Because I thought it might be good to have something I could point to and say, “These are my favourite books, in no particular order:”

Fiction & Literature

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Elizabeth Bennett is the second of five daughters, all still single. Their mother is determined to get them married off, despite their lack of fortune and their father’s apathy.

The classic favourite book. Just as good as anyone ever told you it was. Unless they told it was less than awesome, in which case, they lied to you. The best love story ever written.

Unlike a lot of people, I count Mansfield Park and Persuasion as the second-best Austen novels after Pride and Prejudice.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

The story of a rich young Afghan boy, Amir, and his servant and best friend, Hassan. The characters are magnificently drawn, the plot is engaging, the descriptions of Afghanistan, compelling. A truly marvellous read.

And those kites!

The author has a new book, A Thousand Splendid Suns, coming out on May 22, 2007.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

The life of a geisha living in the Gion district of Kyoto in the first half of the twentieth century.

There has been a bit of controversy over whether the life of geisha is accurately portrayed in the novel, but the story is good enough that I can’t bring myself to care. Some people weren’t happy with the ending, and I see their point, but I love the book anyway. For me, the most important ingredient in a good book is good writing, good storytelling, and Memoirs of a Geisha certainly has that.

What the Body Remembers and English Lessons and Other Stories by Shauna Singh Baldwin

A young Punjabi Sikh woman marries a much older man: a man who already has one wife. The story of all three, Roop, Sardarji, and Satya, is set against the backdrop of the Partition of India and Pakistan and the years leading up to it.

Aside from being a great story, What the Body Remembers is a fascinating look at India.

English Lessons and Other Stories is a remarkable short story collection, focusing on the theme of Sikh emigration to Canada, the US, and the UK. The collection is organized chronologically, beginning with “Rawalpindi 1919″ and ending with”Devika”, set in present-day Toronto. The stories all focus on women, and they are all fascinating and moving. The book, which I read when I was fourteen or fifteen, was my first introduction to India and Indian writing, and I enjoyed it so much that my love affair with it has continued ever since.

I don’t really have a favourite in this collection; the stories are all richly-textured and absorbing, and there’s not a dud among them. The homely details of cooking chapattis in “Rawalpindi 1919″, the gorgeous description of washing turban fabric in “Montreal 1962″, the deep sadness of “Family Business” and “English Lessons”…I could go on, but perhaps I should let the stories speak for themselves.

Shauna Singh Baldwin has another novel out, called The Tiger Claw, and her newest book, We Are Not in Pakistan, will be released in the next year or so.

Fifth Business, The Manticore, and World of Wonders by Robertson Davies

A trilogy narrating the lives of three men from the same small village in Southern Ontario.

In Fifth Business Dunstan Ramsay tells his own story, and something of the life of his longtime best friend, Percy Boyd Staunton. The Manticore presents Staunton’s life through the eyes of his son, David, while he’s in Geneva undergoing Jungian analysis. In World of Wonders we’re back with Dunstan Ramsay again, but this time he narrates the life of Paul Dempster, a boy whose mother Ramsay believes to have been a saint.

Robertson Davies deserved all the praise he’s ever received for the Deptford trilogy. All three novels are equally good, a difficult balance to achieve. And all three novels are excellent.

Leave It to Psmith by P.G. Wodehouse (fiction, humour)

Leave Jeeves & Wooster to other Wodehouse fans, just give me Psmith! Rupert Psmith (the P is silent) is the star of three previous novels: Mike and Psmith, Psmith in the City, and Psmith, Journalist, but this is my favourite. Psmith, in an attempt to help his old friend Mike out of his financial difficulties, ends up embroiled in impersonation and jewel theft, but never loses his cool.

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

Despite the fame of Anne of Green Gables and it’s sequels, this is my favourite of her novels. It’s difficult to classify, appropriate for children, like most of her books, but more than that as well. At heart, it’s both a love story and a tale of triumph over adversity, of living your life to the fullest and not letting anything stop you from reaching your dreams. It’s also both much funnier, and sadder than most of Montgomery’s stories. An absolute must-read for any Montgomery fan.

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

The story of the farmer Wang Lung and his faithful wife O-Lan in pre-revolutionary China. A really fascinating look at what life was like at that time, in that place, and at human relationships in general. Just really, really good storytelling. The most famous book by this Nobel Prize-winning author.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The first time Henry meets Clare, he is 28 and she is 20, although Clare has known Henry since she was six years old. This is because Henry is a time traveler. This sounds like a science fiction concept, but the focus of the story is not on the mechanics of time travel. Essentially, The Time Traveler’s Wife is a love story, beautifully told.

A few people I know have abandoned this book near the beginning because they had too much trouble getting the time travel aspect straight in their heads, and I admit that it took me about 100 pages or so to understand it myself. If you really hate science fiction or fantasy novels, and especially if you find them difficult to follow, this may not be the book for you. But why not try it for yourself? Once you figure out how the whole time travel idea hangs together, you’ll be richly rewarded with a wonderful, engaging story.

Tales from Firozsha Baag by Rohinton Mistry

Not one of his books that’s usually recommended, but I haven’t actually read any of his novels yet. Tales from Firozsha Baag is a collection of short stories, each one focusing on one of the Parsi inhabitants of Firozsha Baag, an apartment complex in Mumbai/Bombay. Tragic and comic by turns, the stories don’t have much of a unifying theme, but each story nonetheless feels like an essential piece of the story Mistry is trying to tell.

The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye

At its heart, The Far Pavilions is both an adventure story and a romance. Set in India, and later Afghanistan, during the 1870’s, it follows the life of Ashton Pelham-Martyn, a British officer in the Corps of Guides, who guarded the North-West Frontier in Punjab Province. Born in India and raised as an Indian by a Hindu woman, he later escapes a political plot and is educated in England, returning to India at the age of nineteen. From then on, he becomes involved in various adventures and political intrigues, works as a spy for the British, and tries to reconcile the two cultures he belongs to.

Mystery & Suspense

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and O, Jerusalem by Laurie R. King

The one Sherlock Holmes pastiche worth reading. Only it’s not a pastiche, not really. The main character, Mary Russell, is fifteen years old when she meets Sherlock Holmes while walking on the Sussex Downs. Holmes by then is retired, but her sharp intellect, so like his own, encourages him to let her into his life. The mystery at the heart of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is a good one, but like all the books in the Mary Russell series, the novel is about more than just solving a mystery. It is the characters, Russell and Holmes in particular, who drive the book, and make it such a masterful beginning to the series.

O, Jerusalem is several books along in the series, but chronologically it takes place during The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, during an interlude Russell and Holmes spend in Palestine. The year is 1919, and the British, under the command of General Allenby, have just wrested the land from the Turks. The story focuses more on political intrigue than is usual for this series, but since Laurie R. King is a fabulous writer, Palestine is more than merely an exotic location for a spy novel, and none of the characters are cardboard heroes or villains.

There are now eight books in the Mary Russell series: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, A Monstrous Regiment of Women, A Letter of Mary, The Moor, O, Jerusalem, Justice Hall, The Game, and Locked Rooms. The next in the series is scheduled to be released in 2009, though it has not yet been written.

Laurie R. King also writes another series, starring lesbian police detective Kate Martinelli, set in contemporary San Francisco. The first novel, A Grave Talent, is followed by To Play the Fool, With Child, Night Work, and the recently-released Art of Detection. She also has two connected novels, Folly and Keeping Watch, a standalone novel, A Darker Place, and a sci-fi/fantasy novel, Califia’s Daughters (the latter published under the name “Leigh Richards”.)

Murder Must Advertise and Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers

Lord Peter Wimsey is the second son of a duke. Shell shocked during the Great War, and discontented with the life of idleness he is marked out for by his birth and family fortune, he helps Scotland Yard with various cases, unofficially.

In Murder Must Advertise Lord Peter joins an advertising agency undercover. Since ad copy-writing was a job that the author had actually performed herself, it’s no surprise that the picture of the agency is so vivid. The mystery is good, but as in all Sayers’ novels, takes a backseat to her wonderful storytelling.

Busman’s Honeymoon is one of the very last Lord Peter novels, and the one where he finally achieves a long-held dream, marriage to Harriet Vane. Their honeymoon, however, does not go quite as smoothly as he would like, especially after a dead body is discovered. This book has been called “a love story with detective interruptions,” and if such a story needs an excuse, Miss Sayers kindly provided one:

It has been said, by myself and others, that a love-interest is only an intrusion upon a detective story. But t the characters involved, the detective-interest might well seem an irritating intrusion upon their love-story. This book deals with such a situation…. If there is but a ha’porth of detection to an intolerable deal of saccharine, let the occasion be the excuse.

There are many other Lord Peter Wimsey novels, but there’s no particular reason to read them in order. The only ones for which it might be a concern are the four in which Harriet Vane appears, and which chronicle the development of her relationship with Peter. In order, these are: Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, and Busman’s Honeymoon.

My other favourite Sayers novels include Five Red Herrings, Gaudy Night, and The Nine Tailors, which is justly famous as one of Sayers’s best works.

The Devil in Music by Kate Ross

Julian Kestrel is a fashionable young man in London during the Regency period, a follower of Beau Brummel, and a man with some previous success at crime-solving. He is travelling on the Continent with his friend, Dr. MacGregor, when he reads of the death of an Italian nobleman. The man died four years earlier, of an apparent heart attack, but it has now been revealed that he was murdered. Kestrel, eager on the scent of a new mystery, hastens to Milan to offer his services to the family, including the nobleman’s beautiful young widow.

There are three previous novels in the Julian Kestrel series: Cut to the Quick, A Broken Vessel, and Whom the Gods Love, but although they’re definitely worth reading, I don’t think they’re nearly as good as The Devil in Music. It’s not necessary to read the books in order, although you’ll understand the main characters better if you do.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

And all the other Holmes stories, of course. Even over a century later, no one has ever created a character quite like Sherlock Holmes. The Holmes novels and short stories are justly famous; he’s certainly one of the greatest literary creations of all time.

The Secret of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

All of the Father Brown books are excellent (The Innocence of Father Brown, The Wisdom of Father Brown, The Incredulity of Father Brown, The Secret of Father Brown, and The Scandal of Father Brown.) They contain a series of short stories, rather like the Sherlock Holmes stories, but feature a Catholic priest as the detective. Father Brown’s intimate knowledge of human nature allows him to solve crimes that puzzle other men; in his own words, “Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men’s real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?”

Chesterton and Father Brown deserve to be far better known than they are.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Mirror Dance and A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold

My favourites in the Vorkosigan saga, a “space opera” featuring hyperactive genius Miles Vorkosigan. You can read the stories out of order and enjoy them perfectly well, but you will have a better understanding of the characters’ past histories if you read them in order, starting from either Cordelia’s Honor (a two-in-one volume containing Shards of Honor and Barrayar, and focusing on Miles’s parents) or The Warrior’s Apprentice (third in the series, and the first to feature Miles as an adult.)

Every one of the books in this series is a fun sci-fi/adventure story; Bujold is a great world-builder and storyteller. The stories in the series, in order, are: Shards of Honor, Barrayar, The Warrior’s Apprentice, “The Mountains of Mourning”, The Vor Game, Cetaganda, “Labyrinth”, “Borders of Infinity”, Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance, Memory, Komarr, A Civil Campaign, “Winterfair Gifts” and Diplomatic Immunity. The short stories “The Mountains of Mourning”, “Labyrinth”, and “Borders of Infinity” are collected in Borders of Infinity. Although this is out of print in most places, the three short stories, along with “Winterfair Gifts”, are available as ebooks. “The Mountains of Mourning” and “Borders of Infinity” are also available for free at the Baen Free Library, if you want to get a taste for her writing.

Ethan of Athos is set in the Vorkosigan universe between Cetaganda and “Labyrinth”, but features a new protagonist. Falling Free is likewise set in the Vorkosigan universe, but about 200 years before the beginning of the series. It features the origin of the Quaddies, a species featured in Diplomatic Immunity, but it’s not necessary to read it to understand and enjoy that book.

Lois McMaster Bujold also has a great fantasy series, beginning with Curse of Chalion (my favourite of her fantasy novels) and followed by Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt. She also has a duology, The Sharing Knife; the first volume, Beguilement, is out in hardcover, while the second volume, Legacy, is due out in mid-2007. Many fans were disappointed in the first volume, myself included, since the plot seems much less fresh and complex, and the characters less compelling, than I’ve come to expect from Bujold. However, perhaps the second volume will redeem the duology.

Night Watch and Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

Everyone who has any interest at all in science fiction or fantasy should read Pratchett’s Discworld series, and either of these books is a good place to start.

In Night Watch, Sam Vimes, Commander of the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork, find himself transported back in time. He has to find and catch a vicious murderer while attempting to save his old comrades from the death he knows is coming for them. Oh, and he has to get back to his own time, where his wife is about to give birth to their first child…

Going Postal is the story of the revitalization of the Ankh-Morpork postal service by conman and swindler Moist von Lipwig. No problem, right? Except for the thousands of old, undelivered letters, the opposition of the company running the “clacks”, the city’s new communication system, the dubious mental health of his employees. The sudden deaths of all the previous postmasters are a little worrying, too…

There are dozens of Discworld novels, so I won’t bother to list them all here. Night Watch is one of a series of Discworld novels that focus on Ankh-Morpork’s City Watch. In order, they are: Guards, Guards!, Men At Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, The Fifth Elephant, Night Watch, and Thud!. The City Watchmen also feature in The Truth, set after The Fifth Elephant, Monstrous Regiment and Going Postal, set between Night Watch and Thud!.

The second of the Moist von Lipwig books, Making Money, will be released in 2007.

The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay

Only my favourite book by my favourite fantasy author. Kay writes mostly historical fantasy, with the emphasis on history. Al-Rassan is an analogue for Moorish Spain at the end of the period of reconquest under Ferdinand and Isabella. There are three faiths in Al-Rassan and the three kingdoms of Valledo, Ruenda, and Jaloña: the Jaddites (Christians), Asharites (Muslims), and Kindath (Jews). Asharite Al-Rassan and Jaddite Esperana have long been enemies, and it is clear to everyone in both lands that war is coming. In the midst of fear and uncertainty, three people meet in Al-Rassan and their lives, for a time, intertwine: Ammar ibn Khairan, an Asharite soldier and courtier; Jehane bet Ishak, a Kindath doctor; and Rodrigo Belmonte, a Jaddite general from Valledo.

Guy Gavriel Kay’s real strength as a write, aside from his world-building, lies in his characters. They are always beautifully written, and although there are many of them, his talent at handling large casts is always clearly evidenced. Although his plots tend to be heavily political, it is his characters who drive the action, and his obvious affection for them allows you to trust him as a storyteller. There’s nothing I dislike more than an author who builds affection for a character in a reader, and then allows him or her to be killed solely to create emotional impact. Characters should be as real as an author can make them, not just puppets to drive the plot forward or pull the reader’s emotional strings, and Guy Gavriel Kay understands that better than anyone.

This particular book happens to be, by a very small margin, my favourite of all his novels, but everything he’s written is pretty fabulous. He has written several other historical fantasies: Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, The Sarantine Mosaic (a duology made up of Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors,) and The Last Light of the Sun. He’s also written a high fantasy trilogy, The Fionavar Tapestry (made up of The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, and The Darkest Road.) His latest novel, Ysabel, was released January 2007 in Canada (February in the US, March in the UK.)

After The Lions of Al-Rassan, my favourites are probably A Song for Arbonne and Lord of Emperors. The Lions of Al-Rassan, The Sarantine Mosaic, and The Last Light of the Sun are all set in the same universe, although in very different places and during different periods in its history.

Children’s Literature

The Shield Ring by Rosemary Sutcliff

The best historical novelist for children. Nearly all her many novels are set in Roman Britain. This one isn’t; The Shield Ring takes place in Cumberland, a region in the north of England, during the reign of William II (11th-12th Century.)

A Saxon girl, Frytha, is taken to a Viking stronghold when her family are killed by the Normans. There, she meets and befriends a Viking boy, Bjorn. The Shield Ring is their story, about growing up in a Viking community under the Norman threat. A very good read for all ages.

Rosemary Sutcliff’s books are remarkably complex for children’s books, although the fact that they were written half a century or so ago helps to explain it. She has many, many books published; among my favourites are: the trilogy formed by The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, and The Lantern Bearers (set in Roman and post-Roman Britain), Frontier Wolf (set in Roman Britain), and Bonnie Dundee (set in Scotland during the reign of James II.)

The Case of the Baker Street Irregular by Robert Newman

Aside from Laurie R. King (and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself, of course,) Robert Newman is the only author to write Sherlock Holmes well, I think. A young boy named Andrew Craigie is taken to London by his tutor after the death of the aunt who raised him. When the tutor is kidnapped by a sinister cabbie, Andrew is taken in by the family of one of the Baker Street Irregulars, and finds himself enmeshed in one of Holmes’s cases.

This book is followed by about seven others featuring Andrew and his friend Sara, but none of the others is quite as good as this one, and none of the others feature Holmes. Still worth checking out from the library, though.

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer

A sort-of science fiction novel set in Zimbabwe in 2194. It’s an unusual setting for this type of book, but Farmer more than pulls it off. A great adventure novel, it take us on a journey through Harare, from the cheapest of slums to the city’s ritziest neighbourhoods, from a radioactive garbage dump to the Heart of Africa, through the eyes of three missing children and the detectives who are searching for them. A great book for kids, and just as good for adults who appreciate fantastic kidlit.

The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman

My favourite book by the man who’s more famous for the His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass/Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass.) This is belongs to the historical fiction, rather than fantasy, genre. It is preceded by three other books in the Sally Lockhart series: The Ruby in the Smoke, The Shadow in the North, and The Tiger in the Well. They’re all good, but I think this one is better; it can be read on its own or in order.

A young prostitute, Adelaide, marries a prince and comes to rule a small Eastern European country. She struggles to learn German, court etiquette, and to avoid being drowned in a sea of political intrigue. The story is told mainly from the perspective of her young English-German interpreter, Becky Winter.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

I’m sure I don’t have to summarize the Harry Potter series for anyone; suffice it to say that this is by far my favourite of both the books and the films.

Conrad’s Fate by Diana Wynne Jones

Diana Wynne Jones is probably my favourite children’s fantasy author. She’s most famous for Howl’s Moving Castle and its sequel, Castle in the Air. While they are quite good, I prefer her Chrestomanci series.

“Chrestomanci” is the title of a nine-lived enchanter whose job is to be a kind of magical policeman, hunting down and stopping users of dark magic. The series follows the life of the current Chrestomanci, Christopher Chant, from childhood to adulthood, although the books that feature him as a grown-up actually focus on other people (children), with Chrestomanci making cameo appearances (sometimes in one of his myriad fantastic dressing gowns.) In chronological order, the books are: The Lives of Christopher Chant, Conrad’s Fate, Charmed Life, Witch Week, The Magicians of Caprona, Mixed Magics (a small book of four short stories), and The Pinhoe Egg.

Almost all the books are equally good, and you can start reading anywhere in the series, although I’d avoid beginning with Charmed Life or Mixed Magics, which I find to be by far the weakest of the series. (Also, since Mixed Magics is just four short stories, it won’t make much sense unless you’ve read the stories that come before it.)

Young Adult Fiction

The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle

I have an inordinate love for this book, though if you asked me why, I couldn’t tell you. It is well-written, with a wonderful and unusual plot. The mystery at the heart of the book slowly unfolds, but the book is less about that than about the characters and their relationships to one another. Worth reading no matter how old you are.

Are You Alone on Purpose? by Nancy Werlin

Told from the perspective of a 13-year-old Jewish girl, Alison Shandling, who feels pressured to be the perfect, normal child to earn the love of her parents, most of whose attention is focused on her twin brother Adam, who is autistic. When their local rabbi, Rabbi Roth, refuses to let Adam attend bar mitzvah prep classes, Mrs. Shandling wishes that he might one day discover what it’s like to have a disabled child. When his son, Harry, is paralysed after a diving accident, Alison feels guilty and decides to find a way to help Harry, even though he’s something of a bully who has always tormented her about her nerdiness, unpopularity, and “retard” brother.

Are You Alone on Purpose? is much better than my description probably makes it sound.

Miscellanea

Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw (play)

Based on the public career and trial for heresy of Joan of Arc. Quite funny in places and sad in others. I’ve never seen it performed, although I’d like to, but like all of Shaw’s plays, it’s very readable.

If the only time you’ve ever read a play was while being tormented with Shakespeare in high school, trust me: unlike Shakespeare, Shaw seems almost equally meant to be read silently as performed aloud.

Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw (play)

My other favourite of Shaw’s work. Barbara is an earnest salvation army worker when her previously unknown father, an unrepentant arms manufacturer, comes into her life and upsets all her ideas about the world.

A critic once said that, “There are no human beings in Major Barbara, only animated points of view.” I completely agree, yet I feel that this in no way detracts from the quality of the play, or my enjoyment of it. Despite its being primarily a battleground of ideals, Major Barbara isn’t at all didactic or preachy.

My Family and Other Animals and Birds, Beasts, and Relatives by Gerald Durrell (memoir, humour)

Part memoir, part nature guide, and part comedy, My Family and Other Animals is the tale of some of the things that happened to Durrell, his mother, sister, and two brothers during the five years they lived on the Greek island of Corfu before the outbreak of World War II.

10-year-old Durrell is primarily interested in the wildlife of Corfu, but his study of the natural world is constantly interrupted by his family, their many friends, and some of the natives of the island. My Family and Other Animals has a lively cast of characters whose bizarre antics make for a hilarious read. Birds, Beasts, and Relatives is its sequel, with more anecdotes about the Durrells and their life on Corfu.

The Caesars (or The Twelve Caesars) by Suetonius (biography, humour)

A serious look at the lives of the first eleven Roman Emperors and the man who gave them his name (Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian) by a later Roman writer. Suetonius wasn’t shy about including scurrilous gossip in his accounts, which is what makes the book so much fun to read. Murder, adultery, and incest abound, and some of his descriptions of the Caesars themselves are a pure delight:

(About Claudius) He was not short of either authority or dignity when he was standing up or sitting down, still less so when he reclined: he was tall but not lanky, and good-looking, with a fine crop of white hair and a well-set neck. But his knees were so weak that he staggered as he walked, and his habits were embarrassing whether he was indulging in domestic or business affairs. He had an indecent laugh, and when he was annoyed he foamed disgustingly at the mouth and his nose ran. He stammered, and his head twitched the whole time, but faster when he was actually engaged in the slightest activity. He was always ill, until he became emperor. Then his health improved marvellously, except for attacks of stomach-ache, which he said even made him think of suicide.

(About Caligula) He was very tall, with an enormous body supported on spindly legs, a thin neck, and an extremely pallid complexion. His eyes and temples were sunken, and his forehead broad and glowering. His hair was thin and he was bald on top, though he had a hairy body. For that reason it was a crime punishable by death to look down on him from above as he passed by, or for any reason whatsoever to mention a goat in his presence. He was by nature ugly, but he made himself even more so by practising gruesome faces in a mirror.

(About Tiberius) He was a large, strong man of above average height, with broad shoulders and chest, and well proportioned all the way from head to toe. He was left-handed, and his joints were so strong that he could bore through an apple with one finger, and could break open a boy’s or even a teenager’s head with a mere rap of the knuckle. He wore his white hair long at the back, covering his neck, a family habit, apparently. He had a handsome face, which would, however, suddenly erupt into a fierce rash.

The Roman Emperors really were a collection of very odd characters.