Roman Masters (and Mistresses)
Originally published at tansyrr.com. You can comment here or there.
Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever
There were a bunch of books/series that I would regularly reread every two years or so; I last read the lot of them when I was pregnant with Raeli, and suffering from what I called booksickness - that was, an inability to read anything new. Those included pretty much the complete works of Tamora Pierce, Connie Willis and Diana Wynne Jones, the Vorkosigan novels, Tam Lin by Pamela Dean and Absolute Nobodies by Lee Tulloch. For my twenties, at least, these were the books that I returned to over and over, enjoying new layers every time.
Then there are the books of my childhood: the ocean of Enid Blytons, the boatfuls of Swallows and Amazons, the Edward Eagers and Beverly Clearys.
Then there’s Terry Pratchett, and I’m sure I could write many, many words to express how much his books meant to me fifteen years ago, and what they mean to me now.
But I’m not going to talk about any of them. Ha!
The series that comes to mind are the Masters of Rome books by Colleen McCullough. It’s hard to think of a set of books that have influenced my life more. Sure, Enid Blyton taught me that you could grow up to be a writer, and Terry Pratchett taught me the meaning of meta-fantasy, but Colleen McCullough started me on my love affair with Rome: the city, the history, the symbol. And I’ve never stopped.
I was given the first book in this series as a teenager (possibly a TOUCH too young for it) by a well-meaning relative. I fell in love with it - a dense family saga with the weight of Roman history pressing all around it, plus plenty of sex, violence and grotesquerie. It’s a series just packed with sensible women and damaged men and, oh yes, it’s the reason I took up Ancient Civilisations at college, the reason I kept taking those Classics subjects at university (oops, was that a major?) and the reason I spent a good seven years of my life working towards a PhD.
These books are huge. You might think you’ve seen big books, if you are a fantasy reader, but I advise you to look again. Every time a new book in the series was released, I would read back all the others, laboriously (okay, sometimes I skipped the battle scenes). I have the most recent sitting on my to read shelf after a year and a half, though I was so desperate to read it I purchased it within 24 hours of finding out it existed - it’s still sitting there because my brain keeps insisting I need to read all the others first and honestly, I don’t have three months to spare.
The First Man in Rome gave me the sisters Julia and Julilla, one a sensible matrona-to-be, and the other a spoiled, self-destructive brat. It introduced Marius, a great leader I didn’t care one sestertius about, and the wilfully horrible, poisonous and utterly wonderful Sulla (Avon to Marius’ Blake) whom I adored with a terrible passion.
The Grass Crown gave me lots more Sulla madness and political machinations, but most particularly it gave me Aurelia, sensible young patrician bride, and the elaborate domestic set up she arranges with her dowry, so that she was the landlady of an insula in a poor area by the time she had her son, young Gaius Julius Caesar. Yes, I named my firstborn daughter after her.
Fortune’s Favourites, ostensibly about the fall of Sulla, is the novel that made me fall inexorably in love with Julius Caesar. There was no going back.
Caesar’s Women, perhaps my favourite of the series, gave me tons more Aurelia action, but also brought the horribly unpleasant and yet compelling Servilia into the limelight. It also introduced me to the women’s ritual religion, a topic that I became so interested in, it ultimately served as my Honours topic. [this one was released 1996, the year I started university - after this, my knowledge of and interest in studying Classics informed my reading of the novels rather than the other way around]
While I very much enjoyed Caesar and The October Horse, they had rather more military action than family politics, which was of less interest to me - I had a habit by then of skimming until I got to scenes with women in them - but then along came the brilliantly twisted Octavian, and I was completely in McCullough’s hands all over again.
I still don’t know if I’m going to pick up Antony and Cleopatra any time soon. I am fascinated to do so, but also a little scared. Mostly I’m scared because I’m used to letting McCullough define a historical character for me - her Sulla, Julia, Aurelia, Caesar and Servilia are all ‘canon’ as far as I’m concerned, but this book has Livia in it. And no one can write Livia well enough to please me. She’s MINE.
Yeah, okay. I’m going to read it soon. Any day now. Really, I promise.
Other Days of the Book Meme:
Day 01 - A book series you wish had gone on longer OR a book series you wish would just freaking end already (or both!)
Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 - The best book you’ve read in the last 12 months
Day 04 - Your favorite book or series ever
Day 05 - A book or series you hate
Day 06 - Favorite book of your favorite series OR your favorite book of all time
Day 07 - Least favorite plot device employed by way too many books you actually enjoyed otherwise
Day 08 - A book everyone should read at least once
Day 09 - Best scene ever
Day 10 - A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 11 - A book that disappointed you
Day 12 - A book or series of books you’ve read more than five times
Day 13 - Favorite childhood book OR current favorite YA book (or both!)
Day 14 - Favorite character in a book (of any sex or gender)
Day 15 - Your “comfort” book
Day 16 - Favorite poem or collection of poetry
Day 17 - Favorite story or collection of stories (short stories, novellas, novelettes, etc.)
Day 18 - Favorite beginning scene in a book
Day 19 - Favorite book cover (bonus points for posting an image!)
Day 20 - Favorite kiss
Day 21 - Favorite romantic/sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 22 - Favorite non-sexual relationship (including asexual romantic relationships)
Day 23 - Most annoying character ever
Day 24 - Best quote from a novel
Day 25 - Any five books from your “to be read” stack
Day 26 - OMG WTF? OR most irritating/awful/annoying book ending
Day 27 - If a book contains ______, you will always read it (and a book or books that contain it)!
Day 28 - First favorite book or series obsession
Day 29 - Saddest character death OR best/most satisfying character death (or both!)
Day 30 - What book are you reading right now?