#(actual julius caesar is lewis)

[ctimenefic]

Since March is idling its way towards the Ides, I hope I can get away with pimping my Galex Roman Emperor AU fic where George is modelled on old Gaius Julius Caesar* himself.

(I'm trying real hard not to be self-deprecating about it, but I made the header myself and ooooh boy it was a journey in learning to hate Canva)

Featuring: knives! plots! dubious use of olive oil! way too much research!

Here's the start to prove I'm not totally insane:

George had cried at his first triumph. Alex had been too far ahead to see, crammed in with the other magistrates, but by the time George climbed the steps of the Capitoline temple, it had been obvious - pale gullies under his eyes where the red paint had washed down his face, dripped down his neck. He'd looked like he was bathed in blood even before he slit the bulls’ throats and offered them to Jupiter. He’d been shaking too. Alex had realised when he’d stepped close and they’d walked to the wooden scaffold to watch the legions march by. The crowds below had been screaming his name, worshipping their king-for-a-day, a roar of noise. The force of that much love seemed to hit George like a physical blow, over and over, so his shoulders twitched under the purple of his toga, under the solid weight of Alex’s hand. It had taken days for him to settle, turn his mind back to the tedium of daily life. Not so this time. George is not crying now. He does not shake. Lying on the couch of his private triclinium, he’s so still he could be dead, or sleeping, but for the warm glow of him, and the way his eyes, half-lidded, track Alex from the moment he enters the room.

He still has the laurels nestled in his curls, but he’s washed the paint from his face and the long line of his neck. Not Jupiter, then, but still a godling, a model for any sculptor at the temple of Apollo. The folds of his purple toga have fallen open, so Alex can see the way George’s knees are splayed, the soft gold of his inner thigh. “Alexander,” George calls, though his lips barely move. “Is the procession finally over?” This high on the Palatine, the drum beat of thousands of sandalled feet is harder to hear, almost indistinguishable from a heartbeat. Alex has to clear his throat twice before he’ll trust his voice. “It will be hours yet - the Sixth Legion are barely off the Field of Mars. But it will be over in time for the games.” He drops his scroll cases on the small table by the second couch, waits for George’s slow nod before he takes a seat. “I brought the grain counts from Libya and Egypt-” “Accounting? On the day of my triumph? You are a harsh master, Alexander, but I’ll take it.” “Your triumph was yesterday,” Alex says carefully, and George rewards him with a smile as slow as a snake.

Read Imperator here on AO3

*Okay, so, Gaius Julius Casear Octavianus, but it still counts

[felixravinstills]

Coriolanus Snow & Felix Ravinstill: What's in a name?

o puer, qui omnia nomini debes. / Oh, boy, who owes all to a name.

Creator's Notes:

I actually really need to be doing grown up stuff right now, so if I'm weirdly silent after I post this, that's why! Unfortunately, I got hit by inspiration, so my attention has been split. The final piece of the puzzle that I started putting together since writing Tu Fui, Ego Eris finally dropped into my lap!

Latin quote from Cicero's Philippics (13.11): Cicero ascribes the quote to Mark Antony referring to Octavius (later known as Augustus Caesar)

Gifs created by me from TBOSAS movie

English translation of felix taken from Lewis & Short's 4th possible definition.

Quote from TBOSAS Ch. 4

Screenshot from the Wikipedia page for "Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus"

Screenshot from the Wikipedia page for "cognomen"

Quote from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (Act 1, Scene 2)

Quote from TBOSAS' epilogue

Illustration of Romulus killing Remus (unable to find a proper source for it. If you know where exactly it's from (book, artist, not all the website reposts I saw), let me know! I got this image from an Ebay seller with prints).

...

I've contemplated potential Cain-Abel parallels between these two, but the Romulus-Remus parallel that struck me like a bolt from the blue really blew my mind. It actually really matches with this webweaving(?) because Romulus and Remus did disagree about the naming of the city... Anyway, while making this, I lowkey forgot that Felix's Death-by-Coriolanus-Arranged-Car-"Accident" isn't canon.

I was tempted to quote Shakespeare's Coriolanus for when the titular character receives his cognomen instead of the Wikipedia pages, but I think this helps emphasize the name bestowed because of deeds idea without any distraction from the point. Also putting the two Wikipedia pages really emphasizes it... rip the second screenshot having smaller text, but that's the page layout's fault, and I'm too lazy to fix it.

[mask131]

Fantasy read-list: A-1.5

I thought I had concluded the whole “A” part of my big fantasy read-list last spring... 

... BUT FATE WOULD HAVE IT OTHERWISE! In between then and now I found a collection of articles covering the evolution and chronology of fantasy literature, and they added a lot more of titles and informations that I think I will add to my “Fantasy read-list”. 

My original “A-1″ post dealt with works of fiction and poetry that, beyond being masterpieces of the Greco-Roman literature, were the key basis of Greco-Roman mythology as we know it today, and massive inspirations for the later fantasy genre. Here, I will use an article written by Fabien Clavel asking the question “Is there an Antique fantasy?” to add some names to this list.

Not the names of works written in Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome however. No, when it comes to the great classics from “before Christ”, the same names are dropped - Hesiod’s Theogony, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid, Ovid’s Metamorphoses... The only antique work Fabien Clavel mentions that I did not mention was Lucan’s Pharsalia. Also called “On the Civil War” it is, as the name says, an epic poem retelling the actual civil war that opposed Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. Why would a historical work fit into the world of fantasy you ask? Because this epic retelling is pretty-fantasy likes, with several omens and oracles of the gods (including trees that start bleeding like humans), and even scenes of necromancy where the ghosts of the dead answer the protagonists’ questions. 

Fabien Clavel’s article, however, focuses much more on the modern fantasy inspired by the Greek and Roman myths, that he classifies into four categories.

1) The retellings. Works of fantasy that retell classic legends or well-known myth of Greco-Roman antiquity. You find in this category the works of the fantasy author David Gemmel, be it his Troy trilogy (retelling of the Trojan war) or his Lion of Macedon trilogy (a more fantastical version of Alexander the Great’s life). You have Gene Wolf’s Soldier of the Mist, about the titular soldier, cursed with both retrograde and anterograde amnesia, and forced to find his way home through mythical Ancient Greece. There is C.S. Lewis’ last novel, Till we have faces, his retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth from The Golden Ass. And in French literature, you have Maurice Druon’s Les Mémoires de Zeus, an autobiography of Zeus himself. 

2) The “feminist” works - which technically are a sub-division of the “retellings”, since they are retellings of ancient legends and tales, but with the twist that the focus is placed on female characters, often side-lined or pushed away from Greco-Roman narratives. In this category you will find Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad (the Odyssey through Penelope’s eyes), Maron Zimmer Bradley’s The Firebrand (the Trojan War as told by Cassandra), Ursula LeGuin’s Lavinia (an exploration of the titular character, from the Aeneid). To get out of the  English literature, you will also have the work of the Hungarian writer Magda Szabo, The Moment, or the Creusiad, another Aeneid retelling focusing on the character of Creusa. 

3) The “appropriation” works. No, this is not used in a negative way but a neutral one. In this category, Clavel places all the works that are not a precise retelling of a given myth or legend, but rather a fantasy story reusing the elements, tropes, characters and settings of Greek or Roman mythology. You have Thomas Burnett Swann’s Trilogy of the Minotaur, Guy Gavriel Kay’s Sarantine Mosaic series - and in French literature you have Rachel Tanner’s Le Cycle de Mithra, an uchrony imagining what the world would look like if Mithraism had become the official religion of the Roman Empire instead of Christianity. 

4) The “interaction” tales - aka, fantasy works that take elements of Greek mythology and have them be confronted by elements not belonging to Greek mythology. For example, there is the Merlin Codex series by Robert Holdstock, describing how Merlin the Enchanter resurrects Jason and the Argonauts in the Arthurian world. There is also in France Johan Heliot’s Reconquérants, an uchrony fantasy about a group of lost Roman colonizers who built a second Roman Empire in Northern America, and fifteen centuries later try to return to the “old world” they left behind only to find it overrun with mythical creatures. Finally, Clavel adds the Percy Jackson series, the new best-selling series of teenage fantasy fiction/urban fantasy a la “Harry Potter”, describing the adventures of an American teenage boy discovering the Greek gods moved to America, that he is the son of Poseidon, and that monsters of Greek mythology are trying to kill him. 

Clavel concludes his article by saying how hard it is to pinpoint exactly where the influence of Greek mythology stops in the fantasy world, since elements of Greek legends are omnipresent and overused in the fantasy genre. To illustrate this he mentions the centaurs, that appeared in four of the classic works of fantasy for children that are however VERY different from each other: Harry Potter, the Narnia Chronicles, the Artemis Fowl series, and The Neverending Story. 

As a personal note I will add to this list the recent success of Madeline Miller’s Greek mythology retellings, which I have seen regularly pop up in book shops and that some of my friends fell in love with (I never read them though) - be it her Song of Achilles (the life of Achilles told through the eyes of Patroclus) or her Circe (a novel about the life of the famous Greek witch). 

[literarypilgrim]

Read Like a Gilmore

All 339 Books Referenced In “Gilmore Girls” 

Not my original list, but thought it’d be fun to go through and see which one’s I’ve actually read :P If it’s in bold, I’ve got it, and if it’s struck through, I’ve read it. I’ve put a ‘read more’ because it ended up being an insanely long post, and I’m now very sad at how many of these I haven’t read. (I’ve spaced them into groups of ten to make it easier to read)

1. 1984 by George Orwell  2. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 3. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon 5. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser 6. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt 7. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy 8. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 9. The Archidamian War by Donald Kagan 10. The Art of Fiction by Henry James 

11. The Art of War by Sun Tzu 12. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 13. Atonement by Ian McEwan 14. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy 15. The Awakening by Kate Chopin 16. Babe by Dick King-Smith 17. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi 18. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie 19. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett 20. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath 21. Beloved by Toni Morrison 22. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney 23. The Bhagava Gita 24. The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy 25. Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel 26. A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy 27. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 28. Brick Lane by Monica Ali 29. Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner 30. Candide by Voltaire 31. The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer 32. Carrie by Stephen King 33. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller 34. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger 35. Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White 36. The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman 37. Christine by Stephen King 38. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 39. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 40. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse    41. The Collected Stories by Eudora Welty 42. A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare 43. Complete Novels by Dawn Powell 44. The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton 45. Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker 46. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole 47. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 48. Cousin Bette by Honore de Balzac 49. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky 50. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber    51. The Crucible by Arthur Miller 52. Cujo by Stephen King 53. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 54. Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende 55. David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D 56. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 57. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 58. Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol 59. Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 60. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller 61. Deenie by Judy Blume 62. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson 63. The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx 64. The Divine Comedy by Dante 65. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells 66. Don Quixote by Cervantes 67. Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv 68. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson 69. Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe 70. Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook 71. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe 72. Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn  73. Eloise by Kay Thompson 74. Emily the Strange by Roger Reger 75. Emma by Jane Austen 76. Empire Falls by Richard Russo 77. Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol 78. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton 79. Ethics by Spinoza 80. Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves

81. Eva Luna by Isabel Allende 82. Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer 83. Extravagance by Gary Krist 84. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 85. Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore 86. The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan 87. Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser 88. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson 89. The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien 90. Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein 91. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 92. Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce 93. Fletch by Gregory McDonald 94. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes 95. The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem 96. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand 97. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 98. Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger 99. Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers 100. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut 101. Gender Trouble by Judith Butler 102. George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg 103. Gidget by Fredrick Kohner 104. Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen 105. The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels 106. The Godfather: Book 1 by Mario Puzo 107. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy  108. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky  109. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell  110. The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford 

111. The Gospel According to Judy Bloom 112. The Graduate by Charles Webb 113. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck 114. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 115. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens 116. The Group by Mary McCarthy 117. Hamlet by William Shakespeare 118. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling 119. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling 120. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers    121. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad 122. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry 123. Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare 124. Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare 125. Henry V by William Shakespeare 126. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby 127. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon 128. Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris 129. The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton 130. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III    131. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende 132. How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer 133. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss  134. How the Light Gets In by M. J. Hyland  135. Howl by Allen Ginsberg  136. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo  137. The Iliad by Homer 138. I’m With the Band by Pamela des Barres  139. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote  140. Inferno by Dante 

141. Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee 142. Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy 143. It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton 144. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 145. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan 146. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare 147. The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain 148. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 149. Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito 150. The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander 151. Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain 152. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 153. Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence 154. The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal 155. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman 156. The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield 157. Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis 158. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke 159. Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken  160. Life of Pi by Yann Martel 

161. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens 162. The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway 163. The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen 164. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 165. Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton 166. Lord of the Flies by William Golding 167. The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson 168. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold 169. The Love Story by Erich Segal 170. Macbeth by William Shakespeare 171. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert 172. The Manticore by Robertson Davies 173. Marathon Man by William Goldman 174. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 175. Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir 176. Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman 177. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris 178. The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer 179. Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken 180. The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare 181. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 182. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides 183. The Miracle Worker by William Gibson 184. Moby Dick by Herman Melville 185. The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin  186. Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor  187. A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman  188. Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret  189. A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars 190. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway 

191. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 192. Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall 193. My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh 194. My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken 195. My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest 196. Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo 197. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult 198. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer 199. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco 200. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri 201. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin 202. Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen 203. New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson 204. The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay 205. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich 206. Night by Elie Wiesel 207. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen 208. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan 209. Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell 210. Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski

211. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (will NEVER read again) 212. Old School by Tobias Wolff 213. On the Road by Jack Kerouac 214. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey 215. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez 216. The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan 217. Oracle Night by Paul Auster 218. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood 219. Othello by Shakespeare 220. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens 221. The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan 222. Out of Africa by Isac Dineson 223. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton 224. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster 225. The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan 226. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 227. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious 228. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 229. Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington 230. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi 231. Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain 232. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby 233. The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker 234. The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche 235. The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind 236. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 237. Property by Valerie Martin 238. Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon  239. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw  240. Quattrocento by James Mckean 

241. A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall 242. Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers 243. The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe 244. The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham 245. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi 246. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier 247. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin 248. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant 249. Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman 250. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien 251. R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton 252. Rita Hayworth by Stephen King 253. Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert 254. Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton 255. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 256. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf 257. A Room with a View by E. M. Forster 258. Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin 259. The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition 260. Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi 261. Sanctuary by William Faulkner 262. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford 263. Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James 264. The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum 265. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne  266. Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand  267. The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir  268. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd  269. Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman  270. Selected Hotels of Europe 

271. Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell 272. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen 273. A Separate Peace by John Knowles 274. Several Biographies of Winston Churchill 275. Sexus by Henry Miller 276. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 277. Shane by Jack Shaefer 278. The Shining by Stephen King 279. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse 280. S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton 281. Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut 282. Small Island by Andrea Levy 283. Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway 284. Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers 285. Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore 286. The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht 287. Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos 288. The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker 289. Songbook by Nick Hornby 290. The Sonnets by William Shakespeare 291. Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 292. Sophie’s Choice by William Styron  293. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner  294. Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov 295. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach  296. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller  297. A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams  298. Stuart Little by E. B. White  299. Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway  300. Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust 

301. Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett 302. Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber 303. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 304. Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald 305. Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry 306. Time and Again by Jack Finney 307. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 308. To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway 309. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 310. The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare    311. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith 312. The Trial by Franz Kafka 313. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson 314. Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett 315. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom 316. Ulysses by James Joyce 317. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath 318. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe 319. Unless by Carol Shields  320. Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann 

321. The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers 322. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray 323. Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard 324. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides 325. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett 326. Walden by Henry David Thoreau 327. Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten 328. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy 329. We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker 330. What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles 331. What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell 332. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka 333. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson 334. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee 335. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire 336. The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum 337. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 338. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 339. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

[annecoulmanross]

I would love to hear about your cannibalism story if you would like to share : )

Happily! So, I take it you’re fairly familiar with the Donner Party? (LOVE your username, by the way.)

[For those who aren’t familiar – the Donner Party was a group of 87 American settlers who, during the middle of the 19th century, tried to follow the Oregon Trail out to the west coast. Unfortunately, they (1) chose an ill-advised short-cut called Hastings Cutoff, (2) left too late in the season in 1846, and – (3) if you know the dates of the Franklin Expedition you already know what went wrong – that was a particularly cold year. So, the Donner Party ended up stuck in the mountains on the eastern border of California, trapped under 30 feet of snow, with very few supplies and only dwindling hopes of rescue. Unsurprisingly, a large number of them ended up resorting to cannibalism and only about half ultimately survived.]

Now, most of the reports of cannibalism on the Donner Party were either (a) deeply tragic and, though full of excruciatingly gory detail, not ultimately sensational (e.g. the death and subsequent devouring of Mr. Franklin Graves), or (b) sensational to the point of ridiculousness (e.g. Lewis Keseberg’s confession of having eaten Tamsen Donner, which led to him being branded as her murderer as well, in the popular press.)

My own connection to the Donner Party is through an act of cannibalism that splits the difference – deeply tragic, and yet something that OUGHT to have been sensational, but wasn’t, thanks to 19th century racism.

Although it’s unclear whether, for instance, Keseberg actually murdered anyone in order to eat them, there was one documented and undeniable incident of murder with the goal of cannibalism on the Donner Party. That’s where this story comes in.

The one real hope that the Donner Party had was the possibility of rescue from Sutter’s Fort over the mountains, and the first wave of that rescue came in the autumn of 1846, when a member of the Donner party, who had been sent on ahead, brought back two Native American guides from Sutter’s Fort, Luis and Salvador. Those guides tried to lead a small party back through the mountain-pass during the dead of winter – a group later named the “Forlorn Hope.”

I’m sure you can see where this is going.

At a certain point, one of the men of the Forlorn Hope, William Foster (who had previously “accidentally shot” his brother-in-law, William Pike, though Pike wasn’t consumed) decided that he ought to kill and eat Luis and Salvador. The guides, hearing this, fled, but Foster caught up with them and killed them both.

Now, did Foster ever face justice for what was clearly cold-blooded murder?

Of course not, because Luis and Salvador were Native Americans, and California law in the 1840s didn’t consider them people.

California law in the 2000s, however, was willing to reconsider. Basically, a group of lawyers and judges decided to posthumously put William Foster on trial for murder. In a real federal courtroom (in a California city where many of the Donner Party survivors settled – one of whom even became chief of police.) With a real federal judge (who happened to be a descendent of one of those Donner Party survivors.) So, the court was all set up – the judges, the defense and prosecution attorneys, and a man willing to stand in for William Foster.

So what was missing? Witnesses.

Now, only one person saw Foster kill Luis and Salvador – a young woman named Mary Ann Graves (whose father had died in her arms on Christmas night a few weeks previous, and then been eaten, though not by Mary Ann.)

But where would a bunch of middle-aged legal professionals be able to find a nineteen(ish)-year-old girl(ish) willing to stand up in a real courtroom in front of a real judge and confess to having committed cannibalism (not technically a crime) in order to get some long-overdue justice for the murder of these two men? Luckily one of the lawyers had a daughter…

And that’s how I ended up on a witness stand, dressed up in 1840s pioneer clothes on a hot summer day about ten years ago, telling a judge I’d eaten people.

(We did, in fact, sentence William Foster to serve time in prison. I do think it makes for a good story, but after the Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar fiasco, I’ve learned not to lead with “Once, I confessed to cannibalism before an actual judge in federal court,” because I’d just finished saying those words when the house lights at the theater went down, and my poor advisor – to whom I’d been talking – had to sit through the entire second act of the play, apparently imagining increasingly worrisome scenarios, until the production was over and I could finally tell him that the cannibalism was, tragically, just a mock trial. Hence, my “anticlimactic” cannibalism story.)

[lizziestudieshistory]

Books of 2021 - June

I had a pretty fabulous reading month! At least for me and considering I spent a lot of this month battling with my reread of Words of Radiance... (I'll get to that when I write my full length review)

Peter and Alice by John Logan - I love this play, I've loved it since I first read it in high school (now that was a long time ago at this point!) It never fails to make me cry...

Logan has cleverly intertwined the real life stories of Peter Llewelyn Davies and Alice Liddell Hargreaves with the stories of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland to consider what it would have been like for the real people who inspired J.M Barrie and Lewis Carroll. It's largely told through imagining a conversation between Davies and Hargreaves when they met at a book release in 1932, and as they talk Peter Pan, Alice, Barrie, Carroll, and other figures from their lives come on stage to make them reveal the truth about their experiences. It's heartbreaking, raw, and incredibly poignant to read - I can imagine it was even more powerful to watch and I wish I could've seen it performed!

I've loved both these books since I was a kid and reflecting on the effect they had on these two people is fascinating to consider, especially in the case of the Davies family. I've read a few different takes on both Hargreaves and Davies lives, and I'm not sure what I really think - the legacy of Peter Pan was clearly very difficult for Davies... However, none of the works I've read or seen have had the impact if this very short play. I'd highly recommend it, even if you don't like Alice in Wonderland or Peter Pan, because it is a stunning play.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare - I don't have a vast amount to say about Julius Caesar to be honest. It was fine? I can see why some people go mad over this play, however, I'm not a huge fan of Shakespeare's tragedies (my favourites are the comedies, although the histories have the most interesting for me as a historian.) It's an interesting play, but I do think it needs a really good production to do it justice and I haven't found one that's made me fall in love with it.

I did very much enjoy tracking the, quite frankly, bizarre combination of early modern Christianity with Roman religion and beliefs though. That was fascinating to observe and think about - and Mark Antony's famous speech at Caesar's funeral IS a masterpiece. That whole scene reminded me of the argument episodes in Greek tragedies (I assume Shakespeare was influenced, but I'm not an expert) and I greatly enjoyed picking apart the arguments presented, and watching Antony deconstruct everything Brutus had initially claimed.

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft - I enjoyed this book, although it was a slight let down for me. I think it was just too overhyped? I went in expecting it to be a lot more character driven than it was, particularly with Senlin himself, and a lot weirder. Don't get me wrong, this book felt like a drug trip in places, especially in part one! The worldbuilding was one of the strengths of this whole novel, but it wasn't enough to keep me in love with it. I wanted a bit more weirdness and subtle danger, and less repetition of the Tower is dangerous, ooh look Senlin's getting punched again...

I also needed more character development, and a bit more complexity regarding the workings of the Tower itself. Senlin is a great character and I loved watching his transformation from a fussy schoolteacher to a real player in the Tower's machinations, but everyone else remained fairly flat... I do think this will be resolved in the later books as the story expands to encompass more of the Tower than Senlin's hunt to find his wife - but this book needed a bit more to make me fall in love with it. Still it was a good first novel in a series, even if it did feel more like three related novellas than one complete novel!

Amberlough and Armistice by Lara Elena Donnelly - I’m going to write a series review of the Amberlough Dossier because these have been a delightful surprise! I was expecting something a bit vapid - pretty but shallow. I was so wrong. This series IS very pretty, the setting and feeling scream the 1930s, every page bleeds it (so much so I always feel under dressed when reading it!) At atmosphere is so well drawn, it’s simple and small but absolutely beautiful. Worldbuilding is often praised for how grand and lavish the author has made it, but Donnelly has shown just as much skill on her tiny canvas of Amberlough City.

On top of this she’s written some stunning characters - Cyril, Aristide, and Cordelia are incredible in Amberlough, and the addition of Lillian and Jinadh in Armistice only improved the series! Even when I don’t particularly like the main characters it’s because of a clash in personality, not a badly written character. However, the real stars are Cordelia and Aristide - I personally love Cyril, but I can see why he might rub people up the wrong way. Aristide in particular is carrying a lot of this series but Donnelly really does shine in her character work and setting.

These books aren’t world changing but they are lovely comfort reads, incredibly stylish, and have a lot more depth to them than you might think! They’re the kind of thing you devour back to back - I seriously wish I had the time to sit and read each book in a day because I would very happily do that!

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson - I’ll be writing a full length, excessively long review of this book in the next few weeks so I’m not going to say much here. However, this is (contoversially) my least favourite entry in the Stormlight Archive, and I disliked parts of it so much than I’m actually angry at it... I’m leaving the series for a bit but I will be back to finish my reviews before the end of the year.

[general-moka]

WHAT I'VE READ THIS SUMMER, aka book porn:

Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea collection

The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu

C. S. Lewis' Narnia: The Lion, the Witch And The Wardrobe & Prince Caspian

"Stars", an astronomy manual for dummies

The Sin of Socrates by Larry Mel(l)man (which i do not recommend to anyone, despite it being a hoot)

Sydney Sheldon's Windmills of The Gods

The Iliad "by" "Homer"

Asimov's The Stars Like Dust

Ken Follett's Triple

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Julius Caesar in a collection of Shakespeare's Tragedies

most of those are old favourites; Windmills of the Gods & Triple were firsts, though, and very much in the same vein - sprawling international conspiracies and political power-plays, which is a genre i don't actually like but can't help reading. go figure.

[fictionadventurer]

Book asks: C, H, M, N, U, and Z

C: Do you remember the first book you ever read?

One of the first books I “read” by myself was a board book about animals going to a party. I don’t remember the title (something like “Animal Party”) but the first few pages are forever engraved on my brain.

“Let’s have a party,” said the cat/ So Dog put on a nice party hat./ Along came Mouse with a plate of cheese/ Owl with a rug to cover his knees/ ‘Tweet’ sang the birds as down they flew/ Duck came with three little babies, too.

H: What’s the longest book you’ve ever read?

The Bible. If you want to get technical, that’s more of a collection of books. Longest single work I’ve ever read is probably The Lord of the Rings.

M: Favorite classic?

I’m going to try to avoid books that I talk about all the time, so I’m disqualifying Austen, Chesterton, Lewis and Sayers, etc. on the grounds of, “Well, obviously.”

Shakespeare probably should be in that category, except that I haven’t actually read a ton of his work? And I don’t much talk about the plays I have read. But my favorite among those is Much Ado About Nothing, followed by Julius Caesar.

N: Favorite YA?

Again, disqualifying the obvious (The Hunger Games, The Fairy Tale Novels, etc.)

I’m just going to take this opportunity to mention that Matched is underrated as a dystopian novel. The first time I read it, I was left in a daze, thinking about the point it raised that freedom really means the freedom to choose the wrong thing. I reread it earlier this year, and while the love story isn’t at all convincing (which is a huge problem in a romance-focused book), the dystopia is still fascinating. Yes, it suffers from Generic YA Terminology, and there are things that don’t make sense, but I read it about a week after everything started shutting down, and so much of its world-building was eerily relatable. You can see how this dystopia would develop, because it’s built upon doing everything for the common good, until it gets pushed a thousand times too far. Not a great story, but a fascinating philosophical exercise.

U: What’s your favorite used bookstore?

My favorite in terms of atmosphere is this obscure used book store in this run-down looking building that must be bigger on the inside, because it seems like every time you turn there’s a new aisle of books, a new little room, a new cranny with a couple of shelves. And every shelf is crammed full of books, all in very good condition. He’s got history, classics, science, cookbooks, vintage genre paperbacks, kids books, just everything you can think of. The selection is so vast and scattered across so many sections that it’s too overwhelming to actually shop there (and the prices are too high for me to buy many books) but it’s an absolute joy to visit. Like stepping into another world.

Z: If you wrote a book, what would it be about?

I’ve got a whole file of unfinished WIPs dedicated to answering that question. So let’s say I had to write a nonfiction book. It’d probably be a collection of essays about tiny points of life or pop culture applied to larger cultural concepts. A sort of modern-day Tremendous Trifles.

[phlaimeaux]

Hello!

I mentioned this on the ISOLATING podcast today.

Here is a six round quiz you can do with your friends/family/frenemies in person or over the internet/WhatApp. The questions are mostly from the amazing Louise O’Connor and I wrote some of the less good ones. Please go on Twitter and say thanks to her. She’s @oconnola.

You can use this quiz but the only rule is that you have make a donation to a charity that is helping vulnerable people at this time. In Ireland, good ones are Alone or Age Action. Please find a similar one in your country/area. And if you could ask the people who are playing with you to do likewise.

It’s one point for a correct answer plus a bonus of two if you can get the link that ties each round together, so the whole quiz is out of 72 points. Sometimes it’s easier to figure out the link and work backwards to get the questions.

The way I did it with my family was to use the main O’Doherty family WhatsApp. There are forty people across three time zones on that. I told them we’d be having a quiz at 8pm Irish time and to form teams and nominate a captain. In the end there were six teams and they could converse with the rest of their team across video platforms. At 8pm I cut and pasted the questions from round one up on the WhatsApp and gave them 10 (more like 15mins really) for the team captains to get the answers back to me directly . Then we moved on to round two. There was a threat of excommunication from the family if anyone cheated.

I corrected them and my Dad did the scores while they were deliberating on the next round and it was one of the most fun nights of the pandemic so far!

Good luck with it and let’s all just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Let me know how it goes.

DO’D

ROUND ONE

1. Brazilian forward and politician Bebeto played for which northern Spanish club for four years in the 1990s?

2. What is the currency of Sweden?

3. Name the transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber, and provides most the eye’s focusing power.

4. What is the scientific name for the family of birds that includes jackdaws, rooks, ravens and magpies amongst others?

5. What number appears directly opposite 1 on a standard dartboard?

6. What is the Internet country code top-level domain for Colombia?

7. In anatomy, by what name is the crown on the top of the head also known?

8. Which song on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan features a woman’s name twice?

9. Which brand regrettably launched its hard seltzer line in the USA in early 2020 with the tagline "coming ashore soon"?

10. Who is the lead singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs?

ROUND TWO

1. According to singer Edwin Starr, what is good for absolutely nothing?

2. The Pub Landlord comedy character is played by whom?

3. A rock group, record label or film not belonging or affiliated to a major record or film company is known by what name?

4. ‘______snipe,’ is originally Wall Street slang for ‘streetcorner broker.’

5. Which 2020 Democratic presidential candidate was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana?

6. What was Spike Lee’s film about murderer David Berkowitz?

7. Which international football team played with the letters CCCP on their shirts?

8. What was Lewis Carroll’s sequel to Alice in Wonderland?

9. In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, what is the name of the Imperial troop transporter/combat vehicles that defend the ice planet Hoth?

10. French duo Air had a hit with ‘Kellie Watch ___ _____’ in 1998?

ROUND THREE

1. Ursula Andress appeared as Honey Ryder in which James Bond film?

2. After Romeo and Juliet, which character has the third most lines in the eponymous play? We never actually learn this person’s given name.

3. What 1994 Robert Altman film was shot on location during Paris Fashion Week?

4. Otto Octavius is the real name of which myopic enemy of Spider-Man?

5. Louise Fletcher won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of which character, the antagonist of a character played by Jack Nicholson?

6. An 1886 book by Robert Louis Stevenson investigates the dual lives of which two title characters?

7. What does assassin Leon call his work in the movie ‘Leon’?

8. What genre of song was first published in Tommy Thumb's Song Book, published in the 1740s? Subject material includes the destruction of a major thoroughfare in the English capital, an expedited order of a very special cake, and the threat of a tragic arboreal accident?

9. The term PhD is an abbreviation of which academic title?

10. Jackie, played on TV by Edie Falco, and Betty, played on screen by Renée Zellweger, both share what job in the title of their show and movie respectively?

ROUND 4

1. How are Athos, Porthos and Aramis better known?

2. Which 1991 film stars Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze?

3. How many countries of the world begin with the letter O (in English)?

4. As of 2020, how many times have Manchester City won the premier league?

5. On a typical dart board, which number is directly to the right of the number twenty?

6. How many claws does a rabbit have on its foreleg?

7. In Greek mythology, how many Muses are there? They are the daughters of Zeus.

8. Does a vein carry blood to or from the heart?

9. How many players are typically on a volleyball team?

10. How many countries are permanent members of the UN security council? They are also the only countries with a veto.

ROUND 5

1. What denotes the letter C in the NATO alphabet?

2. What is the surname of the central family in the sitcom Keeping Up Appearances?

3. A 'black light' emits what kind of light?

4. Which Louisiana general led the Confederate troops at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 during the American Civil War?

5. Which rock group sang the 1988 number 2 hit, The Living Years?

6. What was first broadcast on August 1st 1981?

7. Which Roman emperor succeeded Julius Caesar?

8. What five letter word, beginning with G, refers to sloppy or sticky semi-fluid matter?

9. A Plantar wart is most commonly known as what?

10. Which (US) city hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics?

ROUND SIX

1. Which long running BBC music show is hosted by Jools Holland?

2. Which Shakespeare comedy features the characters Benedick and Beatrice?

3. Complete the title of this Duke Ellington song: ‘East St Louis ______ ____’ 

4. What breed of dog is or was a pet kept by, amongst others, Elvis Presley, Martha Stewart, President Calvin Coolidge and Sigmund Freud?

5. What is the chemical symbol for the element copper?

6. The sitcom Frasier was itself a spin-off of which sitcom? I hope everybody knows its name.

7. Which cereal, marketed in the UK and Ireland by Nestlé, features the cereal in question falling into a bowl with blue, red, yellow and green stripes?

8. Which condiment is made mainly of mayonnaise and finely chopped capers?

9. Constantinople was the capital of which empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453?

10. Which Australian musician’s singles include Chandelier and Cheap Thrills?

ANSWERS

Round ONE

1. Derportivo La Coruna

2. Krona

3. Cornea

4. Corvids or Corvidae

5. 19

6. Co

7. The corona

8. Corrina Corrina

9. Corona

10. Karen O

Theme: Coronavirus

Round TWO

1. War

2. Al Murray

3. Indie

4. Guttersnipe

5. Pete Buttigieg

6. Summer of Sam

7. USSR

8. Through the Looking Glass

9. AT-AT

10. The stars

Theme: Oscar Wilde Quote. ‘We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.’

Round THREE

1. Dr No

2. Nurse

3. Pret a Porter

4. Dr Octopus

5. Nurse Ratched

6. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

7. Cleaner

8. Nursery Rhymes

9. Doctor of Philosopy

10. Nurse

Theme: Heroic front line workers at this time

Round FOUR

1. Three Muskateers

2. Point Break

3. One

4. Four

5. One

6. Five

7. Nine

8. To

9. Six

10. Five

Theme: Pi

ROUND FIVE

1. Charlie

2. Bucket

3. Violet

4. Beauregarde

5. Mike

6. Teavee

7. Augustus

8. Gloop

9. Veruca

10. Salt

Children in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory/Willie Wonka

ROUND SIX

1. Later

2. Much Ado About Nothing

3. Toodle-oo

4. Chow

5. Cu

6. Cheers

7. Cheerios

8. Tartar

9. Byzantine

10. Sia

Theme: Ways of saying goodbye.

[saltlamp]

what are some book recs? I want to read a new series 🤩

thanks for asking!! 🙈 get ready for some basic recs and hopefully recs you haven’t heard before! gets less basic and more pretentious (?) as u go down, i think,,, also sorry this took me so long to post! i’m the worst, bless you for putting up with me. the list and my descriptions are under the cut!

1. The Shatter Me series is pretty good so far. It’s a YA series that has eight books, and it’s completed, but I’ve only read the first three. So far, it has a lovelyyy enemies to lovers romance that is very reminiscent of ships like captain swan (and reylo, just for you, kat. there’s a scene in the second book that reminds me so much of the throne room scene where rey is debating joining kylo ren). It’s about a girl whose touch is lethal and her growing into her power and doing some badass stuff. She’s a little annoying because she’s horny the entire time but all in all, I’d highly recommend it, especially considering your tastes!

2. I always always always have to recommend the Six of Crows duology, if you haven’t read it yet. It’s objectively the best ya series around and is a sequel series to the Shadow and Bone trilogy, but reading that first isn’t necessary. It’s about a heist and the group of six criminal teens who try to pull it off, and the found family trope is strong with this one. I would die for every single character, and the plot is twisty and so so good!! The romances are all perfectly angsty, too.

3. Another ya classic is The Raven Cycle series and its spinoff, The Dreamer Trilogy (which only has one book so far). It’s extremely difficult to describe but the found family is good here too. It’s about a group of friends in Virginia who are looking for a dead Welsh king. There’s lots of supernatural things and dreams and psychics and dead people who are alive and alive people who are dead. It’s so odd but so endearing and unique and reading it makes me so nostalgic for some reason.

4. Onto non-ya but still basic! The Goldfinch is one of those books that you read because everyone says you should and then suddenly you’re crying over the last 20 pages and overthinking the meaning of life. It’s a coming of age story about a boy who steals a painting after his mom dies in a museum bombing and deals with the guilt and repercussions of this theft for the next decade or two. It can be a bit problematic (as I find with Donna Tartt novels) but it’s mostly good.

5. The Great Gatsby is a good one, especially if you (like myself) had to read it in middle/high school and didn’t actually read it. And then you go back and read it and realize it was actually really good! Basically: guy simps for girl, his neighbor narrates the whole thing, and there’s death and a roaring 20’s aesthetic and ~ s y m b o l i s m ~

6. The Inkworld Trilogy (starting with Inkheart) is a childhood favorite of mine and I just remembered by looking at my bookshelf omg. It’s about a girl and her dad who can read themselves and other things in and out of books, and there’s a specific obsession with this book called Inkheart. Super unique and lovely aesthetics and nostalgia, especially if you grew up reading books! It is middle grade, though (or at most early YA). Speaking of middle grade, if you haven’t read Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, you must.

7. Till We Have Faces by the guy who wrote Narnia is a retelling of the myth of Eros and Psyche through the eyes of the oldest sister who is so ugly she has to cover her face with a veil (or so she’s convinced). Her ‘ugliness’ is a big plot point, contrasted against Psyche’s beauty. She loves her sister more than her own life and is convinced that the beast who takes her in is actually evil. But who’s the real villain of the story? Who’s the real hero? Hmm... It’s such an interesting take on the myth and no one ever talks about this book!!!!! The last two chapters are a trip, but CS Lewis considered it his best work (and I agree!)

8. Any and every Shakespeare play. Specifically Much Ado About Nothing, it’s an easy read and has the funniest plot: Two exes ‘hate’ each other and people are tired of them fighting so they set them up. Side plot where girl’s cousin has to fake her death to defend her honor. I’m a shameless Shakespeare nerd. Ignore this one if u want lol, or watch the Emma Thompson movie!

9. If you actually are a Shakespeare nerd, I’d recommend the dark academia murder mystery novel If We Were Villains. It’s about a tight-knit group of seven pretentious young actors in their final year studying at an acting conservatory. This year, the casting list for a particular performance is different than usual, and it causes drama between the characters and eventually leads to one of them being murdered. It uses themes and plots from Shakespeare plays such as Julius Caesar, King Lear, and more, and there are scenes where characters’ actions off-stage match or contrast their actions on-stage, and it’s super cool if you’re a NERD like me.

10. Red White and Royal Blue is like every rom-com you’ve ever watched with every cute (fanfic) trope you could think of! What if the first son of the United States hated (read: was secretly in love with) the Prince of Wales? They’re rivals until they bond over Star Wars (there’s more than that, but, mood). They are so dramatic and the writing is wonderful. Covers absolutely everything I could ever want from a story, honestly. It has the best cast of side characters, too! 

11. The All for the Game trilogy is no easy read, it’s very gritty and I’d recommend reading the list of trigger warnings before opening the books. But, if you’re up for it, it’s a good story involving a fake sport and a bunch of college students from rough backgrounds who play said fake sport and eventually bond over trauma and such. Also, it’s set in my state with an orange paw-themed sports team... hmmm familiar

12. It was at this point that I wondered if I should recommend the Shadow and Bone trilogy. It’s getting a Netflix series this year (!!) and it’s the series before Six of Crows, mentioned earlier, but it’s not as good. Many people complain about the ending (even though I liked it) and Leigh Bardugo’s definitely found her style since writing these. Also, the character development is lacking. That being said! It’s a good introduction into the Grishaverse and it helps you get a feel for the magic system and all that. It’s not a terrible series, it’s just cliche and Alina makes me want to rip my hair out :))

13. Classics promo ok... if you haven’t read all those (specifically greek) classics that were on the english syllabus that were ignored or sparknotes’d, now’s the time to read them to enjoy them! My personal favorite is The Iliad.

[metvmorqhoses]

i just came across your blog from your amazing art taste. how did you come to get into such classical striking styles? from your love of donna tartt i assume it carried through to other art forms. what are some of your favourite artists or themes (could be visual, musical, literary etc)?

first of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart because this ask really made my day, you’re a sweetheart.

actually, i think if i have to track down a literary origin point for my art taste (even if it’s not entirely true it all originated in that specific way, it’s truer to state i was born with it, i would roam around the louvre or versailles at six and already feel so in awe and in my element, or i would arrive in rome at nine and feel home), but the real turning point of my artistic taste was the art for art’s sake movement, walter pater and oscar wilde. only ten years later i discovered donna tartt, and i had already graduated from my classics high school and in general studied the classics for ten years - yes, donna tartt added a great deal of beauty in my life, but i was already completely part of that world, so to speak.

it’s so difficult to list all the artists, and styles, and in general all the beauty that daily inspires my life, the right answer would be, “everything that strikes me within and that i find beautiful”, and that can be literally anything, but i can try, for art’s sake :)

art genres and movements:

mythology, classicism, neoclassicism, medioeval art, romanticism, gothic, surrealism, baroque, high renaissance art, impressionism, pop-art, street art, urban art, and photorealism.

aesthetics:

dark magic, classicism, dark and soft mythology, dark academia, pretentiousness and dandyism

authors:

sophocles, euripides, sappho, homer, ovid, oprheus, plato, saint john, catullus, seneca, lucanus, héloïse, petrarch, dante, boccaccio, machiavelli, kyd, marlowe, shakespeare, keats, hölderlin, goethe, byron, mary shelley, shelley, the bronte sisters, walter pater, oscar wilde, baudelaire, de saint-exupéry, hugo, dumas, woolf, joyce, d’annunzio, ungaretti, montale, quasimodo, lewis, talkien, fizgerald, pessoa, saramago, kundera, nietzsche, tartt, pullman, rowling, carey, weis, hickman, bulgakov, nabokov, rushdie, salinger, colli, baricco, pirandello, calasso, kerenyi, proust, my dead poets and, obviously, myself.

books:

the greek myths, the poetic edda, the orphic hymns, the bacchae, iphigenia in aulis, the iliad, the metamorphosis, the letters of abelard and héloïse, the divine comedy, the prince, the spanish tragedy, tamerlaine the great, marlowe’s doctror fausts and goethe’s doctor faustus, macbeth, romeo and juliet, the tempest, a midsummer night’s dream, julius caesar, the modern prometeous, jane eyre, wuthering heights, walter pater’s the reinassaince, the picture of dorian gray, the profundis, the importance of being earnest, the flowers of evil, the little prince, la esmeralda, the count of montecristo, the three musketeers, mr dallaway, the waves, orlando, paradise lost, the dubliners, the pleasure, the chronicles of narnia, the lord of the rings, the silmarillion, the great gatsby, the book of disquiet, blindness, the unbearable lightness of being, the greek tragedy, thus spoke zarathustra, his dark materials, harry potter, the kushiel’s legacy, the dragonlance saga, the secret history, the goldfinch, the little friend, the name of the rose, lolita, the master and margarita, the satanic verses, the greek sapience, oceansea, silk, remembrance of things past, the wedding of cadmus and armonia, the catcher in the rye, the elegance of the hedgehog, dracula, the phantom of the opera, elective affinities, the sorrows of young werther, venus in furs.

painters, sculptors and artists:

caravaggio, botticelli, da vinci, michelangelo, canova, dalì, klimt (who is my absolute favorite), fontana, de chirico, marina abramovich, waterhouse, dicksee.

directors:

lars von trier, baz luhrmann, wes anderson, michael gondry, the wachowski sisters, sorrentino.

movies:

only lovers left alive, her, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, mood indigo, nymphomaniac, dogville, manderlay, melancholia, antichrist, breaking the waves, moulin rouge!, the great gatsby, birdman, beginners, as good as it gets, trainspotting, fight club, amelie, breakfast at tyffany’s, submarine, seeking a friend for the end of the world, frank, american beauty, dead poets society, kill your darlings, the book thief, the importance of being earnest, joan of arc, elizabeth: the golden age, the name of the rose, the best offer, the great beauty, the trials of oscar wilde, the hours, the phantom of the opera, the mask of zorro, thelma, gone with the wind, troy, la haine, orlando, lord of the rings, dragonheart, ladyhawke, interview with the vampire, bram stocker’s dracula, last tango in paris, dangerous liasons, this beautiful fantastic, the dreamers, band a part.

tv series:

sherlock, the young pope, penny dreadful, sense8, kidding, westworld, peaky blinders, the man in the high castle, genius, the tudors, versailles, vikings, the 100, the handmaid’s tale, poldark, outlander, game of thrones, da vinci’s demons, dracula, the originals, the count of montecristo.

musicals:

the phantom of the opera, love never dies, notredame de paris, the lion king, les miserables, anastasia, le moulin rouge,

music:

leonard cohen, medieval organ music, tom waits, lana del rey, helsey, lou reed, bright eyes, all disney honestly, chopin, laura marling, natalie merchant, bjork, roberto vecchioni, the phantom of the opera: 25th anniversary soundtrack, love never dies: london soundtrack, fabrizio de andrè, nick cave, placebo, kamelot, adele, 30 seconds to mars, elton john, ramazzotti, bocelli, evanescence, zucchero, sinatra, garbage, hans zimmer, jeff buckley, david bowie, mina, pink floyd, mumford & sons, oasis, nostalghia, queen, notre-dame the paris italian soundtrack, sia, the cure, the phantom of the opera italian sound track, lucifer’s sound track, U2, wagner.

those are just a few off the top of my head, but i’m sure i forgot thousands. hope you’ll enjoy them tho, and being inspired by them as i am!

[neurologist-in-india]

Myths & Facts about Epilepsy - Dr. Vijendra Kumar Jain

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects people of all ages. It is characterized by recurrent seizures that can vary in severity. Although there is no cure for epilepsy, it can be managed with medication and other treatments. There are many myths and misconceptions about epilepsy, which can lead to misunderstanding and stigma. In this article, Dr. VK Jain, one of the best neurosurgeons in Delhi, India, debunks some of the most common myths about epilepsy.

Myth #1: If you’ve had a seizure, you have epilepsy.

Fact: A seizure is not always indicative of epilepsy. In fact, many people have one seizure in their lifetime and do not develop epilepsy. So, if you have had a seizure, it does not mean that you necessarily have epilepsy. However, if you have had more than one seizure or if your seizures are particularly severe, then it is more likely that you have epilepsy. If you think you may have epilepsy, it is important to see a doctor so that you can get the proper diagnosis and treatment.

Myth #2: People with epilepsy are mentally ill or emotionally unstable.

Fact: Despite what many people believe, epilepsy is not a mental illness. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the brain. People with epilepsy may have seizures, but they are not mentally ill or emotionally unstable. People with epilepsy are more likely to have mental health problems because of the stress of living with a chronic disorder. But having epilepsy does not make someone automatically mentally ill or unstable. With proper treatment and support, people with epilepsy can live full and happy lives.

Myth #3: People with epilepsy aren’t as smart as other people.

Fact: There is a common misconception that people with epilepsy are not as intelligent as those without the condition. This could not be further from the truth. People with epilepsy are just as smart and capable as anyone else.

There are many famous people with epilepsy who have gone on to lead successful lives, such as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Vincent Van Gogh, and Lewis Carroll. These examples show that having epilepsy does not make someone less intelligent.

Myth #4: People who have seizures can’t handle high-pressure, demanding jobs.

Fact: Seizures are often thought of as a debilitating condition that can prevent people from leading a normal life. This includes holding down a job. However, there are many people with seizure disorders who lead very successful careers in high-pressure, demanding fields.

While it is true that some seizure disorders can be very difficult to manage, many people with seizures are able to control their condition with medication and other treatments. In addition, many employers are now more understanding and accommodating of employees with medical conditions like seizures.

So if you or someone you know has a seizure disorder and is looking for employment, don't let the fear of having a seizure hold you back from pursuing your dream job.

Myth #5: Epilepsy is most common in children.

Fact: Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting people of all ages. Though it is often thought of as a disorder that primarily affects children, epilepsy can occur at any age.

Myth #6: It’s easy to tell when a seizure is about to happen.

Fact: Seizures are often unpredictable, and it can be difficult to tell when one is about to occur. Seizure warning signs vary from person to person, and some people may not experience any warning signs at all.

If you have seizures, it is important to work with your doctor to develop a seizure management plan. This plan may include taking medication, avoiding triggers, and knowing what to do during and after a seizure.

Myth #7: You should force something into the mouth of someone having a seizure.

Fact: There is a common misconception that if someone is having a seizure, you should try to force something into their mouth. This is actually a dangerous myth. Seizures involve uncontrolled muscle movements, which means that forcing something into the mouth could cause them to choke. Additionally, during a seizure, a person may lose consciousness and be unable to swallow properly, which could lead to aspirating whatever you’ve placed in their mouth.

Myth #8: People with epilepsy will pass it on to their kids.

Fact: Epilepsy is not contagious and cannot be passed on to children. However, it can be inherited. If you have epilepsy, there is a greater chance that your children will also have the condition. Epilepsy is believed to be due to a combination of genetics and environmental factors.

Myth #9: You can’t live a full, normal life with epilepsy.

Fact: Epilepsy is often thought of as a disease that severely limits a person’s quality of life. But this simply isn’t true. With the right treatment and support, people with epilepsy can live full, normal lives.

Myth #10: Women with epilepsy can’t or shouldn’t get pregnant.

Fact: Some people believe that the seizures that come with epilepsy can harm the developing baby or lead to complications during pregnancy. However, many women with epilepsy have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.

With proper medical care, women with epilepsy can have a successful pregnancy. There are some risks associated with epilepsy and pregnancy, but these risks can be managed with the help of a healthcare team. It’s important to work closely with your doctor to ensure that you are taking the necessary precautions for a healthy pregnancy.

In conclusion, it is important to remember that epilepsy is a serious neurological disorder that can have a profound impact on a person’s life. However, with proper treatment and support, people with epilepsy can lead full, productive lives. If you or someone you know has epilepsy, don’t hesitate to seek out resources and information to help manage the condition.

Dr. VK Jain has been treating patients with epilepsy for over 41 years. He is a leading expert in the field and has helped many people manage their condition.Dr. Jain’s approach to treatment focuses on helping patients control their seizures and improve their quality of life. He offers the latest medication and surgical options, as well as counseling and support for patients and their families.

TAG-  Best Brain Tumor Surgeon in India, Neurologist in India, Best Neuro Surgeon in India

[drvijendrakumarjain]

Myths & Facts about Epilepsy by Dr. Vijendra Kumar Jain

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects people of all ages. It is characterized by recurrent seizures that can vary in severity. Although there is no cure for epilepsy, it can be managed with medication and other treatments. There are many myths and misconceptions about epilepsy, which can lead to misunderstanding and stigma. In this article, Dr. VK Jain, one of the best neurosurgeons in Delhi, India, debunks some of the most common myths about epilepsy.

Myth #1: If you’ve had a seizure, you have epilepsy.

Fact: A seizure is not always indicative of epilepsy. In fact, many people have one seizure in their lifetime and do not develop epilepsy. So, if you have had a seizure, it does not mean that you necessarily have epilepsy. However, if you have had more than one seizure or if your seizures are particularly severe, then it is more likely that you have epilepsy. If you think you may have epilepsy, it is important to see a doctor so that you can get the proper diagnosis and treatment.

Myth #2: People with epilepsy are mentally ill or emotionally unstable.

Fact: Despite what many people believe, epilepsy is not a mental illness. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the brain. People with epilepsy may have seizures, but they are not mentally ill or emotionally unstable. People with epilepsy are more likely to have mental health problems because of the stress of living with a chronic disorder. But having epilepsy does not make someone automatically mentally ill or unstable. With proper treatment and support, people with epilepsy can live full and happy lives.

Myth #3: People with epilepsy aren’t as smart as other people.

Fact: There is a common misconception that people with epilepsy are not as intelligent as those without the condition. This could not be further from the truth. People with epilepsy are just as smart and capable as anyone else.

There are many famous people with epilepsy who have gone on to lead successful lives, such as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Vincent Van Gogh, and Lewis Carroll. These examples show that having epilepsy does not make someone less intelligent.

Myth #4: People who have seizures can’t handle high-pressure, demanding jobs.

Fact: Seizures are often thought of as a debilitating condition that can prevent people from leading a normal life. This includes holding down a job. However, there are many people with seizure disorders who lead very successful careers in high-pressure, demanding fields.

While it is true that some seizure disorders can be very difficult to manage, many people with seizures are able to control their condition with medication and other treatments. In addition, many employers are now more understanding and accommodating of employees with medical conditions like seizures.

So if you or someone you know has a seizure disorder and is looking for employment, don't let the fear of having a seizure hold you back from pursuing your dream job.

Myth #5: Epilepsy is most common in children.

Fact: Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting people of all ages. Though it is often thought of as a disorder that primarily affects children, epilepsy can occur at any age.

Myth #6: It’s easy to tell when a seizure is about to happen.

Fact: Seizures are often unpredictable, and it can be difficult to tell when one is about to occur. Seizure warning signs vary from person to person, and some people may not experience any warning signs at all.

If you have seizures, it is important to work with your doctor to develop a seizure management plan. This plan may include taking medication, avoiding triggers, and knowing what to do during and after a seizure.

Myth #7: You should force something into the mouth of someone having a seizure.

Fact: There is a common misconception that if someone is having a seizure, you should try to force something into their mouth. This is actually a dangerous myth. Seizures involve uncontrolled muscle movements, which means that forcing something into the mouth could cause them to choke. Additionally, during a seizure, a person may lose consciousness and be unable to swallow properly, which could lead to aspirating whatever you’ve placed in their mouth.

Myth #8: People with epilepsy will pass it on to their kids.

Fact: Epilepsy is not contagious and cannot be passed on to children. However, it can be inherited. If you have epilepsy, there is a greater chance that your children will also have the condition. Epilepsy is believed to be due to a combination of genetics and environmental factors.

Myth #9: You can’t live a full, normal life with epilepsy.

Fact: Epilepsy is often thought of as a disease that severely limits a person’s quality of life. But this simply isn’t true. With the right treatment and support, people with epilepsy can live full, normal lives.

Myth #10: Women with epilepsy can’t or shouldn’t get pregnant.

Fact: Some people believe that the seizures that come with epilepsy can harm the developing baby or lead to complications during pregnancy. However, many women with epilepsy have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.

With proper medical care, women with epilepsy can have a successful pregnancy. There are some risks associated with epilepsy and pregnancy, but these risks can be managed with the help of a healthcare team. It’s important to work closely with your doctor to ensure that you are taking the necessary precautions for a healthy pregnancy.

In conclusion,it is important to remember that epilepsy is a serious neurological disorder that can have a profound impact on a person’s life. However, with proper treatment and support, people with epilepsy can lead full, productive lives. If you or someone you know has epilepsy, don’t hesitate to seek out resources and information to help manage the condition.

Dr. VK Jain has been treating patients with epilepsy for over 41 years. He is a leading expert in the field and has helped many people manage their condition.Dr. Jain’s approach to treatment focuses on helping patients control their seizures and improve their quality of life. He offers the latest medication and surgical options, as well as counseling and support for patients and their families.

TAG- Best spine surgeon in Delhi, Best Neurosurgeon in Delhi,  Spine specialist in Delhi, Best Brain tumor surgeon in Delhi

[hobbitsetal]

Not to ask for more, since that was actually a pretty good response, but what if you don't believe in God? I'm not really one to say what is or isn't, but if there is a God I think he must have made me in a way where I'll never have faith in him. Not to be arrogant, but maybe for reasons along the line of the parable of the atheist. Anyway, for someone who doesn't really believe he was made in the image of anything, is there a point if you're pointless then?

by all means, ask for more! this is the most important topic i can think of, and i have nothing but time for this!

is there a point to anything aside from God? i can’t think of one. and i know that’s harsh, and i’m sorry for that, but aside from God, we have nothing but hedonism. i could tell you that the point of life is to be enjoyed, but i base my argument to the intrinsic right to life (again) on the fact that God created us.

so the real question, then, is the nature of faith and God. Romans 1 speaks of how nature testifies to God, so that we can stand outside and look at the sky and know that Someone exists. our consciences, too, argue to the existence of some greater Good. where do we get our concepts of morality? across the globe, across cultures and time, people have valued love, kindness, strength, wisdom, honor, even in situations where it doesn’t make sense for these traits to be a good thing.

CS Lewis’s “mere Christianity” offers an excellent argument for the existence of a God based on observable nature and human history. i strongly recommend that book, which can be found as a pdf if you google it. 

more briefly, what of the Christian God? any agnostic will agree that one can argue for a God, but what about the God Christians claim? for that, tbh, i’ll point to the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth. from the little research i’ve done, scholars do not dispute His existence or His claims to be God. 

the best historical text for this Jesus of Nazareth is, naturally, the Bible. and i do not say that merely because I’m Christian and this is our Book, i say that because the Bible has more ancient copies than any other historical text. there are literally thousands of copies in the original Hebrew and Greek that have been compiled and compared. we’ve got more of the Bible than of Julius Caesar’s writings, Pliny, Herodotus, and so forth. if ancient Greek texts can be taught from half a dozen scrolls, then the Bible can be taught from some thousands of scrolls.

so what does the Bible say about Jesus? it says that He claims to be God. He claims to be the Messiah prophesied since the beginning of the world. as Lewis puts it, either we must deal with Him as a madman, a devil, or as the God He claimed to be, but we cannot patronize Him as a good man. if Jesus is God, then surely that testifies to the existence of the Hebrew God. if the Bible contains any truth about Christ, then we must evaluate the book as a whole and consider the Old Testament accounts as well as the New. 

i believe in God and i believe in the Bible because i find it makes sense and because i have too many first-person accounts of the reality of God and of the changes He brings to people to dismiss Him. and i do include my own accounts in this. 

you don’t believe. i’d be contradicting my own beliefs if i just said “that’s cool”, because obviously i think that’s the most tragic possible state of affairs. however, you’re asking. you’re looking. you’re interested. and that’s wonderful. if you’re asking, then God did not make you in a way where you’ll never have faith in Him. i think, my friend, that you’ll need some time to consider these things, and i think you’ll have a lot more questions for me. and i’ve been praying and will continue to pray that you will have faith.

God will never turn away anybody who comes to Him. there are a lot of hard truths in Christianity, and there are many things about God that challenge us. but He is worth it, and He will never reject you.

He loves me, after all. if He loves me, He will (does) love you

[bigmacdaddio]

The Jesse Owens story - 5/25/1935 - Big Ten Championships...

The incredible Jesse Owens had THE single greatest day in track & field history (In my humble opinion)  I could not get the article from Sports Illustrated to copy over so I just copied the textOn May 25, 1935, Jesse Owens had greatest hour in sports history -Four world records in three quarters of an hour!  Not 45 weeks or 45 days but 45 minutes.More than 85 years ago on a Tuesday, at the 1935 Big Ten Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Mich., Jesse Owens didn't rewrite the record book -- he tore it up.In less than an hour, the 21-year-old Ohio State sophomore tied the world record in the 100-yard dash and then set the world record in the long jump, the 220-yard dash and the 220 low hurdles.One year later at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the black son of an Alabama sharecropper became an athletic legend when he grabbed Adolf Hitler's toxic theories of racial supremacy and stuffed them in the fuhrer's face by winning gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters, the long jump and the 4x100 relay.Owens' dominant week in Berlin is part of American athletic lore, but his Olympic performances have been duplicated or surpassed. Carl Lewis won the same four events at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Speedskater Eric Heiden captured five gold medals at distances ranging from 500 to 10,000 meters at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games.Swimmer Mark Spitz won seven gold medals, all in world-record time, over eight days at the 1972 Munich Games. Michael Phelps won eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.But Owens' one-day blockbuster in Ann Arbor has no parallel, not only in track and field but in any sport. It is the greatest single day performance in athletic history, superior to Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point outburst or to the Redskins' Sammy Baugh throwing four touchdown passes and adding an NFL record four interceptions in one game.That Owens took care of business in less than an hour -- and with an injured back -- adds even more luster to a name that has always ranked near the top of American sports heroes."People are surprised at how competitive Owens would still be as an athlete today," said Robert Gary, the current Ohio State track and field coach and meet director of the annual Jesse Owens Track Classic in Columbus. "I don't think many people realize what a phenomenal athlete he was."Indeed, 75 years later, Owens still holds the Buckeyes' school record in the long jump.Owens' time in the national spotlight was short -- only about four years. He first drew attention when he tied the 100-yard dash world record of 9.4 seconds as a Cleveland high school senior in 1933. He followed with a record four individual titles at both the 1935 and 1936 NCAA championships (Owens scored 40 of the Buckeyes' 40.2 points at the '35 meet) and then exited track shortly after draping himself in glory in Berlin.But if Owens' career was abbreviated in years it was long on achievement, and never more so than at Michigan's Ferry Field on May 25, 1935.At the start of the day, Owens didn't know if he could finish even one event. He had injured his lower back falling down the stairs five days earlier while roughhousing with his fraternity brothers and was still hurting as he warmed up.After debating with Ohio State track coach Larry Snyder on whether to compete, Owens decided to take it one event at a time.And what a time it was.3:15 p.m. 100: After a slow start Owens' tremendous acceleration put him ahead at 30 yards. His official winning time of 9.4 seconds tied the world record, yet more than half of the race's official timers clocked him in 9.3, a new world mark. Rules of the day, however, stipulated that a runner be given his slowest time. The first official 9.3 100 would have to wait for 1948.3:25 p.m. Long jump: Owens needed just one leap to improve the world record by more than a half-foot to 26 feet 8¼ inches. Only Bob Beamon's legendary 29-2½ jump at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics has improved the long jump record by a greater distance. Beamon's altitude-aided record lasted 23 years. Owens' mark lasted 25. Seventy-three years later at the 2008 Olympics, Owens' 1935 jump would have placed seventh."The scary part to me always has been how good Owens was for the very little long jump training he did," said Jon Hendershott, associate editor of Track and Field News. "And the back problem restricted him to just a single jump at the '35 Big Ten. Yet he set a world record that lasted for a quarter-century. Pretty stunning stuff."3:34 p.m. 220: Until the 1960s, the 220 in the United States often was run on a straightaway rather than on a curve, and the sight of the smooth-striding Owens in full flight over a furlong must have been breathtaking. Owens ran 20.3 seconds to crush the old mark of 20.6. Because the 220 is more than a yard longer than 200 meters, Owens also received credit for breaking the world 200 straightaway record.Ohio State's Gary said photos of the 220 make it appear "like no one else is in the race."4 p.m. 220 low hurdles: Low hurdles stand only 2 feet, 6 inches (high hurdles are a foot taller), allowing Owens, who was not a gifted hurdler, to use his great speed between the barriers to defeat more technically superior opponents. He became the first runner to break 23 seconds with a time of 22.6 to win by five yards. He also received credit for the 200-meter hurdle record. The low hurdles event was discontinued at U.S. national meets after 1962.Owens had averaged a world record every 11 minutes. To find a similar scale of achievement one has to journey to the realm of art and think of Mozart needing only six weeks to compose his final three symphonies in the summer of 1788 or of Shakespeare writing Henry V, Julius Caesar and As You Like It in the same year.Owens, perhaps the smoothest sprinter of all time, was an athletic artist and with each record the Ferry Field crowd of 5,000 cheered louder. So many fans wanted to congratulate Owens after the meet that he had to leave the locker room through a bathroom window.He was a national story and would join boxer Joe Louis as the best-known black athlete in the country. His startling achievement impressed even those not normally associated with sports.Humorist Will Rogers observed: "Mr. Owens ... broke practically all the world records ... with the possible exception of horseshoe pitching and flagpole sitting."Honors and financial opportunities were slow to flow Owens' way. For all the talk of being snubbed by Hitler at the '36 Olympics (some reports say the German leader actually offered a small wave to the American champion), Owens always said he was more upset by never having received recognition from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In neither 1935 nor 1936 did he win the Sullivan Award, emblematic of the nation's top amateur athlete.Only weeks after his historic triumph in Berlin, he was suspended by the Amateur Athletic Union for not competing in a minor track meet in Sweden. Owens preferred to get back to the U.S. to see his family and take advantage of endorsement opportunities that, ultimately, failed to materialize.White Olympic swimmers like Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe could play Tarzan in the movies. Such avenues weren't open to Owens. To make money he had to run in exhibitions against horses.Finally, in 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower honored Owens as an "ambassador of sport" and he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Gerald Ford in 1976. He also worked as a roving ambassador for Ford Motor Company and the U.S. Olympic Committee.A decades-long cigarette habit eventually caught up with Owens and he died of lung cancer in 1980 at the age of 66.Owens' records seem almost quaint today. Jamaica's Usain Bolt can run 100 meters about as fast as Owens covered 100 yards even though the metric sprint is more than 9 yards longer.Bolt, however, doesn't compete in the hurdles or the long jump. Unlike Owens, he doesn't run on dirt tracks or without the benefit of starting blocks.With prize money and commercial endorsements now permissible in international track and field, Bolt can train year round and doesn't have to work in a gas station as Owens did in college. Bolt can compete as long as his body allows him. Owens last raced when he was 22.One can speculate what Owens might have accomplished had he competed longer. Carl Lewis recorded his best marks in the 100 meters and long jump when he was 30.Maybe Owens would have run a 10.1 100 meters, which wasn't accomplished until 1956, or notched the first 27-foot long jump, which didn't happen until 1961.Yet considering how transcendent Owens was at Ann Arbor and again at Berlin, it would be like asking Michelangelo to touch up the Sistine Chapel or for Mark Twain to rework Huckleberry Finn.The masterpieces speak for themselves.As Hendershott noted, Owens' day of days in Ann Arbor "is likely never to be equaled, let alone beaten, in any sport."Ferry Field still stands. Outside the track a plaque commemorates Owens' record-shattering day. It is, perhaps, the ultimate compliment in college sports that a University of Michigan athletic facility continues to honor the achievements of an Ohio State Buckeye.Richard Rothschild is a longtime track and field writer and editor who lives outside of Chicago

[prussiantique]

Roman Caprices – Notes

References galore!– and into realms I hitherto had rarely travelled before: memes, movies, even video-games, intermixed into my usual hodgepodge of literature, classics and histories. And if I do make a mistake, then please be gentle in the comments. Consider this following part just me showing that I've done my work. I’ll only go into the references because I never think that interpretation,– of the poem as a whole, of the content, of the ideas, etc.,– is the job of the person writing the poem. That’s really up to the reader. Section I opens with a paraphrasing of Romans 3.13 (yes, that is a Bible reference and matching the form of the poem, i.e. a section of 3 lines followed by a section of 13), before moving on to a “Go home, you’re drunk!” reference. The first line also sounds awfully like a 60s film I saw years ago. Let me think. Oh yeah: ‘A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum’. The old women snipping at twine refers to Atropos, of the Fates, who cut the thread of life with a pair of scissors. Sweet white wine was also considered by the Romans as the highest form of wine, quite the opposite of what most people (not me, because I don’t drink and don’t know good from bad, haha) think today. ‘For reasons unknown’ also sounds very familiar to something Beckett wrote in Waiting For Godot. Section II has the Sicilian gesture, essentially saying that his friend would ‘sleep with the fishes’. How about the ‘offer they could not refuse’? Obvious movie quote is obvious. Pollice Verso or ‘with turned thumbs’ is the gesture most closely associated with gladiatorial combat, but ‘two thumbs down’ is also a reference to Siskel and Ebert, the great movie critics. Gallia Transalpine (Southern France) and Gallia Cisalpine (Northern Italy) were both Roman provinces; essentially the friend is saying that he’s Italian and not from further afield. Naumachiae were massive staged naval battles the Romans watched for sport in basins larger than the Coliseum. They’d row out proper sized vessels and have the crews sort of massacre each other. Romans, eh? Section III’s strange man is a reference to Diogenes of Sinope, the famous Greek Cynic (who lived centuries before the setting of the poem, but meh! This could all be going on in the speaker’s head so what does it matter?). ‘Taken a pilum to the knee’ should be familiar to video-gamers amongst you. Skyrim anyone? Lusitania was what we now call Portugal. Section IV initially plays with the exotic imagery of Coleridge’s Kubla Khan, but couched in the vernacular of the stereotypical street hawker that one expects in the market of a foreign country. 30 denarii coincidently (or not) is the same price that Judas sold Christ to the Romans for. The idea of ages, (golden), silver, bronze and iron, is from Hesiod, the Greek poet, from his Work and Days, which outline the mythical ages of mankind. The brutish genius is none other than Ezra Pound, who settled in Italy in 1924 and whose poem Homage to Sextus Propertius provides the final line of the section. Section V has the clean-shaven man from Lutetia, the Roman settlement of modern day Paris, so a stereotypical rude Parisian joke. And folks, that’s what you call comedy! Haha, no. There follows a reference to Aristotle’s poetics, i.e. ‘riddles and barbarisms’, which drops into the very modern ‘this is why we can’t have nice things’ reference. Crates is another Greek Cynic. Also, one to come and one to go? That sounds like Hatta and Haigha fron Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through The Looking Glass. Section VI opens with an interesting observation on the Latin alphabet we all know and use. The letters G, J, U, W, Y and Z were not originally a part of the Latin alphabet, with G being introduced in the 3rd Century BC and Y and Z after the conquest of Greece in the 1st Century BC. J was a later development of I and is absent from earlier texts, and the same can be said of U and W, which developed from V (or VV in the latter case). Thus Julius Gaius Caesar would be written thus in classical Latin: IVLIVS GAIVS CÆSAR. ‘Proud distensions of empire’ is another line from Homage to Sextus Propertius.

Section VII is probably one of the most *ahem* adult (not mature) passages I’ve ever written. What more do you want me to say? Moving along, bastard-wine refers to either mulsum or posca, which were both low styles of wine. Why bastard? Well, both mulsum and posca were mixtures of wine, either white or red, with honey or flavouring herbs. Iove is Jove, as we’ve established with the alphabet. Romans are also fond of contractions, you know, primarily as it was a pain to hammer long names onto tablets and buildings. Caesar Imperator Augustus becomes Cae. Imp. Aug. respectively. How is this relevant? Well, Maximus Imperator Augustus must be either a pitiful attempt at nominatively compensating for something or merely the product of an overly inflated ego. Add the contraction and well... Do I really need to explain the joke? Section VIII has relatively fewer references, I think, compared to the rest of the poem, but that’s not really saying much. Playing on the idea of Teutonic, the marches new and old refer to Neumark and Altmark, both provinces within the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Conflating wealth and stupid material things seems to be a problem with contemporary society in general. Or it might just be mainland China. Meh. The strange eidolon (let’s see how many of you know what that means without a dictionary!) echoes Yeats’ Second Coming, specifically the rough beast that ‘slouches towards Bethlehem to be born’. Section IX starts off with the castrum, or fortified camp, which the Romans had all over the place, especially if the Astérix comics are to be believed. The border inferior refers to the border of the Roman province of Germania Inferior, which was one of two Germanic territories, the other being Germania Superior, that the Romans owned outside of Magna Germania. Another obvious video-game reference follows: ‘Thank you, said he, but our praetor is in another castrum’ = ‘Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!’. The lines beginning ‘With veneer’ to ‘lost’ echo Shelley’s Ozymandias. Theoretically the subverted final line of the section is as true as the line it subverts. If all roads lead to Rome, they must simultaneously lead from Rome. Section X actually mixes three references together, two from films, one literary. Remember Goodfellas? Joe Pesci’s speech about being funny, except reordering the lines and replacing the word ‘funny’ with the Latinate word ‘comic’. ‘I had choice words with another’ seems to be the spiritual successor of the Duke in Browning’s My Last Duchess. As to the last reference? Well, you tell me: ‘a dread judge’ that exclaims ‘I am the law!’. Sylvester Stallone says hi. Piso was a Roman judge who was famous for his extremely harsh execution of the law. ‘Fiat justitia ruat caelum’ or ‘Let justice be done though the heavens fall’ is the phrase most associated with his brand of justice. Section XI plays off the name Piso (I have no idea if the ‘i’ therein is treated long but I’m going to pretend that it is) and turns it simply into ‘pissed’. Continuing the Roman trick of abbreviation, the speaker is thus pissed on (probably not literally) and pissed off. I do apologize; writing that out in full leave me feeling dirty, I must confess. C. f. is part of Roman naming convention (and again a set of abbreviations). The ‘f’ stands for filia, or daughter, with ‘C’ being the name of the father. As daughters tended to be named after their fathers in the Roman Empire, it’s not much of a stretch to guess what the lady’s name is in this poem (especially if you know me, that is). ‘Canis femineus’ means, I think, female dog. No prizes to anyone who can guess what the speaker is calling her. Section XII is fairly straightforward, I think. Stolidus is an adjective, but as it refers to the baker, it essentially means ‘idiot’, literally ‘stupid [one]’. Amphorae were Greco-Roman containers used for storage and transportation, primarily for wine. As to the penultimate line of the section…I am not going to try to explain where ‘I got 99 problems’ came from. Section XIII is very much what you see is what you get.