Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“You be the captain, I’ll be no one

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

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  The story and characters contained in Song of Achilles will be familiar to anyone who knows their Greek history.  It is the story of Iliad.  It’s conceit is that it is told from the perspective of Patroclus, the companion of Achilles.  Different treatments of the legend vary on what type of “companion” he was but in Madeline Miller’s, Patroclus and Achilles are unambiguously lovers.  Exiled from his own land as a boy, Patroclus is sent to live in the house of Achilles’ father. Over […]

Beautiful prose and a beautiful take on an ancient tale

Circe by Madeline Miller

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Madeline Miller’s Circe has been on my radar since it came out, and The Song of Achilles even longer. There were many reviews on CBR last year of the book, most of them praising it if I remember correctly. But it took me a while to actually pick it up. Clearly I should have before, because I loved it! The novel tells the story of the long life of the demi-god/witch Circe of ancient Greek mythology and her interactions with mortals and monsters and gods. […]

Apparently it’s analogies week here on Octothorp’s Review Page

Circe by Madeline Miller

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I liked this book, but it’s my Buffy the Vampire Slayer – I liked it but everyone I know whose taste I respect LOVED it. It should tick all my boxes (and as this is a story about the Greek Pantheon, there’s plenty of box ticking if you know what I mean), but it was just good for me, not great. I love Greek Mythology, I love revisiting classic tales from an ancillary character’s perspective, and I really love feminist reworkings of classic works. So […]

A witchin’ re-imagining

Circe by Madeline Miller

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Oh, how I loved this.  I saw everyone’s glowing comments on it on last year’s Cannonball Read, but my TBR pile was so big I couldn’t justify buying a new book.  Luckily I made an exception and once I picked it up last week I couldn’t put it down.  I have a backlog of reviews I need to write for other books I finished before I finished Circe, but I wanted to review this one first, before my feelings faded. Miller’s novel is a modern […]

Sometimes the stories we know are actually just the footnotes in another (better) story.

Circe by Madeline Miller

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I picked this up because I was seeing it evvvvverywherrrre.  I had low expectations because I am a contrarian and, in general, I don’t trust people’s opinions of books (except for Pajiba readers’, of course.)  But this book was so good!  It immediately became my new buy-it-for-everybody’s-birthday book. First, this book has it all: mythology, complex heroines, curses, potions, love, betrayal, exotic lands, gods and humans, bloodshed, magic, and monsters.  It also has an awesome female protagonist, “empowered” in the best way, by which I […]

“Maybe the real question is why are your friends so turn-into-pigsable?” BINGO

Circe by Madeline Miller

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#CBR11 Bingo: Remix  (Would also work for Award Winner, Listicle (was on a ton of Best of 2018 lists) and/or Cannonballer Recommends) Official book description: In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe has neither the look nor the voice of divinity, and is scorned and rejected by her kin. Increasingly isolated, she turns to mortals for companionship, leading her to discover a power forbidden to the gods: witchcraft. When love drives Circe […]



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