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Last month on Xenagia, bofh asked how you find new books to read. I find, as often as not, that new books fall into my lap my serendipity. Take as an example, SPQR, a series of Roman mystery books by John Maddox Roberts.
I was predisposed to be interested in a book about ancient Rome because I've been watching the Rome TV show on DVD. Then, George R.R. Martin mentioned in a blog post that he was sharing a signing event with John Maddox Roberts, who just released SPQR XII. Serendipity!
(I should also thank the internet, which makes it possible for me to remember to get a book that interests me, where it might have just slipped my mind 10 years ago. Now I log straight on to my library's web site, and reserve a copy, and somewhere between 1-7 days later, they tell me it's ready to be picked up.)
Anyway, SPQR. This is a set of mysteries taking place in ancient Rome. The first one is set in "year 684 of the City of Rome", which I think makes it 70BC, or about 15 years before the events of Rome.
The mystery itself is very complex, involving political machinations and many powerful folks in Rome. I'm not sure if that's going to be par for the course, or if we're going to get smaller mysteries as well. I kinda' hope the latter.
I adore the fact that Roberts freely plays with many historical personages, among them Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, Tigranes, and Cicero. It really makes me want to learn more about this period of history. Roberts manages this all in a very immersive way, giving me a great feeling of cultural authenticity.
In many ways, I find the fact of the mystery perhaps the least element of the book, something to hold together all his great cultural history.
I chatted with Mary about this book over the weekend, and she said she'd read the first 3 or so books in the series before getting burned out due to a sense of sameness ... which tells me I should read these books slowly so as not to ruin then. Which makes sense; the SPQR books aren't the pure brain candy of many of the mysteries that I read.
I was predisposed to be interested in a book about ancient Rome because I've been watching the Rome TV show on DVD. Then, George R.R. Martin mentioned in a blog post that he was sharing a signing event with John Maddox Roberts, who just released SPQR XII. Serendipity!
(I should also thank the internet, which makes it possible for me to remember to get a book that interests me, where it might have just slipped my mind 10 years ago. Now I log straight on to my library's web site, and reserve a copy, and somewhere between 1-7 days later, they tell me it's ready to be picked up.)
Anyway, SPQR. This is a set of mysteries taking place in ancient Rome. The first one is set in "year 684 of the City of Rome", which I think makes it 70BC, or about 15 years before the events of Rome.
The mystery itself is very complex, involving political machinations and many powerful folks in Rome. I'm not sure if that's going to be par for the course, or if we're going to get smaller mysteries as well. I kinda' hope the latter.
I adore the fact that Roberts freely plays with many historical personages, among them Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, Tigranes, and Cicero. It really makes me want to learn more about this period of history. Roberts manages this all in a very immersive way, giving me a great feeling of cultural authenticity.
In many ways, I find the fact of the mystery perhaps the least element of the book, something to hold together all his great cultural history.
I chatted with Mary about this book over the weekend, and she said she'd read the first 3 or so books in the series before getting burned out due to a sense of sameness ... which tells me I should read these books slowly so as not to ruin then. Which makes sense; the SPQR books aren't the pure brain candy of many of the mysteries that I read.