skygiants

I do kind of enjoy that style, personally- I like the chattiness. It feels like I'm sitting with a friend in a bar and they're going off about a topic I want to learn about. But I can absolutely see where it would get Very Annoying Very Fast.

I super agree about the way that she reframes Roman society, though. I was just listening to a history of ancient Rome in the car and it's... very different in its framing, mostly very "ancient Rome was purely a hierarchical state" without any consideration of how that might have affected the lives of anyone not wealthy men... drove me a bit mad in the "Women" section particularly, where the author was like "well LEGALLY women had to have a male guardian at all times BUT ACTUALLY it was totally fine because this wasn't rigorously enforced" and... my dude... it was enforced...

Augh, sorry, that turned into a totally different rant. I enjoyed this book a lot! I can see where it would get frustrating and I am sorry you had that experience.