Update- long over due

I know I know - a month? What is wrong with me. It has been pretty busy, and I am sure no one actually reads this soooooo- not too compelled to write.

What have I been reading the last several weeks?

I read 4 or 5 Charles Todd mysteries- I read these while I was reading Justinian's Flea. They were good, easy reads, but I really like Ian Rutledge and it is so nice to read a book with interesting and compelling characters. And there is a little romance starting- of course a little twisted and just a hint so far- but it left me looking forward to more books.

Justinian's Flea by William Rosen. This is an informative book about the great plague that hit during the reign of Emperor Justinian. It has been a fascinating look at the late Roman Empire. I am mostly amazed at how little I know about ancient history. Like I didn't know Attila the Hun came between Constinian and Justinian. I didn't know who the goths were (okay no one really knows who they were- not even this historian who quotes an ancient goth writing to describe who they are and where they came from and then said that no one believed this was true! my favorite part of the crazy book that yammered on and on) but now I know all about the Visigoths and Ostrogoth's. Also tons of information about early Christianity and the different sects- but I feel like it just brushes on the surface of this and I want to read a much more detailed book about this time period and religion. Anyways I am at the very last bit of the book- and it is just getting to the plague. This so far is sadly lacking in any really good medical history, or epidemiology- which is why I read the book in the first place. Sigh. Here is my favorite quote from the book- which also illustrates how dry it is. Also mind you- this is only three sentences! Oh how I love a rambling history geek.
"The forces that transformed the Mediterranean world of late antiquity into the medieval Europe were considerably greater in number than the significant gravitational forces acting on Apollo II, and any history that proposes a precise account of their interaction is bound to be, in some respects, unsatisfactory. These forces include, in no particular order, the geography and climate of the Mediterranean and surrounding territories, the eastward shift of the Roman empire from its Italian home to Asia Minor; the resulting westbound migrations of numerous peoples- preeminently the Goths- from the Black Sea region into the Italian and Iberian peninsulas; and the encounter with successive waves of nomadic horse archers emerging our of the Eurasian steppe (whose presence initiated a series of military innovations that led to the armed, armoured, and stirruped cavalry of the European Middle Ages). Other forces, no less powerful, acted directly on the minds of the peoples of the Mediterranean: the centuries-in-refinement philosophy of Plato, particularly as seen in the late antiquity development retrospectively known as Neoplatonism; messianic Christianity, with all its attendant and perhaps inevitable, doctrinal disputes; and the growth of powerful educational institutions drawing on both traditions, whose pupils rose to the highest positions in government."
I am exhausted just typing it, and this is pretty much how the whole book is written. It has been a very slow read as I am trying not to miss too much in these dense paragraphs.

So is it any surprise I had a crazy romance novel fit in the middle of reading this? I think I read one bought at a drug store in a fit of bath needing depression that requires lots of hot water mindless drivel, and silence. And surprise surprise- I really liked it. It was hysterically funny. Both intentionally and unintentionally. There was enough lead up that it was easy to flip past any icky sex scenes (Why why are they even there?). Soooo in a fit of the crazies I ordered the rest of the series (there was one book each for the 8 siblings- all very loud and opinionated) and then I was hooked. It took about twenty books and I am finally stated. The best part was the author is a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe, she started writing romance novels during a break before she started medical school at Yale and they were so successful she eventually dropped out to write full time! What- how crazy is that! The other author I read (they use each others supporting characters) was a Miss Massachusetts and finalist in the Miss America pageant. She graduated from somewhere amazing too. But my favorite part about her was her picture in the back which is very sexy mall photo place and doesn't change over the course of a decade!

I have several other books to tell you about but this post is too long ans I am tired so I will have to write about them tomorrow.