Mother of Rome and Brit Mysteries

Where does the snow end and the blossoms begin?

Here's a trio of books that I recently read and enjoyed as the fickle Colorado weather played havoc with my need for sunshine and vitamin D. We had three inches of snow a few days ago, but now it is all melted and the tulips, daffodils, and crabapple trees are doing their thing.

Mother of Rome, by Lauren J.A. Bear - another wonderful novel by the author of Medusa's Sisters, which I read and loved last year. This time Bear tells the story of Rhea Sylvia, princess of Alba Longa, who becomes a wolf after giving birth to twin sons, Romulus and Remus--who were fathered by Mars, Roman god of war. 

Alba Longa was the city on the Italian peninsula founded by Aeneas, who fled there with the survivors after Troy fell to the Greeks, back in the mists of time.

This was a wonderful imagining of how Rome was founded, weaving the myths of the she-wolf suckling the infant boy twins, with the Aeneas myth, and throwing in Vestal Virgins as well a hunky river god of the Tiber River. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Rhea as she grew from entitled princess to super mom in wolf's clothing. Her cousin Antho was equally interesting--bartered into a loveless marriage after her father usurped the crown from Rhea's father, but strong and capable in her own right. Like with Medusa's Sisters, the theme of sisterhood runs strong in this novel.

The Crossing Places, by Elly Griffiths - This is the first in Griffith's Ruth Galloway series, which I heard about last year and finally got a copy from my used bookstore, after putting in a request for a copy. Ruth is an archeologist at a university in Norfolk, England, which was the hook that pulled me in. Ruth is brought into a missing child investigation when the local police unearth human bones near the site of an ancient sacred site that is in a salt marsh near where Ruth lives. 

The setting, the story, the main characters (Ruth, her neighbors, the local police, and her university colleagues), and the archeology were all fantastic. I am definitely going to be reading more in this series.

The Darkest Evening, by Ann Cleeves - another blue-covered mystery set in England, this is #9 in Cleeves's Vera Stanhope series. I just love reading about Vera and how she goes about her work. This time she discovers a car abandoned in a snowstorm, complete with an infant inside but the door wide open. Vera and her colleagues solve the mystery of the murdered mother, but not without needing to delve into the farming community's deepest secrets as well as poking around in the skeletons in Vera's own extended family closet.

Gardening Update

The onions, peas, lettuce, spinach, and strawberries are all thrilled with all the moisture over the past week and are healthy and growing rapidly. I've been repotting the seedlings under grow lights, and my guest room is starting to look like a jungle. I cannot plant most things outside until mid-May, but the violas are now in pots on the back deck. 

Love this time of year so much. 

Greek Myths Retold and Retooled: Mythos, Medusa's Sisters, Galatea

I have always loved the stories of the Greek myths, having read the children's versions as a kid, then some Ovid and Homer, and now the reimaginings.

I just finished listening to Stephen Fry read his Mythos, the first of three books in which he tells the stories of Greek mythology. He makes a point of saying that he is retelling the stories, not interpreting or analyzing them but simply passing them along. I like to think that his reading them and me listening is part of the Homeric tradition.

I enjoyed the book immensely--he begins with Chaos and works his way through the creation, the Titans, the Olympians, and the several eras of mortals. He divides the stories into themes--transformations of gods and mortals into animals, plants, rivers, springs, etc--lovers, mostly doomed but a few successful couples--punishments of mortals and gods, particularly for hubris but also for other transgressions, notably lack of hospitality, which was so important to the Greeks. I loved some of the explanation stories--how the honeybee (Melissa) got a stinger was my personal favorite. And, of course, I absolutely loved how Fry would list all the various words that we use today that are derived from the names and stories.

Fry retells the age-old stories, some of which were new to me, with wry humor and some modern sensibilities, but not so much as to be annoying. I am planning on listening to Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures next, followed by Troy, which is the book my daughter Sarah read and recommended to me. I decided to start with Mythos so as to have a good grounding.

At 416 pages, Mythos is my first book that qualifies for the Big Book Summer Challenge.

Medusa's Sisters, by Lauren J.A. Bear, is in the reimaging camp. This was a 5-star novel for me, and it was absolutely riveting. In Bear's story, the Gorgons started out as beautiful triplets. The first and second born, Stheno and Euryale, are immortal, but Medusa is mortal. Despite being triplets, Stheno is a stereotypical oldest sibling, Euryale is the Jan Brady figure, and Medusa is the petted, spoiled baby. How they become monsters is a classic case of two powerful beings squabbling over glory and not caring who gets hurt as a consequence of their petty rivalry. 

Despite the tragedy of Medusa--and her story is a tragedy--the really lovely aspect of this reimagining is how these Gorgons wrestle with the consequences of their power to kill--it comes down to not judging the worth of a being by their physical appearance...even when looks can kill! They may have ended up as monsters externally, but the gorgeous gods who callously destroyed their happiness are the real villains in this story.

Bear has another book coming out in January 2025, Mother of Rome, which looks very promising and is already on my TBR list.

Galatea, by Madeline Miller, author of the fabulous Song of Achilles and Circe, is a slender book. Only 27 pages, this reimagining tells the myth of Pygmalion from the point of view of Galatea, the woman the sculptor created out of marble, fell in love with, and begged Aphrodite to bring to life. It reads like a parable, a warning, rather than a myth. It is a feminist take on what happens when a someone believes they own not only the body but the soul of another. Not a particularly fun book to read--a tragedy without the lovely and life-affirming aspects of Medusa's Sisters. Glad I read it but not sure I have the heart to reread it.