May Wrap up and June Hopefuls 2021

I hope May has treated you all well. Here in Melbourne, the leaves are changing, and the frost is encroaching as the mornings get colder and colder. Alas, the end of autumn is here and it’s time for three months of cold, rain and wind. I feel like May was a long month and I’m not quite as shocked as I usually am that we have reached the end of it. But, enough about me, let’s get into my wrap up for May 2021 and the books I hope to get to in June!

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My May 2021 hopefuls (not pictured, The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper because it hadn’t been published yet)

Some things to note about me: I am a slow reader, I love to annotate, I love to read multiple books at once and I cannot stick to a tbr to save my life. At the beginning of May, I posted my ‘hopefuls’ list, which is pretty much just a tbr that has absolutely no expectations of actually being read (which is my favourite type). I like to try and add books from different genres onto my hopefuls list to at least give me a chance to get some of them read, depending on my mood. In May, I read 3 of my 6 hopefuls and I feel really proud of that.

May wrap up

★★★★★

The first book I read in May was one that I started in April and that was the Odyssey by Homer and translated by E.V. Rieu. Reading the Odyssey was such a long time coming, I think I was just super intimidated by it. In saying that, now that I have read it, I wish that I read it sooner 😂 I loved the translation done by E.V. Rieu, although it was in prose rather than verse, it still had such a poetic feel to it which I really loved, and it has made me want to read a verse translation next to really be able to compare the different interpretations of the text. Overall, I found it to be easier to read than the Iliad (which may honestly be because the Iliad is like, 80% names and genealogy), and it wasn’t written in a way I expected. Many of the adventures that Odysseus had embarked on were recounted to Alcinous of the Phaeacians, rather than experienced first hand, which I actually think I preferred. Odysseus’ long-winded journey home was full of adventures, and overall, I really enjoyed the story and the translation. Check out my full review.

★★★★★

My second read of the month was Jennifer Saint’s debut novel Ariadne, which follows the lives of Ariadne and Phaedra, the daughters of King Minos and Crete and Pasiphaë from their childhoods to their deaths. Not only has Saint put together the stories of the two sisters, which are stories that are often told separately, you also get points of view from both Ariadne and Phaedra, which (if you know me at all), you’ll know that I loved! I wasn’t too familiar with the myth of Ariadne past the Theseus and the Minotaur events, and I really loved watching her character evolve, and her relationship with Dionysus change and develop throughout the tale. I thought the contrast of the two sisters, with Ariadne, secluded on Naxos surrounded by women and Phaedra living the life Ariadne wanted for herself with Theseus in Athens surrounded by people hostile to her home city of Crete was so striking. It allowed the reader to draw some fascinating parallels between the sisters that would have otherwise been difficult to do, since their stories are almost exclusively, told separately. I thought the ending was so poignant and bittersweet, and even if you are familiar with the myths of Ariadne, Theseus, the Minotaur, Phaedra and Hippolytus, you will definitely love this new retelling of their stories. Check out my full review! If you’re interested in hearing a bit more about Ariadne, I was lucky enough to have been able to interview Jennifer Saint, and ask her all sorts of questions about her novel which you can find here! (non-spoiler of course!)

★★★★★

The final book I finished for the month was The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper, which was my favourite read for the month, and potentially for the year (it’s neck and neck with The Porpoise by Mark Haddon). The Wolf Den is set in the lupanar, or brothel of Pompeii in the first century CE, and follows the point of view of Amara, a Greek woman who was sold when she was younger after the death of her father. I thought The Wolf Den did such a wonderful job at bringing the ancient world to the modern-day through the intertwining of graffiti found at the site of Pompeii. This graffiti is written by the everyday people of Pompeii, and gives us an incredibly rare insight into the daily lives of the everyday people of Pompeii, rather than the rest of the literature which survives which is almost exclusively written by the powerful men of the Roman Empire. The story emphasises the unbreakable bonds of friendship between the five prostitutes who work at the wolf den, and the contrasting ways in which they deal with their loves and their lack of autonomy. Elodie also does such a phenomenal job of bringing the lives of these women to the forefront, and highlighting the often overlooked fact that prostitutes in the ancient world would not have chosen this life, nor would they have necessarily always been prostitutes. Amara’s main focus in this novel is to change her fate, and do it by any means necessary, which provides her many opportunities for her character to develop, and she often has to make hard decisions which highlight the fact that all of these characters are morally grey, which adds another layer to the relationships and the character development in general. I loved this book, and I would highly recommend it to anyone! if you’re worried you don’t know enough about Pompeii or the ancient world, don’t fret! You can absolutely still enjoy this book, but if you want a bit of context to ancient Pompeii before jumping into this novel, check out my full review where I give a rundown of the context and graffiti in Pompeii! I was so lucky to get a chance to interview Elodie harper, and I had such a wonderful chat about the book, her experiences writing it and the development of her characters! You can either watch it, or read it! The interview, just like my review, is spoiler-free!

June hopefuls

It’s getting cold, which means inside our house is going to get cosy and warm which is the perfect setting for reading! This month, I have 5 physical books on my hopefuls list, and one audiobook. The audiobook is The Crown of Gilded Bones by Jennifer L. Armentrout which I have been listening to throughout the entirety of May. I cannot believe I am still reading this book, it is SO long and I swear only like, three things have happened. This book needed some serious editing. I only have a couple of hours left of this book, so I truly hope I get it finished this month. Along with finally finishing TCOGB, I am hoping to read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune, The Library of Greek Mythology by Apollodorus, The Poems of Catullus and The Bacchae by Euripides which I am going to read with the lovely Erica over at MoanInc!

So! I guess we will see how I do this month, but honestly, as long as I take some time to read something, I consider it a successful reading month! I hope you all enjoyed this post, and let me know down below or over on my Instagram Kell_Read what book you are most looking forward to reading this month!

Review: The Odyssey by Homer (Translated by E.V. Rieu)

★★★★★

It does no good to utter empty words

I have been meaning to read this for a very long time, and now that I have, I wish I’d read it sooner. It was such an enjoyable read, and far easier to consume than I anticipated. I wish I had read it sooner, so that I could have known the entire story sooner, and engaged with this sources and its myths sooner. Before I get into my many thoughts, let’s have a look at the long history which encompasses the Odyssey. The Odyssey is a form of epic poetry which was written down in the 8th century BCE, however its history would date earlier than that, since its roots are in the oral tradition of Ancient Greece. This story would have initially been spoken orally before finally being written down. The story has been attributed to Homer, but is placed closer to the end of his life, since the style of it is a bit different than that of the Iliad, but it still contains classic Homeric features such as the repetition of epithets, phrases, and descriptors throughout the story. At it’s core, the Odyssey still retains its inherent Homeric-ness.

What is the Odyssey all about?

In summary, the Odyssey recounts the arduous, ten year voyage of Odysseus from Troy after the Trojan War, to his home in Ithaca. Overall, Odysseus was away for 20 years; 10 years at war and 10 years to get home. His voyage is full of adventures, mishaps and truly horrible events, and the 12,000 line poem recounts his journey, as well as the situation at home with his son Telemachus and wife Penelope. As Odysseus (our hero of the story), meets sorceresses who turn his men into pigs, travels to the underworld to talk to the ghosts of his friends, meets bloodthirsty cyclops and gets trapped on an enchanted island for 7 years (among other adventures), his wife Penelope is at home keeping many suitors at bay who wish to marry her under the assumption that Odysseus is not coming home. The men are eating Penelope and Telemachus out of house and home, and after 3 years, Telemachus goes to Pylos and Sparta to learn of any news Menelaus and Nestor may know of his father. When Odysseus returns to Ithaca, he is disguised as an old man by Athena, and pretends to be someone else until he gets the chance to kill the suitors and show himself to his patient wife.

There is a time for long tales, and there is a time for sleep

11.379

My Chaotic Thoughts

Right from the get go, I found this to be an easier read than the Iliad, although I thought that the first four books focussing solely on Telemachus (known as the Telemachy) was a bit boring. It definitely helped that I was prepared for Odysseus’ story to start after the first four books, though, so here’s your warning that it takes a bit to really get into the juicy bits. I found it so interesting that the story starts not at the beginning of Odysseus’ journey, but close to the end of it, and we learn about his misadventures as he tells his story to Alcinous of the Phaeacians. I loved the books detailing Odysseus’ journey, they were thrilling and somewhat disastrous, and I enjoyed it so much! His men though, were SO frustrating 😂 Here’s a run down of one of their adventures:

Odysseus: don’t eat the cows, they’re sacred.

His Men: okay …

Odysseus: wtf where’d this meat come from?

His Men: we ate some cows

Odysseus: *face palm*

Like, I couldn’t deal with them 😂😂 The section with Polyphemus was brutal and bloodthirsty, but Odysseus really was a smart cookie. The whole ‘nobody’ ruse (which I already knew from Percy Jackson, so thanks for that Rick), was clever and such a genius way out of a difficult situation! I was sort of expecting more in the section where Odysseus gets tied to his ship so he can listen to the sirens, so that was a bit anti climactic, but the rest was action packed and very enjoyable. I also thought, despite it being a prose translation, the whole thing still had such a poetic rhythm to it. Very well done in the translation department I think! I was also so surprised how much of the Odyssey was inspiration for the Percy Jackson books. I almost think that I enjoyed this story more, knowing how it’s been used as inspiration more than 2,000 years after it was written down! Towards the ending, we get more of Penelope and I loved it. I thought she was a bright, clever and perceptive woman who was strong, and kept her home and her son safe as best as she could. I thoroughly understand why she was seen as this ‘ideal woman’ in Ancient Greece, although definitely not for the same reasons they thought.

What a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles, when it is their own transgressions which bring them suffering that was not their destiny.

1. 33-34

This quote, from the VERY beginning of the epic really stuck with me throughout the reading of it. So many times did Odysseus and others blame their misfortunes on the gods, rather than their own choices and actions. For example here’s this quote '‘Father Zeus, you are the cruellest of gods. You have no compunction about dealing out misfortunes, misery and suffering to us men; yet it was you who caused up to be born’ (20.201-203). I mean, they blame everything on the gods, as if they have no free will, and of course they have the Fates, who they believed controlled the destinies of men, but still. It's so interesting to read their complete disbelief that the gods would treat them so badly, or cause such misfortune as if they forced every choice and action! The whole fate vs free-will concept in this epic is truly fascinating, and when I re-read it, it is definitely something I want to keep at the forefront of my mind.

Of course, I couldn’t help but comment on the way that women were talked about, referred to and treated in this story. One of the most hypocritical comments came from Agamemnon (what a shock… not!) who doesn’t hold back when talking about his wife and his death. When Agamemnon returned from Troy, he learnt that his wife had taken a lover, Aegisthus, and upon his arrival at Mycenae, he was killed by his wife, as was his concubine Cassandra. So, naturally, when Odysseus went to Hades, Agamemnon took the chance to whine to him about Clytemnestra the ‘treacherous schemer.’ Agamemnon states that ‘there is nothing more degraded or shameful than a woman who can contemplate and carry out deeds like the hideous crime of murdering the husband of her youth’ (11.428-430) and ‘in the depth of her villainy, she has branded with infamy not herself alone but the whole of her sex, even the virtuous ones, for all time to come’ (11.433-435). Not to mention that because of ‘women’s crooked ways’ (11.438) they are no longer to be trusted! So, let’s keep in mind that all of this, is coming from the man who literally KILLED THEIR DAUGHTER on the way to Troy, because HE had insulted Artemis (and also literally brought BACK a concubine from the war). Honestly, these men are such hypocrites and boy does it bug me 😂 Don’t even get me started on the way Telemachus speaks to his mother and the way Odysseus treats the maids and women who work for his household. The translation also uses the word ‘bitch’ as a descriptive of women quite a lot in this book, and I would be interested to know what the original word in Greek was. It seems like quite a violent word, and it was really jarring every time it was used, which was often thrown directly towards the woman in question. If anyone knows the Greek word used please let me know!!! One last point here, is at the very end, prior to killing the twelve women that Odysseus believes were disloyal to him and his home in the TWENTY years he was gone, he tells them to clean up the corpses of the suitors with the knowledge that they were about to die. That whole scene was barbaric and horrible and honestly, by the end of this story, I did not see Odysseus as a true hero, but definitely more morally grey than initially anticipated.

However, it is important to remember that we are reading these ancient epics from a completely different time than when they were composed, and it’s impossible to read these without bias, simply because there’s been over 2,000 years worth of change and development in the world since they were composed. BUT, this doesn’t mean you can’t have ISSUES with these stories, I mean really, you should have issues with them! They are working in an intrinsically misogynistic time which can be seen from the language and treatment used towards the women alone.

This is by no means all my thoughts, but they are the most prevalent ones that I wanted to write down! I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this epic! Did you enjoy it? Did you like it more than the Iliad? Lemme know in the comments or come find me on Instagram @kell_read!

So you want to learn about Greek Mythology?

Hey friends, and welcome to a different kind of post! I recently made a video for work called The 12 Olympians: The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greek Mythology and for me, I had so much fun writing and filming it, and it was probably because I was already really familiar with the stories from Greek Mythology. I thought to myself, this would be a good place to start for people who are just starting to get into the wealth of stories that Greek mythology has to offer, but where should they go from there? So, this is a little post with some book recommendations for people who want to learn about Greek mythology but have no idea where to start, or are a bit overwhelmed with the number of books out there! I am absolutely going to be drawing on my own experiences from learning about Greek mythology, so if you have any suggestions or helpful tips for those people who want to learn more, please leave a comment down below!!

Books to Read (Fiction!)

I know this may sound weird, but the place I started on my journey to learning about Greek mythology and becoming completely obsessed with it was Percy Jackson. Unlike many other people, I didn’t read this until I was about 15 or16, and honestly, I wish I had read it sooner. Not because I thought that it was too young for me (I still adore it), but because it meant I would have been exposed to the world of Greek myths far sooner. The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan is the place I’d start for anyone wanting to dip their toe into Greek mythology. It’s a 5 book series but they’re all pretty short, easy to read and very entertaining. But, while you’re reading about Percy, Annabeth and Grover go on quests, you’re actually being exposed to a lot of the core gods, monsters and myths of Greek mythology. So much of these books were inspired by myths, and once you finish this series, you will be familiar with the basic family tree of the Greek gods (well, as familiar as a person could be with that incestuous mess), as well as key monsters and stories which you will find in the ancient sources such as the Odyssey by Homer and Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days. If you’re looking for more of a Young Adult book with a bit of action, then I would recommend giving Lore by Aexandra Bracken a read. It isn’t as full of Greek stories as the Percy Jackson series is, but you do still get a good glimpse into some of the beliefs of the ancient greeks, and specifically the myths of the goddess Athena. Along these same lines would be A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair (definitely more of an adult book), which is a re-imagining of the myth of Hades and Persephone, but it’s set in an alternate, urban setting. These books are fun, but also dive into a bunch of different myths concerning the goddess Persephone, the god Hades and a bunch others!

Online resources (Articles, Videos and Podcasts!)

This is the part of this blog post where I’m just going to hype up the company I have the pleasure to work for, as well as some of my friends who are doing an amazing job bringing Greek mythology and history to a modern audience, and making it accessible! Online resources are so handy, especially since they’re easily accessible and more often than not, they’re free! If you’d prefer to read some stuff, then I would recommend World History Encyclopedia (I am biased because I work for them, but they also do amazing work.) You can find an introductory article here on Greek Mythology which is such a great place to start, and from there you can find articles on all the main gods, goddesses, myths and legends! If you’re more of a video lover, then you’re in luck because we publish youtube videos twice a week, and so far we have published this video on the 12 Olympians, a video all about Hermes, a video on Artemis, and a bunch more! If you’re looking for some fun videos that combine cute makeup looks with greek myths, then you should definitely check out Hannah’s videos on YouTube! I LOVE her videos on the myths of Persephone and Hades, and Echo and Narcissus, they’re short and sweet, easy to follow and end up with a super cute makeup look! Finally, your one-stop-shop for videos on mythology, ancient history, philosophers, as well as interviews and book reviews is Erica’s incredible website Moan Inc. You can find Erica and Moan on Instagram, Youtube, podcasts and via her website, and she’s working so hard to bring the ancient world to a modern audience in an engaging and fun way!

Where to Next? Ancient Epics, Texts and Retellings!

Looking for something a bit more challenging? Already know the basics and you’re ready to dive in deeper? I would definitely recommend beginning with Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days. It’s a really short read, and although it’s an ancient text, it’s easy to read and is a great intro to the beliefs of the ancient Greeks. If you want to know a bit more about Theogony and Works and Days you can have a look at my review here! From here, I would then recommend The Library of Greek Mythology (also known as Bibliotheca) by Pseudo-Apollodorus. It reads very similarly to Theogony and Works and Days, but it’s a bit longer and delves deeper into the stories and myths of Greek Mythology, and you will find the stories of heroes such as Heracles, Theseus and Jason. Then, of course, you have the epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer! I would personally recommend the E.V. Rieu translation of these two which are written in prose but still keep their poetic roots, and they’re super easy to read for stories that are over 2000 years old. You can read my thoughts on the Iliad here! Just remember, every translation is different, so if you’re not clicking with the first translation you try, pick up a different one! If you’re a fan of theatre, then reading Ancient Greek theatre is an awesome way to become familiar with some of the important figures and stories from Greek myths, and even though only a handful survive from what would have been hundreds of plays, we still have plays about some of the most interesting figures from Greek mythology such as Medea, Jason, Antigone, Oedipus, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Orestes and Electra (just to name a few!) They’re definitely easier to read than something like Shakespeare, and many editions now give you fantastic commentary and background info on the plays! My favourites are Medea by Euripides, Antigone by Sophocles and the Oresteia by Aeschylus. One thing I’ve noticed particularly in the past year or so is a HUGE boom in retellings, especially feminist retellings or retellings from female points of view. This surge in retellings seems to have been pioneered by Madeline Miller with her books The Song of Achilles and Circe, which are both brilliant, but if you’re just starting to dip your toe into Greek mythology, give Stephen Fry’s books Mythos, Heroes and Troy a go! Fry has such an entertaining way of retelling the myths but making them feel new - and, his somewhat linear narrative of the foundational Greek myths in Mythos is truly a massive feat. I would definitely recommend Mythos as an easy and enjoyable first step in learning about Greek mythology. If you’re interested in reading Classical Greek stories from a females point of view, I have a bunch on my TBR pile which include Natalie Haynes’ A Thousand Ships, Pandora’s Jar and The Children of Jocasta, as well as Pat Barker’s Silence of the Girls and Jennifer Saint’s Ariadne. I haven’t read some of these yet, but I can only assume it would be helpful to come into them with a bit of a basis for the original stories and texts, so maybe hit these types of books once you’re nice and familiar with the core gods, goddesses, myths and monsters of Greek mythology.

Hopefully I have given you everything you could possibly need to start your journey with Greek mythology! As noted, this is from my personal experience, so if you have any book recommendations or tips on getting familiar with Greek mythology then please, leave a comment below or reach out on instagram where you can find me at @kell_read!