I came here to plug those Edmund Morris books, also destany of the Republic, about the death of James Garfield and other things.

I remember the one where people get turned into ornaments as being very suspenseful I was like 8 or 9. Wheelers and the tick-tock man were cool.

Well first, enjoyable isn't great, enjoyable is enjoyable. Second. A lot of times if you aren't used to a specific style or genre, you won't like it. I am not a religious person, but the bible was the go to book for oh, fifteen generations of people. It is surely, along with Shakespeare, the book that's influenced writers in English the most. And its ethics are pounded so deep into the bones of our society we don't notice how deep they go.

Industrial revolution in the Roman Republic would have been nuts, I wonder what would have happened.

Violence is the thing that underpins all societies. Things get bad, society can shoot people. That's what cops are. The unspoken threat for seriously breaking the law is, get taken to prison, or shot.

So, you don't have to own the guns, just back a state that does.

If anyone wonders why secession is stupid, look how much weaker Canada would appear to the United States if this province broke away. Like cracking a leg off a chicken.

Well, with the economy there's usually an upside to all news. Rates raised, short sell.

Your explanation is why I haven't read it.

I never read Hannibal Rising, just the other three, all of which I liked equally. the twist at the end of Hannibal was not something I soming one bit, I took it to mean he'd won, he's a bad guy and he won by brainwashing clarice, it wasn't that she'd always been in love with him.

Just my thought. Is Hannibal rising worth checking out?

I think the point is that Hannibal wins.

Well that's better than I remember.

From what I know about the romance genre, TTTW is fairly close to a high water mark for the year.

I do know what a close reading is. . . I think most practitioners of the form suggest finishing the book before performing one.

I confess I am largely opposed to the close reading you've done. I feel as though in general this kind of reading is kind of a game majors in English Literature like to play where they see what claims a work of fiction can bear the weight of.

I was irritated because I like the book for telling a good story well, and I've given you more shit than I intended. I'm sorry about that, I hope you like the book, and I'd be interested to see how you think your close reading holds up once you finish it.

Me too. Doesn't sound like op did.

Its been fifteen years since I read this book, so the details are fuzzy. But the reason why what you've said bothers me, is that if memory serves, and it probably does, the author is a great storyteller who commits to her premis, and the characters feel like real people. The sex of the time traveler could have been swapped, and how that would have changed the story would be interesting to know.

And I agree with you that a novel like this one does tell you something about a time and place and ethic. But I think what you've done is stuff a good story with symbolism like a turkey.

It's brilliant, isn't it?!

I think every person is partisan in one or another way. Everybody's going to have some pet interests by the way they were raised, what their job was, I bet you you'll be a pro paper President if, before you were President you worked in that industry. Partisanship in political office is unavoidable.

But let's say he'd done everything he said he'd do, and still became dictator for life, and then he died. Now Rome's lost its enlightened despot and its Republic. If the senate sucks, you can elect different senators easier than killing an emperor you don't like.

I mean, this was 2000 years ago, I'm impressed there was ever any kind of Republic at all, the poor getting fucked over was standard for that time, wasn't it?

The comment above yours seems to make out that the Republic was fucked anyway.

rotfl

What if Biden wants one?

Lincoln got shot in the back of the hed.

I said part time.

You've sold me on the book.

You're right. Thanks for the correction.

If you'd like another great book about Jack the Ripper, check out They all Love Jack, by Bruce Robinson, wonderful style.

Thing is they probably were prostitutes. The number of full and part time prostitutes in Victorian London was high, high, high. A book claiming they were not prostitutes indicates some type of bias as well.

Jack the ripper books are often biased in one way or another, They all Love Jack by Bruce Robinson is a great example of a great book with a strong bias.