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This is a kind of book most valuable to those with a passing familiarity with Ancient Greece. It integrates and celebrates major themes and motifs in Ancient Greek culture well. Its shortcoming, noted by others, is that while celebrating Ancient Greek culture, it tends to put it on a pedestal (along with high British culture), giving short-shrift to other cultures with which it makes elliptical or empty comparisons.

I was a Russian history major in college at a time when the Soviet Union was still in full swing. My studies stretched into the modern Soviet state. Gessen's very readable and accessible book was well crafted, went over themes in modern Russian history with which I was only lightly familiar, and brought me up to date in at least an impressionist way. Eternal Russia, whose people always tend to be as stalwart as their political system tends to be totalitarian. I look forward to reading The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin.

The writing style of the classical masters can be, and in this case was, difficult to parse. Nevertheless, there are so many pearly nuggets that shine through it is a text not to be missed. As the heart of stoicism, Meditations let's you know how that philosophy acheives its beat and timeless wisdom.

There are many presentations of this work, which started as a series of letters to the author's son. This was a straightforward edition without burdensome editorialization. It was a useful if quick glimpse into Franklin's interests and the trajectory and increasing complexity and fame of his life.

I don't read that much fiction, but I lived in the Boston area during the period in which this novel takes place. It was true to the peiod and a gritty, well-spun mystery with a suspenseful conclusion, like some of Lehane's other works (e.g. Gone Baby Gone, Mystic River).