Letters from your mistress

People find it daunting to name their favorite book, which can be especially tough if you're a bibliophile. I've always been vocal about I, Claudius by Robert Graves for being my all-time favorite. For a book that was first published in 1934, the writing is unbelievably modern and can sometimes be racy.

Graves is also one of England's most famous war-time poets. Recently, I bought a thick Penguin paperback of his poetry collection. He is, after all, better known for his poetry than his novels, so I figured it was a "safe" buy. (Check out his poetry here.) Yesterday I decided to find out more about this man when I stumbled upon this piece of news from The Independent.

...one academic has accused the poet of stealing ideas, literary criticism and poetry from his one-time American mistress and passing them off as his own.

Dr Mark Jacobs, a research fellow at Nottingham Trent University who has spent two decades studying 700 letters he received from Laura Riding Jackson as well as her literary works, said when she discovered the uncanny similarity in his texts she condemned her former lover as a "robber baron".

In her letters to Dr Jacobs, Jackson accuses Graves of having "sucked, bled, squeezed, plucked, picked, grabbed, dipped, sliced, carved, lifted the body of my work" after their relationship broke down in 1939."

I heard several years ago that Leonardo DiCaprio was set to play the title role in the adaptation of I, Claudius. If ever that abomination pushes through, DiCaprio would have been miscast. He's too pretty to play the stuttering, frail, and sickly Roman emperor.

Bromance: Perhaps Zac Efron can play Germanicus, Claudius' brother.

By the way, the contest below is still open. The winner just might get one more book.