site banner

Friday Fun Thread for July 26, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

5
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I should read Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series. It chronicles the last days of the Roman Republic. There's seven books in the series and approximately 568,230 words in total. Apparently the author collected and researched thousands of books and material on the history of Rome while writing the series so it should be fairly historically accurate, although since it is historic fiction there will be made up parts. I barely started the first book so I don't have much thoughts on it yet, but I'm excited to dive into the series.

Please do. I somehow acquired a copy of the second book in my adolescence in a used book store, right on the heels of a Roma-boo phase that's never ended (playing Rome: Total War does things to an impressionable lad), and I absolutely adored it and read it multiple times. It was only relatively recently that I managed to find the first novel on libgen, and no surprise, it was great, and somehow I've never had the time to read the third one. Good thing you've mentioned the series, that'll give me something to read on a 14 hour flight.

They're really good. She humanizes Romans, having no qualms about showing how alien some aspects of their culture are to modern sensibilities, while leaving clear how much we've embraced and endorsed. The way she writes characters brings tears to your eyes, while occasionally being so hilarious your sides will ache from laughter.

#IStanSulla, and you likely will too once you're done with the series. He's a Chad and a half.