On Books : Where All Roads Lead To Rome Apart From An Embarrassing Turn-Off To A Cathedral

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Been a while since I've read books from my Kindle. Well these are four I've read in a few days as it's seems reading has powered back into my interests. All of them are available free as they are well out of copyright. Most of them also have some connection with the Roman Empire despite the random way I pick books there.

I swear my Kindle has a mind of it's own.

So let's start with:

Hannibal Makers Of History by Jacob Abbott. Mr Abbott was a prolific American author and this biography of the Carthaginian general who almost conquered Rome was written in 1876.

It's a workmanlike tome. It won't excite you to pursue the subject further but it's not dull either. Of the books I'm going to chat about today this it has to be said was by far the best.

Roads From Rome is a collection of stories from Ancient Rome by Anne Allinson published in 1913. I liked this one the least of the four I'm chatting today. Boring and not livened by having characters from that time ("Oh look there's Ovid, and now Virgil is making a guest appearance!")

Truly the greatest pleasure I received from this book was finishing it.

Now when you discover that Amazon have many old books no longer in copyright for free your instant reaction is to download them first by the digital ton and then properly ask questions afterwards. So when I saw a book called Ely Cathedral it was just downloaded. Though I do remember thinking I can't remember Ely in Cardiff having a cathedral (the main church in Wales is in another area of Cardiff, Llandaff). But not being an expert on churches and not normally interested anyway I electronically put the book to one side for another day.

Well that day came. And I discovered that this anonymous 1857 guide was about Ely Cathedral in Ely Cambridgeshire.....whoops.

So we have a book about a subject I'm not interested in in a place I'm unlikely to visit unless the wheels of my life really radically change. You won't be surprised to know I found the book dull. Though to be fair that's more due to me than the guide. If you're interested in churches then it might be for you.

Now the question I know you're asking as I'm writing this on an early (5:09am!) Sunday morning is this. What would the Emperors of Rome have been had they been living in the present day?

Some would have been politicians, others military figures, others managing a branch of McDonald's with Caesarean authority. But Meditations by Marcus Aurelius shows that this Roman emperor would have been a self help guru for in a Romancised way that's essentially what the book is.

Now unless you're interested in Roman history, or intend to live your life in the Ancient Roman manner in the same way someone  would wonder "What would Captain Kirk do?" when faced with any life event what you get if you take off the Roman aspects is ponced up common sense. Just like most self-help books really.

The next book I'm reading is Behind the Line A Story of College Life and football by Ralph Barbour.

Until the next time.