No matter what else you might think about them, no one knows how to do drama like the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. And no one knows how to translate this drama for the modern mind like Madeline Miller. In her last novel, Song of Achilles, she showed the softer side of the god famed as a warrior. Now she is back with Circe, the story of the daughter of Helios (the sun ... Read More...
The Song of Achilles
While it’s tempting to adopt an intellectual attitude, in this case I’m going to go with honesty and risk losing everyone’s respect: to date, my greatest interest in the Battle of Troy came when actors Eric Bana and Brad Pitt ran around fighting with no shirts on. There, I admitted it. I’ve never read Homer’s Odyssey or The Iliad. I’m a sexist cretin—until now. Author Madeline ... Read More...
The Dovekeepers
I’ve read enough Alice Hoffman to believe that she is one of the world’s best writers about women. Her plots may be fantastical but even as her female characters behave in magical and mystical ways their deepest mystery lies in their female essence. Imagine then, taking a subject as masculine and obscure as the decimation of the Jews at the siege of Masada- the ... Read More...
