John opened the box from Amazon while I cleared the table after lunch. I wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing, and he suddenly said with conviction, “Lars is an excellent writer!”
We have been thrilled by his books before, so he was just underscoring something we already knew. John loves history, too, so he can compare Lars’ fresh words with the thousands of history books he has read through the years.
“Listen to this,” John said. “Unfortunately, in the bloodsport of Roman politics, money, ambition, and talent were necessary ingredients, and the elder Caesar lacked all three.”
This is one sentence from page two of The Caesars Vol. 1 by Lars Brownworth, published in 2021. When son John $pencer came in, John read aloud another sentence or so. $ put his name next on the invisible sign-up sheet to read the book. If anyone can bring dusty ancient history to life, it is Lars. I do not normally choose to read history, but my name is third on the list.
Mehrling Muse 
Love this! Love that he is reading it to you and then to $ and love the idea of the “invisible sign up sheet.” Although we have not done it for years there were times early in our life together when we would play “Dueling bookmarks” sharing the same book. We each had different opportunities to read so it worked. I usually lost the game, but I loved it. It was easy to ask questions and opinions when we were in the same book. Fun! Michele
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That’s marvelous that you shared books in real time!
There is lots of love around this book. We watched Lars grow up, always with a book in his hand. He would put it down if anyone spoke to him, but otherwise he was reading. We are very proud of our nephew, John’s sister’s son.
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That is so cool!
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Oh this sounds good, I love history books!
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Very nice hobby for reading book.
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Lars makes reading history fun.
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Well, if you set the book down, I would be happy to sit on it and keep it warm for you. That’s my specialty.
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Ha! Ha! I’d love that. Our cat Thor sat on my music so I couldn’t try to learn to play the trumpet.
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How nice of him to help!
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A family that reads together is a family that stays together. How wonderful that you have an accomplished writer in your family.
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The NY Times did a half page feature story on Lars several years ago.
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Sign me up….that boy can write!
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Lars and you have writing in the genes.
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I’m not familiar with Lars Brownworth. My husband reads a lot of history books, but his interests revolve around American presidents. And any wars they’ve been in. And any legal battles they’ve endured. Dry stuff by my reasoning.
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John reads tons of history, too. I prefer to have my history predigested. I ask him a particular question and get an instant answer. He is better than Google at knowing what I want.
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I’ve read some books on Caesar. He was an interesting person.
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Good to know, Anne!
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It’s always good to see your sweet face in a comment. I hope you are doing well. I miss you!
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I am not a history buff, but my father was and when I was young, and with only one TV in the house, my mom and I had to suffer through WWII war movies. When I think of Caesar, I think of salad/dressing and also trying to earn extra credit in old biddy Ms. Honyak’s class in 10th grade. If we memorized the soliloquy which begins “Friends, Romans, countrymen – lend me your ears” we could get extra credit in her class. So I memorized it and when I stood in front of the class, I forgot the entire passage, though I’d practiced it for days and still can recite some of it – in fact I just recited 11 lines of it after Googling it … the rest is fuzzy. She did not grant me a private audience for that extra credit either. The things that are still rattling around my brain sometimes.
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That would be enough to rattle anyone! Once in 7th grade I volunteered to go first in reciting something. I remember how freeing that was. I could daydream for the rest of the class that day.
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Yes, no need to pay attention after you were the star of the show first. 🙂 I’ll bet you still remember some of what you memorized. I’d never spoken in front of anyone before, so I was speechless.
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I remember only one poem.
“I never saw a purple cow;
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one.”
Ogden Nash
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It’s amazing how we remember those passages we memorized all these years ago. I always thought Ogden Nash’s poems were cute and funny … kind of like an early Dr. Seuss. I went to day camp one Summer, every day for about a month and I can remember some of those ditties we used to sing.
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You have an amazing memory.
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Thank you – I wish I could remember things when I walk into the other room sometimes.
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Anne, thank you for this intriguing post. Reading aloud is an art form! We were tasked to read aloud one of the books our children were reading at school. Chapter books. We each read aloud at dinner or right afterwards. Such a relaxing activity and one which stimulates good conversations. Kudos. Be well. oxox
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Teachers were really pushing reading aloud when my children were in school. I read to grandson David by the hour. Nathaniel couldn’t stand it, but he has done well in school.
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My mother used to change her voice to reflect different characters e.g. Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I learned well from her so when I read the story aloud in German, I did the same disguising my voice for Mama, Papa and Baby Bear. Growing up, we were read to at bedtime. Special time of day. oxox
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I remember our third grade teacher read to us, and I liked it. oxox
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You were a willing learner. And loved the spoken word from a book. Your teacher made it come alive! Presentation is key. oxox
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My eldest son is a huge history buff. Maybe I will have to get him this book for his birthday. My dad also used to read a lot of history. I can remember him reading about Caesars.
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I think you can see more about the book The Caesars on Amazon. That might help you decide if your son would like it.
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I didn’t realize he had another one out! Can’t wait to read it!
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It was published in 2021, so it has to be fairly new. John asked me to order it, but I was waiting for other people to make decisions on items they wanted. We finally got the order in.
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