Shelf Control – September 23, 2015

Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.  Consider this a variation of a Wishing & Waiting post… but looking at books already available.  Take a look at your shelves and/or Kindle and post about a book you own but haven’t read yet.

Title: Cleopatra: A Life
Author:  Stacy Schiff
Published: Published September 6th 2011 by Back Bay Books (first published September 5th 2006)
Length: 432 Pages

Goodreads Summary: Her palace shimmered with onyx and gold but was richer still in political and sexual intrigue. Above all else, Cleopatra was a shrewd strategist and an ingenious negotiator. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first and poisoned the second; incest and assassination were family specialties. She had children by Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, two of the most prominent Romans of the day. With Antony she would attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled both their ends. Famous long before she was notorious, Cleopatra has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Her supple personality and the drama of her circumstances have been lost. In a masterly return to the classical sources, Stacy Schiff boldly separates fact from fiction to rescue the magnetic queen whose death ushered in a new world order.

How I Got It: I bought it.

When I Got It: I honestly don’t remember.  It was definitely many, many months ago though.

Why I Want To Read It: It has been on my TBR since 2011.  Every time I see it on my shelf I think about pulling it out to read but since it is a non-fiction, I need to make sure I’m in the right mood for it.  I have always been fascinated by Egypt, and Cleopatra specifically.  I’m really looking forward to reading this at some point.  I think about it more and more now that the author has another book out about another subject I love, the Salem witch trials.  So for now it will sit on my shelf until I am ready for a non-fic.