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caseyreads

caseyreads

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The Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Pancham Sinh, Swami Swatmarama
Pastel 15
Toshihiko Kobayashi
The Dog Stars
Peter Heller
The Iliad - Homer, Samuel Butler I read the Iliad because I am re-reading the Odyssey before I attempt Ulysses by Joyce. I figured, probably like some other readers here, I might as well read the Iliad because the stories are related.

I plodded along through this.

The interactions and scheming between the gods was by far the most interesting and riveting. The rivalry between Athena and Apollo, bickering between Zeus and Hera...it captivated me. I can't say I remembered a lot of Greek mythology before starting, but by the end, I understood the personalities of the different gods and their dynamic relationships well.

Now...for the battle scenes...the Iliad is one long, tedious battle. For the whole book. Basically you get a rinse and repeat of Tom son of Bob from XYZ-land throws a spear and kills Steven son of Henry. And then someone might tell a backstory about someone. This goes on and on and on and on. I got tired of reading about random characters that would appear for a few sentences and then disappear. Obviously, lineage was extremely important! But it makes for a tedious read.

I am surprised that nothing more happened to Paris. He started the whole mess! He had a few, scant scenes, and then there wasn't any more mention of him. I suppose it comes down to whatever the gods want to happen.