Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Another Excellent Retelling of Greek Mythology

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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We’re all familiar with the story of the fall of Troy. The most beautiful woman in the world ran away from her husband and an entire civilization waged a decade long war to get her back. But in between and around the story of Paris, Helen, and Menelaus are the stories of all the other legendary figures who came to the shores of Troy to honor an oath. Odysseus, Ajax, Agamemnon, Achilles… and Patroclus. Achilles’ grief and rage when Patroclus dies is what gets him […]

No homo for Brad Pitt

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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Nowhere Book Bingo 25: Reimagining or retelling of a classic CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge: History   Patroclus is exiled from his father’s kingdom after he accidentally kills a boy and is sent into fosterage with King Peleus. Here is where he meets Achilles, whose mother is the sea nymph Thetis. Achilles is supposed to become the greatest warrior who ever lived, and trains diligently to achieve this goal. While they are vastly different, Patroclus and Achilles become sworn companions, and Patroclus accompanies Achilles to train […]

“And he’ll burn our horizons / make no mistakes”

The Song of Achilles (2011) by Madeline Miller

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Spoiler alerts for a Bronze Age epic poem, I guess, also content note for discussion of sex in this review. I liked this but I didn’t love it. Homer’s Iliad is about blood and fire and gods and fate, about a war that made heroes and villains into legends that echoed through the ages (and sometimes switched their positions). The Song of Achilles is about one of these heroes, the titular Achilles, he of the heel, and his lover Patroclus, and it’s…sweet? And (rather surprisingly) […]

One of My Year’s Best

Circe by Madeline Miller

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Whether or not you know anything about Greek Mythology is irrelevant when it comes to reading Circe. You could go in cold, like I did, or with a vast knowledge of the myths. If, like me, you thought of Greek myths as being about otherwordly beings who have little in common with mortals, you may be pleasantly surprised by this book. Miller makes the gods human, accessible, fallible, and vulnerable. And I guess anyone who knows anything about these stories might already know that, but […]

Take a Small Character from The Odyssey and Make Her Shine

Circe by Madeline Miller

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You know how girls get lumped into groups based on their interests as a child? Like, you had horse girls, or gymnastics girls, or gemstone girls. I was a Greek mythology girl. I inherited my copy of D’aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths from my older sisters and read it so many times it fell apart. When we were assigned The Odyssey in high school, I read all of it. Willingly. And then did it again in college. The Firebrand was one of my favorite books […]

Ancient beings, modern sensibility

Circe by Madeline Miller

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I loved Song of Achilles in a way that was surprising to me. Madeline Miller was suggested as an author who works well for someone who is interested in good writing with literary weight that feels a little lighter. Or, not exactly lighter (actually, when you start talking about gods and goddesses, things get quite dark pretty quickly) but something more plot driven, I suppose. I’m pretty late to these novels, which might mean that I’m enjoying them just in time for a new one […]



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