Bookwitch

Another Orion author has also done exceedingly well. Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Mysteries have now sold one million copies in Britain. I’m not surprised, because they are very addictive. The bookwitch household is counting the days until number fifteen turns up. Please let it be soon!

While we’re waiting for Caroline Lawrence to get on with writing the next Roman Mystery, or at least get it published (not until next June!), there’s the Roman Mysteries Treasury to enjoy.

It’s sort of got everything. For fans of the television series there’s loads of photos of the actors, with facts about their characters. (The photo of Mordecai isn’t bad…) There’s stuff on sport, medicine, marriage, fashion, emperors, etc. Guess who gets to write about what!

The book’s got historical facts, maps, timeline and so on. And those of you who secretly always wanted to roast little birds or serve hare in a sweet sauce, here are your recipes.

I see on Caroline’s website that the filming of series two is well under way. Film fast, is what I say. And for the impatient there’s no alternative but to watch the repeats of series one on CBBC.

It might be a good idea to put The Roman Mysteries Treasury on your list for Father Christmas.

Cleopatra looks like flavour of the month. She gets plenty of mentions in The Beggar of Volubilis by Caroline Lawrence. This is another reliably exciting instalment of the Roman Mysteries. It’s the fourteenth book, and you can tell the end is within sight, from the advancements in Flavia’s love life. Yes, I know this is for children, but those Romans started early. And it’s romantic.

The main characters are still reeling from the shock of the death in The Slave-girl from Jerusalem. But the emperor needs help, so they set off on a trip to North Africa. There’s plenty of double crossings going on, enough camels to make Nubia happy, and a travelling theatre group. The goddess Diana causes a lot of trouble, Cleopatra and the past hover in the background, and how dead is Nero?

There’s an audio book out too, which although abridged (why?), is very good, according to Daughter. So, something else I can while away the ironing with, then.

As ever with the latest Roman Mystery, the reader feels they can’t possibly last until the next one is here. We’re waiting…

Well, that’s it for a while. We’ve just finished the last televised episode of the Roman Mysteries. As they had carried on well into August we had to record them for our return home from holiday, which explains the lateness in viewing.

Daughter and I are hoping the BBC will film more of the books, while wondering how they are going to dig themselves out of the hole they’re in. Sticking to the plot ending of book seven would have been quite helpful for anyone wishing to film book eight.

But, we’re not complaining. We loved nearly all of it, and could have gone on much longer. Let’s hope there’s more filming done before Lupus does a Daniel Radcliffe and grows tall.

As Son and I frolicked (nearly, anyway) in the sea, I was reminded of how I’ve long claimed that sea water has medicinal properties. Though not by drinking the stuff, I hasten to add. I know for a fact that various skin imperfections (don’t want to put you off entirely) have simply disappeared after a week or two of contact with sea water.

Caroline Lawrence seems to know of this, as she wrote about collecting sea water for healing purposes in one of her Roman Mysteries. I’m always pleased to find how right I am…

Pure medicine.

I got it wrong again. I mistakenly thought you so called normal people might have an interest in Asperger fiction. Well, I daresay some of you do. But I had seriously underestimated the needs of Aspies. No, I hadn’t. I had failed to grasp that many Aspies haven’t yet found the books I’ve found. So the blog last week got an enormous number of hits, and all from one place; an Asperger forum in Sweden, of all places. Hej, hej.

The desperation for suitable books is interesting. Almost even more interesting is the fact that these prospective readers don’t baulk at the idea of reading in English, if that’s what it takes. Beat that, you neurotypical monolinguals. (Otherwise known as normal people.)

So I searched the bookshelves for things overlooked or forgotten, and came up with a few more books. Like the last lot, not all are openly Aspie, but the characters fit in really well with Aspie minds.

First of all, how could I forget Roman Mystery no. 12? The Charioteer of Delphi by Caroline Lawrence. Caroline openly says that her character Scopas is autistic. He was very likeable, and well done Caroline for introducing him into the series.

Then comes a French book by someone called Kochka. The title is The Boy Who Ate Stars, and it’s very good. It’s a short and easy read.

My own take on Geraldine McCaughrean’s The White Darkness is Aspie or “different loner”, and I think it fits the bill well. Needless to say this is one of the books that has turned into a running family joke, as I keep suggesting it and Daughter keeps refusing to read it.

Finally, confession time, with a book I didn’t finish, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. This is an Alex Rider trying to be Harry Potter type story, about the Greek Gods living in New York. It seems that Rick has a son who has ADHD and he wrote it for him, which makes perfect sense. There are now three Percy Jackson books, and more on the way I believe.

My last Aspie blog nearly had Kate Thompson’s The Last of the High Kings in it. There is a very Aspie character in the book, but she turns out to be a fairy, which possibly explains her behaviour. On the other hand, it could be that all Aspies actually are fairies. Or Greek half gods. So maybe read it anyway.

Literally, I hope. Caroline’s latest news is that the BBC are starting the Roman Mysteries from scratch on 19th June for the full ten half hour episodes. Great news, with the possible exception that it runs into August when we are all somewhere else… Fingers crossed and video recorders on the ready, then.

Sorry, but I don’t know either why there was nothing on television this afternoon. I have asked the BBC, but they may take some time to answer. And Caroline is currently floating away on the Nile, so may not know. This is no way to treat us, though, is it?

The super organised Caroline Lawrence has sent me these links, with a special hello to readers outside the UK.

The trailer for the television series can be found on YouTube. What would we do without it?

Last Sunday’s Go4It on Radio 4 is available until the end of the week. Very interesting, so hurry before it disappears.

For the games players try the CBBC website that offers the interactive games Caroline helped write. They also have a free audiobook of The Thieves of Ostia, which is the first Roman mystery that barely gets a mention in the television series.

And what do people think now that the first two episodes have been broadcast? Daughter and I love them. They are well done, considering that an hour per book is incredibly little time. What has to be in there is there, and it’s very attractive.

“Mum, Mum, the Roman Mysteries…!” shrieked Daughter last night, so the dinner making was abandoned for a quick look. It was the first trailer for the new TV series we’d seen. Looks good.

Mysteriously, the one hour episodes of the Roman Mysteries have turned into half hour episodes, starting on Tuesday 8th May at 16.30 on BBC1. A quick look at Caroline Lawrence’s website suggests that the second half hour follows, but on a different channel. This is beyond me, but do watch on Tuesday. It’ll be good.

Caroline will be appearing on Blue Peter tomorrow 3rd May to talk about the series, and on Radio 4 on 13th May at 19.30 in Go4It. After all that exposure Caroline will be really famous, and we can only hope she won’t forget her oldest and worsest fans.

There will also be some sort of interactive games on the BBC website that Caroline has written, which apparently is a first. Being old I don’t understand games very well, but I’m sure they will be fun.