One of the undeniable pleasures of reading is learning new things. Nonfiction is all about information. How lucky for readers. I read more in the fiction/memoir genres, which are less known to impart knowledge. But those titles can also surprise me at times with new facts. You never know what new information will come your way from the pages.
Here are three titles that taught me some new things.
1.
This book was a slog with occasional moments that made it worth it. I didn’t know before I read it that it was not uncommon in the Ptolemaic dynasty for siblings to legally marry one another. Cleopatra’s parents were likely brother and sister and she married her brother. Her four children were with other men, though.
2.
Tosca Lee is an amazing stylist who makes the ancient world come to life. In this and the equally good Havah, she takes a Sunday school figure and reimagines their psychological reality.
Judus Iscariot was the famous betrayer of Jesus. What I didn’t know was that he killed himself after the Crucifixion. The scene is vividly depicted here.
3.
This is a delightful memoir of reading and bookstores. It also provides a history of bookselling. Long before storefronts came along, vendors sold papyrus pamphlets on market day. Only the privileged could afford them so there weren’t many of them.
Later the first traveling salesmen dressed in bright clown colors going door-to-door, a box of books strapped to their backs.
We are blessed to live in more convenient times.
Books Smitten 