Why My HP Is Named Claudius: The Book List

Even if I haven’t been updating, I have been reading. I’ve managed to put away three books since my last post—not a great feat by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel I’m doing decently for a semi-busy yet ultra-lazy person who claims to love words.

The three books I’ve managed to read are The Uncommon Reader, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and I, Claudius. All get two thumbs way up, with The Uncommon Reader taking the lead for most entertaining read. Not because it was written better than Graves’ novel, or that it decimated the short stories of Susanna Clarke’s alternate, magical history for England—it was just very cute and a fast read, and it made me chuckle quite a few times. In short, I was charmed by Alan Bennett’s novella. I’d recommend it for an afternoon of light reading, followed up by tea and crumpets.

Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.

Clarke’s short stories can be best described as ordinary tales of magic, moving away from the London-driven stage of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, dealing more with the countryside (in particular, the north of England gets more attention as the hotbed of English magic, a detail I particularly love; I’ve always had much more appreciation for the northern writers). An assembly of stories ranging from commoners to kings and queens gives the reader another view of magic removed from the two men of Clarke’s previous novel.

I, Claudius was something I’d been meaning to read for a while now, especially since I read Graves’ translation of The Golden Ass last year. I’ve read his daughter Lucia’s autobiography and have her first novel in my B&N cart, ready to order. I figured I needed to explore a bit more the family.

I wasn’t disappointed with I, Claudius; I figured I needed to check out the novel that led to the BBC miniseries I happened to catch with Dorkus, which then led me to name my new computer Claudius back in January (an aside: all the WordNerdia computers, networks and peripherals are named after emperors or places in the Roman Empire). I have to admit that I did skim a bit when it came to the military engagements that are described in the novel, but the political machinations had my full attention. Should I sally forth with Claudius the God? IP says it’s not worth it, but I’m interested in the sequel, so I’ll probably try to procure it at our next used book outing.

And now what, you ask? I’ve started The Kite Runner and have ditched Lynda Mugglestone’s treatment of the history of the Oxford English Dictionary—much as I love the OED, I found Mugglestone’s prose to be a bit stale. Since life is too short to read boring books, I decided that dropping a history on the OED was not tantamount to intellectual abandonment, and so I moved on. The others in my cart at B&N: The Witch’s Trinity by Erika Mailman, Fagles’ translation of The Aeneid by Virgil, the aforementioned Memory House by Lucia Graves and, finally, Beach Music by Pat Conroy. I’ve read Beach Music (many, many, many times before), but I feel the need to re-read it. Hopefully it holds up as I last read it maybe six or seven years ago.

Onto the book list.

Finished:

1) Love Is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
2) Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel
3) Helen of Troy by Margaret George
4) Writing Ann Arbor: A Literary Anthology Edited by Laurence Goldstein
5) You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
6) Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
7) The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Version 2.0 by Christopher Moore
8) Radio On: A Listener’s Diary by Sarah Vowell
9) Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion by Barbara J. King
10) The Secret History by Donna Tartt
11) Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
12) One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding by Rebecca Mead
13) College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Co-Eds, Then and Now by Lynn Peril
14) Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
15) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
16) House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (Translated by Magda Bogin)
17) A Woman Unknown: Voices from a Spanish Life by Lucia Graves
18) Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
19) The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
20 The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
21) I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Re-read:

1) Vertical Run by Joseph R. Garber

Currently Reading:

1) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Waiting To Be Read (Already Purchased, Got as Gifts, Borrowed from My Boyfriend, or Otherwise Accessible without the Use of Funds, But Not an Assurance That I Will Read These Before I Buy More Books):

1) Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro by Zachary M. Schrag