2024 TOP 10 PART 2:
6) The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
7) Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
8) The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary D. Schmidt
9) Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
10) Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati
5 Bonus Ones:
- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
- Women in White Coats by Olivia Campbell
- The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
- Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
so-soThis is the mythical retelling of the Queen of the Gods, Hera. I really wanted to like it, and the beginning and very end were good but the middle drug. It felt like the longest book, but it was actually under 400 pages.
#WinterGames2024 #HolidayBookDragons #WGwordsearch #WinterClearDown #SeasonalMonsterSmash @PuddleJumper #AVeryMerryBingo #AVeryScaryChristmas @Jadams89 #Adventathon @BookmarkTavern #LittenListen @aperfectmjk #MidDecemberReadathon
pickWOW. Knocked it out of the park. 🤌🏻
They're always asking the muse to sing of the wrath of Achilles, but when it comes to rage he's got nothing on Hera. Two thirds of the way through this book, I'd say it was a toss up between survivor narrative or villain origin story, considering the Olympian levels of toxic relationships going on. 1/?
I consider myself semi knowledgeable in Greek mythology, but Stephen Fry is letting me know that there is still much more to learn! Bosporus and Oxford are basically the same word and get their origins from the story of Io (and Zeus being a cad, again). Plus I learned why the peacock is sacred to Hera! Enjoy 😊 #weirdwords #weirdwordwednesday
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(mythology)
pickThe writing style made it difficult to feel close to any characters, making this a low pick for me. I did like the twisting of the old myth to approach Medusa from her side of the story a bit more. There are a lot of characters (as is appropriate for a mythology retelling) and I didn‘t particularly care for any of them.
so-soThis was the audiobook that wouldn‘t end! 😂 There are many things to appreciate about the writing, but it is repetitive. How much physical and verbal sparring does it take to portray Clytemnestra as tough & cunning? There are other annoying descriptive repetitions as well, without all of which would have made it a great novel. I think if Casati had compressed the timeline it would have helped.
Just noticed all three of the physical books I am currently reading are published by Harper. Not necessarily something I‘d generally pay attention to, but I have them stacked together and happened to see the labels. All three are good so far!
I like the focus on Persephone and Demeter's (daughter and mother) relationship in this story, instead of Hades.
