Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero by James S. Romm

If you have read Ryan Holiday’s books — including Ego is the Enemy, The Obstacle is the Way, or The Daily Stoic — and think you have a decent understanding of Seneca, you are wrong.

You think you know Seneca? If you haven’t read this book, you don’t know Seneca.

Dying Every Day is the story of Seneca’s life and the circumstances in which he wrote his greatest works of fiction and philosophy.

In his time, Seneca was known as a shrewd political insider — much like a Karl Rove or David Axelrod of his day. As the tutor of the young Emporer Nero, he either knew about and may have played an active role in Nero’s murder of his brother, Brittancus, and mother, Agrippina, herself an amazing political power broker.

Many of his works were designed to be political propaganda, and only at the end, when the alligator he fed eventually came to eat him, did he seem to recant and wish to have led a more ascetic life.

Did Seneca know he wasn’t living his life in accordance to his principles? Is that why he chose to write such enduring works of Stoic philosophy?

I look forward to seeing what Ryan Holiday has to say on this in his upcoming book: Lives of the Stoics which will be released on September 29th.

The Queen’s Secret: A Novel of England’s World War II Queen by Karen Harper

This book is a fictionalized account of the amazing role Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (a.k.a. “The Queen Mother”) played as the Queen of England during World War II.

There are many “ripped from the headlines” scenes including Edward VII’s abdication, her husband’s George V’s coronation, many meetings with Winston Churchill, the bombing of London and young Princess Elizabeth’s first meeting of Prince Phillip. Hitler even called the Queen “The most dangerous woman in Europe.”

However, in this fictionalized account, the Queen harbors some very deep, dark secrets that pertain to Edward VII and Wallis Simpson.

All that should make for a very dramatic, very exciting story. However, the author’s constant repetition of Elizabeth’s internal monologue about having these secrets was just offputting. It seemed as if every other page the reader is reminded that Elizabeth has some secrets, and eventually she’ll let you in on them, rather than alluding to such secrets and letting the story unfold.

If you like WWII England historical fiction, it’s worth a shot. If I had it to do over, I’d take a pass.

It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your Life by Trevor Moawad

This book came at the recommendation of Ryan Holiday. The premise is a good one: Winners do what it takes to win. They don’t whine or complain. They don’t pick and choose what parts of the process to follow. Once you have decided to do what it takes, you no longer have choices. It takes what it takes.

Trevor Moawad is a passionate, talented, ambitious young man. He’s an amazing force of nature. The fact that he spends so much time in the book focused on “neutral thinking” rather than positive or negative thinking shows how much he struggles with keeping his emotions in check every minute of the day. He’s found a way to conquer it and thrive.

The problem with the book is that it’s just too personal. So personal that it was hard for me — a 45 year old woman — to see myself or relate to any of his examples. The book promised to show how his sports philosophy would apply to business, but time after time, his examples were entirely about sports. At times, it seemed like you needed to know Trevor and all of the inside baseball about who coached where and who attended some training camp to even understand the anecdotes.

I understand the philosophy and see the value in it. If I were a 25 year old man, this book would be my everything. But it just wasn’t for me. Hopefully he takes another shot at it because the world could use some more Trevor.

The Jane Austen Society: A Novel by Natalie Jenner

This debut novel by Natalie Jenner was an easy, heartwarming read, like the literary version of grilled cheese and tomato soup.

This novel is set in the small English town of Chawton, the final home of Jane Austen for the last decade of her life. Set in the early Post War years, each characters has faced a devastating loss and has found comfort in Austen’s works.

This motley crew including a farmer, a house girl, teacher, doctor, movie star, and heiress joins together with the goal of preserving Austen’s legacy and creating a permanent museum and memorial. The building of the museum proves to be the rebuilding of their lives.

Just pure escapist pleasure. Perfect pandemic timing. Look forward to reading more from Natalie Jenner. This is a great one for Rep. Elise Stefanik— a relaxing read after spending the day defending our country from those who wish to destroy it.