pickThe mountains look on Marathon –
And Marathon looks on the sea;
And musing there an hour alone,
I dream‘d that Greece might still be free;
For standing on the Persians‘ grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.
‘The Isles of Greece‘ by Lord Byron
pick“The power of fate is a wonder; dark, terrible wonder. Neither wealth nor armies, towered walls nor ships, Black hulls lashed by the salt, can save us from that force.” —Sophocles
pickPericles and an Athenian delegation come to Delos to remove the Delian League's treasure to Athens for safekeeping. When the priest heading the Delian's resistance to the move is found dead, a heavily-pregnant Diotima is appointed to head the investigation as priestess of Artemis.
A worthy wrap-up to the series.
#TemptingTitles Day 21: #WithAMonth - another Big Bad Wolf book haul. 💕
pickThere are often parallels drawn between the executions of Socrates and later, Jesus, but the author argues these are superficial. Drawing on Thucydides, Plato, Xenophon and others, Waterfield tries to draw out the historical Socrates and the context in which he lived to understand the charges against him. “Socrates was put to death because the Athenians wanted to purge themselves of undesirable trends, not just of an undesirable individual.”
pickI've been meaning to get to this, so #anypartofatrilogy #booked2023 was a perfect opportunity. Wonderful writing in which a writer travels to Greece + spends the novel simply listening to other people's life stories. These are tales of the frustration of family life and are woven like a spiders web, so that you are hypnotised by the tales as is the narrator. I definitely plan to read more of this series@Cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @alisiakae
pickOur narrator is flying to Athens to teach a writing course. A very insightful and interesting read. We know people by their ‘ outline‘ , she sees herself and her characters looking at other peoples lives in cameo … e.g. a family with children in a neighbouring boat when she is out sailing with a man she met on the plane to Athens … and how this image stirs deep longing in her. Beautifully done. Full of treasures. Thanks Helen for this one.
#weeklyforecast
Continue on with The Lark. Loving the little bit I‘ve read so far 🥰
Second Place by Cusk was not my favourite book of last year, but it‘s the one I remember most. Images from that book are fixed in my mind. So I‘m drawn to Cusk and Outline, a present from @squirrelbrain 🙏 . I did read the first chapter this morning and I‘m hooked 👍🏻♥️
Have a good reading week everyone 📚.
Hi Cindy 👋🏻 hoping all is well with you X
