Today, with no regards for his own personal safety, your correspondent continued his Rome expedition, straight into a bookstore.
There is a good english-language book-store smack in the center of Rome, helpfully named Anglo American Book. (One would expect them to carry only one book from their name, and I was curious to which one it would be, but today it seemed they had multiple books for sale.)
I bought 6 books and saved the Italian economy.
A Day In The Life Of Ancient Rome, by Alberto Angela. This one I already started and read almost half of it today, it’s really great. I want to make something based on Ancient Rome, but not something big and emperor-ish. I want to know more about everyday life in Roman Empire and this books is absolutely bloody perfect. Did you know that urine was a valuable commodity? They used it for washing, it was collected every day and sent to the laundries. They really washed their laundry in it.
Also the writer mentions that the Romans had water clocks who could mark the hour. Must investigate.
Spectacle In The Roman World by Hazel Dodge. A book about the main forms of spectacle in the Roman world, circus, human combat, chariot racing, aquariums, cable TV. I’m curious to learn more about this because I’m pretty sure a gladiator is going to be part of my creation.
The Door, by Margaret Atwood. Because she is awesome and it’s a long time since I read her and today it was announced that Darren Arronowsky is going to film her Mad/Addam series for HBO so I celebrated with a collection of her poems.
Hannibal’s March – Alps and Elephants by Sir Gavin R. De Beer. Because ever since I was a child I was mesmerized by the fact that some crazy madman went for a hike in the alps with elephants, and this certainly is going to be in my work. (What happened to the “every day life” plans?) (ELEPHANTS! ALPS!)
Italian Journey, by Goethe. His journal from his travels to Italy. Goethe is awesome, I just read a few pages and he goes on and on and on about absolutely everything he sees, in this super observant scientist approach, writing about rock formations and what time he gets up and the earth quality and textures of a wall and just about everything, he’s like Sherlock Holmes, just German. Me-tic-u-lou-ssssSSSS.
The Rough Guide To Rome, by Martin Dunford. I’m usually using something called the Internet to orient myself, but part of going back to Ancient Rome is to try keep off the web except for daily time-traveling reports. This book hopefully helps me not ending up in another bookstore.
The rest of the day was spent reading books, walking the streets filming tiny plants and weeds growing from walls and in hidden corners, recording trams, had tasty baked aubergine for lunch, worked some hours editing footage and recordings, read some more books on the roof, went for a run along the Tiber.
Now your correspondent will head for another life-threatening peril; a tiny local draft beer pub with his books and notes.
