Review – Cleopatra: A Life

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Cleopatra: A Life

By Stacy Schiff

Little, Brown & Company

ISBN: 978-0-316-12180-4

4 stars

She’s been portrayed as a seductress, a whore, a queen, a brilliant woman, a trailblazer, and was even played by Elizabeth Taylor in a role she’ll always be remembered for.  But who was the woman we know as Cleopatra?  Accounts of her life vary so greatly I believe what I personally know about her is probably based more on a pop culture standard than on reality.  Reading about her makes me wonder how a woman so smart — she was an extremely well-educated woman for her time able to speak several languages — could manage to both get herself into and out of trouble so many times.  Cleopatra managed to rule a kingdom, make it prosper, and seduce two Roman rulers without an uprising occurring in Egypt during her reign.  By any standard, she deserves a place in history.

Unfortunately, and I’ve encountered this before in reading about ancient women, her story is told by men and through the men in her life which means a good portion of the book is set aside for Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.  Frankly, they both played such enormous roles in her life that it would be impossible to exclude either in the telling of her story, but many recorders of history, mostly Roman men, preferred to write her life story as one of luck, scandal, sheer bravado, sheer stupidity (depending on who is doing the writing), and in some cases, slightly in wonder of her.  Cicero ’s take on Cleopatra is infuriating but he’s no fan of women in general and there was no expectation that he would treat Cleopatra, even though a queen in her own right, with anything nearing awe or even dignity.  Granted, many of her acts — her first appearance before Julius Caesar she is smuggled into his presence in a burlap bag — aren’t so regal.  Her trip to Rome to visit Caesar is though and that’s where this book shines.

Schiff takes a story about a woman we know and strips away many of the generalizations about her and presents someone still recognizable but also intriguing.  She starts off with her education which is amazing for the time period considering most women, and definitely most Roman women, were never educated at all.  She could speak several languages which made beguiling audiences and male rules rather easy.  She created a currency system with denominations and managed a vast wealth without losing it to the men in her life.  Egypt prospered with her as queen and she built what some consider wonders of the ancient world.  Sadly, none survive to this day and most likely collapsed in a giant earthquake and now rest underwater leaving readers to imagine what an amazing site Alexandria must have been in her day.

Cleopatra in many ways helped to create the image of her that we have today.  Inscriptions and temple carvings still exist of her and her children in Egypt and she was a master of managing her image.  Her identity with the goddess Isis and the luxurious ways in which she inhabited her life would cause anyone to be impressed, especially a general like Marc Antony who was easily impressed, had little to no money, and couldn’t manage it when he did happen to get it.  He was also a womanizer and easily taken in by Cleopatra and the impressive world of her Egypt.

I realize this isn’t necessarily helpful as a review and I haven’t told you much in general about the book itself.  Sometimes I admit to having trouble reviewing non-fiction books since there isn’t a plot to follow but if anyone’s life would read like a novel, it would be Cleopatra’s.

If you’re looking for some good non-fiction, pick this one up.  You’ll walk away fascinated and full of facts you’ll want to spout off to everyone you meet.

The Sunday Salon – Weird Week

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This has been a strange week.  We emerged from our vacation cocoon to be hit with an earthquake, told a hurricane would be heading our way, and to prepare for high winds and flooding.  Run, run away…preferably waving hands in air for dramatic flair.  My sister called me when she heard about the hurricane and my response, “Yea, someone hates DC right now.”

And the veggies even got in on the weirdness.  We belong to a CSA (community supported agriculture) program and each week we get fruits and veggies delivered to my husband’s office.  He sent me this photo.

Him: “What is this?”

Me: “I think it’s a pattypan squash.  Usually they’re smaller than that though.”

Him: “IT’S HUGE!”

Me: “Apocalypse zombie squash.”

Him: “Nice.”

I’m hoping the squash is the end of the weirdness.  The winds and rain are gone and it’s now a beautiful day in DC.  We went for a walk this morning, and with the exception of a few tree limbs down, our neighborhood weathered Irene well.  Our power and water stayed on the entire night and no major problems to report.

Anyway…books!  No, I didn’t forget that’s usually what I talk about here.

On vacation last week I finished A Storm of Swords and holy crap George RR Martin.  You. Are. The. Master.  If I can get butt in chair for more than 10 minutes, I’ll get a review done.  I’m suffering from laziness on the writing front.

I also read A Long-Forgotten Truth by Rachel Ballard.  Not bad for a first time author.  I finished it in one sitting; very readable.

Started 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne and finished it up this weekend.  I’m not sure what possessed me to pick up a 1,089 page book shortly after finishing a 1,074 page book!?  I’m book crazy, I know it.

Link love time…

In case my praise of Mr. Martin above was not trustworthy, The New York Times thinks the same thing.

Happy Sunday.

Review – Becoming Marie Antoinette

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Becoming Marie Antoinette

By Juliet Grey

Ballantine Books

ISBN: 9780345523860

4 stars

Marie Antoinette has long been a favorite character of mine in historical fiction. The French court, the elaborate pomp and circumstance, and then there is the setting — Versailles. In Becoming Marie Antoinette, Grey takes us past the court window dressings introducing us to a young girl struggling to fit in and be someone much more French than her Austrian roots allow.

The Austrian court is a quiet refuge for a young Marie Antonia, the youngest daughter of the empress. She has a lot of freedom and never having been much of a scholar, she does her best to avoid every lesson possible. When she’s told she will be marrying the Dauphin of France, Louis Auguste, she spends her days dreaming of marriage and children. However, she fails to understand her future marriage is more than a simple arrangement; it will be the culmination of a treaty between the Austrian empress and the French king. Her days spent dreaming in the garden are over. Her mother, knowing she needs to impress not only the French ambassador but eventually the French king, his court, and the country’s people, Marie Antonia’s education begins again with a decided slant towards making her not just appear French but to be French.

Understanding for the first time the gravity of her marriage, Marie Antonia takes everything seriously from learning to endure French hair and clothing to performing the Versailles glide — a way of walking through the halls of the palace — perfectly. When her wedding plans are finally announced, the young daydreamer has been transformed into a young woman who may not entirely understand her new role, but is willing to try. Anxious to finally meet her husband, she does her best to make a good impression on everyone she meets during her journey. When she finally arrives, more changes await her, the least of which is being stripped of everything Austrian to be replaced completely with French versions including her name. She submits; Marie Antonia becomes Marie Antoinette.

Determined to be nothing if not loved, Marie Antoinette makes it her duty to impress: her husband, the king, and the court. Unfortunately, not everyone finds her alluring and especially not her new husband. A quiet man of few words, she can’t figure out how to get through to him and the rumors of a virginal marriage bed begin to haunt her. With no place to find solace in a court constantly full of gossipy, curious courtiers, she attempts to understand the man who is her husband.

What’s so interesting about this particular story is that we meet a young Marie Antoinette who has no head for academics but is able to make just about everyone love her. She’s fun and while she knows her freedom won’t last, she’s resigned to making the best of it. While the Marie Antoinette we meet isn’t the refined and glamorous woman of most historical fiction, she’s certainly a lovable character and most of that is due to her age. She’s young, incredibly young even for her age. And while you may know what’s coming her way, she seems blissful at least to a certain point. It’s when she comes to understand the difficulties that lay ahead for her, you begin to not only like her but feel for her. A foreign archduchess, she’s not looked upon kindly and realizes fast there are few she can trust in her new home.

The relationship with Louis has its poignant moments and frankly some embarrassing ones as well. But you also see two young adults attempting to figure out what’s expected of them and how they plan to live up to those expectations. Finding they love each other along the way lends sweetness to a story that can easily be trounced on by an overbearing French court. There are a few places in the story when I did wish for less information as Grey has obviously done her research but overall those moments don’t cause harm. In many ways this is a coming of age story, but it’s also full of some interesting characters you don’t want to let go of even at the end which is good because Becoming Marie Antoinette is the first in a planned trilogy.

In addition to this blog, I also do reviews for the Book Reporter website. The above review was done for the Book Reporter which can be found here. The book was provided to me by the publisher.

Today’s Book…is more than a book

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It’s a soundtrack too.  Did you see this article in The New York Times about ebooks?  Part of me knows this is about sales and appealing to a large mass of people who may not read often.  And publishing is a business which means exploring possible revenue sources with new technologies.  I’m not against a concept like this and props to the person who came up with the idea for this company but why can’t books be books?  Why do they have to be and do something more?

The Great DC Earthquake of 2011

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Yep.  We felt it.  We survived.  It was my first earthquake (I’d be good if it were my first and last!) and all I have to say is that it was creepy to have the earth move under your feet.  Carole King you are so wrong.

In a funny twist, the only thing — besides the actual shaking that is — I personally encountered was a few books falling off the shelf.  I of course put the books back before leaving the building to which my husband said, “If there are any aftershocks, please leave the books where they are and just leave the building!”  I can promise him that.  🙂

In honor of the quake, I thought I’d take a look at earthquake reading.

The Los Angeles Times, in a very timely article from March of this year, took at look at earthquakes in literature.  Three books on the list look good to me:

The Flutter of an Eyelid by Myron Brinig

Quake by Rudolph Wurlitzer

After the Quake by Haruki Murakami

I recently read another book by Haruki Murakami, After Dark, which was wonderful and I highly recommend it.  I hope to have a review up in the next few weeks but I’m way behind on writing reviews so it may be longer.  I’d blame that on the earthquake but I can’t; I’ve been lazy.

Not book related but interesting — the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

In case you want to know how earthquakes work, How Stuff Works will answer your questions.

Any earthquake reading of your own to add?  If you’re in the DC and surrounding areas, did you feel the quake?  Hope all is OK.

Teaser Tuesday – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

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Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.  The idea is to give everyone a look inside the book you’re reading.

Play along: Grab your current read; Open to a random page; Share two teaser sentences from that page; Share the title and author so other participants know what you’re reading.

Today I’m reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne.

“These two dimensions allow you to obtain, via a simple calculation, the surface area and volume of the Nautilus.  Its surface area totals 1,011.45 square meters, its volume 1,507.2 cubic meters – which is tantamount to saying that when it’s completely submerged, it displaces 1,500 cubic meters of water, or weighs 1,500 metric tons.” (pg. 225 of 1,089 on Nook)