When We Were Gods by Colin Falconer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a great choice of book to read while travelling through Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Turkey - so many places mentioned in the course of Cleopatra's life that I found myself in, sometimes at just the right spot in the book - for instance ancient Antioch where we were the other day - where Marc Antony sent for Cleopatra. I had no idea exactly how much she travelled in the region. A completely fascinating woman who very nearly managed to combine the Roman Empire with her own as co-regent, first with Ceasor then Antony, both of whom she had children with. In terms of factual content the author claims to have tried to get as close to the historical facts as he could. To a certain extent this seems plausible and her life as its known is fleshed out very well. There were a number of gratuitous sex scenes and filthy one liners that had me rolling about laughing thinking I cant believe he put that in - something along the lines of Cleopatra commenting that Antony appeared to have 'raised an obelisk' in her honour being one memorable classic. I would tend to side with one of the back cover reviewers describing the book as 'sensual and imaginative' emphasis on the imaginative - but definately a very entertaining novel.
Interestingly the author also states that he wanted to get away from the Liz Taylor / Richard Burton hollywood picture - and you would think from the cover art of a very Greek looking Queen that this would be the case, but in fact to me his characters were exactly as played by Taylor, Burton and a camp Roddy Macdowel and I have a new found appreciation of the accuracy of a certain ammount of the plot line of the movie now - all except the triumphal entrance to rome seated on the Sphinx which didnt appear to take place in quite that manner.
If your after a bit of history based around the life of a fascinating historical character, with a healthy dose of imagination and some hilarious gratuitous smut this could be the one for you.
By Jon
For more information on my travels and a look at my photography do visit The Bear Essentials
View all my reviews
1. Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.
Brilliant, take a shuffle in Iris' slippers for a day. Fantastic, cutting commentary on aspects modern life as well as a beautiful sweeping historical memoir with puzzles and riddles that keep you guessing right up to the last chapters, even when you're pretty sure you've got everything all sewn up. Very clever stories within stories. You will be missed Iris.
2. The Hours by Michael Cunningham.
A stunningly beautifully written book, touching and clever. It was such a joy to read, one of those that you turn each page lovingly, stroking the pages, treasuring it.
3. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy.
I adored this book from the start, the language is so lush, rich and intoxicating..it almost didn't matter where the story was going it was so dripping with beautiful wordplay. And like someone else said about the 'spiraling' time line, kept you working your way towards the plot unraveling - a bit forward, a bit back, pieces at a time. A joyful experience, I haven't smiled so much with a read for a long time. As others have said its funny its not an uplifting storyline, but its an almost incidental fact when the imagery and playfulness is like this.
4. Shogun by James Clavell.
Bloody brilliant - re read after a 20 year gap after GR peer group pressure and upgraded from 3 to 5 stars. Pleased to find memory of goldfish so remembered almost nothing from previous read and that had seriously done an injustice with previous rating,
The writing isn't always first class but at the same time Clavell perfectly en-captures the delicacies of the Samurai code of honour and Japanese life at that time. Its gruesome and bloody and coarse but the plots and counter plots and intrigues keep you on the edge of your reading chair the whole way through. And you change with Anjin-san as you get to know the Japanese better and your standpoint on who are the more barbaric changes the more you read on. Mariko-San became one of my favourite literary heroines. Im not usually one for war novels but there was so much more to this and i loved never knowing whos side anyone was on and wondering what the next carrier pigeon would bring. The mind boggles at how many seppukus and decapitations and gruesome deaths happened throughout the book but you have to admire the sense of honour and duty and commitment to their cause that these characters had.
There's even some philosophy in there..i found myself trying to imagine rocks growing while trying to struggle through Christmas shopping hoards of people without hitting someone!
You even get to pick up some Japanese on the way!
Top marks!
5. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. 
Bloody Brick-Tastic! Possibly the best book I've ever read, certainly the longest. 1243 pages of action, revenge, retribution, planning, plotting, secrets, affairs, Parisian glamour and romance. The pace barely lets up, its pretty much a page turner all the way through, and the second half has plenty of OMG moments. I never would have attempted something so daunting seeming if it wasn't recommended by GR friends, i seriously thought it would have to be one of the stuffiest old books going. Wrong, wrong wrong!... read it!
Why i should be King of the World, one can only guess. Perhaps its because The Travel Agency i manage lost only $7000 this month, its lost a tiny bit less each month ive taken over, but its been a long hard an thankless struggle. This was believe it or not quite a jump for us and profit can be heard calling from the future. Who would have thought losing money could bring a smile to your face! finally my store turnaround bonus is kicking in.
My reasons for bounciness certainly would not be due to me driving to a friends place in the city tonight, only to find no parking and drive around for an hour looking -yes an hour!!. I almost gave up but eventually got somewhere and managed an hour there watching Star Trek Voyager and being fed, feeling sorry for myself.
It would also not be due to me being having my gob stuffed to the brim with nasty teeth moulding materials today being measured up for Invisalign which somehow my dentist talked me into, i nearly choked to death in the chair with orange gue dripping down my oesophagus. I am to be the poster boy for Invisalign for his surgery it seems (with half price of for being the guinea pig), and had about 10 people in there oohing and ah-ing about my case and what a transformation it will be, you'd think I was Quasimodo. Seriously folks, although I'm substituting my own visage with one of an Australian marsupil in here, I don't turn people into stone with one glance. Despite my near death dental experience, I did come out daunted by the next year but imagining morphing into George Clooney by 2011. I've also coincidentally been offered 2 free weeks at a gym in the city and started on the hard drugs for quitting smoking after trying every other means known to mankind, so maybe this year really will be my transformation into a sex god who stops traffic!
In honour of the master mind behind the vine, Fiona - who's Avatar is Tweety
I also have a rather sad spreadsheet obsession and have my DVD collection mapped out, categorized and rated. I really should get out more. The fun starts when you click on the worksheets at the bottom where you can see my collection ranked by rating, awards, year etc etc.
Jon-Bears DVD collection
I am Jon, otherwise dubbed Jon-Bear, Koalino, Furball, Gumnuts or being the only male amongst these wonderul women - The Harem Master.
My Koala related Monica derives from my Good reads avatar, chosen to reflect my adopted country of Australia and of course my fluffy cuddly nature.
I am a passionate traveler and photographer, I dabble in piano playing but get easily daunted by the magnitude of what it takes to be any good, I love film, music and of course books. I used to think fiction was a bit nonsense and preferred biographies and historical non-fiction to something that was just a 'story'. I have come to see the error of my ways and realise there is so much enjoyment to be had from beautifully phrased words of fiction, and much to be learned from reading a well written and researched novel about a place, theme or situation you have not read about before. My path to fiction was well and truly paved by Rose Tremain's 'Music and Silence' and Eugenides' Middlesex, which i read back to back after picking from Oranges list of 50 essential reads and i was totally engrossed. Thank you Rose and Jeffrey!.
The Phenomenon of the Book Vine from its humble beginnings over the year and the novel idea of sending a treasured book around the globe, has grown and grown. Each of us has shared so much with each other online and we truly feel like a family, supporting each other through difficult times, making each other smile, occasionally showing our claws and making up again, and of course discussing books and reading.
