The 306 Greatest Books #26 - The Odyssey

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Odyssey by Homer. This book can be found on the Sybervision and Norwegian Book Lists. 

What is generally considered to be the sequel to The Iliad, the story of the end of the Trojan War continues after a short break in time. Written by the ancient Greek poet Homer, this story takes place at the end of the Trojan War as one of the war heroes, Odysseus, is trying to make his way home. However, after angering the god Poseidon, the trip home for Odysseus takes significantly longer than he was anticipating. He finally returns home after a ten year journey following the ten year long Trojan War. Along the way he almost gets eaten by a cyclops, does battle with many ancient monsters, and has to content with dangers near and far. This is the original traveling tale that so many tales have since been based upon. I personally find The Odyssey much better written and much more interesting than its predecessor. There is more going on in the story and the constant change in locations and events keeps the story interesting. My recommendation would to find a good translation, as that often makes or breaks a story.

The 306 Greatest Books #25 - The Iliad

I am going back and posting all of my previous book reviews so that they are listed on my site in chronological order. The reviews are dated for the time when I read the book, hence the reason many of them will be listed for times before this website existed. 

The next up on my reading of the 306 greatest books is The Iliad by Homer. This book can be found on the Sybervision and Norwegian Book Lists. 

The Iliad is the first of the two classical epic poems by the ancient Greek poet, Homer. The word "Iliad" is in reference to the ancient name for the city of Troy, which was "Ilium". This poem describes part of the ending of the Trojan War. Although, often thought to be the defining story of the Trojan War, it is actually missing most of the decade long war, most notably the fall of Achilles (via arrow to the heal) and the Trojan Horse itself. While reading the story, the poem often feels like a long list of names, akin to reading the Bible. Where "son of son of son" and so on are listed for every person of note, however, poem is fairly easy to follow along with. There is a huge problem with the story though, it doesn't have an ending. Following the funeral of Hector, the poem just ends. It picks up later with the travels of Odysseus in the Odyssey, but no conclusion to the war itself here. That is an odd way to end the book, especially since the book takes place so close to the end of the war already.