story is told with undercurrents of Christian and Socialist belief, but not obtrusively.

Grassic Gibbon (real name James Leslie Mitchell) was very much interested in ancient history, and the idea of a 'Golden Age' pre-history of equality and peace.

This novel is different in style but not theme to his more famous works, The Scots Quair trilogy. It's no less brilliant, but lacks the ironic humour of The Scots Quair novels.

He's a very gifted narrator who not only knows how to structure a story (holding your attention) but is able to weave into the fabric of the tale a psychological insight into his characters. As always, the compassion of the man shines through the prose.

While you are sickened by much of the inhumanity of man explored in his works, the counterbalance of Gibbon's humanity (and yearning for a better world) gives his novels a life-affirming magic that I haven't encountered in many other novelists.

I will put it on my 'to read' list alan. Thanks for the recommendation.

I knew you'd get excited by a man holding his big sword in his hand.

Even more excited by him holding two swords and something else quite fierce looking.

I don't know if that's a detail from a famous painting, but it is anachronistic.

The gladius was not a long blade in any of it's variants.

Proof that, in the right hands, you don't need a long blade to get the job done.

I wanna know who the three handed man is. Is it to test the ''more than a handful's a waste'' theory?

Or to bring in a religious theme. God the father, the son and the holy ghost?

I have just read ''Tell me your secret'' by Deidre Purcell. Never read any of her books before but this one was soo touching I almost wanted to cry. Sometimes you can really get into the characters and almost miss them they seem so real. This was definately one of those books. I will try some of her other stuff for sure.


Just started '' The Scarlet Thread' By Francine Rivers.

"Death Message" by Mark Billingham. Love his books!

im not ... i not have time to read ..busy busy busy me

About a third of the way through Atonement by Ian McEwan.

The film looks good too and has got very good reviews.