Mythology March
For the entire month of March I have immersed myself in Greek Mythology retellings, here are my reflections and some book recommendations.
During the month of March, I decided to take part in a sort of challenge called “Mythology March” and finally dipping my toes into what is a now a quite popular genre: mythology retellings. I never actually track my readings so I was sure that I would just manage to read one or two books and call it day. Truth was that I picked, quite randomly, the first read and that it got me hooked and I read it in three days. It was “Girl, Goddess, Queen” by Bea Fitzerald, a Persephone and Hades retelling (which I highly recommend, by the way). After that, it all flew super naturally one after the other until Easter Sunday, when I finished reading “Mythos” by Stephen Fry.
Here is the list of the books I have read for this challenge:
Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzerald
Medusa by Rosie Hewlett
Here, The World Entire by Anwen Kya Hayward
Atalanta by Jennifer Saint
Circe by Madeline Miller
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
Mythos by Stephen Fry
I decided to stick with Greek mythology because I already knew the source material. But I don’t deny that in the future I may branch out to Norse mythology, as I am quite curious about it. From the books read in March, I have to say that my favourite has been “Girl, Goddess, Queen”. Not only the romance was amazinlgy described and developed, but, still sticking to the original myth, the story ended in an uplifting way. This book gave me such a hangover that I am tempted to rered it as soon as my hardback copy will arrive (I read it on Kindle first).
The good thing about mythology retellings is that you don’t have to know the original ones in order to enjoy them, they are simply (tragic) novels. Sure, if you are a completionist like me, you may want to start with “Mythos” by Stephen Fry. I loved that book, but I started it at the beginning of the month and one third in I was super impatient to dig into the retellings so, in the end, I set it aside and I waited to have read all the books for the months before getting back to it and finish it. So my advice would be, if you feel like rushing through it because you actually want to read the retellings, then put it aside. Fry’s writing is so entertaining that needs to be savoured.
This was my very first monthly challenge and I’m quite surprised by how much I enjoyed it!
Now that the month is over, I moved out to other genres but I still have “Clytemnestra” by Costanza Casati on my bookshelf to read and I’m actually looking forward to it.
Have you ever read Greek Mythology retellings? Any good recommendation?
My Libby holds list just got a bit longer. :-) Miller's Circe is a favorite; I'm looking forward to exploring other titles you've shared here.