Augustus by John Williams | Book Review

[@InkandPaperBlog]

John Williams is one of my favorite authors ever! I really liked Augustus and found it so compelling. Love seeing him on your channel.

[@RickMacDonnell]

Ink and Paper Blog I will definitely be getting to Stoner sooner or later. Heard nothing but great things.

[@InkandPaperBlog]

Stoner is my favorite book of all time 😉

[@marcogarza3720]

That's my grandpa

[@LeituradeCabeceira]

Last year I’ve read the three John Williams’ books that are published here in Brazil. After the first one, Stoner, I already became a huge fan of the author. I really love the way he works with the words. His writing is so elegantly good. It’s incredible how his sentences are easily to discover just by a quick view, only cause they have this unique part of him on the construction. Augustus was such a wonderful reading. But somehow I still like so much more Butchers and Stoners. If you haven’t read yet, you must do this soon. Thanks for the review. Really love it. :)

[@Cardenio2012]

I love John Williams’s Stoner but haven’t read Augustus. I love New York Review Books! I must check out their books on sale.

[@RickMacDonnell]

Cardenio2012 Stoner is next on my Williams list :) And yes...check out their sale. 40% off right now!

[@timothymontes2049]

No dud from John Williams. Stoner and Butcher's Crossing are classics in their own right. Hemingway is overrated, Williams neglected.

[@WorthlessWinner]

I kinda hate that augustus life is usually split into 2 parts like this, people often forget he is the same guy because he's so different!

[@ClaireReadsBooks]

False expectations - totally! I think the books I feel the most angst about are the ones where I went in with outsized or misguided expectations...always a good reminder to me to do some research before I dive in. I haven’t read this yet and actually didn’t know much about it (so thanks for this review!). I don’t own many NYRB copies, but I do have their edition of Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang and loooove it a lot (both the cover and the stories inside!).

[@RickMacDonnell]

After taking a quick look through my Goodreads list, I'd say about 75% of the books I rated 2-or-less were books I was almost sure I was going to like. You make a great point about how the ones we feel the most angst (great word) for are the ones we wanted to like. I know for me, it almost feels like a small betrayal. Like, how dare you fail to live up to my expectations. LOL. It's so stupid.

[@derekgreen7319]

Williams is a genius and butchers crossing is one of my favorite books ever.

[@LauraFreyReadinginBed]

That quote could just have easily have been pulled from Stoner, if you told me it was, I would have believed you. You really really need to read Stoner. Now if I remember the ridiculous soap opera called Rome from the early 00s correctly, Octavian was a little shit, but he was a lot of fun. I'll get to this one day.

[@RickMacDonnell]

Laura Frey On Rome, Octavian started out great then became a little shit. Much more interesting version of him here. And yes, Stoner is on my list! Definitely, after reading this.

[@drjuhia8925]

"Judging a book on what you wanted it to be rather than what it actually is"👌

[@Lapostmoderna]

I'm reading this book in these days. Thanks for your review, it's great! Oh, the Augustus's daughter POV is one of my favorites ☺️

[@RickMacDonnell]

Thanks, Mary! Glad you're enjoying it, it's such a wonderful book. And Julia's POV is one of my favourites, too!

[@DrPlatoman]

Augustus is the first John Williams book I read: I think it is real masterpiece. The deep knowledge and undrestanding of the history, the characters, the phychology of the involved persons, the excellent description of political and military power games, all of the above create and revive for the reader the Roman Wold. Real literature of high quality.

[@Broonzied]

I enjoyed Stoner but actually preferred Augustus. Williams writing seems so effortlessly beautiful and in the case of Augustus becomes more compelling as the story progresses. This book and Robert Harris Cicero Trilogy are my favourite fictional accounts of this period in history.

[@bookplateorg-ry5fl]

Rick, this is one of the best reviews you have done. You are so articulate and bright. Thank you.

[@ameliareads589]

John Williams is one of my favourite authors and Augustus is my favourite book by him. I absolutely loved it.

[@RickMacDonnell]

Amelia Root Have you read Stoner? That’s the Williams book that people constantly recommend to me. It’s supposed to be terrific.

[@ameliareads589]

@@RickMacDonnell I read all four novels by Williams. I loved them all, so of course I recommend Stoner to you as well.

[@GabrielWilliamsOfficial]

Great review. Keep it up!

[@RickMacDonnell]

Gabriel Williams Thanks, Gabriel.

[@BetweenLinesAndLife]

I have it on my TBR, because I‘m a super history nerd and it sounds absolutely amazing in concept! This was a great review!

[@RickMacDonnell]

BetweenLinesAndLife Oh you’ll love this book, then. Understanding a bit about the time period will go a long way towards enjoying Augustus. It’s not essential, but it helps. (And thank you!)

[@lrzezak]

Very nice and useful review. Thanks a lot! Great book and sublime author (just finishing the book and you helped me to think about it). I agree that deserves a second reading...

[@RickMacDonnell]

Glad you liked it, Luis! Williams is fantastic.

[@lrzezak]

@@RickMacDonnellHi! If you have other authors to recommend please let me know. I am always looking for good things. I just finished one from Vivian Gormick that I enjoyed a lot, I red several from Stefan Zweig, Alessandro Baricco is also good, I just give you en idea of what I like. I read mostly in Spanish...

[@daytonadane]

I love the New York Book Review publications and can especially recommend Don Carpenter's Hard Rain Falling and Tom Kristensen's Havoc.

[@RickMacDonnell]

NYRB is such a fantastic line. I will recommend back to you Lolly Willowes and Stoner. I ordered Stalingrad a few weeks ago but it arrived basically torn to pieces (it was the worst packaged book I've ever seen LOL) so I will have to wait a little longer to receive it a second time.

[@daytonadane]

@@RickMacDonnell I have two different NYRB editions of Stoner, which is one of my all-time favorite books. Never heard of Lolly Willowes - will look it up. Thanks!

[@RickMacDonnell]

@@daytonadane Enjoy!