Posts tagged Narrative
John le Carre by Adam Sisman

Literary biography can be a tricky thing.  An academic writing about another academic, author or poet, can usually result in a book that is worthy and as dry as the sahara.  For some, these are wonderful books, for me, I'd rather eat one than wade through it.  In a few cases, the author's life is more interesting than their creations.  But, very rarely, do they mesh as well as David Cornwell's.

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Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the House Of Caesar by Tom Holland

Looking back to the misty days of my schooling, Rome was one of those highlights of history lessons that appeal to teen aged boys.  The period has everything you could want to distract you from the fact that you are actually learning.  Rome, two millennia on, still thrills, delights, repulses and titillates like no other that has come since.  One thing that does slip from mind usually that the line of Julies Caesar only lasted until 69 CE, yet produced the Emperors that most spring to mind.  A decade after he crossed the Rubicon, Tom Holland (Historian, cricketer and not Spiderman) has returned to Rome to tell us the story of the men and remarkably formidable women that took up Caesar's mantle and finished the dismantling of The Republic.

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