How The Other Half Read: For All You Fellas

This time, it's another guest post from Georgia. More George updates coming soon...

One of the greatest male protagonists of all time has got to be the man of many turns: Odysseus. I've read the poem in translation and teach Armitage's version at school (for enrichment activities), though I'm still sad that I actually missed out on properly studying this epic at school and university - I was too interested in Vergil and the tragedians (both topics I do teach for A level, so it was probably a good call). I have read two great modern retellings of Classical epic: The Song of Achilles (Madeline Miller) and Lavinia (Ursula Le Guin); so I was very excited to complete the set by discovering a new take on the other one of the Big Three, namely The lost books of the Odyssey, by Zachary Mason. Rather than reworking the original, Mason works off the idea that, before Homer's epics were solidified in the eighth century BC by being written down for the first time, there may have been alternative endings and different stories told throughout the Aegean.  This collection of short stories, therefore, contains 44 apocryphal books of the Odyssey and it is brilliant. My favourites have to be The Stranger - where Odysseus meets a Trojan with the same memories as him, The Myrmidon Golem - where Achilles is literally a war-machine, The Iliad of Odysseus - painting Odysseus as the poet himself, and The Book of Winter - which has the most amazing last line. It's definitely one for those who are familiar, if not with the Odyssey itself, then at least with the main adventures of Odysseus, and it is a wonderful exploration of what-ifs.

Two books which were much better than I expected them to be were The Hobbit and The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes.  When the LOTR films came out I tried reading the books and never got past the first three pages; and so I decided not to bother with The Hobbit either. Again, Hannah is responsible for getting me to change my mind.  I loved it and sped through it. Of course, there is the irritation that there is nary a female character to be seen, but I still think it's a brilliant adventure and found myself growing to like Bilbo Baggins more and more as the tale went on.  In a strange way, it reminded me of a much-loved children's book: Pongwiffy! Must have been the goblins.  I also enjoyed The Sandman, especially for its reworking of classical mythology (yes, I'm aware I need to read American Gods) and its inclusion of John Dee, although I found the story-telling too fragmented for it to make for easy reading, and I'm not sure I'll continue with the series. (I know there may be some who would argue that a graphic novel doesn't count as a book, but I'm waving a merry two fingers at them.  If George can count audio-books, I can count graphic novels, so yah-boo-sucks to you!)

The last two books to discuss both focus on violence, but in very different ways. A really interesting book examining different types of perpetrators of violence and suggestions for what has worked for him is Sgt. Miller's Facing Violence: preparing for the unexpected. It contains more workable suggestions than the other book of his I have read (Meditations on Violence, which is still fascinating, but focuses more on the gap between martial arts training and real-life scenarios), and examines the social aspect of violent behaviour as well as the different personalities who commit violent crimes. Moving from reality to fiction, The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler (actually a pseudonym for a literary couple who have a special place in my affections, not just for their writing, but also because they're called Alexander and Alexandra) is such a gripping read that I read all c1000 pages of it in twenty-four hours. The protagonist is Joona Linna, Stockholm's answer to James Bond, though the really interesting character is the eponymous hypnotist himself, Erik Maria Bark, and his family. The story starts with Linna's investigation into the murder of an entire family, but quickly morphs into something much more personal to Bark. Typically Scandinavian in style, this is dark, gloomy and gory (fans of Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesbo and John Ajvide Lindqvist eat your hearts out - and if you're not a fan yet, you're missing out), and, most of all, this book is unputdownable. 

Next on my list of Scandi-thrillers is Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen, but I've just has started The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, so I may not get there that soon.  Please do give me your recommendations, especially if they have interesting female characters, as I fear that I've read most of them (Millenium trilogy, Sally Lockheart trilogy...) ...any ideas?

Literary Love xxx

The Lost Books of the Odyssey - Zachary Mason (2007)

The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (1937)

The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes - Neil Gaiman (1991)

Facing Violence - Rory Miller (2011)

The Hypnotist - Lars Kepler (2012)