"Empress of Rome" by Matthew Dennison

I am old enough to remember 1970s BBC TV adaptation of Robert Graves's historical novel "I,Claudius" which still ranks as one of the best TV serials ever. It indirectly inspired another TV serial ("Rome") and actress Sian Phillips would forever in my mind be associated with empress Livia who in serial was power behind the throne. So no surprise I grabbed the book about real historical Livia when I saw the title.

I am actually reading it right now - to my surprise it is a little dry. Surprising, since everything about real- life story and characters involved is very exciting and open to many various interpretations and points of view. Dennison is doing his best, comparing ancient documents and researching daily life of old romans. However, his mission is to show famous "evil" Livia in different light and in this he fails somehow, since there is a lot of assumptions - if documents keep quiet, Dennison simply makes his own conclusions. Its almost as he pushes hard to prove Livia was in fact virtuous and nice person, but has no proof for it. He is perhaps right in pointing that later historians criticized her for simply being powerful and influential woman in man's world - she was definitely woman with privileged,aristocratic and educated background who knew very well how to play political game. Today's readers might find a lot about her cold and manipulative but we are too far removed from ancient Rome to grasp the picture of how it was to live back than. However, when Dennison tries to present Livia as nice person, I find her TV portrait far more fascinating. I rather have Livia sipping wine during dinner and listening conversation of her guests (to easier manipulate them later) than to spoon the wool or whatever housework roman wives were doing back than. 

Note: Interesting enough, until I started to read this book,it never occurred to me that Cleopatra's visit to Rome happened at the same time when Livia lived there and two of them actually might have meet in same circles.

"The Secret History of Lucifer" by Lynn Picknett

I didn't realize that both books I selected from a second-hand bookshop in London were written by the same author (Lynn Picknett) until I finished "Mary Magdalene" and turn my attention to "Lucifer" - nothing against Picknett, but her books basically cover very much the same territory and she can't help but often going back to books she wrote previously, for example going into details of Da Vinci/Shroud of Turin mystery no matter does it have anything to do with the subject or not.

Its a pity publishers felt it was necessary to add bombastic "Meaning of the true Da Vinci code" below her title because it has nothing to do with the whole Dan Brown issue. Pickett is fun and she does cover lot of "mysteries" but here also lies a biggest fault in her writing - too often she simply meanders, jumping from one subject to another without explaining how and why these chapters are connected at all. At the very beginning she connects Lucifer with ancient pagan Gods like Pan,Satyrs and such (and occasionally she got me thinking there lies a grain of truth in all this) but before going any deeper, off she would go into another century and speeding like pinball ball here, there and anywhere. Yes it is entertaining read but not very deep or should I say, serious. She crammed brazilian spiritualists, witch hunt, John the Baptist, Leonardo Da Vinci and Aleister Crowley in one big mix that somehow feels unfinished, unsorted and unedited. Picknett sounds very likable as a person and no doubt she might be very nice dinner guest, but her writing is unfocused.

My life since...

I was not writing this blog for a long time now for a simple reason that I embarked on a new ship (Brazil-bound) and workload was so unbelievable hard (17 hours daily,every day) that me & my colleagues hardly had time to rest, not to mention go outside for some fresh air or even do some ordinary things like wash our laundry - really,this was probably the hardest I was working so far and I have been doing cruise ships for ten years. Because ship was preparing for season in another continent, we were constantly getting mountains of new deliveries (30+ pallets every week) and these things needed to be pulled in our stores (with sweat dropping from me on the boxes), opened, checked,inventoried and put in some order while after 30 minutes break we were expected to open the shops showered, shaved, clean and smiling until closing time. This is how I lived for a month and half. Surprisingly enough, work was actually not a problem for me because I am doing this for a long time but what bothered me was absolute lack of time to rest + constant drills and training added to our already exhausting schedule. Like we have so much free time that something has to be done not to leave us bored. Security is all fine but when ship crew has FOUR drills weekly (and a "smile training" about customer service) it really means keeping people in constant vicious circle of obligations from the early morning to ungodly hours of 2 a.m. on daily basis. At certain point I really started to feel like I am in prison and this is some kind of punishment.

Anyhow, it's all changed now because lucky me I got transfered to another ship - goodbye Brazil and so long - my daily routine is a little less chaotic now (drills and training still here but not 17 hours daily) and I feel much better. I mean, we still work,push & pull but workload is much easier here and I actually have time to rest and go outside. 

Amazingly enough - I actually managed to read a few books along the way. I need to read,its my life-style and pleasure, even if it's just a half a page before sleep. Some of my colleagues relax by having a drink, others go to gym (on this ship,not on a previous) - me,I have my books & music. Movies are collected and sorted but I don't have time to watch them. So this is what I read, page by page & little by little since I came on the ship(s) mid-September...

"The Second Book of General Ignorance" is entertaining sequel to already famous and successful book full of funny little everyday trivia and questions about the facts we all think we know but in fact we might just got it wrong. It's very easy read and reader can easily enjoy chapter by chapter as they are not connected - I laughed out loud several times and loved it very much, reading this little book before sleep, it was just what I expected though not as original as the the first part. 

"Victorians" by Jeremy Paxman is interesting look at certain era when paintings were reflecting & shaping public opinions. In the days before TV, paintings were re-printed and sold by thousands, some gaining such notoriety, fame and success that people lined in front of museums and galleries to see them. It is very interesting book, discussing how public taste slowly changed and whatever effect Charles Dickens had achieved with his books, some painters helped with their art, pointing at lesser fortunate members of society. Some of these paintings were perhaps milking too much of sentiment but there were quite a few that actually honestly reflected reality. Very interesting read.

"A time to dance, a time to die" is about unusual and rarely known epidemics that hit central Europe in medieval times: people would suddenly start wildly dancing (apparently not from joy or happiness but like being obsessed, with feet bleeding and sweat pouring off them) and danced for days, many died along the way from exhaustion. Author discusses possible roots of this strange phenomenon and why people behaved like that - epidemic was eventually completely forgotten later but in old city archives we can still find documents about this. its interesting mainly as a look at long gone days when religion completely ruled people's every day lives so perhaps this was taken as a God's punishment.

"Mary Magdalene" by Lynn Picknett is interesting but not particularly original work about famous (notorious) Biblical reformed prostitute and her possible historical role - I read some of Picknett's previous work and she is clever author with a strong sense of humor (whenever one thinks book becomes very serious, she peppers the text with some witty sayings) so although there was nothing ground-breaking here (it seems we read the same authors) I enjoyed the book mainly because of her writing style and Picknett appears to be genuinely nice person. Considering the theme, she could have been preachy but in fact Picknett is gently self-sarcastic and not afraid to laugh at her own expense. I would probably enjoy anything by her at this point.