It's All Greek to Me

Hey you guys, remember blogging? Apparently I forgot about it for several MONTHS. I apologize. All is well, just kind of lost track of this thing. (Maybe now that social media is imploding, blogs will make a comeback and I'll be blogging every day again...?!)

Hope everyone had a nice, um, summer, and fall. We spent some time up in Maine, particularly in the fall, which is our favorite time to be there because the crowds are gone. Like last year, we went up for two whole weeks in September, which meant sitting and reading on a mostly empty beach and getting to eat at the last few outdoor restaurants still open for the season (with heaters). (Yes, we're still not dining at indoor restaurants...)

Did you all have a nice Thanksgiving? I rely on my blog a lot at Thanksgiving when I'm cooking for 6 days straight—all my tried-and-true recipes are here! And that's another thing to be thankful for, as well as having four 90-ish-year-olds at our table this year (specifically, Andy's mom is 89, my mom is 90, and Andy's dad and aunt are 93). It was a delight to have all my kids together!

As for the title of this post, this fall I read three books in a row that I didn't realize would have a common thread of ancient Greek myth! Which you know I love (and if you do too and still haven't read Madeline Miller's Circe and The Song of Achilles, I urge you to get your hands on them right away). 

The first book was Mythos by Stephen Fry (yes, that Stephen Fry—the actor/comedian/writer). I had bought this when it first came out (2019!) and then promptly forgot about it—I think it ended up on the bottom of the pile because it has such a large trim size, and there it languished. Well, I'm so glad I unearthed it. What a delight! Fry retells just about every myth that is known (or even partially known) with his own witty, modern spin. (Sample line: "Next Gaia visited her daughter Mnemosyne, who was busy being unpronounceable.") I see that there's also an audio version, which would probably be great fun. To be honest, I can't imagine anyone reading this book straight through. Instead, leave it next to your favorite reading chair and pick it up whenever you have a few minutes. It's not like you need to keep track of the characters and plot. As Fry says in the intro, "You don't need to know anything to read this book; it starts with an empty universe." 

While I was picking my way through Mythos, I started The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. You may recall that Towles's A Gentleman in Moscow was one of my favorite books of all time, so I was eager to read this. Here's what the Amazon synopsis says: "Set in the 1950s, The Lincoln Highway is filled with nostalgia as well as the gentle naïveté and hijinks of those who are young, optimistic, and on a mission. The story follows four boys who set out to travel the country in search of a fresh start: Emmett and Billy want to find their mother who left them when they were young, and Duchess and Woolly are on the hunt for a stashed wad of cash. Sometimes their dreams are aligned but often they are not. In other words, adventure ensues: There’s train hopping and car stealing, and with that comes the inevitability of trouble sparked from both good and bad intentions. Each of these young men is chasing his dreams, but their pasts—whether violent or sad—are never far behind." If you found A Gentleman in Moscow to be lacking somewhat in plot, that surely isn't the case here. This book takes place over 10 days (and almost 600 pages!) and is most definitely an "escapade," as one of the characters calls it. From a work camp for juveniles to a rundown old farm in Nebraska to the bright lights of Manhattan and a few places in between, these guys are on the move. Each of them has a slightly different reason for being out there, but they are all in it together. Towles writes with such warmth and heart that even when bad stuff happens, it's still not that bad. Oh, and back to the Greek theme: Billy never goes anywhere without his favorite book, a collection of 26 stories about heroes, from A (Apollo) to Z (Zorro). One of the stories is of course about Ulysses, and wouldn't you know that they meet a Ulysses along the way... Big thumbs up here for great writing, authentic characters, and a fun caper.

Next up on my TBR pile was Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. I had really loved his Pulitzer winner, All the Light We Cannot See. That one takes place during World War II and follows the stories of a young blind girl in France and a young soldier in Germany, who we just know will meet up at some point. It's really lovely—I almost didn't read it because I've pretty much sworn off war stories, but I'm so glad I made an exception. So in Cloud Cuckoo Land, Doerr once again intertwines different characters, but in this case we also have three different time periods. In the 22nd century, a teenage girl and her parents are on a spacecraft headed toward a new world. In current-day Idaho, an old man who had fought in the Korean War is helping students stage a play at their local library, which is also frequented by a troubled teenage boy. And in 15th-century Constantinople, a young seamstress is unaware of the young shepherd outside the walls of her besieged city. WHAT?! Yes, really, and what do they all have in common? A little-known ancient Greek story by Diogenes, and that's all I'll say. It is just plain astonishing how Doerr was able to pull this whole thing off, but he did, and it's dazzling. The writing is gorgeous. 

Right now I'm reading The Plot by by Jean Hanff Korelitz and loving it. How about you?

Comments

[Margaret]

Loved "The Lincoln Highway" and "Circe." I enjoyed "Song of Achilles" too but wasn't as passionate about it as "Circe."

[Sharon]

Hi Karen! I came here to look for a book recommendation and you had two new posts! It’s so amazing how our kids have turned i to adults and we haven’t gotten any older. I think of you often when we spend time in Boston. We spent a week there this summer for some Red Sox games and planning to return again I’m June for Dead and Company and some more baseball.