As always, I have chosen a couple of books to read during my upcoming trip to Mexico. The theme of my selected reading material this time is Greek mythology, and both books are written by authors whose work I have previously read.
In her novel “Circe”, Madeline Miller draws on Greek myths, including “The Odyssey”, to reimagine the life of the enchantress Circe and her love affair with the wandering Odysseus. Circe is often portrayed as a predatory female, but Miller delves in the psychology of a misunderstood woman. On an earlier trip, I read her novel “The Song of Achilles”, a retelling of the story of the legendary warrior of the Trojan War. It was a very good book, so I am looking forward to reading this one.
On my last trip I started reading Margaret George’s historical novel “The Confessions of Young Nero”. Some historians say that the infamous Roman emperor has been unjustly vilified. (He definitely did not “fiddle while Rome burned”!) George’s meticulously researched novel gives a more sympathetic portrait of Nero. For this trip, I have chosen another one of her novels, “Helen of Troy”. It will be interesting to see how she interprets the legend of the beautiful queen whose face launched a thousand ships.
