#also a recommendation for a good illiad retelling: a thousand ships

[quidfree]

How to get over the fact that I find Greek myth retellings so boring. I know that there's gonna be some good ones hit its just an instant turn off No I Do Not want to read song of achillies

lmfaooooo pls

i actually tend to really enjoy any kind of myth x modernity set-up but i feel you. i never really read miller's stuff because.. idk, when it was huge on tumblr i was in my mid teens and kind of annoyed by how much everyone was acting like she was the second coming of christ, and then later i saw excerpts of it and decided it kind of smacked too much of YA and too little of the illiad so i continued to ignore it. but i did read a lot of percy jackson in middle school.

if you're going to go for a modern greek myth retelling hadestown is hands down my biggest recommendation. it's so good as a musical and as a classics redo. on the other hand, do not engage with lore olympus, which is possibly the worst 'greek myth' content known to modern man (i really don't like almost every choice made for that story). but as retellings go i'm actually pretty partial to all of the 40s anouilh/giraudoux etc redos of the classic plays (antigone, elektra, etc)- the style is really good and modern and punchy but it retains the slow burn of ancient tragedy. pasolini's oedipus rex is also like one of the worst movie-going experiences i've ever had but i think it could be almost fun to watch drunk and probably very nightmarish to watch high.

i don't have many strict greek retellings to rec from the 21st century, unfortunately. i recently read 'a thousand ships' which in theory is very cool (focuses on the women of the illiad) but in practice is very milquetoast because the writing isn't very strong and the author keeps harping on about the premise in-text instead of incorporating it into the story- i guess i can recommend that in the sense that it does add some interesting scraps of content to the illiad. otherwise, for non-greek myth retellings, american gods is conceptually really good and s1 of the show was very engaging and visually stellar. good omens (the show) is fun. does bbc merlin count? i'm forgetting books but i'll get back to this when i remember.

also as a side-note western culture is really oversaturated with grecoroman mythology and there's a lot of other content out there nowadays that's integrating ancient myth with modern storytelling so if you're tired of the greek content there is a world of opportunity out there yk

#qui parle #qui repond #myths #retelling #greek mythology #recs #anon

[euyrdices]

Hey I saw your reading post and I just wanted to say I relate and you should be proud!! 💞 Uni also stopped me from reading as much, but now I've graduated I've been reading like I used to when I was little and it's the best feeling!! What's are your favourite books you've read so far this year?

thank you so much, that was very sweet of you!! 💛 my favorite books so far are:

catch and kill by ronan farrow: it is about the process of breaking the harvey weinstein story and about the systems that silence the victims and the journalists who are trying to break these stories. it’s a nonfiction that reads like fiction and it was a super fast read. would not recommend if sexual assault are triggering for you for obvious reasons

conversations with friends by sally rooney: it’s about frances and bobbi, who are young artists in dublin and become acquainted with an older couple, nick and melissa, and the intricacies of their relationships. i read normal people last year and loved it, and i also loved this book so much. i love sally rooney and related way too much to frances lol

água viva by clarice lispector: i don’t know how to describe this book, it’s a journey worth reading. clarice is one of my favorite writers and definitely one of brazil’s best (one of the best period tbh). her prose reads like poetry and it’s beautiful, if you dont speak portuguese be sure to read a good translation

circe by madeline miller: i love a good greek mythology retelling!! this one centers around circe, who is a minor character in the odyssey and i loved it so much.

circe sent me in a mythology retelling rabbit hole (which is great, i love greek mythology!) and after that i read a thousand ships by natalie haynes, which is a retelling of the illiad from the perspective of the women and i really liked it.

exciting times by naoise dolan: this one is very similar to sally rooney books, specially conversations with friends lol. i believe it’s a hit or miss, some people loved it and others hated it. i really liked it and liked it more after i finished reading. i thought it was such an interesting way of depicting romantic entanglements in a nonromantic way?? this kinda fascinated me

i also read a short story that i really liked that was free on amazon called a espera by brazilian writer lygia fagundes telles, but i believe it’s only available in portuguese :( but you should read some of her work if you can find in english/your native language!

sorry if my answer is late, i logged off tumblr after that to do some uni work lol