The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker (fiction)

Readable but sappy story about a NYC girl whose Burmese father goes missing.  I was impressed to learn this is the author's first book in English.

I, Caesar: The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire (Kultur DVD)

This 2-disc set contains features about Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, Hadrian, Constantine and Justinian.  I've seen the Julius Caesar one in another video.  There are plenty of scenes of art and architecture, which I always enjoy, and not too many silly recreations.

Rome: Engineering an Empire (History Channel DVD)

Loved, loved loved.  This video discussed the Roman Empire through the lens of some of its greatest engineering feats.  Fascinating info about the aqueducts and the Colosseum.

The Medici, Godfathers of the Renaissance (DVD) by PBS

This DVD has four Parts that focus on different generations of Medicis and their experiences, especially as patrons of the arts and sciences.  The cinematography featuring the art was beautiful.  The parts with actors playing the characters got very tedious in Part II and Part IV. 

Women in the Ancient World by Jenifer Niels (nonfiction)

A huge treasure of beautiful pictures, intelligent historical analysis.  I didn't want it to end.  The chapters were divided by roles of women rather than time periods, which was sensible to me.

The Story of Civilization: The Romans and Barbarians (DVD from a series by Kultur)

This video had lots of new-to-me details about British methods of warfare, which it focuses on.  Some of the reconstruction footage can get pretty silly, but they don't dwell on it.

Pompeii and the Roman Villa (DVD by the National Gallery of Art)

A beautiful DVD narrated by Derek Jacobi.  Features art and archaeology from around the Bay of Naples.

Warrior of Rome (series of historical fiction) by Harry Sidebottom

Mr. Sidebottom is an ancient martial expert, and that certainly shows in his novels.  I thought the second and third novels, King of Kings and Lion of the Sun, were better than Fire in the East, which suffers from a lot of exposition.  The settings are more developed than the characters in all the novels, but that can be enjoyable.

The fourth book, The Caspian Gates, was a real page-turner.  I thought the main character developed and matured in this book, making it even more readable, even for people who have no particular interest in Roman warfare during the Empire.  Sidebottom's grasp of place and meticulous detail in the war scenes makes this book in particular truly exciting.

The Lady of the Rivers by Phillipa Gregory (fiction)

Gregory contributes consistently good historical fiction, especially about women.  Only seldom does she repeat simple characterizations too much, but this book about Jacquetta, Elizabeth Woodville's mother, suffers a little more than usual because so little is known about her.  The beginning of the book, about Jacquetta's childhood, is most enjoyable, perhaps because the author feels free to invent a beautiful and compelling story, as there is nothing in the "facts" to hold her back.

Tutankhamen - The Search for an Egyptian King by Joyce Tyldesley (nonfiction)

Fascinating, well-researched, intelligent.  Focuses on what we really know about Tut.  The account of the discovery of his tomb was heartbreaking.

The Republic of Vengeance by Paul Waters (historical fiction)

This was a readable book, doesn't suffer from that horrible side effect of historical fiction, over-explaining.  Waters made good use of interesting details from the primary sources without harping on them.  The 'vengeance' was a minor element of the plot, but that was OK, as the story of a young man becoming an adult in early Republican times was pretty good.  The protagonist, Marcus, is bisexual, and the homosexual love story is the first I've read in historical fiction about Republican times.  Waters did a beautiful job writing about the attraction between the men, their story, and their love.  His tone as he described their experiences was appropriate to the times.

The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak (fiction)

This book about Catherine the Great's path to power, told through the eyes of a lady in waiting who served as a spy, was well written and fast paced.  It mostly focused on the spy lady's story, which I thought was a good way to get at details of Catherine's early life in Russia without having to make major leaps of faith.  There are a whole lot of salacious and damning stories about Catherine out there, and this book justifies some of her actions without tedious explanation, just good storytelling.  5-star historical fiction.

Reading List

Paul Waters, ancient historical fiction (read Republic of Vengeance, thought was very good)

Mary Renault, ancient historical fiction

Naomi Mitchison, ancient historical fiction

Rosemary Sutclif, ancient historical fiction

William Golding, ancient historical fiction

Paul Cartledge, Thermopylae

Foreman – Georgina, Duchess of Devon

Susan Holloway Scott – the Countess and the King

Leslie Carrol – Royal Affairs

Skidmore – Death and the Virgin Queen

Thomas Penn – Winter King

Ekirch – At Day’s Close

Guthman – Weighing In

Weir – The Lady in the Tower (nonfic)

Goldstone – The Maid and the Queen

Klein – Sexual Intelligence (reviewed)

Herold – Mistress to an Age

Plowden – The House of Tudor

Griffiths – The Making of the Tudors

Brimacombe – Tudor England

Schofield – The Rise and Fall of Cromwell

James – Catherine Parr

Hart – The Mistresses of Henry VIII

Mantel – Bringing Up the Bodies (reviewed)

CJ Sanum

Harry Sidebottom - read Warrior of Rome series, may look at some non-fiction

Willig

Worth

Karen Maxwell

Harper

Meyer – The Tudors

Kate Emerson

Polydore Vergil

Helen DeWitt – Lightning Rods

Guillot – Crusades

David Starkey – Henry

Poole

Penman

Barbara Wood – Domina and The Prophetess (though The Divining wasn't that good)

Sforza family

Cesare Borgia

Seneca

El Cid
A.N. Wilson - The Elizabethans
Saladin
Albert Bell, Jr. - Pliny the Younger mysteries
D.S. Potter - The Roman Empire at Bay AD 180-395
J.P.V.D. Balsdon - Life and Leisure in Ancient Rome
Periods in Pop Culture - Rosewarne
Arousal: The Secret Logic of Sexual Fantasies by Michael Bader
And When She Was Good - Lippman
Betha, wife of Aethelred of Kent
Empress Adelaide of Italy
Empress Theophanu

The Divining by Barbara Wood (fiction)

I zipped right through this book set in Claudian and Neronian times.  The love story was clunky and over-explained in several places, but I enjoyed the heroine's travels around the empire.  I thought the historical research and details were lovely, while the characters were slightly ridiculous.

Caesar by Christian Meier (nonfiction)

Many have said that this book is one of the best about Caesar, and I have to agree.  Found it gripping and thorough, with psychological insights that rang true.  Other books I've read about Caesar tried to give a personality profile and came off corny, but Meier is very careful.  Even though I have been studying this period for 25 years, I didn't find that the author's setting of the tone of the times got in the way.  Instead, it deepened my understanding.

The Young Elizabeth by Alison Plowden (nonfiction)

This is the first book of Plowden's "Elizabeth Quartet" and it covers her childhood through coronation. I thought it was a zippy and comprehensive read, although there aren't too many details known about Elizabeth's very early life.  Plowden put the facts together in a pleasing and interesting manner, and her points about assumptions made by many historians rang true with me.  For instance, many have assumed that requests for money for clothing and supplies in the years after Anne Boleyn's death meant that Henry was deliberately slighting Elizabeth, refusing to take care of  her.  Plowden interprets the situation as an oversight, in which Henry simply didn't realize the girl was growing out of her clothes so fast.