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25-7 Nov 23 (audiobook)
A weak pick. Schmidt admits there are few historical, and barely any contemporary, sources for her biography of Cleopatra and perhaps that is the problem. I am not sure I finished with a great deal more information than I began with: Cleopatra was a beloved queen of Egypt who had two great affairs, with Caesar and Mark Antony respectively, and ultimately killed herself by asp bite. Apparently that last fact is doubtful.

I really enjoyed this mini-series on Netflix which matched up very well with this book which I read with a group here on Litsy awhile ago. And just like the book..is getting very mixed reviews…and is apparently a scandal because they made Cleopatra (gasp) Black. 🙄

I really enjoyed both personally and would recommend.

The Trader grabs.

A Nonfiction about the life of Cleopatra.

I love history in general but one of my favorite places to learn about is ancient Egypt. This has a very easy to understand writing style witch is great because personally textbooks turn me off. I did take a break from reading this one and I think it suffered from that a bit.

I will always be on the look out for more ancient Egyptian nonfiction though.

#nonfiction #cleopatra #ancientegypt #stacyshiff

Took an unintentional break…. My mental health has not been good and I‘m still adjusting to my new job so I just haven‘t been reading.

Currently I‘m try very slowly to finish Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian and Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff.

Things will get better I know and maybe getting back to posting will help.

#currentlyreading #hourofthewitch #cleopatra #chrisbohjalian #stacyschiff

I saw that that this has pretty 50/50 mixed reviews, but I liked it. I didn‘t think the author was too over-reaching. It was a well done biography that simultaneously dispels some of the myths surrounding Cleopatra while also exposing how they came into being in the first place.

Everything we know about Cleopatra is as it relates to the men in her life. Schiff has done a good job of going through the surviving documents to put together a portrait of a woman that is more than just a sexual temptress. We learn how this Macedonian woman came to rule such a wealthy kingdom and that Egypt was very strong under her rule, but we never truly understand the true motivations behind her actions. If the time period is ⬇️

This made me laugh. Sadly, it‘s quite accurate.
#cleopatra

Schiff did a great job delving deep into Cleopatra, instead of painting her as a sex-crazed seductress as many do, the author tried to show her as a human and a ruler, making hard choices and doing what‘s best for her country. Schiff also included primary sources but worked to include the cultural biases the authors would‘ve had.

Thank you at @Maleficentbookdragon for my #bestof2020 ! I am really looking forward to these books and these snacks are the best! 😋
#bestof2020swap Thank you for hosting! @candority

5 shooting stars! Thoroughly enjoyed this excellently well researched novel about Cleopatra. I've read other books by Stacy Schiff and loved them all especially the Salem Witch Trials. This novel isn't a fiction historical one, but one true to story by the research she finds, which is amazing. If you want to learn fascinating facts about Cleopatra this book is one to read. #Review #historical Thank you @Texreader for the book. #MerryChristmas

Hello Littens! I‘ve been away but now I‘m back.

Alexandria “was neither the first nor the last place in the world where a decline in power translated into an enormity of symbols; as the Ptolemaic influence diminished, the statuary ballooned to hyperbolic dimensions” (71).

📚💙📚💜📚💚📚💛📚🧡📚❤️📚💙📚💜📚

#

This was on hiatus, I picked it up again this month. It‘s interesting, with some vivid prose, & since I knew little of the subject matter & time period, I learnt a lot. Overall I didn‘t have a smooth read - maybe the writing style/tone? focus? repetitiveness? But Schiff tells a good story even without all the details..she provides a glimpse of a fascinating woman who has been shrouded in myths & whom the Romans rendered as a seductress.

Most of the primary sources of information about Cleopatra are long destroyed. So the author talks about the men in her life, then the time, place, and culture. Anything she tells about Cleopatra seemed like inference and conjecture. It just didn‘t do the trick for me. OTOH, it was a good lead in for the ARC of Jodi Picoult‘s newest.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2020 #booked2020 #thinkpink #cleopatraalife #buddyread

I am so grateful for the group read because I never would have finished this book. I didn‘t like the author‘s style. She‘s pretentious and often assumes you already know so much already, when she throws sentences in with a wink and a nod like we‘re in on her personal remark. But that aside, I learned so much and I‘m glad for it. I generally liked Cleopatra—she wielded power and wealth considerably well under extremely trying times. #cleopatraalife

Well, we have come full circle in many ways. When we met Cleopatra she was in exile trying to hold onto her throne and in serious danger of losing both it and her life, and at the end she finds herself back in that unenviable position. She may have ended in a similar position to the one she started with, but the story in between is one we will never forget...even if we will never know all the details. ⤵️

#CleopatraALife

As I read the last chapter and anticipate how I will review this book, I recall Mom‘s note about it. #momreviews It lacks “sizzle.” I‘ll weigh in tonight or tomorrow when I finish it but I don‘t think Mom‘s too far off the mark here. @Doll8455 #cleopatraalife

This book got mixed reviews from my reading group, but I quite enjoyed traveling through what is known about her lifetime & then trying to tease out the rest from conflicting accounts, blank yrs, & copious amounts of propaganda written after her passing. I was left with the overwhelming feeling that humanity‘s view of powerful women is just as conflicted as it ever was & that, as much as her victor wrote her story, he also made her unforgettable.

What a mess...trapped in marshland in a standoff, and a disastrous sea battle/escape plan. But I‘ll admit the highlight for me here was the deviousness and propaganda employed by both sides, Octavius to brutal effect, all in villinizing a mistress because it was convient (not really because they cared about the relationship. Unfortunately reminded me of the hypocrisy we still see in political maneuvering to this day. 😕

#CleopatraALife

I know some of these words somewhat, seen them in print here & there, & I can decode then in context. However, at some point using big fancy words comes across as “supercilious,” which (I just learned) is a good description of the author‘s style. Halfway thru this chapter I started tracking words I decided to look up rather than assume their meaning. So I got smarter today, but proof again this feels like homework! 😶

While I may not be a big fan of the book, and having practically no knowledge about Cleopatra until reading this book, I really like her. I love how she recognized and used her vast education, as here, where her immense knowledge of languages proved invaluable. I can imagine why the Egyptians loved her so regardless of (lack of) beauty. #cleopatraalife

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I am so happy I finally read this and that I read it after reading Shakespeare‘s Antony and Cleopatra with #shakespearereadalong. It really cleared up a lot of questions I had about Cleopatra deserting Antony in battle and what Octavian‘s character was really like. Really glad to have read this one with @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

I was not impressed by the supposed scholarship of this work. In fact, I‘d go as far as to say this is more pseudo scholarship. There is no clear thesis, but it seems Schiff is attempting to “restore Cleopatra“ to her rightful place in history (11). Sadly, nowhere in this book does that happen. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Oy
@Riveted_Reader_Melissa #StacySchiff #CleopatraALife #Cleopatra #biography

Yes, men are so powerless. Women walk by and they just can‘t help themselves.
🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️
Once again, a mentality that still plagues humanity is begun.
@Riveted_Reader_Melissa #StacySchiff #CleopatraALife #Cleopatra #biography

And thus prejudice that still plagues the world was begun. 🤦🏼‍♀️
@Riveted_Reader_Melissa #StacySchiff #CleopatraALife #Cleopatra #biography

I can get behind this.
@Riveted_Reader_Melissa #StacySchiff #CleopatraALife #Cleopatra #biography

Cleopatra if she were alive today.
@Riveted_Reader_Melissa #StacySchiff #CleopatraALife #Cleopatra #biography

It‘s been a heckuva week so I‘m trying to read the last 10 pages of the assigned chapter to catch up. We are learning a lot about Mark Antony in this chapter so thought I‘d include this photo from the book.

But sadly, it was not to be....

#CleopatraALife

Off to Parthia in this chapter, but boy is Anthony an idiot, and somehow Cleopatra gets the blame, meanwhile we have actual letters from Herod‘s mother-in-law to Cleopatra and back, but no other letters....That‘s a really odd coincidence though, right? ...the only letters to survive connect her with a defunct scheme of another “conniving” woman, almost like they survived to implicate her more. And then Anthony and Cleopatra... ⤵️

#CleopatraALife

The Ptolemaic empire founded after Alexander came to end here, with this queen, as Octavius Caesar strolled into Alexandria on August 1, 30 bce. He then obscured the story and we‘re left to wonder.

This was a nice follow-up to Shakespeare, but a mixed animal. The scholarship seems to be there, but guidance through all the unknowns felt unsatisfying.

#CleopatraALife
#shakespearereadalong

I had to shake my head at this chapter fellow readers, as Anthony is off portraying Dionysus (Bacchus) the god of wine, women, and song...and basically wild revelry & fertility. Cleopatra, who later finally appears, then joins in and keeps him happy, is the instigator and exotic seductress leading him astray, and yet Octavia who is later in the same position is a great wife and calming influence on him. I guess it all goes to show that it...⤵️

I have to just smile & shake my head at this... both men were know philanderers, documented affairs across a continent, but yet the queen who had children with both (but no record of being with anyone else) was the wicked seductress of all the stories to come, that led them astray. Makes me think times haven‘t changed much in all the interning centuries, men get to be conquering capable playboys with game, women slut shamed. 🙄

#CleopatraALife

This author! She recognized that Roman historians may have been hyper-critical of women, but then she herself had this to say about Antony‘s wife upon her death.

@Graywacke I don‘t know if audible will let you see how far you are along the entire book, but if it does, here are the starting points of each chapter. Maybe this will help you figure out how far ahead you are.

Found the audiobook for this on Libby. I‘m hoping this helps me get through the chapters a little better. I can listen faster than I can read.
@Graywacke oddly enough, this one has tracks divided by the chapters of the book. Some chapters, like this week‘s, have two tracks. I have 18 tracks. How many do you have? Maybe I can share my track list and it will help. They all have time signatures of their beginnings, so that could help.

Above “a reconstruction of Alexandria, looking west down the Canopic Way. The colonnade ran the length of the city”

This chapter is about how the best laid plans can come to nought. A rising leader...murdered, a tight alliance...gone, a pregnancy on Roman soil...lost, and through it all Cleopatra survives and manages to endure the tumult, some losses sure, but she‘s still standing while Rome fights itself.

#CleopatraALife

The little snippets we get of her story from non-Roman sources are interesting, I wish there were more of them. And isn‘t it odd that the Talmud mentions her more then Julius Caesar in his own biography!

#CleopatraALife

#CleopatraALife

She was always cannily able to shift even the worst setbacks into a positive spin....

#CleopatraALife

She had played the game well, but Caesar faltered. I found myself understanding the backstory from our Julius Caesar #ShakespeareReadAlong even better with this background of his rise and fall in Rome, and the battles that ensued, I even got more background on Fulvia from Cleopatra & Anthony and the battles of the triumvirate. 😉

All that by 26!

#CleopatraALife

😂 I loved that!

It‘s all about the size of your library people!

#CleopatraALife

#CleopatraALife

Whew! Finished my assigned reading for our group read #cleopatraalife so now I can go about my day without worrying with it. It does feel like homework! Especially since this latest chapter barely mentioned our heroine at all! But as @GingerAntics and I discussed, we‘re committed!

🤬🤦🏼‍♀️😴
I‘ve finished this week‘s chapter. If I‘m being honest, I would be done with this book after that chapter if it wasn‘t for the buddy read.
@Riveted_Reader_Melissa #StacySchiff #CleopatraALife #Cleopatra #biography
@Texreader maybe I‘m channelling your mother or something, but this book. Ugh. I commend her for trying it multiple times. I feel like a kid on a road trip: are we there yet?! Is it over yet? 🤦🏼‍♀️

A little slow updating Listy, I‘m already about 40% through, started last week. An mix so far. Certainly an imperfect biography, but also not one I want to stop listening to. I‘ll have to check out #CleopatraALife

#CleopatraALife I can see now why many loved this book and others not at all. Although we know little specifics about Cleopatra thoughts and motives herself, we can walk the ancient byways and see what life was like in those times and piece together what her world was like, and why decisions & choices most likely occurred based on what we know of the culture. It is Cleopatra, but it also the subtitle A Life, the life and times of Cleopatra. ⤵️