I ♥ the premise of this meme {WWW Wednesdays} due to the dexterity it gives the reader! Smiles. Clearly subject to change on a weekly rotation, which may or may not lead to your ‘next’ read providing a bit of a paradoxical mystery to your readers!! Smiles. ♥ the brilliance of it’s concept!
This weekly meme was originally hosted by Should Be Reading who became A Daily Rhythm. Lovingly restored and continued by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words. Each week you participate, your keen to answer the following questions:
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What are you currently reading!?
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What did you recently finish reading!?
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What do you think you’ll read next!?
After which, your meant to click over to THIS WEEK’s WWWWednesday to share your post’s link so that the rest of the bloggers who are participating can check out your lovely answers! Score! Perhaps even, find other bloggers who dig the same books as you do! I thought it would serve as a great self-check to know where I am and the progress I am hoping to have over the next week!
Join the Convo via: #WWWWednesday
Guess who hasn’t revisited THE ODYSSEY since seventh grade!?
Any guesses!? Anyone!? Laughs.
Wait to you find out what changed my mind about a book I refused to ever re-read!
During Round One in [2018], I had the joy of discovering this lovely & beautiful readathon #Mythothon hosted by a bookish mate of mine, Louise @ Foxes Fairy Tale – wherein she encouraged all of us to seek out re-inspired tales straight out of Greek Mythology and to take ourselves visually to a hidden sub-niche of Speculative Fiction – across genres and stories of interest, as there are many Gods & Goddess within Greek Mythos to be explored. You can re-visit the Reading List I composed for #Mythothon Year One – whilst you might want to re-visit the reading list I compiled for the second year.
Remember why I wanted to dig into #Mythothon originally in [2018]?
In truth, I’ve been toying with the idea of adding Classical Mythos & Mythos retellings to my Classics Club List – as much as the fact, there are rare moments where I have ventured into Mythos whilst reading as a book blogger. Some were misses for me – one rather became an #epicfail of EPIC proportions whilst the other one let me down for the potential I saw inside it.
And, now I shall reveal – what motivated me to revisit a book I had such a strong aversion towards reading. It was all due to the extra offerings & free audiobooks via Audible which swayed the scales in favour of re-visiting THE ODYSSEY this September for me! You see, there was an adverted new release wherein *Claire Danes* narrated a new adaptation of the Classic text and story; it took on a more direct impression of the story itself *and!* took out a lot of what I never liked about it, too! In fact, this particular version of the story felt more authentic to me even before the interview vlogs with Ms Danes mentioned the same observation!
THE ODYSSEY originally entered my life as a 7th Grader whose English Lit teacher was so enthused by the original story and the original translations of it, he couldn’t understand why ANY of us could not get just as excited as he was about it and for the same reasons. I tried to explain it to him, about what turnt me off the text, what wasn’t working for me as a reader and why the whole project of going into Greek Mythology at that junction in my life just wasn’t the right time to pursue it. Somehow I made it through that class with a passing grade but I was at odds with him the entire year and it was exhausting. Sadly, I was the only one in my class who refuted his lesson plans and tried to get us to change course.
I knew then it would be a very hard sell for me to find my way back into reading or listening to any variant of THE ODYSSEY as he just spoilt any chance of me liking it at all. Blessedly, all these years forward now into my fourth decade, I do not remember the specifics of what I disliked and can re-attach myself back into this story with fresh eyes and a fresh perspective. However, I do believe it has a lot to do with Claire Danes and the new translator of the piece itself. Sometimes you can get a bad vibe off a book without delving too far afield into it and that’s okay. Not every book is going to be a huggable book and its okay to admit sometimes the best loved books are just not the ones for us personally. In this regard, I’m hoping I can overcome that 7th Grade reaction and find both peace and resolution in re-discovering this version of THE ODYSSEY.
And, for that – I am in full gratitude to Lou. As without #Mythothon, I might never had even chanced listening to those vlog interviews by Danes or considered purchasing a copy of the audiobook. Lou planted the seed of interest and allowed me to gain such a fierce curiosity about Mythology that I must admit, its been one heck of a journey these past few years!
Now without further delay,
let’s dig into what #JorieReads during the fifth cycle of #Mythothon!
- follow the official social feeds via @Mythothon
- full details via @foxesfairytale the blog!
- you might find this Mythological Re-Telling List helpful as I had myself!
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- #Mythothon 2021