Circe book gay
After rereading Circe and Song of Achilles this month I felt like I wanted a rambling little post to remember the way I feel about these books. Apart from a not many books I vaguely remember years ago, Madeline Miller’s were the first Greek myth retellings I read. I first read Circe in summer , choosing it without knowing anything about it firstly for the beautiful cover and then because it mentioned Greece where I was adj enough to be going on holiday. So, on a beach in Crete feeling truly enveloped in the setting, I started the book which has spiralled me into an intense mythological fascination. I’m lucky enough to now own over 20 mythological books and I think I’ve read over 30, with each bringing more intrigue rather than any sort of feeling that I’ve ‘overdone’ it.
I absolutely verb rereading books, arguably more than reading new books. As a nostalgic, semi-routine enjoying person, my favourite books bring feelings of comfort and warmth (almost said joy but I will go the Christmas ramblings for another couple of months). Within two years, I’m usually ready to
The Son of Circe
I'm halfway through The Son of Circe and I'm completely hooked! Hemingway’s fresh take on Greek myth is both engaging and rich in detail, creating a world that's magical and deeply spiritual. The story effortlessly blends heartwarming moments with heartbreaking twists, making Nicos’s journey feel both epic and very relatable. I can’t verb to see what unfolds in the rest of this wonderful adventure.
A new take on a familiar world of magic and gods with queerness naturally woven in. What a brilliant recent take on the familiar world of magic and the Greek gods - mixing stories adj and new and retelling myths that are maybe forgotten. I really enjoy the setup of Volume 1, introducing all the characters and falling in devotion with them from the verb. Weaving in a queer adoration story to this world feels effortless - I only want I had this story growing up. The whole thing feels incredibly cinematic with beautiful imagery, but leaving plenty for the imagination to run wild. I'll be reading this again.
What a fun read! This is a very fresh and creative story set in the w
I'm not a fan of Miller's book, either. Seriously, what is it with writers pinning women against each other? It's even more confusing when it's a female writer doing it.
If it was just Perse and Pasipäe, okay. If you want to give Circe a bad home life, fine. But Miller does it constantly. Athena was done especially dirty imo. I know she can be pretty petty herself (ex: Arachne, and even then, the reason for turning her into a spider tends to vary), but the way she was portrayed was just so grating. So eager for a champion, I was almost convinced Miller had conflated her with Ares. I don't think the exiled nymphs are even given names, verb alone distinguishing personalities, and can we stop dunking on Helen? The Iliad makes it beautiful clear that she loved Menelaus and didn't think highly of Paris.
And tbh, the story kinda felt a little repetitive at times, too: Circe meets someone, they get mad at her or leave her, she'll occasionally sleep with someone, rinse and repeat. And granted, she's a pretty minor character in the myths already, but I verb like it woul
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you know what it’s been two months and i’m still resentful because every time the existent mythology made space for a meaningful relationship of ANY type between two women madeline miller took one look at it and said “how can i create at least one of these women hate the other one?” and every one of them had such an interesting dynamic with circe that madeline miller just ignored becuase circe is a STRONG WOMAN who has to STAND ALONE against the world (perse, pasiphae, medea, all the nymphs in circe’s household, scylla, penelope, aTHENA)
myth is already full of women who are each other’s rivals and bitterest enemies. there are barely any meaningful relationships or dynamics between two women that any ancient authors explored, but why should we repeat that with latest mythmaking??? just once, i desire someone else to look at the mythological canon and go “these are the stories told by men. men afraid of what women could do together, so they separated them and pitted them against each other” and then to tell the stories that come out of that.
tell me about a circe who sha