Steve's Bookshelf 2014

[Timstar]

Also went in Forbidden Planet and didn't buy anything  

 

Huh...but...what......how!?

[Signor Finzione]

I went trawling around bookshops yesterday to try and find the paperbacks.  Went to the new Foyles flagship store, which was underwhelming I have to say, and managed to get Caesar's Women there.  The only copy of Caesar I could find was in Waterstone's on Gower Street, but it was a bit knackered and I wasn't going to pay £9.99 for it in that state    I'll have another go next week but may have to resort to Amazon for that one.

 

At least Amazon comes in useful at times like this.

 

Also went in Forbidden Planet and didn't buy anything    

 

Congratulations!

[Athena]

I hope you manage to find a nice copy of Caesar somewhere .

[pontalba]

 

 

In this series, I agree about Sulla, wow, what a contradiction of a personality!  It'll turn out to be his son that is so horrible later and is the one that Cicero's Orations are against. 

 

 

 

I was wrong about this ^^^^  For some reason I had Sulla mixed up with Catiline.   

[Karsa Orlong]

I was wrong about this ^^^^  For some reason I had Sulla mixed up with Catiline.   

 

I did wonder what you were on about.  Unless you thought there were zombies involved 

[Karsa Orlong]

# 40

 

Fortune's Favourites (Masters of Rome III) by Colleen McCullough

 

 

        

 

 

1991 - Arrow paperback - 1,056 pages

 

 

From Amazon:

 

 

The third novel in the epic Masters of Rome series.

 

Fortune's Favourites witnesses the power, mastery and cunning of two enigmatic rulers of Rome - Sulla, returning from exile, and the 22-year-old Pompey, who designates himself Magnus 'the Great'. And in the background is the young soldier, Caesar, who begins to show the expert qualities that will one day culminate in him becoming an unparalleled leader of ancient Rome. And at the heart of this sumptuous tale is the unforgettable story of Spartacus and his doomed slave revolt - the true story, as no modern reader has ever before encountered it.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

This, the third of McCullough’s ‘Masters of Rome’ series, covers the period 83 B.C. to 71 B.C.   It concentrates largely on three characters: Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar.  Sulla is now aged and disease-ridden, but he has a vision of the Roman Republic as he feels it should be, and sets about dismantling much of what Gaius Marius did before him.  Pompey’s a brash, arrogant upstart who gives himself the cognomen ‘Magnus’, which means ‘The Great’.  He feels he can conquer – and is entitled to – all, which leads to a couple of quite amusing falls from grace but also to some horrific defeats.  Caesar, here seen from his teens to his mid-20s, is very, very clever, and has learned a lot about war from Gaius Marius.  He’s also icy cold, craves affection from his mother (who doesn’t give it), and is a philanderer.  I found these last three aspects of his character quite interesting, because I worried that McCullough was going to deify him too much.  She doesn’t – quite – but she does walk a razor’s edge in that regard.

 

Beyond Sulla’s reforms (which, at times, did find my eyes glazing over a bit - whereas these parts were lively in the previous novels, here there was law after law being passed and it all tended to blend together) the novel covers Rome’s problems with Sertorius in Spain, Mithridates of Pontus, and a certain gladiator.  Also, particularly brilliant, is Caesar’s encounter with pirates (an episode that I recall reading about in another novel – Conn Iggulden’s, maybe – but much better here).

 

This one took me quite a while to read, largely due to the wall-to-wall football of the World Cup, almost as largely due to being on leave and having lots of jobs to do around the house and garden, and almost as largely again due to my pc deciding to die and the hours spent trying to sort it out (and yet more hours researching and ordering a new one).  Hence this comparatively brief review.  I even had to write some notes when I finished it, cos I couldn't come straight on here and post a review

 

All this didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book and, for large parts, I found it completely spellbinding, but it did mean I read it in much smaller chunks than I normally would have.  I do think it’s very much a ‘middle’ novel in a series, a means of getting characters from one place to another to set up the main events to follow.  Kind of like The Two Towers without the walking, talking trees.  Or The Empire Strikes Back with Yoda playing the part of Sulla.  Damn, now there’s an image I’m not going to be able to shake  

 

According to McCullough’s afterword, this is the last of the novels that will involve the grand sweep of history which, I think, is kind of a shame (because she does it so brilliantly), but is also quite exciting (because we all know what’s to come).

 

 

9/10

[Little Pixie]

Nooooo !  Your PC and your PVR recorder thingy ??  Both gone ?!

[Timstar]

Good to see the standard is maintained, getting more and more eager to start this series but I would like it in paperback I think.

 

Did you see that The Thorn Birds by McCullough is 0.99p. Quite a number of 5-star reviews

[Athena]

Great review, Steve ! I'm glad you enjoyed the third book. It is a bit of a shame you found the novel to be a bit of a setting up for later books, but I'm glad you enjoyed reading it in little bits. I can imagine it might've taken some time to sort out your computer and doing lots of things around the house and garden. What are you going to read next?

 

I've ordered the first book of the series (in paperback), it should be here in a while. I have The Thorn Birds in paperback on my TBR, I haven't read it yet though. I bought it on a whim at the book fair a few years ago because the synopsis intruiged me (and the price), but I hadn't heard anything about it until you started to read the Rome series. It's always nice when you have a good recommendation about an author and/or book. I don't read historical fiction as often as I read contemporary things (or fantasy or science-fiction), I do like historical fiction every now and then and should really read more of it, particularly after some of the books have been so recommended by you and other people on the forum.

 

I hope you have fun on your time off work .

[Karsa Orlong]

# 41

 

Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney 

 

          

 

 

2000 - Faber & Faber paperback - 144 pages

 

 

From Amazon:

 

Composed towards the end of the first millennium, the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is one of the great Northern epics and a classic of European literature. In his new translation, Seamus Heaney has produced a work which is both true, line by line, to the original poem, and an expression, in its language and music, of something fundamental to his own creative gift.

 

The poem is about encountering the monstrous, defeating it, and then having to live on, physically and psychically exposed, in that exhausted aftermath. It is not hard to draw parallels between this story and the history of the twentieth century, nor can Heaney's Beowulf fail to be read partly in the light of his Northern Irish upbringing. But it also transcends such considerations, telling us psychological and spiritual truths that are permanent and liberating.

 

Show More

Show Less

 

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I have always wanted to read Beowulf.  Well, I say always, but it probably goes back to around 1982 or '83 when I first heard Marillion's song Grendel, long before they sang about Kayleigh and 'dancing in stilletos in the snow'    Since then I've seen a couple of movie adaptations and even read John Gardner's fantasy masterwork, Grendel, but somehow still never read the epic poem itself until now.  It came back to my mind last year when I read The Iliad and The Odyssey, and now seemed a particularly appropriate time given a couple of books that I am about to go on and read, so . . .

 

Seamus Heaney's is a modern prose translation of what is the oldest surviving piece of Old English epic poetry, which probably means purists will not like it but those of us who want to be able to understand a little more easily will likely love.  I suppose the purists can go and read the original in the British Library.  Alternatively, there is a deluxe hardback edition of this Heaney translation which presents his version and the original Old English on alternate pages.  There's one page of the Old English in the paperback and it made my head hurt

 

I guess most people know the tale of the heroic Geat warrior called Beowulf who, in the 5th century, travels to Denmark to give his aid to King Hrothgar, whose famed mead hall has been under attack from the monster, Grendel, for so many years that word has spread far and wide.  Beowulf also has to battle Grendel's mother and, many years later, a dragon.  It truly is epic, action-packed, blood-soaked stuff.

 

Obviously, as this is a prose translation, it's not so much a poem anymore, but it still has a wonderful rhythm to it.  It's also very easy to read and understand, whilst still seeming to grasp a feel for the time and place, and also - it seemed to me - being relevant today inasmuch as it examines what drives man to violence, about growing old basking in past glories, and about the dangers of hubris.  The narrator is anonymous and often veers off into other tales as bards sing in the mead hall, or as characters relate to each other past events.  Even if I lost the thread of what was being spoken of, I found the brief notes in the margin were great for a quick catch up.

 

Beowulf is everything I expected it to be, and more.  If you've seen the Zemeckis film and liked it then you probably owe it to yourself to read this (or even the newly released Tolkien translation), cos there are many differences.  It doesn't overstay its welcome, and begs to be read in one sitting.  Fantastic.  Or epic, even.

 

 

10/10

[Athena]

Great review! I've always been curious about this book but I didn't know much about it. I don't think I could make sense of the original English translation, I couldn't do that for original middle-Dutch texts let alone one in a second language. I'm glad you enjoyed this book .

[Karsa Orlong]

Nooooo !  Your PC and your PVR recorder thingy ??  Both gone ?!

 

Yeah.  They say these things happen in threes, right?

 

 

 

Good to see the standard is maintained, getting more and more eager to start this series but I would like it in paperback I think.

 

It's worth it, I think.  The maps are so much easier to read in the paperbacks.  I'm glad I've got the Kindle versions too, though, as I can use those when I'm travelling and then read the paperbacks when I'm at home

 

 

 

Great review, Steve ! I'm glad you enjoyed the third book. It is a bit of a shame you found the novel to be a bit of a setting up for later books, but I'm glad you enjoyed reading it in little bits. I can imagine it might've taken some time to sort out your computer and doing lots of things around the house and garden. What are you going to read next?

 

I've ordered the first book of the series (in paperback), it should be here in a while. I have The Thorn Birds in paperback on my TBR, I haven't read it yet though. I bought it on a whim at the book fair a few years ago because the synopsis intruiged me (and the price), but I hadn't heard anything about it until you started to read the Rome series. It's always nice when you have a good recommendation about an author and/or book. I don't read historical fiction as often as I read contemporary things (or fantasy or science-fiction), I do like historical fiction every now and then and should really read more of it, particularly after some of the books have been so recommended by you and other people on the forum.

 

I hope you have fun on your time off work .

 

Oh thanks, but I'm back at work today - that's why I'm writing up my reviews

[Athena]

Oh , sorry! Good luck with work then .

[Timstar]

It's worth it, I think.  The maps are so much easier to read in the paperbacks.  I'm glad I've got the Kindle versions too, though, as I can use those when I'm travelling and then read the paperbacks when I'm at home

 

Good to know, hey seem to be quite expensive everywhere in paperback though, do let us know if spot some reasonably priced ones, a matching set would also be nice

[Little Pixie]

Yeah.  They say these things happen in threes, right?

 

Eep ! Is there anything left to go on the fritz ?

[Athena]

The TV itself perhaps ? Or a washing machine.. I hope nothing else breaks Steve!

[Karsa Orlong]

Good to know, hey seem to be quite expensive everywhere in paperback though, do let us know if spot some reasonably priced ones, a matching set would also be nice

 

Yeah they are expensive.  It's cos they're so big and heavy.  If they've got to cut down half a rain forest just to print one book they're going to make you pay   They do look good lined up on the shelf, though

 

They had the sixth book, The October Horse, in the charity shop when I took in some books last week.  It was only 99p, but it was so knackered I couldn't bring myself to buy it, even at that price

 

 

 

Eep ! Is there anything left to go on the fritz ?

 

Could be any number of things, but I'm not going to list them and tempt fate   

 

 

 

The TV itself perhaps ? Or a washing machine.. I hope nothing else breaks Steve!

 

So do I!

 

Just had an email saying my new pc is being delivered tomorrow - I hope it's not that!      This'll hopefully be the last post I make on this old one

[Athena]

Just had an email saying my new pc is being delivered tomorrow - I hope it's not that!      This'll hopefully be the last post I make on this old one

That's great! I hope it won't break down but I presume if it does you'd have warranty? I hope your next post will be on the new computer .

[Little Pixie]

That's great! I hope it won't break down but I presume if it does you'd have warranty? I hope your next post will be on the new computer .

 

Yep, fingers crossed.

[Karsa Orlong]

New pc is up and running.  It's sooooooo quiet   After the noise the old one used to make, I had to put my ear against the case to make sure it was working when I first turned it on

 

All I've done so far is get Kaspersky Internet Security up and running, then email, then downloaded Steam and iTunes, but will deal with moving my music over and re-downloading games later in the week (although, obviously, I'm quite keen to find out what the noise/heat levels of the pc are when running games).  Oh, and I had to figure out some bits and pieces in Windows 8.1

 

Out of interest, what email client do you guys use?  I used to use Windows Live Mail, but I've just started afresh on the new pc with Mozilla Thunderbird.  Seems quite good so far, after ironing out some wrinkles when importing my contacts 

 

ETA:

 

Old pc: 

 

 

New pc: 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2014 by Karsa Orlong

[Anna Begins]

Good to see the standard is maintained, getting more and more eager to start this series but I would like it in paperback I think.

 

Did you see that The Thorn Birds by McCullough is 0.99p. Quite a number of 5-star reviews

Did I seriously miss this on sale?  The Thorn Birds is one of my favorite books.  One of the first adult books I read too.

[Signor Finzione]

Love the new PC - very smart! I just use Gmail for my emails . . . I wouldn't know how to use anything else.

[Athena]

Congratulations on the new PC ! I'm glad it's so quiet and it looks awesome.

 

I've been using Mozilla Thunderbird for quite a few years now and am quite happy with it.

[Little Pixie]

Lovely new PC ! 

 

I use AOL ( mozilla something )  for email ; it`s unfussy and easy to use to send pics, but sometimes has glitches lately when you want to use BBCiplayer or YouTube.

[Karsa Orlong]

So my new pc might've been the third thing to cause a problem after all 

 

Late last night, after my previous post, I managed to get Divinity: Original Sin re-downloaded off Steam and had a play on it for about ten mins.  After a couple of minutes playing it I heard the fans on the graphics card suddenly start to rev up and, whilst it was never anywhere near as noisy as my old pc, it was a lot noisier than it had been before.  It's to be expected for this to happen when it's doing intensive graphics, but when I put my hand on the side of the case it was hot.  I expected it to be warm, but it was toasty!  It wasn't right.

 

So I did some research (while I was at work  ) into how to adjust the speeds of the case fans and figured I'd give that a go when I got home.  So I tried it, went into the BIOS and set the fans to higher speeds, but it didn't seem to make a difference.  So I took the filters off and found that the fans weren't spinning at all, not even slowly

 

So I rang up Quiet PC Ltd and told them.  Now this was great, because my previous experiences with pc companies has led me to expect at least a 20 minute wait in a queue before my call is taken, but they answered within a minute and I was talking to their technical support guy a minute later.  Great!  But what he told me was a real surprise: he said they don't connect the case fans because they're not needed.  Not needed? I said, surely some mistake.  But he said no, they're not needed.  But it got so hot, I said.  Well, most pcs tend to get hot, he said (which is obviously true, but I wasn't expecting this sort of heat).

 

I had that sinking feeling that it was going to have to go back for them to sort out.  He said to try connecting the fans to the motherboard myself.  I'm not averse to mucking about inside a pc, having upgraded them myself in the past, but I didn't expect to have to do it straight away!  So I take the side panels off and locate the cable for the fans and plug it in.  Then I find I can't get one of the panels back on cos, with it being a small case, the cables inside are routed behind the motherboard and it must've taken two people at Quiet PC to get the panel on in the first place, and here I am trying to do it by myself.  I managed to get it on in the end, although one of the hooks hasn't gone in, but I can't see it from here, so I'm not going to worry about it

 

Turn the pc on again and the fans still aren't working.  More cursing.  Take the other panel off again, take the graphics card out again (had to do this to be able to reach the socket for the fan cable ) and find that the socket has four pins and the plug only has three holes.  What???!  Then I figure out I need to move it one pin along.  Plug it in, put graphics card back in, put side panel back in, and hey presto, working fans.  Thank God!

 

Then I tried playing Divinity Original Sin again and, although the side of the case got a little warm, it was nowhere near hot like it was last night, and the graphics card fans didn't rev up half as much either.

 

Sorted, I hope