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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.

A 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/?

4.5/5 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

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

#myths #greek

This 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

While it is true that the AI is a better character than any of the human character and it is very dry, it does explain everything clearly and gives you a lot to think about. This is what books and Arthur C. Clarke can do really well. Ask big questions and really make you think.

Check out our discussion about it on our Mind Duck Books Podcast ep.60: https://bit.ly/3S8tGMB

#2001 #space #odyssey #arthur #clarke

For 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! 😉

Just finished The Changeling an hour ago and finished during a reading sprint (well, what counts for a reading sprint for me😉)
So good. Otherworldly/magical realism/horror set in New York City. A family drama in so many ways steeped in mythology. It examined motherhood/parenthood and the lengths we go to protect the ones we love.
I definitely recommend it! This is going to stick with me for a long time.
#SundayFunday @TheBookmarkTavern

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.