A Word About Awards

IMPERIAL CAESAR by Rex Warner   Award: James Tait Black Winner 1960   Date Read: March 4, 2025   From Kirkus Reviews: “ When The Young Caesar was reviewed back in 1958 and commended as biographical historical fiction of a high order, we expressed the hope that there would be a sequel, since the story stopped with the Gallic Wars. Here is the sequel, which carries on the record through the conquest of the Germans, his invasion of Britain, the crossing of the Rubicon, the Battle of Pharsalia against Pompey, the amorous affair with Cleopatra, his campaigns in Africa and Spain -- up to the Ides of March, when, sleepless, he knew forebodings of death. The story is set in the frame of his reassessment of these years, his memory sharpened by insomnia. And the style holds closely to the mood and expression of Caesar's own writings of his campaigns. It has the same terse style, concern with facts, ruthless self criticism- all recognized as Caesar's outstanding literary qualities, ...

OUR WIVES UNDER THE SEA by Julia Armfield   Nominations: BookTube Longlist 2023, Carnegie Longlist 2023   Date Read: March 2, 2025   From Kirkus Reviews: “ What happens to a marriage when one spouse is no longer the person you married? Leah and Miri lead a conventional married life of comfortable routine, shared love of movies, and happiness at having found each other. Then Leah, a marine scientist, embarks on a three-week submarine expedition during which things seem to go disastrously wrong, and she and her shipmates disappear for six months at the very bottom of the ocean. Miri’s narrative and excerpts from Leah’s diary of the mission relate their growing awareness—and grudging management—of the changes and relationship losses they both endure as a result of their prolonged separation. When Leah returns home, things do not go as Miri had envisioned; her unanticipated transformation—a terrifying dissolution of her human form into something unfamiliar and strange—challen...