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Mithridates by Jean Racine
I just finished reading the play Mithridates (1673) by Jean Racine. This tragedy is set near the end of the Third Mithridatic War, a ten year conflict between the forces of Mithridates VI of Pontus and the Roman Republic. The story involves star-crossed lovers and a web of love and deceit, betrayal and loyalty. At…
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Alexander the Great by Jean Racine
I finished reading Alexander the Great, a five-act tragedy written by Jean Racine and first produced in 1655. The version I read was a translation published in 1890 by Robert Bruce Boswell. I haven’t always enjoyed translations I’ve found in the public domain, but found this one to be excellent. The action of the play…
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My Life As an Indian by J. W. Schultz
I just finished reading My Life As an Indian (1907), a memoir written by J. W. Schultz. This was a fantastic and moving read. The story begins in the late 1870s, as a teenage Schultz leaves his family home in St. Louis on a steamship, bound for present-day Montana. He befriends a trader named Berry…
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Indiana Jones and the Peril at Delphi by Rob MacGregor
I just finished reading Indiana Jones and the Peril at Delphi (1991) by Rob MacGregor. It’s the first in a series of novels written after the third Indiana Jones movie. The book begins with Indy graduating from college and his first experiences in archaeology, which, of course, are full of danger and excitement! I was…
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Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) by Nennius
I just finished reading Historia Brittonum (History of the Britons) by Nennius, translated in the 19th century by J. A. Giles. This early history of the British Isles is usually attributed to Nennius, a Welsh monk, and was possibly first compiled around 830 AD. There are a number of old manuscripts of this work that…
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Athanasius, the Hero by Lynn Harold Hough
I just finished reading Athanasius, the Hero (1906) by Lynn Harold Hough. It is a biography of Athanasius, a 4th century Alexandrian bishop. The book begins with an overview of the period of time between the fall of the Roman republic and the life of Athanasius. I found this part particularly compelling; Hough is able…
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Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton by Edward Rice
Still getting caught up on old book jots; here’s one from October, 2021: I just finished reading Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton by Edward Rice (1990), a biography of the Victorian-era explorer, writer, linguist, and translator. This book is a long and detailed account of his life. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the…
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Robin Hood, Outlaw of Barnsdale and Sherwood Forest
With some help a couple of days ago, I got a few boxes of books out of storage. What fun going through them and getting them out on shelves! I came across two books that I am very pleased to have out of the darkness of storage and back into the daylight of a home…
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Autobiography of Joseph Scaliger
I just finished reading the Autobiography of Joseph Scaliger, translated by George W. Robinson and published in English in 1927. The subtitle gives a good idea of what makes up the book in addition to the opening autobiography: with Autobiographical Selections from his Letters, His Testament, and the Funeral Orations by Daniel Heinsius and Dominicus…
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The Fortune of the Rougons by Émile Zola
I just finished reading The Fortune of the Rougons (1871) by Émile Zola, translated by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly. This is the first book in Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart cycle of twenty novels. I have previously read four other books that take place much later in the series, and reading the beginning was quite interesting. Some characters…