2024 Non-Fiction Favourites: Some stellar memoirs, great art collections, fantastic works on horror, and a whole, heaping helping of why prison should be abolished, as well as some other highly educational material on topics near and dear to me.
pickA favourite of 2024, for sure. So many things about this just worked so well for me. A richer, more patient examination of the Odyssey than I've previously encountered in the flurry of four years of a Greek and Roman Studies BA; a focus on its language and its themes, occasionally dipping into the original Greek in a way I never had the chance to encounter; the significance of the original word choice. 1/?
pickpickThis retell of Homer‘s The Odyssey is a mix of poetry and prose. It‘s not quite a Halloween read, but the story is told by Penelope and the 12 maids after they are dead. They are angry at what happened to them, and they will have their say:
”we are the maids
the ones you killed
the ones you failed
we danced in air
our barre feet twitched
it was not fair …”
This looks crazy. https://youtu.be/FuOQXSyFcP0?si=7bYvn4M7xSYp24Id
I read the original iliad and odyssey and i must say i like the way they interprettded this one, sorry for the spelling
pickFor anyone who is at all interested in Homer, this book is an absolute treasure trove. I wish it had been around when I was studying the Iliad and Odyssey thirty years (😳) ago. An unexpected bonus was how lyrically AN writes about sailing and the sea. Just gorgeous. It briefly made me as nostalgic as Odysseus yearning for his Ithaca! 😉
Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall, it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.
Love this idea. On my travels on the way home from Byron Bay Writer‘s Festival, I came across these free books donated by the local library at Casino train Station. I took the tagged book home with me. It was a long wait at this station, an hour longer than it was supposed to be due to signal failure at Brisbane. I was ok with it as what else can you do? I stood in the sun reading as I knew I‘d be sitting on my butt on the train for hours later.
The free book table has been restocked! I know who did it because I recognize the name of the English instructor written in the cover of the sudden fiction book. Probably good that I was in a hurry to get to my therapy appointment, otherwise I would‘ve ended up with more! #bookhaul
