Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Old Story, New Take

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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One of my students suggested this book a few weeks ago, and I always try to take their recommendations seriously. Most of the time I’m disappointed, or their tastes just aren’t mine, but this one was an absolute winner. The Song of Achilles is one of the most poignant and beautiful novels I’ve read in a long time. Miller’s adaption of the Illiad is told from Patroclus’ point-of-view, and follows his relationship with Achilles from their boyhood meeting when Patroclus is banished to Phthia for accidentally killing […]

“Children long to be eaten. Everyone knows that.”

XO Orpheus: 50 New Myths by Kate Bernheimer (editor)

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Am I typing this up while wearing a tee featuring the cover of the d’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths? YOU KNOW IT! That strange tome of simplified myth and ultra-bright illustration cracked open a need in me when I was very young. I re-read that book countless times, and used it as the entry point into the larger world of mythology. Combined with a Catholic upbringing that was far more focused on the deaths of the saints than on anything else, you could saw I […]

Contemporary Eros and Psyche – the hitman and the influencer

Electric Idol by Katee Robert

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Psyche Demetriou wishes her mother would stop trying to push her at the most powerful men in Olympus to arrange a solid business alliance. She’s used to pretending to be shallow and vain, as well as deaf to all the voices who try to tear her down for her social position or body shape. She misses the quiet life before her mother became hugely powerful and sees the good in everyone, to the point where she spends time patching up dangerous hitman Eros at a […]

Hades and Persephone: The New Power Couple

Neon Gods by Katee Robert

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Neon Gods by Katee Robert was one of the few 2021 released books that I read. I succumbed to the hype around the premise of a modern retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth. In this sexy version of the Greek myth, Olympus is a modern city. The gods live in high-rise towers while the poor live closer to the ground. Zeus still rules but is more of a ruthless CEO with gangster tendencies. There are thirteen rich houses scheming for power. Most of them […]

Colorful and Challenging Times in Olympus

Lore Olympus volume 1 by Rachel Smythe

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It seems like one of the favorite Greek myths to retell right now is the story of Hades and Persephone. I know of at least two currently underway on Webtoons: Punderworld and Lore Olympus. The latter recently came out in hard copy book form for the first 25 chapters and also won Goodreads’ Best Graphic Novel or Comic of 2021. I was a little surprised to see it on display at the library (I figured it would be checked out with a waiting list), so […]

I don’t think I could possibly wait for all of these to be published in print

Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe

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A fair warning: this was lovely, but it is a very expensive way to read these comics–only episodes #1-25 are in this volume, and something like 160 have been published online. I’m happy to support the author! I can’t tell how to do so on the Webtoons website. A fanfic sent me to this series–a pretty explicit one, at that. I don’t think I needed much convincing though. Along with Beauty and the Beast, and Pride and Prejudice, Hades/Persephone is probably one of my favorite […]



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