Latin Love Lessons

by Charlotte Higgins

Sequel to 'Amo, Amas, Amat, ' this is an unstuffy and approachable frolic around Roman romance. Pep up your love life with help from the original Latin lovers

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Classics, Philosophy, Humor

288 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2007

About the author

Charlotte Higgins is the author of three books on aspects of the ancient world. Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain (Vintage, 2014), was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction, the Thwaites Wainwright prize for nature writing, the Dolman travel-writing prize and the Hessell-Tiltman history prize. In 2010, she won the Classical Association prize. Her most recent book Red Thread: On Mazes and Labyrinths (Cape, 2018) was BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.

As chief culture writer of the Guardian, she contributes to the Long Read, culture and comment sections; and writes editorials, book reviews and essays. This New Noise, a book based on her nine-part series of reports on the BBC, was published by Guardian-Faber in 2015.

Higgins began her career in journalism on Vogue magazine in 1995 and moved to the Guardian in 1997, for which she has served as classical music editor and arts correspondent.

She has served as a judge for the Art Fund museums prize, the Contemporary Art Society award, and the Royal Philharmonic Society awards. As a broadcaster, she has appeared regularly on BBC Radios 3 and 4. She has also written for the New Yorker, the New Statesman and Prospect.

She is an associate member of the Centre for the Study of Greek and Roman Antiquity at Corpus Christi College, Oxford and is on the board of the Henry Barber Trust. She is a keen amateur violinist.

Reviews

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on my Kindle.
This is one of those currently popular books "popularizing" the Classics. Now, on the one hand, I'm always glad when people get any exposure to the Classics, especially if there's a chance it may entice them to explore further. On the other hand, there is a level of "dumbing down" the Classics in some such books that negates the very purpose. However, there is a minimal amount of that in this book - I'm happy to say that it might even be one of those books that encourages people to learn a little more about the Classics. Huzzah!

[caffeinated reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a hilarious read for Valentine's Day (as long as you try to ignore what happened to Ovid in his final years).
I'm on the lookout now for more of Charlotte Higgins's books.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another Goodread's reviewer was grateful that this book didn't dumb things down as much as it might have. I suppose it could have been worse, but it was a little too much for me. The author tries very hard to be flip and funny, but for me at least, she mostly fails. I didn't laugh when she compared Aeneas's treatment of Dido to "that rat" Berger's dumping of Carrie by Post-It in "Sex and the City." (She admits that her Latin teacher was also appalled at her misreading of Virgil.) Although it's hard to tell from her almost constant flippancy, she seems really to think that Ovid's advice on how to get a lover is pretty good. It seems to me that the joke in Ovid is that it's pretty good advice if you want to look like an idiot. Mostly you get the feeling that the girls he is after know exactly what he's up to, and it's notable that he very seldom "gets any." If you want TV, think Wolowitz on "Big Bang Theory." When he finally does get a girl into bed, he reports (in one of the funniest lines in Latin literature) that his penis was "hesterna languidora rosa"--"droopier than yesterday's rose." Higgins doesn't mention this. She is much better with the more serious love poets--notably Catullus--but again there's a lot more there than she even begins to hint at.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nifty little book I bookloaned from Borders (but hope to purchase if I can find the money), this book ties together thoughts and advice on love from Catullus, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, and others (and even a nod to how-not-to-do-love from Aeneas' treatment of Creusa and Dido in the Aeneid of Vergil. Very quirky and British in its mannerisms; some Americans and others may find that off-putting. Still, fun.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but unmemorable

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Falls flat; victim to too many stereotypes. Doesn't match up with real world experience and comes across as old and tired. Also insulting at certain points.