Teaser Tuesday 8/13/19: “I Am Livia”

Well, I mean, I’m not. She is:

So that’s what I’m reading this week: I Am Livia, by Phyllis T. Smith. This is a historical novel about the life of Livia Drusilla. No, not that Drusilla.

The daughter of an anti-Julius Caesar conspirator, Livia (2,000-year-old spoiler alert!) eventually ends up married to Caesar’s heir. But before that she’s married off, for political reasons, to another anti-Caesar conspirator turned Mark Antony-supporter turned war refugee, Tiberius Nero. No, not that Nero.

“I almost think the best thing would be to march into Sparta, present myself to Caesar’s men, and say, ‘Here I am.’ I am a Roman citizen, after all; they would not crucify me. I think death at their hands would be quick and relatively merciful.”

“That last thing you must not do,” I said. “There is always a way to survive.”

“No,” Tiberius Nero said. “You are showing how young you are when you say that. Believe me, there is not always a way to survive.”

It looks like I got this book back in 2015; I’m finally reading it now because of my new scheme of reading books in the order I acquired them rather than picking a random one, which, while nicely unpredictable, meant that many books languished for years on my device. I’m pretty sure I got this particular book via the Amazon Kindle First program, whereby Prime members get to choose one or two free pre-release books per month, from an Amazon-curated list of five or six options. It’s a good deal, but I haven’t taken full advantage of it lately because quite frankly most of the books being included in the program recently have looked completely uninteresting. I mean, free is good and all, but like they say, life’s too short to read bad books. (I like this one though. Evidently they were offering better books four or five years ago.)

Meanwhile, speaking of bad books — umm, wait, that didn’t come out right. Speaking of books that are bad … No, that’s not right either. Just a sec … umm … Speaking of books about books that are bad, editing continues on Father’s Books!

Richard opened his eyes. “We need to talk.”

“Here? Now? No.” Hank shook his head. “I have shit to pack up and move to my new room. Then I have to sleep.”

“Tomorrow, then?”

“It’s already tomorrow. And still no.”

“I’ve been told,” Richard said, “that lack of communication is getting people killed.”

Hank folded his arms, resisting the urge to kick Richard in the face. “You trying to communicate with me now is going to get people killed.”

Hey, it’s not always easy coming up with a good segue, you know …