Welcome to Litsy!

My first #10BeforetheEnd book. I did enjoy it, particularly in its frank depiction of ancient Athens society during the Peloponnesian Wars. The main character comes from a noble Athenian family and Renault doesn‘t try to hide the ways Athenian culture differs from our modern sense of morality or ethics. At the heart of this is a love story between two men, which was completely accepted then. It was a slow and dense read, but worth the time.

I don't quite understand how I missed this one, this is one of my favorite authors. At any rate, it is so serendipitous that this book came up on my Audible because I am seeing Antigone staged in a week! I'm looking forward to understanding the story by learning it with Natalie Haynes, she's my all time favorite reteller of myths. 💜

4.5/5 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Stephen Fry once again delivered a brilliant book about the e Greek myths. An amazing addition to his series.

#myths #greek

#WhereareyouMonday

Today finds me in Ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian Wars following the fate of young Alexias, an Athenian noble, as he matures, meets his mentor and lover Lysis, becomes a soldier and sailor… He also encounters Socrates, Plato, and other famous Greek names which have come down to us through history. Slow read, but satisfying.

I‘ve started in on my #10BeforetheEnd pile! I need to ignore the lure of library books! 🤞

Natalie Haynes‘s retells the story of Jocasta and her family by synthesising several Greek myths. Borrowed from Libby for the 2nd time, I knew what was coming but I was still surprised. It was how the tension is built as the story switches between two timelines, one telling Jocasta‘s story, and the other tells the story of her daughter Ismene, but what stands out is how Jocasta, the wife of Oedipus, is put back into centre stage of her own story.

5 joys from my weeks, and a wonderful quote from my current read, The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes, so true 🙂

Loved this version about Queen Penelope of Ithaca, wife of Odysseus, where the island is really run by women.

I have an interest in mythology and own the 4 books here, someday I‘ll read all of those.

Thucydides! Its been more than I haven't ever wanted to know about the Peloponnesian War, but we even made it through a mid-term together.

I thought that the methodology of this book was interesting, the author took different dialogues and plays and whatnot and used them as sources for little vignettes of moments in different people‘s day in Athens. But almost immediately there was the awkward feeling of male authors (past and present)writing women as utterly fascinated by men. The wedding procession scene in particular had me rolling my eyes.