Homer The Odyssey

First posted 6/20/2020; updated 7/6/2020.

The Odyssey Homer

First Publication: 800 B.C. Category: historical/epic poetry Sales: 45 million

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book: “The Odyssey is the original collection of tall traveler’s tales. Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War, encounters all kinds of marvels from one-eyed giants to witches and beautiful temptresses. His adventures are many and memorable before he gets back to Ithaca and his faithful wife Penelope.” AZ The epic poem “retells the events of the war between Greece and the city of Troy, focusing on Achilles' quarrel with Agamemnon.” BN “Helen, queen of Sparta and the most beautiful woman in the world, is kidnapped by Paris, a Trojan prince. Hungry for revenge, the Greek Army lays siege on Troy. For nine long years they are unsuccessful – until they come up with a plan for their greatest-ever attack on the city. For victory or death, the two armies will collide for the final time.” BN “We can never be certain that both these stories belonged to Homer. In fact, ‘Homer’ may not be a real name but a kind of nickname meaning perhaps ‘the hostage’ or ‘the blind one’. Whatever the truth of their origin…these tales… developed around three thousand years ago, may well still be read in three thousand years’ time.” AZ “Its symbolic evocation of human life as an epic journey homewards has inspired everything from James Joyce’s Ulysses to the Coen brothers' film, O Brother Where Art Thou?” TG Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon BN Barnes & Noble LN The Literature Network (read online) TG Telegraph: The Perfect Library

Homer's The Iliad

First posted 6/25/2020; updated 7/6/2020.

The Iliad Homer

First Publication: 800 B.C. Category: historical/epic poetry Sales: ?

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book: “The Iliad is the oldest Greek poem and perhaps the best-known epic in Western literature.” BN It “recreates a few dramatic weeks near the end of the fabled Trojan War, ending with the funeral of Hector, defender of the doomed city. Through its majestic verses stride…fabled heroes…never far from the center of the story are the quarreling gods: Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite.” BN It found “eager new audiences when it was translated into many languages during the Renaissance.” BN It has subsequently “inspired countless works” BN and become “a beloved fixture of early Greek culture,” BN “Its themes of honor, power, status, heroism, and the whims of the gods have ensured its enduring popularity and immeasurable cultural influence.” BN The Greek poet Homer is attributed with writing both The Iliad and The Odyssey although there is debate about “whether his works are…by the same hand, or have their origins in the lays of Homer and his followers (Homeridae).” LN In addition, this “assemblage of stories and legends shaped into a compelling single narrative” BN “was probably recited orally by bards for generations before being written down in the eighth century B.C.” BN Resources and Related Links: BN Barnes & Noble LN The Literature Network (read online) TG Telegraph: The Perfect Library

Dante Alighieri's Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy)

First posted 6/12/2020; updated 6/26/2020.

The Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia) Dante Alighieri

Completed: 1320 Category: poetry Sales: 12 million

Accolades:

About the Book: The Divine Comedy is a narrative poem begun around 1308 and completed in 1320 It is widely considered “the pre-eminent work in Italian literature.” WK Its “imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Curch by the 14th century.” WK The poem consists of three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, focused respectively on Dante’s journeys through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. “Allegorically, the poem represents the soul’s journey towards God, beginning with the recognition and rejection of sin (Inferno), followed by the penitent Christian life (Purgatorio), … [and] the soul’s ascent to God (Paradiso).” WK “Crystallizing the power and beauty inherent in the great poet’s…conception of the aspiring soul,” AZ this “poetic masterpiece…is a moving human drama” AZ and “a dazzling work of sublime truth and mystical intensity” AZ “belonging in the immortal company of the great works of literature.” AZ “Its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity.” BN Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon BN Barnes & Noble WK Wikipedia

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein published 200 years ago

First posted 6/11/2020; updated 7/6/2020.

Frankenstein Mary Shelley

First Publication: January 1, 1818 Category: novel/Gothic thriller Sales: ?

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book: “The great genius of Shelley's novel has often been overwhelmed by images of schlocky bolt-necked ‘Frankensteins,’” TG but “Few creatures of horror have seized readers’ imaginations and held them for so long as the anguished monster…The story of Victor Frankenstein’s terrible creation and the havoc it caused has enthralled generations of readers and inspired countless writers of horror and suspense.” AZ It “began merely as a whim of Lord Byron’s. ‘We will each write a story,’ Byron announced to his next-door neighbors, Mary…and her lover Percy.” AZ The others “failed to complete their ghost stories” AZ but Shelley, only eighteen when she began writing, BN “rose supremely to the challenge…to create a story that, in her own words, ‘would speak to the mysterious fears of our nature,…curdle the blood, and quicken the beatings of the heart.’” AZ Victor Frankenstein is a “committed science student…[who] assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature’s hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator.” BN “At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science,” BN Frankenstein “also raises profound, disturbing questions about the very nature of life and the place of humankind within the cosmos: What does it mean to be human? What responsibilities do we have to each other? How far can we go in tampering with Nature?” BN Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon BN Barnes & Noble TG Telegraph: The Perfect Library

In July 2018, I became the organizer of the Classic Novels Book Club. Check out the Book Club tab here or Meetup for more information. This is our November 2019 book.

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice published 200 years ago today

First posted 6/12/2020; updated 7/6/2020.

Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen

First Publication: January 28, 1813 Category: romantic novel Sales: 20 million

Accolades:

About the Book: “‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’ So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s witty comedy of manners – one of the most popular novels of all time.” AZ The basic plot? “Heroine meets hero and hates him. Is charmed by a cad. A family crisis – caused by the cad – is resolved by the hero. The heroine sees him for what he really is and realises (after visiting his enormous house) that she loves him. The plot has been endlessly borrowed, but few authors have written anything as witty or profound as Pride and Prejudice.” TG In 1894, “renowned literary critic and historian George Saintsbury…declared it the ‘most perfect, the most characteristic, the most eminently quintessential of its author’s works.’” LN In the 20th century, Eudora Welty “described it as ‘irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be.’” LN Its “blend of humor, romance, and social satire have delighted readers of all ages.” AZ “In telling the story of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett and their five daughters, Jane Austen creates a miniature of her world, where social grace and the nuances of behavior predominate in the making of a great love story.” BN The story “features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues.” AZ Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon BN Barnes & Noble LN The Literature Network TG Telegraph: The Perfect Library