September 2024
Discussion - Wed., Sept. 18, 1pm, and NEW!!! an encore discussion at 4:30pm
Come to either or both!
"An epic spanning thousands of years that's also a keep-you-up-all-night page turner." - Ann Patchett
Circe: A Novel
by Madeline Miller (2020)
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child--not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power--the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and Icarus, Medea, and wily Odysseus.
With unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and page-turning suspense, Circe is a triumph of storytelling, an intoxicating epic of family rivalry, palace intrigue, love, and loss, and a celebration of indomitable strength.
Copies of the book are available at the library and on Libby as audiobook (get on the Libby waitlist asap) [note that the audiobook on Hoopla is in Spanish]. If you wish to purchase a copy, mention our book group at Gibson's or Main Street Bookends and they will kindly offer a discount.
Resources:
The author's website has a lot of great resources, including a character list, background information, and a reader's guide: https://madelinemiller.com/circe/
Background on the character Circe throughout literature: www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Circe/circe.html
Some fun reading aides, like an interactive map of Odysseus's journey and a pronunciation guide, are on this UPenn site: www2.classics.upenn.edu/myth/php/homer/index.php?page=odymap
Keep reading:
Circe features in Homer's Odyssey in Book X. You can read a translation by Samuel Butler online: www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1727/pg1727-images.html#chap10 or translated by Alexander Pope: www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3160/pg3160-images.html#chap10 The library has the Robert Fagles translation on our shelves as a book and as audiobook CDs.
Circe is also a minor character in the 3rd century BCE book, The Argonautica, by Apollonius Rhodiusin. This is the story many of us know as Jason and the Argonauts. You can read that online here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/830/830-h/830-h.htm#linknoteref-1404 (Book IV)
"Circe," a short story by Eudora Welty, (1955) is digitized here: http://ereserve.library.utah.edu/Annual/ENGL/5510/Coles/circe.pdf
If you liked Circe, try these other books based on characters of classical mythology or
see the display in the fiction and nonfiction sections of the library: https://www.carnegielibrary.org/staff-picks/classic-myths-revisited-beyond-circe and www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/myth-retelling
