In which there was a lot of "yes, but" and "hm, I like this, but not that" going on on my part. This is the second Haynes take on Greek myths I've rad - or is it the third? - and evidently, her books captivate me, I want to finish them. On the other hand, I also oftne feel like wailing "but if you shy away from this and that and also that, why did ( Read more... )

Which is what cahn wants to know. Allowing for variances due to mood and time of life, I think my overall favourite of the tragedies is probably Euripides' Medea. I have yet to see a production which doesn't captivate me - and I've even seen one in Greek without subtitles, at the Salzburg Festival - , and it's a role made for actresses to excell at. I ( Read more... )

I'm a bid under the weather right now, but have some Chocolate Box Ficathon tales I very much enjoyed:

15th Century History:

Made Glorious Summer: terse and beautiful take on the complex brotherly relationship between Edward IV and (future) Richard III.

Star Trek: Discovery:

Shelter in the Storm: in which Michael and Saru support each ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

While Christmas shopping, I saw Pat Barker published a sequel to her novel The Silence of the Girls, called The Women of Troy. If The Silence of the Girls narrates the Iliad from Briseis' perspective, The Women of Troy takes its inspiration from Euripides' play Troades, "The Trojan Women", set after the fall of Troy but before the Greeks leave ( Read more... )

Which I picked up because a) Pat Barker (had liked her WWI trilogy), b) I'd heard it said it was the anti Madelaine Miller/Song of Achilles. (I'm good with the second half of Madeline Miller's Circe, but Song of Achilles felt like an excellent example of a terrible slash story to me.) Also that Briseis, who is the main character, is decidedly not ( Read more... )

This was my official assignment. "Apollo/Admetus" was one of the pairings my recipient had asked for. Before, I had been aware of Admetus mainly through him being Alcestis' husband, though I had noticed he showed up in a couple of other myths as well, but I hadn't known, for example, that Ovid claims he and Apollo had been an item during Apollo's ( Read more... )

As promised, a Yuletide (and not celebrity death) exception to the no more until February rule; I want to get these recs out there before the reveal. Incidentally, state of my own Yuletide tales: the two treats got lovely comments from their respective recipients, the official assignment recipient apparantly has had a busy week but has now ( Read more... )

The other day I came across a delightful poem: Anchises, by
( Read more... )

My recipient liked her story, and I got some nice feedback from other people as well. Colour me pleased. (I still think it's glaringly obvious I wrote it, so I shan't make people guess.) Now, as to the continuing wonders of the Yuletide ficathon, here's my second rec post:

Blade Runner:

Retirement: as opposed to, say, Terminators or Cylons, ( Read more... )