 Editor in Chief Bill   | 04 Mar 2021 2:02 p.m. PST |
You were asked – TMP link What is your favorite novel set prior to 500 AD? And in the final round of voting: 29% said "I, Claudius (Robert Graves)"
17% said "Eagle of the Ninth, The (Rosemary Sutcliff)"
12% said "Ben Hur (Lew Wallace)" |
| Florida Tory | 04 Mar 2021 2:12 p.m. PST |
No surprise there. It's a well-written, excellent story. Rick |
| John the OFM | 04 Mar 2021 2:50 p.m. PST |
The ironic thing is that Graves only wrote it to get out of debt. He was a scholar, not a novelist! 
As for getting out of debt, he more than succeeded. Add winning a TMP poll to its list of plaudits. |
| advocate | 04 Mar 2021 3:20 p.m. PST |
Walter Scott was another author who did the same. I'm sure there have been others. |
| SpuriousMilius | 05 Mar 2021 9:39 a.m. PST |
Ditto Edgar Rice Burroughs with a family to support, who after reading some Pulp novels decided he could write as well if not better. |
| JJartist | 05 Mar 2021 10:25 a.m. PST |
Dang they missed out on "An Elephant for Aristotle" by
L. Sprague de Camp. |
| John the OFM | 05 Mar 2021 10:47 a.m. PST |
I believe it was in an early round, but got knocked out early. I voted for all of the deCamp books. |
| Rudysnelson | 05 Mar 2021 12:58 p.m. PST |
I have the PBS series on video. Very good. But I have never read the novel. |
| Alcibiades | 05 Mar 2021 3:00 p.m. PST |
Read the book and watched and recorded the series. Loved both. Maybe time to rewatch it again. What a wonderful cast. Grave's Count Belisarius was a pretty good read as well. |
robert piepenbrink  | 05 Mar 2021 4:28 p.m. PST |
Spurious, Advocate, John, you all act as though this is somehow odd. In the words of Dr. Johnson, "No one but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." The critics who say there's something wrong about writing for money are quite insistent on their own cut. |
| John the OFM | 05 Mar 2021 8:45 p.m. PST |
Hey. You stole my line!
I love Doctor Johnson. The Ur-OFM. |
| Huscarle | 06 Mar 2021 7:03 a.m. PST |
I picked up "An Elephant for Aristotle" on the OFM's recommendation on a prior thread, but I 've yet to read it. I hasten to add that I had read most books in this poll. I read both the Claudian books after watching the BBC series back in the 1970s. My parents allowed me to stay up & watch it because they thought it would be educational – it was certainly an eye-opener especially Messalina's competition with Cilla |
| parrskool | 06 Mar 2021 7:18 a.m. PST |
|
| Chimpy | 07 Mar 2021 1:04 a.m. PST |
Parrskool – I really liked Eagle in the Snow as well. I've read I Claudius once but EIS numerous times. |
