Circe - Madeline Miller

Well this one was a bit of a whirlwind to read, and it did take me a whole week to devour it, but I found it so intense that I could only read a couple of chapters each night.  Circe is the daughter of Heios the sun God , and she dwells in his halls taunting nymphs and causing trouble.  When she becomes jealous of a nymph who has set her eyes on her boyfriend she casts a spell and incurs the wrath of her father and other Gods.  Banished to a remote rocky island she is forced to survive by herself and it is here that she truly comes into herself.

This is the story of Gods and mortals from Classical Greek tales and I was surprised by how they all linked together, and were related and linked in ways I had not understood before.  It seemed a good book for these times, a strong woman who stood up to the men in her life who tried to keep her down, and was able to thrive without having to rely on anybody else, even when everyone threatened her.  5/5

The Song of Archilles - Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller (2012)

I've looked at this one in bookshops and on Amazon, and was glad when my reserve at the library finally showed up (look at how old school I am).  Madeline Miller has both studied and taught Latin and Ancient Greek, and she uses her knowledge to tell us the story of  The Iliad, of Achilles and his friend  Patroclus.

I never expected to get sucked into the ancient Greek tale as I did, but she is a good storyteller and I was drawn into the story of legends and heroism.  Told from Patroclus point of view, it felt both familiar and yet original to me at the same time.

I have to give it a solid 4/5.