Picked up at Hughenden Meet last month for redistribution

Just got it, thanks for sharing. This one has been on my wishlist for ages.

This is a very good take on that bigger than life character, Caligula.
Everybody knows Caligula as a mad emperor, even the people who don’t know anything about Rome.
Massie’s take on Caligula isn’t very far from the truth (it’s impossible to think of this emperor as a black and white character, he, like everyone lives more in the grey), although some parts are softened most of the famous stories about Gaius are here for us to remember (even the ones about Incitatus) and the ones the earned him his nickname.
Massie writes with such ease and candour that sometimes we forget how insane this emperor indeed was, he was not just a victim of his family (and what a family that was!) and the political manoeuvres the Roman Empire became known for, he was a disturbed person in more than one way.
The narrator is always saying “poor Gaius” and really sometimes he was one unlucky bastard but he was also a vicious one with a sick sense of humor (that I really liked!).
A very tight novel with a good description of the Roman ways, during the early stages of the Empire.
I love the Roman history and always think about how things would go if Germanicus did become emperor, instead of the dreaded Tiberius, certainly things would have been different.
We now know that Caligula was actually red headed and not blond but on everything else Massie is right on the money.
One more thing: If you read this book you must also read I, Claudius by Robert Graves (because Clau-Clau-Claudius was actually a better emperor than Calligula and Nero).
I'll be passing it along to conto who also enjoyed the previous books in this "series".

Thanks Kiz!!!
I've been waiting for this one since before I joined BC. I'm more than expectant, I must say.

I started reading it yesterday night, but I'm becoming a much more slower reader somehow... Even so, I'll try not to take too long.

I finished it maybe a week ago and I'll return it asap.

I didn't like this book half as much as I remember liking the previous ones, but that was such a long time ago I don't know now if the difference's in me or in the books!

Anyway, I liked the approach on Caligula's character and actions, but not so much the chosen narrator and almost everything that goes with it. The descriptions of the Roman way of life are great and very believable (I can't judge if accurate or not) but that didn't help making me want to read more and it was at a very slow pace that I kept reading it.

Thanks again anyway, for one more wish granted!

Para a minha afilhada-Natal 2010,
Pure History-Biography-Novel, very well narrated and written, with the quality signature of Allan Massie.(E não é um daqueles romances históricos falsos que estão na moda!)
If you don't know Massie and you like it (because usually when you like his books it's addictive) there's more... This is not the best one from this series, so I hope you will be encouraged to move on to the others.
I hope you enjoy it.
Merry Christmas!

This book is travelling as a trade for the Christmas Book Exchange organized by the Portuguese Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas! Festas Felizes, HO HO HO!

Oh my dear godfather!

I do like the Noel's surprise!
Nom, je connais pas l'auteur.
But man's History to woman's History,( ou al revès? history's man?...) bon, c'est pas tous les jours :))
Muito obrigada
Já agora um bom 2011.

Sabes que só sabia contar até 2001? Daí para a frente, por causa do Kubrick, desconfio, não imaginava ser possível. Manias.

Um abraço