Five Happy Things
Books for Fans of Greek Mythology
A couple of weeks ago I shared five of my favorite big, chunky books of historical fiction. The comments were fantastic - full of great suggestions. Rachel mentioned The Mists of Avalon, which got me thinking about The Firebrand, which got me thinking about other novels based on Greek mythology, and now here we are!
Five of my favorite books based on Greek mythology. 🙂
Circe by Madeline Miller - This is a recent read for me and I really loved it. The Odyssey has always been a favorite, and I love books that tell a familiar story from the “villain’s” point of view. I wrote about this book here, and mentioned that I’ve been shying away from Miller’s Song of Achilles because I always thought Achilles was such a whiny character. Lots of people said the book was great, so this is my reminder to myself to move it higher up in the To Read pile. 🙂 (Bookshop link, Amazon link)
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley - This book tells the tale of the Trojan War from Cassandra’s point of view. Remember Cassandra? She was a priestess of Apollo, and when she refused to sleep with him he cursed her by giving her the gift of prophecy - but making it so no one would ever believe her warnings. Apollo is such a tool. (Bookshop link, Amazon link)
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood - It took Odysseus ten years to get home from the Trojan War, and Penelope (his wife) waited for him the whole time - putting off a whole horde of suitors who invaded her home in his absence. This book tells her story. (Bookshop link, Amazon link)
Lempriere’s Dictionary by Lawrence Norfolk - This one’s a bit more obscure than others in this list. Lempriere is a young man in the 18th century, writing a dictionary of classical mythology, when people around him start dying in very weird ways that mirror the weird deaths in Greek mythology. This isn’t a light read. It’s rich and lush and wide-ranging and detailed - and I loved it. (Bookshop link, Amazon link)
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - Percy Jackson is a modern-day son of Poseidon. He teams up with a bunch of other demigods (along with modern-day versions of pretty much every character from Greek mythology) in this fun series. There are a LOT of books in the series - so if you like it, you’re in luck! There’s more! The books are intended for ages ten and up. Don’t let that stop you from enjoying them! (Bookshop link, Amazon link)
Bonus! If you just want to read the myths, I highly recommend the retellings by Stephen Fry. He reminds me of my mythology teacher in college, who retold the tales in such a funny, irreverent, unstuffy way that it was crystal clear why these stories have endured. Mythos, Heroes, Troy, and (coming in May) Odyssey.
What fabulous retellings of Greek myths have I missed? Tell us in the comments!
You can find past newsletters with book recommendations here.
Enjoy!
Best,
Wendi
❤️
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I'm so excited about this book list. I'm heading to my local independent bookstore for a librarian friend dinner date and author presentation and now I've got a shopping list!