Cannonball Read 12

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

The CBR12 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Has Begun—Get the Official Card and Play through October 31!

> FAQ Home
> Tag: madeline miller

Circe: Not the One from Game of Thrones

Circe by Madeline Miller

by 1 Comment

Circe by Madeline Miller My rating: 5 of 5 stars If you’ve read The Odyssey before you may remember that Circe’s island is where Odysseus’ crew is turned into pigs but using his charm, Odysseus is able to undo the charm and ultimately gain aid from Circe. In the abridged version I teach in my freshman English class, Circe’s island is one of the few events that survived the abridging process. Circe, the book, provides a complete picture of who the character is from birth […]

I am putty in Madeline Miller’s hands

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

by Leave a Comment

I used to love Greek and Roman mythology as a kid, but Achilles and the Battle of Troy never interested me much. Too much gore and to be honest Achilles seems like a real douche. But Madeline Miller’s Circe was one of my favourite reads of 2019, so I figured that if any version of his story was ever going to be compelling, it was her debut novel, The Song of Achilles. The book is narrated by Patroclus, who as a boy is exiled by […]

Humanizing a Goddess

Circe by Madeline Miller

by Leave a Comment

I bought Circe last year after it won a few awards. I finally read it because a friend from work read it and recommended it to me. We were both changing jobs so I wanted to read it while we still worked together so that we could discuss it. It was fantastic. It reminded me, thematically, of Grendel by John Gardner in that the premise is the book is the POV from a character that is considered an antagonist in a different, famous story. Like […]

“You be the captain, I’ll be no one

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

by Leave a Comment

  The story and characters contained in Song of Achilles will be familiar to anyone who knows their Greek history.  It is the story of Iliad.  It’s conceit is that it is told from the perspective of Patroclus, the companion of Achilles.  Different treatments of the legend vary on what type of “companion” he was but in Madeline Miller’s, Patroclus and Achilles are unambiguously lovers.  Exiled from his own land as a boy, Patroclus is sent to live in the house of Achilles’ father. Over […]

Beautiful prose and a beautiful take on an ancient tale

Circe by Madeline Miller

by Leave a Comment

Madeline Miller’s Circe has been on my radar since it came out, and The Song of Achilles even longer. There were many reviews on CBR last year of the book, most of them praising it if I remember correctly. But it took me a while to actually pick it up. Clearly I should have before, because I loved it! The novel tells the story of the long life of the demi-god/witch Circe of ancient Greek mythology and her interactions with mortals and monsters and gods. […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo
  3. Google Pay