"Buried Cities" by Jennie Hall was a non-fiction read I truly enjoyed and can highly recommend.
Originally published around
the year 1900 (I couldn't find any clearer information) and aimed at
children, "Buried Cities" describes not only what life must have been
like when Pompeii, Olympia and Mycenae were bustling
cities, but also how they came to be lost and eventually were found
again.
The chapters about Pompeii
and Olympia each start with the story of a child living
(Pompeii) or visiting (Olympia) there. Characters, places, rooms and
situations come alive by very vivid descriptions. Even without
the many pictures that originally were part of the book (but not in my
free kindle version), it was easy to mentally see the sites, hear the sounds and
even smell the scents.
Pompeii's story is of course
much more dramatic than Olympia's, and Mycenae is different from both.
But all three are "lost cities" and offer a fascinating glimpse into
worlds long gone, where a lot of what went on
in people's daily lives wasn't all that much different from ours, if
looked at some of the most basic aspects.
What I read in the chapter
about Olympia regarding Praxiteles' statue of Hermes with baby Dionysos
made me do some research about the artist and his works. Also, I looked
at some interesting websites about Pompeii and
Mycenae - I love it when reading one book leads to such excursions and a
bit of extra learning.
Jennie Hall (1875-1921) was a
historical writer and teacher. She must have written quite a lot:
goodreads.com shows 37 entries for her. But information is sparse -
there is not even a wikipedia entry about her. I would
have liked to know more, but all I could find after taking a closer
look at the first pages of some online replicas of her books was that she was an "Instructor in History and English in the Francis W. Parker School, Chicago".
Seems like I am not the only one wondering about her - I found this blog while looking for more information on the author.
What an intriguing author from rather long ago, and I like her subjects. My husband and I visited Mycenae and Olympia years ago so the book would be interesting to read for me.
ReplyDeleteIt's a quick and pleasant read, and there are many sites where you can download it as a free ebook. Most of those come without the illustrations, though.
DeleteI love finding authors from that past who enchant me. It is partly a matter of luck who gets remembered and who doesn't, so I suppose Wikipedia is waiting for a devoted fan to write her up. I guess I should write myself up in Wikipedia, I don't have an entry either and probably should since I have written various books. Somehow I don't like the idea of doing it. I'm reassured that some people whose work I really admire haven't done it either!
ReplyDeleteThis book was certainly a hidden gem, a lucky find for me!
DeleteHmm... I wonder who decides "Today I shall sit down and write a wikipedia entry" about whatever or whoever they feel they know most about.
You're right, you should have your own entry - with a link to your blog, of course.
Interesting. You do have a knack for finding old gems I've never heard of before.:)
ReplyDeleteI was certainly lucky this time, Monica - but I've also unearthed some books that were rightly forgotten...!
DeleteThe writer is new to me but I too love it when a fortuitous stumble over a new writer or picture brings me to a whole new chapter of knowledge and ideas.
ReplyDeleteWe are so fortunate to live in the age of instant information available at the click of a mouse.
So true, Friko!
DeleteI have this on my kindle now! I'll get to it in "the fullness of time". Right now I have too many unread books there. I subscribe to Bookbub. Do you have this? Or something similar? You can pick the genres you want to follow and every day you receive recommendations for free or very cheap book on kindle.
ReplyDeleteI haven't looked into it, but I am sure that even if we shouldn't have Bookbub, there is something similar. For me, searching the kindle shop on my own and coming across something that looks as if I am going to enjoy it is much more fun than following recommendations on subscription. I do very much like to read book reviews on other blogs, and often follow them as recommendations.
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