Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“And he’ll burn our horizons / make no mistakes”

The Song of Achilles (2011) by Madeline Miller

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Spoiler alerts for a Bronze Age epic poem, I guess, also content note for discussion of sex in this review. I liked this but I didn’t love it. Homer’s Iliad is about blood and fire and gods and fate, about a war that made heroes and villains into legends that echoed through the ages (and sometimes switched their positions). The Song of Achilles is about one of these heroes, the titular Achilles, he of the heel, and his lover Patroclus, and it’s…sweet? And (rather surprisingly) […]

One of My Year’s Best

Circe by Madeline Miller

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Whether or not you know anything about Greek Mythology is irrelevant when it comes to reading Circe. You could go in cold, like I did, or with a vast knowledge of the myths. If, like me, you thought of Greek myths as being about otherwordly beings who have little in common with mortals, you may be pleasantly surprised by this book. Miller makes the gods human, accessible, fallible, and vulnerable. And I guess anyone who knows anything about these stories might already know that, but […]

Take a Small Character from The Odyssey and Make Her Shine

Circe by Madeline Miller

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You know how girls get lumped into groups based on their interests as a child? Like, you had horse girls, or gymnastics girls, or gemstone girls. I was a Greek mythology girl. I inherited my copy of D’aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths from my older sisters and read it so many times it fell apart. When we were assigned The Odyssey in high school, I read all of it. Willingly. And then did it again in college. The Firebrand was one of my favorite books […]

Ancient beings, modern sensibility

Circe by Madeline Miller

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I loved Song of Achilles in a way that was surprising to me. Madeline Miller was suggested as an author who works well for someone who is interested in good writing with literary weight that feels a little lighter. Or, not exactly lighter (actually, when you start talking about gods and goddesses, things get quite dark pretty quickly) but something more plot driven, I suppose. I’m pretty late to these novels, which might mean that I’m enjoying them just in time for a new one […]

CBR 15 Bingo – Relation”ship”

Circe by Madeline Miller

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I was very late to the party on this one, but I’m sure glad I was invited. I heard how good this book was for a few years, but for one reason or another, I never got around to it. I did read The Song of Achilles last year and loved it, but I didn’t want to dive into Circe immediately afterwards. Achilles is HEARTBREAKING and I needed a breather. When I was a kid, I was OBSESSED with Greek Mythology, so the story of […]

If you have to go, I will go with you.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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“Did he know, or only guess at Achilles’ destiny? As he lay alone in his rose-colored cave, had some glimmer of prophecy come to him? Perhaps he simply assumed: a bitterness of habit, of boy after boy trained for music and medicine, and unleashed for murder.” ― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles “We reached for each other, and I thought of how many nights I had lain awake loving him in silence.” ― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles I haven’t felt the need […]



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