Welcome to Litsy!

Love a retelling of Greek myth! I really enjoyed this interpretation of the Iliad (and a bit before/after) primarily from the POV of Briseis. I‘m not sure how I felt about a book positioned as giving women a voice having some chapters from Achilles POV though. A good #roll100 choice though!

Today's audiobook project has been painting this owlbear miniature for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. He's very small, so it was a challenge to get in all the details I wanted, but overall, I'm happy with the result. Owlbears are my favorite fantasy creatures, and I think more books should use them. Forget dragons, owlbears are the future! 😁

Bonus: This is one of my favorite Greek historical fiction books.

#audiocrafting #dnd

I was torn between two books this month but went with the one I have thought about more than once since finishing it. #readingbracket2023

This has the best opening I've read in a long time. So great!

From queen to prize of war given to Achilles, the man who helped slaughter her family Briseis gives voice to a perspective of the Trojan war not told before. The concubines well versed in the brutality of war as they cater to the warriors, nursing their wounds and warming their beds, caring only about survival and not glory or victory. Another book that took me too long to get to because I really liked it.

12th book of summer break

🎧 Trojan war. Over > Helen. An Iliad retelling from the POV of a minor Queen‘s character (Briseis) that you should read. She was a spoil of war for Achilles of the Greeks who killed her husband & brothers.

The ending was sad.

A story of the women behind the scenes of war. Slaves, nurses, prostitutes, baby makers told in reflection many years later.

War is brutal. This is dark. Not a good time in history to be a woman. Good narration!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Back to using all my unread #BOTM books for my #BookSpinBingo.

#Bookspin: The Silence of the Girls
#DoubleSpin: The Giver of Stars

6/10

A slave woman tells the story of the war between the Greeks and the city of Troy. Really interesting subject matter from the perspective of a minor queen captured and given as a war prize to Achilles. I wanted to like it a lot more than I actually did. I will read it again later as the premise of the book is really interesting.

I love this: The Iliad, which I am pretty unfamiliar with, told from the perspective of Berseis: a Trojan princess who is captured and becomes the mistress of Achilles. I got swept up in the plot and the complexity of the characters, as well as the graphic portrayal of war and resistance of captured and enslaved women to gruelling abuse. I also loved how it alternated between first person and third person narration.
#Booked2022 #MythologyRetelling

Here‘s my #roll100 for November

Very much enjoyed this feminist retelling of the Iliad which was emotional as well as dark and graphic. Many parts are difficult to read for the sheer suffering of the women, there are definitely some trigger warnings in this one
The story flowed nicely while the descriptions of people and places were rich and easily imagined
Looking forward to reading the next book!

Not usually my thing but was intrigued to read this after hearing a review. I really did enjoy it. It‘s great to see these stories written from a woman‘s perspective. I will definitely be reading the next one

4 ⭐️ This book was hard to read at some points because it can be hard to even read about human suffering, but is such a great retelling that held my interest from start to finish!

This arrived yesterday and I‘m very excited to crack it open on this sunny Sunday ☀️ #LMPBC

Finished up this #lmpbc today. A pick from me but those last couple chapters were rough. 🥺
@Kdgordon88 @BookishBelle @DanaManiac

It's finally nice enough to be outside!! 🌞
Starting this one on lunch break!
#lmpbc

Hey group. How are you all doing this month? I recieved this today! Excited to get started!
@DanaManiac @Kdgordon88 @BookishBelle

The Silence of the Girls was very good! It was definitely not my usual read and a tad gross for my taste but it was so well done. I did not finish The Gilded Wolves so I do t feel like I should review it. I just never got into it. 🤷🏻‍♀️These are my #LMPBC reads for this last round and will both be in the mail today. #GroupV #GroupL

This book was a traveling book (similar to LMPBC) and also ended up being my #DoubleBookSpin selection also! I overall enjoyed this one. It's a very dark and graphic book so I encourage you to check for Trigger Warnings beforehand. I do love mythology retellings, I'm glad they are becoming more popular in publication!

Here is my April #BookspinBingo! Carried over all of the #BOTM books from last month. I am hoping I will have a more productive reading month in April, and I will finally make some progress of my BOTM backlog.

BookSpin: The Silence of the Girls
DoubleSpin: True Biz

I have one goal for #20in4. I need to finish the remaining chapters so I can mail my book timely for Group V. 8 or so chapters a night is doable.

Thanks for hosting @Andrew65

This is more of a so-so and a half, I did like it, where my problem is, is that it‘s supposed to be told from the perspective of Briseis. So when the perspective switched to Achilles I found it off putting. Especially since it happened pretty far into the book.
If you wanna check it out go here: https://amzn.to/3Iox8uH

I‘ve been reading a lot of Greek myth retellings, and the thing that stands out most is just how poorly women have been treated throughout history. We‘ve been pawns, chattel, spoils of war. Robbed of choice and agency. There were never any “good old days”

First book of 2022. I liked this I didn't love this. But how can you love a book about the traumas of war? I appreciate that the focus is on the Trojan slave women, and how she wrapped Brisei's story around the Homer story we know. I was a bit disappointed that the book was so Achilles heavy. I wanted the focus to be on the women, and though they are the captive slaves in a male dominated camp I was really hoping for more about the women

This was really good, I actually wanted it to be longer! I kind of wish we got more of the women's POVs instead of Achilles's, since this was more about Briseis/the fate of the women than about him. Really good anyhow, though, would read more from this author for sure.

Here we go! Week one of 2022 #tbr #readinggoals

This grim, woman‘s perspective of the Trojan war is not a pleasant read but very well written. I do want to continue reading the next book. Again this is quite dark, probably entirely true accounting of the treatment of women during war. 4⭐️ Another square done for my #bookspinbingo tbr.

Friday night, a glass of wine, and a new book to start. 😀

TW: rape and sexual abuse.
I know very little about Greek history /mythology but I really enjoyed this book. I love a story that centers the experiences of women and exposes the ugly side of romanticised histories we've grown up with.
This book does deal with rape but it never lingers on it. I find that authors can give into the gratuitous violence trope easily. So, I appreciate that the author didn't go into detail of the violence she explores.

Enjoyed this view of the Trojan war from a different perspective.

I loved the retelling of this story of the Trojan war from the point of view of Briseis who goes from being a Queen to Achilles slave. I found myself thinking about what is happening in Afghanistan at the moment and feeling sad for the women of that country. We still have such a long way to go with women‘s rights.

Trojan war and Achilles. Meant to be a novel centering the women and their stories. I still felt it was mainly about the men and their egos.

Today's read!

Vacay time!! This is the life — everyone at the beach and me home alone with the dog and a book!

#litsysummercamp #Day6 it isn‘t outdoor cooking per se, but vacation cooking…a mug from my mother in law‘s favorite beach breakfast place.

Briseis describes how Achilles‘ face is tanned from his helmet, so that even un-armored he seems to be wearing the gear that protects him in battle. The character of Achilles is quite an enigma here, because we are stuck in Briseis‘ POV. He wears his armor even when he isn‘t wearing his armor, always protecting himself. A good read so far — I have eaten thru easily 100 pages tonight. #bookspin #August

#litsysummercamp Day 3: My idea of arts&crafts is the gardener‘s art. Today I rehabilitated a bed of Mentha ‘Kentucky colonel‘ that was struggling in the shade of a tree we couldn‘t remove until the neighbors removed their privacy fence — which happened two days ago. Hoping the mint “takes” in the new sunny bed.

#Bookspin August…good choices for a vacation week!

I‘ve been ripping my way through this genre and found this to be on the more mediocre side with way better options out there including A Thousand Ships. I found the parts from Achilles‘ perspective not nearly as good and didn‘t really understand the point of them.

Briseis tells a different story of the Trojan war events and what it has meant to be a woman during these times. The story follows Achilles‘s life and the quarrel with Agamemnon involving Briseis.

I think the book was well written and had an accurate depiction of Briseis as a bed-slave. Even in this story, the women were just side characters and treated as pawns or war trophies further reaffirming the notion.

As usual I took some books without leaving any. I am very naughty but when a book swap is overflowing, I don‘t feel too bad. It‘s Friday morn and my long weekend starts this evening. I plan on doing lots of reading and catching up on #LitsyLove letters as well as slow cooking and baking. This is the coldest winter we have had for a while and I am ready to be cosy. Two weeks after that the school holidays start and I will be doing much of the same.

#Two4Tuesday

1. Athena/Minerva

2. The tagged book by Pat Barker.

Thanks for the tag @bthegood ! 😀

Feel like contributing @AlaSkaat @KarenUK @MsMelissa @ImperfectCJ ?

Highly recommended, this was one of my favourite reads last year.

#OppositeDay #Loud @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

I really enjoyed this book. It‘s my first by Pat Barker but I shall be looking out for her others. Her writing is mesmerising.
A story of death and destruction, grief and rape ..this telling of part of the story of the war in Troy is told from a female perspective by Briseis a slave of Achilles. This is the story I know as The Iliad by Homer. I had to google names and places as I read...4 1/2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#literature #history #retelling

This was a retelling of the Trojan war through the eyes of Briseis and the captive Trojan women. It was thought provoking and really presented a completely different angle on such a big historical event.

It really delved into topics about the historical roles of women, female identity and the trials of war. Beautifully written and easy to slide into, a wonderful read!

My January #BookSpin!

A retelling of the Iliad through the eyes of Briseis, the woman behind Achilles‘ 18-Chapter mega-sulk. I liked it, but didn‘t love it. Perhaps I went into it with the wrong expectation. I‘ve seen it talked about as a feminist take on the Greek myths, the Iliad from a woman‘s point of view, but really, it isn‘t. A significant %age of the book is from Achilles‘ POV, which made it feel as if Briseis wasn‘t interesting enough⬇️

#TBRPile 📚 There was a woman at the heart of the Trojan War whose voice has been silent - till now. Discover the greatest Greek myth of all, retold by the witness that history forgot...