And those teenage hangups are hard to beat

[sovay]

I had forgotten the thread in Katherine Kincaid's Beloved Bondage (1993) that now reads like Christian inspirational romance, but then again that is an occupational hazard of narratives set in early imperial Rome. I've seen Ben-Hur (1959), and Quo Vadis (1951), and keep having to double-check about The Robe (1953). Now I want to re-read I, Claudius (1934), which thanks to the exigencies of my current life is in storage when it used to be one of the books I always unpacked first. In tenth grade, the majority of my friend group was reading Mercedes Lackey and I was reading Robert Graves. To each their id.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

To be fair, I think I, Claudius avoids the Christian inspie vibe!

[larryhammer]

To each their id.

Indeed.

(For me, it was Le Guin and McCaffrey.)

[selkie]

*shivers* Christian inspirational romance?

Edit because I hit something when the landscapers scared me: do you want the loan of mine? Mine are unpacked, and I won't even make you come down and get them. I'll pop them in the mail. (Apparently, a new-from-1961 edition of the very ones I have rattled around with for decades is worth something; these are not, but nor are they mildewed or anything.)

[gwynnega]

I have only read I, Claudius once, but I have large swathes of the TV series by heart.

[madwriter]

To this day Derek Jacobi is still Claudius to me.

[hyarrowen]

Chipping in to say that though it's been a long time since I read I, Claudius, like many, the TV series for me is a touchstone of series. It still makes me laugh how often it's referenced - Derek Jacobi playing Claudius in Branagh's Hamlet and most recently he reprised his role as Emperor in the Horrible Histories film Rotten Romans in a memorable cameo. :)