Operation Read Those Books: Days 12-15

(You can read more about the Operation Read Those Books project here.)

I meant to write a catch-up post yesterday, but ended up just listening to the news out of Connecticut and crying. Lord have mercy on those poor families.

So . . . today I caught up and finally finished reading about Pytheas. Now my mind is spinning with images of amber and Iceland and the library at Alexandria.

What did I read? Chapters 5-8, which covered:
-Pytheas' exploration - by boat and on foot - of Britain
-the likelihood that Pytheas made it to Iceland
-the amber trade
-what happened to Pytheas' manuscripts after he wrote them

Verdict?
I enjoyed this book. It got a little tedious at times only because I didn't share the author's interest in mathematics and astronomy, but my shortcomings are hardly his fault. My only other criticism is that this book could have been vastly improved by more and better maps. The illustrator/cartographer produced really sloppy, impressionistic maps rather than accurate, well-lettered ones, and that made it harder than it should have been to follow the author's detailed descriptions.


I was struck by how following just one subject - in this case, Pytheas - in detail can illuminate a score of other topics. This book covered geography, burial customs, sailing ships, map-making, astronomy, archeology, the nature of scholarship both in modern and ancient times, and many other subjects, all because the author was trying to illuminate the life of one man.


The project
In other news, I'm really enjoying this Operation Read Those Books project. I'm going to have to continue it on past December, especially as I keep adding new books to my currently-reading shelf. But regularly reading non-fiction feels like it does good stuff to my brain, and I want to keep up the habit. 


Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Yarnalong: Whisper Cardigan and Ovid's "Metamorphoses"

Well, I'm still plodding along on my Whisper Cardigan, but at least this week I got a picture that shows the pretty rosewood yarn a little better:

Such a lovely neutral! I think it's because it's got all that pink and green in it - in other words, the shades the neutral's made up of aren't neutral at all.

I'm past the back gather and headed towards the second sleeve. One of the nice things about this pattern is that I can try it on as I go, and thus far I'm pretty happy with the fit.

The book is Ovid's Metamorphoses, which I'm re-reading as research for my next novel, which is going to be set in Bronze-Age Greece. (Well . . . Bronze-Age Greece and an alien planet. Because if mythic heroes are fun, mythic heroes plus aliens are more fun, right?)

I read Ovid back in college, and so far I'm enjoying going through it again, which is not surprising since  Metamorphoses was meant to be entertainment. But I remember getting tired of it by the end last time - all the caprice of the gods, all the death and rape and the mess of the old legends . . . well, even if they are just myths (is there such a thing as just myths?), it's hard to read hundreds of pages of that without weariness. Maybe it'll be different now since I'm reading it with the purpose of mining it for story ideas? My plot might have its dark moments, but I intend it to be full of a good deal more forward action and purpose and even redemption than Ovid is . . . hmm. I'll have to pay attention to see if there's a difference between reading-Ovid-for-class and reading-Ovid-looking-for-spare-parts. :D

So, if you were going to retell a myth, which one would you choose? And, more interestingly . . . would you keep the original ending, or give it a more hopeful spin?

. . . speaking of old myths retold, if you're looking for the best example ever, you just cannot go wrong with Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis' retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth. Oh my goodness. It might be the most perfectly-written novel ever. The first time I read it I felt like I was banging my head against a concrete wall - it was just so big and solid and I could tell I just wasn't mature enough to take it all in (I, um, was a teenager at the time). The second time I read it I said, "This is the best book I've ever read". (Older teenager reaction there.) And I've reread it regularly ever since, loving it more every time. (Yay adulthood!)

So, ah, I suppose the moral of this post is "forget the Ovid, go read Lewis"? Not what I meant to say when I started out . . . :D

More yarn and book goodness can be found here, at Ginny's blog.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Book Notes: The Mycenaeans by Lord William Taylor

The Mycenaeans by William Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been skimming lots of books while researching the background of the Trojan War, but this one I read all the way through. I found it a great overview, in that it gave me a broad picture of the society and geography, but it didn't neglect interesting details either. The chapter on the slow unraveling of the mystery of Linear B was particularly fascinating - my admiration for the scholars who threw their intellectual resources into solving a puzzle they had no guarantee they'd be able to beat is huge!

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Note: This probably qualifies as one of those "dry academic works" people talk about. But if you're interested in Homer or the story of the Trojan War, you might at least give it a look-over - especially that chapter on Linear B! Real academic detective work, that.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell