So, I have a new kink
Feb. 10th, 2012 12:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
justalurkrOr am possibly revisiting an old kink, though describing something I enjoyed watching/reading about before puberty as a "kink" is frankly creepy. So, we'll say I've rediscovered a favorite subject from my youth.
(note: I've finally re-found the HTML code to open links in a new window, which all of those below do, mostly to Wikipedia with one obvious exception to youtube.com)
It all started with Masterpiece Theatre's presentation of I, Claudius, based on the eponymous novel by Robert Graves, which I am old enough to have seen first run. In high school. (At least it was my freshman year.)
This resulted in two things: a lifelong adoration of all things ancient, Roman and conspiratorial; and a budding lech for Derek Jacobi, brought to its apotheosis in the Doctor Who episode Utopia.
I mention the Masterpiece Theatre thing because I'm not sure whether the novel over which I am about to gush would have been quite as comprehensible without having seen that or at least had some exposure to the Julio/Claudian dynasty drama in other forms. On the other hand, all I know about Raymond Chandler is what I've heard from people holding him up as the Platonic Ideal of a hard-boiled detective fiction author, and I still busted a gut laughing over the character of Marcus Corvinus, principal in the eponymous series by David Wishart (because if it's not Scottish, it's crap.)
While the Kindle edition of Ovid of the first installment is not free, as all the best crack should be, it is US$2 less than the rest of the series, priced at $9.99 for the backlist.
Ovid is funny, profane, twisty, exciting and relatively true to history where historical evidence exists, and the author provides a postscript detailing all the places he took liberties. There is intrigue, adventure, intrigue, excitement, intrigue, romance, some more intrigue, A MAJOR TWISTY MCTWIST followed by some more intrigue, violence, intriguing gore, a man redeemed by the love of a good woman (possibly a redhead, I don't remember her description after all of the intrigue,) and, you guessed it, yet more intrigue to wrap things up.
Now, I will admit that prior exposure to the aforementioned Masterpiece Theatre costume drama with its outstanding characterizations of the imperial Roman family had me identifying who was responsible for thwarting the aforementioned good woman's goals, but the whys and hows escaped me until the very end. It pains me to keep my Extreme Cleverness to myself, but even knowing the why-dunnit without the full who- and how-dunnit spoils about 2/3s of the book. Sigh. You'll have to trust me on the cleverness part, which I suppose isn't all that extreme due to prior knowledge.
Let me put it this way: after I finished Ovid, I immediately popped full list price for the sequel without even attempting to find it bootleg, and am about a chapter and half into it when I realized I hadn't gushed over this series to anyone yet.
The book being recommended is Ovid, by David Wishart.
(note: I've finally re-found the HTML code to open links in a new window, which all of those below do, mostly to Wikipedia with one obvious exception to youtube.com)
It all started with Masterpiece Theatre's presentation of I, Claudius, based on the eponymous novel by Robert Graves, which I am old enough to have seen first run. In high school. (At least it was my freshman year.)
This resulted in two things: a lifelong adoration of all things ancient, Roman and conspiratorial; and a budding lech for Derek Jacobi, brought to its apotheosis in the Doctor Who episode Utopia.
I mention the Masterpiece Theatre thing because I'm not sure whether the novel over which I am about to gush would have been quite as comprehensible without having seen that or at least had some exposure to the Julio/Claudian dynasty drama in other forms. On the other hand, all I know about Raymond Chandler is what I've heard from people holding him up as the Platonic Ideal of a hard-boiled detective fiction author, and I still busted a gut laughing over the character of Marcus Corvinus, principal in the eponymous series by David Wishart (because if it's not Scottish, it's crap.)
While the Kindle edition of Ovid of the first installment is not free, as all the best crack should be, it is US$2 less than the rest of the series, priced at $9.99 for the backlist.
Ovid is funny, profane, twisty, exciting and relatively true to history where historical evidence exists, and the author provides a postscript detailing all the places he took liberties. There is intrigue, adventure, intrigue, excitement, intrigue, romance, some more intrigue, A MAJOR TWISTY MCTWIST followed by some more intrigue, violence, intriguing gore, a man redeemed by the love of a good woman (possibly a redhead, I don't remember her description after all of the intrigue,) and, you guessed it, yet more intrigue to wrap things up.
Now, I will admit that prior exposure to the aforementioned Masterpiece Theatre costume drama with its outstanding characterizations of the imperial Roman family had me identifying who was responsible for thwarting the aforementioned good woman's goals, but the whys and hows escaped me until the very end. It pains me to keep my Extreme Cleverness to myself, but even knowing the why-dunnit without the full who- and how-dunnit spoils about 2/3s of the book. Sigh. You'll have to trust me on the cleverness part, which I suppose isn't all that extreme due to prior knowledge.
Let me put it this way: after I finished Ovid, I immediately popped full list price for the sequel without even attempting to find it bootleg, and am about a chapter and half into it when I realized I hadn't gushed over this series to anyone yet.
The book being recommended is Ovid, by David Wishart.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-11 02:29 am (UTC)If you'd like something Roman, though not quite historically accurate, yet slashy as all hell and full of pretty, you should watch The Eagle. Based on Rosemary Sutcliff's "The Eagle of the Ninth" but with some changes from what I've been told.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 05:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 08:44 pm (UTC)I have mixed feelings on it. I'm more likely to read it, since I'm using my Kindle for reading fic and such, yet I'm paying $7.99 for an e-book when I'd pay the same for a paperback that I could then pass on to the library or a friend.
Though I'm hoping my stats on reading in general will improve now that it seems I've finally found a treatment that's bringing my headaches under control. They've been especially hard on my ability to read in the last two years, to the point where I'm only reading authors I'm going out of my way to support.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 03:05 pm (UTC)Having reviewed the titles and gotten about a third of the way through Germanicus, I've found the author is quite clever about foreshadowing future books in a way that contributes to a willingness to pop another ten-spot for Sejanus as soon as we work out who done Tiberius's blue-eyed boy wrong. Hint: the apple of vindictive bitchery falls scant distance from the tree (as of 27% done but this guy is already establishing the character and reputation of high quality TWISTY MCTWISTS.)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 08:51 pm (UTC)I've been finding what I'm recording on my DVR mixed in with offering from Netflix (DVD only, since I'm in the boonies and can't get high speed) are working pretty well for me these days.
There are a few shows I'm unwilling to wait on, simply because they're active fandoms and I'm not going to sit with my fingers in my ears going "la la la la" and not reading fic for months because of spoilers until it finally airs in the US.
I've found myself getting very frustrated being a good girl and waiting on new shows, then finding them bleeped so much it's distracting. I just gave up on one that's airing now, and put it in my DVD queue, since the DVDs come out right after the series finishes anyway.