The Best American Poetry 2015 (The Best American Poetry series) Hardcover – September 8, 2015
Author: David Lehman ID: 1476708193
Review
“A ‘best’ anthology that really lives up to its title.”
— Chicago Tribune
“Each year, a vivid snapshot of what a distinguished poet finds exciting, fresh and memorable: and over the years, as good a comprehensive overview of contem-porary poetry as there can be.”
— Robert Pinsky
About the Author
David Lehman, series editor of The Best American Poetry, is also the editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry. His books of poetry include New and Selected Poems, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. He teaches in the New School graduate writing program and lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.
Sherman Alexie, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction, a PEN/Hemingway Citation for Best First Fiction, and the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and performer. His twenty-four books include What I've Stolen, What I've Earned, poetry, Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a novel. Alexie has been an urban Indian since 1994 and lives in Seattle with his family.
See all Editorial Reviews
Series: The Best American Poetry seriesHardcover: 240 pagesPublisher: Scribner (September 8, 2015)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1476708193ISBN-13: 978-1476708195 Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.4 inches Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #276,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #330 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Anthologies #1076 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > United States #35522 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States
Whether it be short stories or poetry, I always pick up a collection assuming I won’t like the whole thing. With short stories, I’m generally pretty happy if I like more than half and thrilled if it’s over three-quarters. With poetry anthologies, especially those by multiple authors, it’s a bit of a different story. Give me a handful of poems that strike me on the spot, or that linger in the mind long after (sometimes they’re the same and sometimes not), or even some lines that wow me, and I’m good. Because one good poem, or three powerful lines can make up for a whole lot of “meh.” If you can’t find underlines or margin notes (or in the case of my Kindle, highlights and bookmarks) in my poetry book, I didn’t much care for it. So how does Best American Poetry 2015 fare on this scale? Pretty good, even if to be honest there were a lot of poems that just didn’t do it for me. But as poetry is so incredibly subjective, and as a reader isn’t investing in a 900-page novel, I’m going to focus less on what I didn’t care for and more on what I did (if I refer to great lines but don’t offer them up, it’s so as not to ruin the effect of their arrival in the poem for the reader).
Jame’s Galvin’s “On the Sadness of Wedding Dresses” is a plainspoken piece that begins with a striking conception:
On starless, windless nights like this
I imagine
I can hear the wedding dresses
Weeping in their closets
Luminescent with hopeless longing,
Like hollow angels.
and then moves on to some surprisingly evocative imagery as the dresses
turn yellow over time,
Yellow from praying
For the moths to come
And carry them into the sky. Download The Best American Poetry 2015 – September 8, 2015 Free PDF
The Best American Poetry 2015 (The Best American Poetry series) Hardcover – September 8, 2015
Author: David Lehman ID: 1476708193
Review
“A ‘best’ anthology that really lives up to its title.”
— Chicago Tribune
“Each year, a vivid snapshot of what a distinguished poet finds exciting, fresh and memorable: and over the years, as good a comprehensive overview of contem-porary poetry as there can be.”
— Robert Pinsky
About the Author
David Lehman, series editor of The Best American Poetry, is also the editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry. His books of poetry include New and Selected Poems, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. He teaches in the New School graduate writing program and lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.
Sherman Alexie, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Fiction, a PEN/Hemingway Citation for Best First Fiction, and the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and performer. His twenty-four books include What I've Stolen, What I've Earned, poetry, Blasphemy: New and Selected Stories, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a novel. Alexie has been an urban Indian since 1994 and lives in Seattle with his family.
See all Editorial Reviews
Series: The Best American Poetry seriesHardcover: 240 pagesPublisher: Scribner (September 8, 2015)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1476708193ISBN-13: 978-1476708195 Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.4 inches Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #276,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #330 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Anthologies #1076 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > United States #35522 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States
Whether it be short stories or poetry, I always pick up a collection assuming I won’t like the whole thing. With short stories, I’m generally pretty happy if I like more than half and thrilled if it’s over three-quarters. With poetry anthologies, especially those by multiple authors, it’s a bit of a different story. Give me a handful of poems that strike me on the spot, or that linger in the mind long after (sometimes they’re the same and sometimes not), or even some lines that wow me, and I’m good. Because one good poem, or three powerful lines can make up for a whole lot of “meh.” If you can’t find underlines or margin notes (or in the case of my Kindle, highlights and bookmarks) in my poetry book, I didn’t much care for it. So how does Best American Poetry 2015 fare on this scale? Pretty good, even if to be honest there were a lot of poems that just didn’t do it for me. But as poetry is so incredibly subjective, and as a reader isn’t investing in a 900-page novel, I’m going to focus less on what I didn’t care for and more on what I did (if I refer to great lines but don’t offer them up, it’s so as not to ruin the effect of their arrival in the poem for the reader).
Jame’s Galvin’s “On the Sadness of Wedding Dresses” is a plainspoken piece that begins with a striking conception:
On starless, windless nights like this
I imagine
I can hear the wedding dresses
Weeping in their closets
Luminescent with hopeless longing,
Like hollow angels.
and then moves on to some surprisingly evocative imagery as the dresses
turn yellow over time,
Yellow from praying
For the moths to come
And carry them into the sky. Download The Best American Poetry 2015 – September 8, 2015 Free PDF
The Song Of Achilles Audio CD – Audiobook, Unabridged
Author: Visit ‘s Madeline Miller Page ID: 1445014912
.com Review
Best Books of the Month, March 2012: Betrayal, ardor, war, and prophecies–in The Song of Achilles, author Madeline Miller brings together everything I love about The Iliad without the labor of epic poetry. In this new twist on the Trojan War story, Patroclus and Achilles are the quintessential mismatched pair–a mortal underdog exiled in shame and a glorious demigod revered by all–but what would a novel of ancient Greece be without star-crossed love? Miller includes other good tragic bits–foreknowledge of death, ruthless choices that pit pride and reputation against the lives of innocents, the folly of men and gods–and through her beautiful writing my spine chilled in the presence of Achilles mother, the sea goddess Thetis, and I became a bystander in the battlefield of Troy awash with blood, exaltation, and despair. The Song of Achilles infuses the essence of Homer with modern storytelling in a combination that is utterly absorbing and gratifying–I cant wait to see what Miller tackles next. –Seira Wilson
Gregory Maguire Interviews Madeline Miller
Gregory Maguire is the best-selling author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, the Wicked Years, a series that includes Wicked, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and most recently, Out of Oz.
Gregory Maguire: Ms. Miller, you write with the confidence of the zealously inspired, taking as your material one of the great foundation texts of world literature. In three millennia, The Iliad has garnered somewhat wider attention than The Wizard of Oz, with which I have played, so I have to ask: where do you get the noive? How did you come to dare to take on such a daunting task, and for your first book?
Madeline Miller: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and in my case it was just dangerous enough to get me started. If I had stopped to ponder, I think I might have been too intimidated. But it helped that Patroclus is such an underdog—giving him voice felt like standing up for him. I had been intensely frustrated by a number of articles that kept side-stepping the love between him and Achilles, which to me felt so obviously at the story’s heart. So I wanted to set the record straight, as I saw it.
Maguire: The novel tells the story of the rise, fall and immortalization of the golden Achilles. You approach his famous story from a sideline, that of Patroclus, his bosom companion and lover. Was it hard to keep the mighty arc of legend from overwhelming shadowy Patroclus, and did you write more of him than you ended up using, just to be sure you had him firmly grounded in your mind?
Miller: Definitely yes to the second. I actually spent five years writing a first draft of the novel, took a good long look at it, then threw it out and started from scratch. Even though not a word survived, that draft was an essential first step. It helped me understand the story and characters, especially Patroclus, from the inside out.
As for the overwhelming legends, I actually think they worked in my favor—because Patroclus is overwhelmed by them himself. He is this ordinary person who is pulled into a terrifying world of angry deities and destiny because of his love for Achilles.
Maguire: Having glancingly heard of this legend before, I knew more or less how it would end. I had no idea how you might handle the loss of perspective and point of view when tragedy would inevitably strike. You managed to narrate an almost impossible transition from life into myth in part, I think, by your instinctual use of a combination of present and past tense, to say nothing of a masterly combining of authorial and first person observations. How many slaughtered bulls did you sacrifice, and on whose altar, to deserve the talent to risk such dangerous technique?
Miller: It was a lot of bulls. And whatever ended up working, I give all the credit to my background in theater. When I first started writing, I had this idea that I should be in control of the story, forcing it forward. It never worked. What I needed to do was learn how to get in character, and write from there.
It took me a long time to find just the right tone for the ending—I kept writing and throwing away, writing and throwing away. Then, in the middle of apartment-hunting, inspiration struck. All the other ideas had started out well, but would gum up before they got anywhere near the finish line. But this one kept humming right along. And it was the simplest, so there you go.
Maguire: Oscar Wilde said something like, “The Odyssey was written by Homer, or another Greek of the same name.” But Oscar Wilde had clearly not met you. This is not a question. It is a salute.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“I loved it.” (J.K. Rowling)
“Fast, true and incredibly rewarding…A remarkable achievement.” (USA Today)
“Wildly romantic [and] surprisingly suspenseful….[B]ringing those dark figures back to life, making them men again, and while she’s at it, us[ing] her passionate companion piece to The Iliad as a subtle swipe at today’s ongoing debate over gay marriage. Talk about updating the classics.” (Time magazine)
“One of the best novelistic adaptations of Homer in recent memory, and it offers strikingly well-rounded and compassionate portrait of Achilles….[Miller] injects a newfound sense of suspense into a story with an ending that has already been determined.” (Wall Street Journal)
“Powerful, inventive, passionate, and beautifully written. ” (Boston Globe)
“Beautifully done. . ..In prose as clean and spare as the driving poetry of Homer, Miller captures the intensity and devotion of adolescent friendship and lets us believe in these long-dead boys…deepening and enriching a tale that has been told for 3,000 years.” (Washington Post)
“One of 2012’s most exciting debuts…seductive, hugely entertaining….[I]magining the intimate friendship between Achilles and the devoted Patroclus…Miller conjures…soulmates. The resulting novel is cinematic—one might say epic—in scope, but refreshingly, compellingly human in detail.” (Vogue)
“You don’t need to be familiar with Homer’s The Iliad (or Brad Pitt’s Troy, for that matter) to find Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles spellbinding….her explorations of ego, grief, and love’s many permutations are both familiar and new….[A] timeless love story.” (O magazine)
“Madeline Miller’s brilliant first novel…is a story of great, passionate love between Achilles and Patroclus….[R]ewriting the Western world’s first and greatest war novel is an awesome task to undertake. That she did it with such grace, style and suspense is astonishing.” (Dallas Morning News)
“The Song of Achilles…should be read and enjoyed for itself, but if Madeline Miller’s novel sends the reader back to Homer and his successors, she is to be thanked for that as well.” (Washington Independent Review of Books)
“A psychologically astute Iliad prelude featuring the heady, star-crossed adolescence of future heroes Patroclus and Achilles.” (Vogue)
“[Miller] makes a persuasive argument for the timeliness of her subject. …Miller’s winning debut focuses on Patroclus, a young prince living in Achilles’ golden shadow. Miller also gives voice to many of the women who were also consigned to the shadows.” (Publishers Weekly, Spring 2012 Preview, Top 10 Literary Fiction)
“Masterfully brings to life an imaginative yet informed vision of ancient Greece featuring divinely human gods and larger-than-life mortals. She breaks new ground retelling one of the world’s oldest stories about men in love and war [and] extraordinary women.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review), Pick of the Week)
“A masterly vision of the drama, valor, and tragedy of the Trojan War. Readers who loved Mary Renault’s epic novels will be thrilled with Miller’s portrayal of ancient Greece. This reviewer can’t wait to see what she writes next.” (Library Journal (starred review))
“A captivating retelling of THE ILIAD and events leading up to it through the point of view of Patroclus: it’s a hard book to put down, and any classicist will be enthralled by her characterisation of the goddess Thetis, which carries the true savagery and chill of antiquity.” (Donna Tartt, THE TIMES)
“A modern take on The Iliad, full of love and feats of glory and told in an open, lyric, loose-limbed fashion that should appeal to many readers…. Next up from Miller—the story of Circe…historical fiction fans, get in on the ground floor.” (Library Journal)
“I loved this book. The language was timeless, the historical details were slipped in perfectly. I hope SONG OF ACHILLES becomes part of the high school summer reading lists alongside PENELOPIAD.” (Helen Simonson, bestselling author of MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND)
“Mary Renault lives again! A ravishingly vivid and convincing version of one of the most legendary of love stories.” (Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of ROOM)
“At once a scholar’s homage to THE ILIAD and a startlingly original work of art by an incredibly talented new novelist. Madeline Miller has given us her own fresh take on the Trojan war and its heroes. The result is a book I could not put down.” (Ann Patchett, bestselling author of BEL CANTO and STATE OF WONDER)
“Although the details of the story are Miller’s own, the world is one that all who love the Iliad and its epigones will recognize. Reading this book recalled me to the breathless sense of the ancient-yet-present that I felt when I first fell in love with the classics.” (Catherine Conybeare, Professor of Classics, Bryn Mawr College)
“THE ILIAD turns on Achilles’ pride and his relationship with Patroclus, but Homer is sparing with the personal—so much so that, though we believe in their friendship, we do not understand it. THE SONG OF ACHILLES brings light to their love. This is a beautiful book.” (Zachary Mason, author of THE LOST BOOKS OF THE ODYSSEY)
“Miller somehow (and breathtakingly so) mixes high-action commercial plotting with writing of such beautiful delicacy you sometimes have to stop and stare.” (The Independent)
“Miller’s prose is more poetic than almost any translation of Homer… This is a deeply affecting version of the Achilles story: a fully three-dimension man – a son, a father, husband and lover – now exists where a superhero previously stood and fought.” (The Guardian)
“In the tradition of Mary Renault… Miller draws on her knowledge of classical sources wisely… Well-paced, engaging and tasteful.” (London Times Literary Supplement)
“Extraordinary… Beautifully descriptive and heartachingly lyrical, this is a love story as sensitive and intuitive as any you will find.” (Daily Mail)
–This text refers to the Paperback edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
Audio CDPublisher: Isis Audio Books; Unabridged edition (December 1, 2011)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1445014912ISBN-13: 978-1445014913Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
Within the first ten pages, Madeline Miller’s "Song of Achilles" jumped into my favorite books list.
She retells the Trojan War, using Patroclus as the narrator. As when the film "Troy" came out, we know how sadly this story is going to end. But in Miller’s hands, the "Song of Achilles" is fresh, new, exciting, and still heartbreaking.
The early chapters give us a chance to know the insecurities of Patroclus, who feels he is not worthy to be a prince. When he is sent into exile, he meets Achilles. They are just boys. Achilles is already at the top of the pack in looks and natural leadership. When Patroclus follows Achilles to the tutoring of Chiron, the centaur, their training draws them closer. Their adolescence draws them closer. They begin to understand the nature of love between them.
Miller makes good use of our preconceived notions about the Greek and Trojan heroes, and then adds new details to set them apart. Odysseus loves his wife, Penelope, in a way none of the other men understand. Hector, the Trojan hero, is stalwart and good, placing family first. Paris, the pretty boy, gets less of the blame for stealing Helen, than the mischievous Greek gods do.
The Iliad begins with the invocation to the Muse:
"Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus
and its devastation,. . . "
In "Song of Achilles," Achilles is not simply an angry, pouting, spoiled brat. He is a fully rounded figure, someone interested in music, his army, and even the conditions under which the slave girls are kept.
Which brings us to the point of contention between Achilles and Agamemnon, Briseis. She is more than a captured sex slave in Miller’s telling.
I care a lot about Achilles and Patroclus. My honors thesis topic, which I’ve been working on for the past seven months, is "Representations of Achilles and Patroclus in Post-Homeric Literature." So I’m pretty heavily invested here.
I hate this book.
I wanted to like it, I really did. But I can’t, because it fails in every possible way to live up to its source material. And maybe it’s not fair to blame someone for failing to be as good as Homer, but hey, I think you’re asking for it if you write a novel based on the Iliad. Now, obviously when someone adapts a story, it’s not going to turn out like the original. Details will be changed, different things will be emphasized, perspectives will shift. This is fine. This is how literature works. But that doesn’t mean all adaptations are created equal.
Madeleine Miller has made several choices in this novel that I don’t like. I feel that it was unnecessary to turn Thetis into a psychotic bitch, and that to portray Patroclus as an incompetent warrior does a disservice to a character whose charge at the walls of Troy was only stopped when Apollo came down onto the battlefield and punched him the head. No, Patroclus is not as skilled as Achilles, but then NO ONE IS. That’s what "Best of the Achaeans" means. Menoetius’ utter lack of likable characteristics was similarly unwarranted.
But the worst thing about this book is the characterization of Achilles.
Homer’s Achilles is a deeply flawed hero. He’s a brilliant fighter, but he’s arrogant, petulant, violent, and selfish. He would be completely unsympathetic, except for the fact that he is also capable of extraordinary tenderness and compassion. Download The Song Of Achilles Audio CD – Audiobook, Unabridged Free PDF
The Song Of Achilles Audio CD – Audiobook, Unabridged
Author: Visit ‘s Madeline Miller Page ID: 1445014912
.com Review
Best Books of the Month, March 2012: Betrayal, ardor, war, and prophecies–in The Song of Achilles, author Madeline Miller brings together everything I love about The Iliad without the labor of epic poetry. In this new twist on the Trojan War story, Patroclus and Achilles are the quintessential mismatched pair–a mortal underdog exiled in shame and a glorious demigod revered by all–but what would a novel of ancient Greece be without star-crossed love? Miller includes other good tragic bits–foreknowledge of death, ruthless choices that pit pride and reputation against the lives of innocents, the folly of men and gods–and through her beautiful writing my spine chilled in the presence of Achilles mother, the sea goddess Thetis, and I became a bystander in the battlefield of Troy awash with blood, exaltation, and despair. The Song of Achilles infuses the essence of Homer with modern storytelling in a combination that is utterly absorbing and gratifying–I cant wait to see what Miller tackles next. –Seira Wilson
Gregory Maguire Interviews Madeline Miller
Gregory Maguire is the best-selling author of Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, the Wicked Years, a series that includes Wicked, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and most recently, Out of Oz.
Gregory Maguire: Ms. Miller, you write with the confidence of the zealously inspired, taking as your material one of the great foundation texts of world literature. In three millennia, The Iliad has garnered somewhat wider attention than The Wizard of Oz, with which I have played, so I have to ask: where do you get the noive? How did you come to dare to take on such a daunting task, and for your first book?
Madeline Miller: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and in my case it was just dangerous enough to get me started. If I had stopped to ponder, I think I might have been too intimidated. But it helped that Patroclus is such an underdog—giving him voice felt like standing up for him. I had been intensely frustrated by a number of articles that kept side-stepping the love between him and Achilles, which to me felt so obviously at the story’s heart. So I wanted to set the record straight, as I saw it.
Maguire: The novel tells the story of the rise, fall and immortalization of the golden Achilles. You approach his famous story from a sideline, that of Patroclus, his bosom companion and lover. Was it hard to keep the mighty arc of legend from overwhelming shadowy Patroclus, and did you write more of him than you ended up using, just to be sure you had him firmly grounded in your mind?
Miller: Definitely yes to the second. I actually spent five years writing a first draft of the novel, took a good long look at it, then threw it out and started from scratch. Even though not a word survived, that draft was an essential first step. It helped me understand the story and characters, especially Patroclus, from the inside out.
As for the overwhelming legends, I actually think they worked in my favor—because Patroclus is overwhelmed by them himself. He is this ordinary person who is pulled into a terrifying world of angry deities and destiny because of his love for Achilles.
Maguire: Having glancingly heard of this legend before, I knew more or less how it would end. I had no idea how you might handle the loss of perspective and point of view when tragedy would inevitably strike. You managed to narrate an almost impossible transition from life into myth in part, I think, by your instinctual use of a combination of present and past tense, to say nothing of a masterly combining of authorial and first person observations. How many slaughtered bulls did you sacrifice, and on whose altar, to deserve the talent to risk such dangerous technique?
Miller: It was a lot of bulls. And whatever ended up working, I give all the credit to my background in theater. When I first started writing, I had this idea that I should be in control of the story, forcing it forward. It never worked. What I needed to do was learn how to get in character, and write from there.
It took me a long time to find just the right tone for the ending—I kept writing and throwing away, writing and throwing away. Then, in the middle of apartment-hunting, inspiration struck. All the other ideas had started out well, but would gum up before they got anywhere near the finish line. But this one kept humming right along. And it was the simplest, so there you go.
Maguire: Oscar Wilde said something like, “The Odyssey was written by Homer, or another Greek of the same name.” But Oscar Wilde had clearly not met you. This is not a question. It is a salute.
–This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“I loved it.” (J.K. Rowling)
“Fast, true and incredibly rewarding…A remarkable achievement.” (USA Today)
“Wildly romantic [and] surprisingly suspenseful….[B]ringing those dark figures back to life, making them men again, and while she’s at it, us[ing] her passionate companion piece to The Iliad as a subtle swipe at today’s ongoing debate over gay marriage. Talk about updating the classics.” (Time magazine)
“One of the best novelistic adaptations of Homer in recent memory, and it offers strikingly well-rounded and compassionate portrait of Achilles….[Miller] injects a newfound sense of suspense into a story with an ending that has already been determined.” (Wall Street Journal)
“Powerful, inventive, passionate, and beautifully written. ” (Boston Globe)
“Beautifully done. . ..In prose as clean and spare as the driving poetry of Homer, Miller captures the intensity and devotion of adolescent friendship and lets us believe in these long-dead boys…deepening and enriching a tale that has been told for 3,000 years.” (Washington Post)
“One of 2012’s most exciting debuts…seductive, hugely entertaining….[I]magining the intimate friendship between Achilles and the devoted Patroclus…Miller conjures…soulmates. The resulting novel is cinematic—one might say epic—in scope, but refreshingly, compellingly human in detail.” (Vogue)
“You don’t need to be familiar with Homer’s The Iliad (or Brad Pitt’s Troy, for that matter) to find Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles spellbinding….her explorations of ego, grief, and love’s many permutations are both familiar and new….[A] timeless love story.” (O magazine)
“Madeline Miller’s brilliant first novel…is a story of great, passionate love between Achilles and Patroclus….[R]ewriting the Western world’s first and greatest war novel is an awesome task to undertake. That she did it with such grace, style and suspense is astonishing.” (Dallas Morning News)
“The Song of Achilles…should be read and enjoyed for itself, but if Madeline Miller’s novel sends the reader back to Homer and his successors, she is to be thanked for that as well.” (Washington Independent Review of Books)
“A psychologically astute Iliad prelude featuring the heady, star-crossed adolescence of future heroes Patroclus and Achilles.” (Vogue)
“[Miller] makes a persuasive argument for the timeliness of her subject. …Miller’s winning debut focuses on Patroclus, a young prince living in Achilles’ golden shadow. Miller also gives voice to many of the women who were also consigned to the shadows.” (Publishers Weekly, Spring 2012 Preview, Top 10 Literary Fiction)
“Masterfully brings to life an imaginative yet informed vision of ancient Greece featuring divinely human gods and larger-than-life mortals. She breaks new ground retelling one of the world’s oldest stories about men in love and war [and] extraordinary women.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review), Pick of the Week)
“A masterly vision of the drama, valor, and tragedy of the Trojan War. Readers who loved Mary Renault’s epic novels will be thrilled with Miller’s portrayal of ancient Greece. This reviewer can’t wait to see what she writes next.” (Library Journal (starred review))
“A captivating retelling of THE ILIAD and events leading up to it through the point of view of Patroclus: it’s a hard book to put down, and any classicist will be enthralled by her characterisation of the goddess Thetis, which carries the true savagery and chill of antiquity.” (Donna Tartt, THE TIMES)
“A modern take on The Iliad, full of love and feats of glory and told in an open, lyric, loose-limbed fashion that should appeal to many readers…. Next up from Miller—the story of Circe…historical fiction fans, get in on the ground floor.” (Library Journal)
“I loved this book. The language was timeless, the historical details were slipped in perfectly. I hope SONG OF ACHILLES becomes part of the high school summer reading lists alongside PENELOPIAD.” (Helen Simonson, bestselling author of MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND)
“Mary Renault lives again! A ravishingly vivid and convincing version of one of the most legendary of love stories.” (Emma Donoghue, New York Times bestselling author of ROOM)
“At once a scholar’s homage to THE ILIAD and a startlingly original work of art by an incredibly talented new novelist. Madeline Miller has given us her own fresh take on the Trojan war and its heroes. The result is a book I could not put down.” (Ann Patchett, bestselling author of BEL CANTO and STATE OF WONDER)
“Although the details of the story are Miller’s own, the world is one that all who love the Iliad and its epigones will recognize. Reading this book recalled me to the breathless sense of the ancient-yet-present that I felt when I first fell in love with the classics.” (Catherine Conybeare, Professor of Classics, Bryn Mawr College)
“THE ILIAD turns on Achilles’ pride and his relationship with Patroclus, but Homer is sparing with the personal—so much so that, though we believe in their friendship, we do not understand it. THE SONG OF ACHILLES brings light to their love. This is a beautiful book.” (Zachary Mason, author of THE LOST BOOKS OF THE ODYSSEY)
“Miller somehow (and breathtakingly so) mixes high-action commercial plotting with writing of such beautiful delicacy you sometimes have to stop and stare.” (The Independent)
“Miller’s prose is more poetic than almost any translation of Homer… This is a deeply affecting version of the Achilles story: a fully three-dimension man – a son, a father, husband and lover – now exists where a superhero previously stood and fought.” (The Guardian)
“In the tradition of Mary Renault… Miller draws on her knowledge of classical sources wisely… Well-paced, engaging and tasteful.” (London Times Literary Supplement)
“Extraordinary… Beautifully descriptive and heartachingly lyrical, this is a love story as sensitive and intuitive as any you will find.” (Daily Mail)
–This text refers to the Paperback edition.
See all Editorial Reviews
Audio CDPublisher: Isis Audio Books; Unabridged edition (December 1, 2011)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 1445014912ISBN-13: 978-1445014913Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
Within the first ten pages, Madeline Miller’s "Song of Achilles" jumped into my favorite books list.
She retells the Trojan War, using Patroclus as the narrator. As when the film "Troy" came out, we know how sadly this story is going to end. But in Miller’s hands, the "Song of Achilles" is fresh, new, exciting, and still heartbreaking.
The early chapters give us a chance to know the insecurities of Patroclus, who feels he is not worthy to be a prince. When he is sent into exile, he meets Achilles. They are just boys. Achilles is already at the top of the pack in looks and natural leadership. When Patroclus follows Achilles to the tutoring of Chiron, the centaur, their training draws them closer. Their adolescence draws them closer. They begin to understand the nature of love between them.
Miller makes good use of our preconceived notions about the Greek and Trojan heroes, and then adds new details to set them apart. Odysseus loves his wife, Penelope, in a way none of the other men understand. Hector, the Trojan hero, is stalwart and good, placing family first. Paris, the pretty boy, gets less of the blame for stealing Helen, than the mischievous Greek gods do.
The Iliad begins with the invocation to the Muse:
"Sing, goddess, the anger of Peleus’ son Achilleus
and its devastation,. . . "
In "Song of Achilles," Achilles is not simply an angry, pouting, spoiled brat. He is a fully rounded figure, someone interested in music, his army, and even the conditions under which the slave girls are kept.
Which brings us to the point of contention between Achilles and Agamemnon, Briseis. She is more than a captured sex slave in Miller’s telling.
I care a lot about Achilles and Patroclus. My honors thesis topic, which I’ve been working on for the past seven months, is "Representations of Achilles and Patroclus in Post-Homeric Literature." So I’m pretty heavily invested here.
I hate this book.
I wanted to like it, I really did. But I can’t, because it fails in every possible way to live up to its source material. And maybe it’s not fair to blame someone for failing to be as good as Homer, but hey, I think you’re asking for it if you write a novel based on the Iliad. Now, obviously when someone adapts a story, it’s not going to turn out like the original. Details will be changed, different things will be emphasized, perspectives will shift. This is fine. This is how literature works. But that doesn’t mean all adaptations are created equal.
Madeleine Miller has made several choices in this novel that I don’t like. I feel that it was unnecessary to turn Thetis into a psychotic bitch, and that to portray Patroclus as an incompetent warrior does a disservice to a character whose charge at the walls of Troy was only stopped when Apollo came down onto the battlefield and punched him the head. No, Patroclus is not as skilled as Achilles, but then NO ONE IS. That’s what "Best of the Achaeans" means. Menoetius’ utter lack of likable characteristics was similarly unwarranted.
But the worst thing about this book is the characterization of Achilles.
Homer’s Achilles is a deeply flawed hero. He’s a brilliant fighter, but he’s arrogant, petulant, violent, and selfish. He would be completely unsympathetic, except for the fact that he is also capable of extraordinary tenderness and compassion. Download The Song Of Achilles Audio CD – Audiobook, Unabridged Free PDF
Monster Blood (Goosebumps, No 3) Paperback – September, 1992
Author: Visit ‘s R. L. Stine Page ID: 059045367X
About the Author
R.L. Stine’s books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written series including: Fear Street, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and his King Charles spaniel, Minnie. www.RLStine.com.
–This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
Age Range: 8 and up Lexile Measure: 640L (What’s this?)Series: Goosebumps (Quality) (Book 3)Paperback: 128 pagesPublisher: Scholastic; Reprint edition (September 1992)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0590212990ISBN-13: 978-0590453677ID: 059045367X Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces Best Sellers Rank: #108,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #791 in Books > Children’s Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Spine-Chilling Horror #4293 in Books > Children’s Books > Humor
MONSTER BLOOD is about a twelve year-old boy named Evan Ross who is forced to spend a few weeks with his deaf great aunt. Evan’s father is being transferred to Atlanta, Georgia and the only person who can watch Evan while his parents are househunting is great aunt Kathryn. One day while on a visit to an old toy store with his new found friend, Andy, Evan buys a can of stuff called "Monster Blood". Evan doesn’t think much of it and he and Andy spend the afternoon playing with the green silly putty-type substance. However, as time goes on the monster blood begins to grow and starts to act like its alive.
I enjoyed reading MONSTER BLOOD. It was pretty short and not too scary. It also had an unusual twist at the end.
Reviewed by: Billy Burgess
Find out how the monster blood was created in the re-release of the original classic. It has a brand new cover and extra bonus features that include: Q& A with R.L. Stine, Fright Gallery: Monster Blood, Can You save the World From Monster Blood? and a Recipe for Monster Blood Punch.
Evan Ross and his dog, Trigger, are staying with Great-Aunt Kathryn and her black cat, Sarabeth, for a whole week. While he was out walking, he met a girl name Andy. She took him to the antique toy store in town and he bought a can that was labeled, "Monster Blood."
After opening the can, Trigger accidentally swallowed a small piece of the green monster blood. The dog starts to grow bigger and then he grows even bigger. To make the situation even worse, the remaining monster blood in the can starts to grow bigger too.
How will Evan and Andy stop Trigger and the monster blood from growing?
I read this book in less than thirty minutes. I absolutely enjoyed it, but I don’t think that I’ll be eating green JELL-O anytime in near future.
The third in the Goosebumps series, Monster Blood is a riot of creepiness and is sure not to disappoint! I think I see a pattern developing (though I suppose three books in is a bit too soon to make any final judgments)…this series seems to be more about a campy and creepy type of vibe than a truly horrific/scary one (though the first one, I felt was genuinely scary in places), I’m getting a bit of Tales from the Crypt Jr. feel as I am going through the series and I rather like that.
In this volume, we meet Evan (and his new friend Andy). Evan has come for a few weeks to say with his Great-Aunt while his parents are looking for a new home for them to buy…the main problem with this being that his Great Aunt is deaf, stubborn and a bit creepy. After being dropped off, Evan is sure he’s going to be miserable for the whole time he’s there and this is largely confirmed when he is immediately set upon by the local bullies (twins). He is temporarily saved by Andy who quickly becomes his friend and they set off together to browse the old toy store that is going out of business. As Andy looks for a present for her cousin and comes up empty handed, Evan discovers a can of "monster blood" and simply must have it. The owner sells it reluctantly and Evan and Andy scurry out of the shop with their new prize. After getting it home, they play with it for a while and as with all Goosebumps books…it’s all down hill from there. Something strange is happening with the monster blood…it’s growing, expanding and starting to take on a life of it’s own! What will Evan do…how did this happen, read and find out…you won’t be disappointed!
the of and to a in Microsoft Research s s the of and to a in for 1 is s on 0 that by this 2 you with i or it 3 be are as at from your all september food y 1992 meetings dates Acceptable Words to Query by on Twitter Plotter A List of Currently Acceptable Words to Query By the i for been brown fragrance wind peppermint reed badd immune pai senators classified as needed
Monster Blood (Goosebumps, No 3) Paperback – September, 1992
Author: Visit ‘s R. L. Stine Page ID: 059045367X
About the Author
R.L. Stine’s books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written series including: Fear Street, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room, and Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and his King Charles spaniel, Minnie. www.RLStine.com.
–This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
Age Range: 8 and up Lexile Measure: 640L (What’s this?)Series: Goosebumps (Quality) (Book 3)Paperback: 128 pagesPublisher: Scholastic; Reprint edition (September 1992)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0590212990ISBN-13: 978-0590453677ID: 059045367X Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces Best Sellers Rank: #108,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #791 in Books > Children’s Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Spine-Chilling Horror #4293 in Books > Children’s Books > Humor
MONSTER BLOOD is about a twelve year-old boy named Evan Ross who is forced to spend a few weeks with his deaf great aunt. Evan’s father is being transferred to Atlanta, Georgia and the only person who can watch Evan while his parents are househunting is great aunt Kathryn. One day while on a visit to an old toy store with his new found friend, Andy, Evan buys a can of stuff called "Monster Blood". Evan doesn’t think much of it and he and Andy spend the afternoon playing with the green silly putty-type substance. However, as time goes on the monster blood begins to grow and starts to act like its alive.
I enjoyed reading MONSTER BLOOD. It was pretty short and not too scary. It also had an unusual twist at the end.
Reviewed by: Billy Burgess
Find out how the monster blood was created in the re-release of the original classic. It has a brand new cover and extra bonus features that include: Q& A with R.L. Stine, Fright Gallery: Monster Blood, Can You save the World From Monster Blood? and a Recipe for Monster Blood Punch.
Evan Ross and his dog, Trigger, are staying with Great-Aunt Kathryn and her black cat, Sarabeth, for a whole week. While he was out walking, he met a girl name Andy. She took him to the antique toy store in town and he bought a can that was labeled, "Monster Blood."
After opening the can, Trigger accidentally swallowed a small piece of the green monster blood. The dog starts to grow bigger and then he grows even bigger. To make the situation even worse, the remaining monster blood in the can starts to grow bigger too.
How will Evan and Andy stop Trigger and the monster blood from growing?
I read this book in less than thirty minutes. I absolutely enjoyed it, but I don’t think that I’ll be eating green JELL-O anytime in near future.
The third in the Goosebumps series, Monster Blood is a riot of creepiness and is sure not to disappoint! I think I see a pattern developing (though I suppose three books in is a bit too soon to make any final judgments)…this series seems to be more about a campy and creepy type of vibe than a truly horrific/scary one (though the first one, I felt was genuinely scary in places), I’m getting a bit of Tales from the Crypt Jr. feel as I am going through the series and I rather like that.
In this volume, we meet Evan (and his new friend Andy). Evan has come for a few weeks to say with his Great-Aunt while his parents are looking for a new home for them to buy…the main problem with this being that his Great Aunt is deaf, stubborn and a bit creepy. After being dropped off, Evan is sure he’s going to be miserable for the whole time he’s there and this is largely confirmed when he is immediately set upon by the local bullies (twins). He is temporarily saved by Andy who quickly becomes his friend and they set off together to browse the old toy store that is going out of business. As Andy looks for a present for her cousin and comes up empty handed, Evan discovers a can of "monster blood" and simply must have it. The owner sells it reluctantly and Evan and Andy scurry out of the shop with their new prize. After getting it home, they play with it for a while and as with all Goosebumps books…it’s all down hill from there. Something strange is happening with the monster blood…it’s growing, expanding and starting to take on a life of it’s own! What will Evan do…how did this happen, read and find out…you won’t be disappointed!
the of and to a in Microsoft Research s s the of and to a in for 1 is s on 0 that by this 2 you with i or it 3 be are as at from your all september food y 1992 meetings dates Acceptable Words to Query by on Twitter Plotter A List of Currently Acceptable Words to Query By the i for been brown fragrance wind peppermint reed badd immune pai senators classified as needed
The Brothers Karamazov (Everyman’s Library) Hardcover – April 28, 1992
Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky ID: 0679410031
Review
“[Dostoevsky is] at once the most literary and compulsively readable of novelists we continue to regard as great . . . The Brothers Karamazov stands as the culmination of his art–his last, longest, richest, and most capacious book. [This] scrupulous rendition can only be welcomed. It returns us to a work we thought we knew, subtly altered and so made new again.” –Washington Post Book World
“A miracle . . . Every page of the new Karamazov is a permanent standard, and an inspiration.” –The Times (London)
“One finally gets the musical whole of Dostoevsky’s original.” –New York Times Book Review
“Absolutely faithful . . . Fulfills in remarkable measure most of the criteria for an ideal translation . . . The stylistic accuracy and versatility of registers used . . . bring out the richness and depth of the original in a way similar to a faithful and sensitive restoration of a painting.” –The Independent
“It may well be that Dostoevsky’s [world], with all its resourceful energies of life and language, is only now–and through the medium of [this] new translation–beginning to come home to the English-speaking reader.” –New York Review of Books
“Heartily recommended to any reader who wishes to come as close to Dostoevsky’s Russian as it is possible.” –Joseph Frank, Princeton University
With an Introduction by Malcolm V. Jones
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Russian
See all Editorial Reviews
Series: Everyman’s Library (Book 70)Hardcover: 840 pagesPublisher: Everyman’s Library; 1st edition (April 28, 1992)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0679410031ISBN-13: 978-0679410034 Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 1.7 x 8.3 inches Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) Best Sellers Rank: #70,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #18 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Genres & Styles > Gothic & Romance #24 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Regional & Cultural > Russian #365 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods
Before you dedicate many hours to reading this masterpiece, you must be sure you select the appropriate translation for your reading style. The Pevear translation – although highly acclaimed – may make it difficult for most readers to grasp the essence of this beautiful story, and therefore I would almost always recommend the McDuff version ahead of the Pevear.
The Brothers Karamazov presents the same challenge for every English translator; namely, Dostoevsky took pride in creating distinct voices and syntax for each of his characters, and most translations have sacrificed the syntax and voicing to make it more readable – in the process losing much of the tone of each character. Pevear’s translation is known for being the truest to the original, as it replicates the syntax with an almost academic precision. However, in being so true to the syntax and voicing, Pevear leaves sentence structures that are so unfamiliar-sounding to the native English speaker as to be disruptive. Many times as I read this translation I found myself jolted out of the flow of reading because the phrIDg felt so awkward. As an example of a difficult sentence:
Pevear: "These occasions were almost morbid: most depraved, and, in his sensuality, often as cruel as a wicked insect, Fyodor Pavlovich at times suddenly felt in himself, in his drunken moments, a spiritual fear, a moral shock, that almost, so to speak, resounded physically in his soul.
I think I am going to read this wonderful book again. There is so much life and passion in it, that reading it again will definitely enrich my soul even further.
I want to tell you how this novel changed my life. It was recommended to me by a Russian Orthodox priest who considered it the best source of Russian Orthodox spirituality in literature. So I read it. I read it because at the time I was striving to become a true Orthodox Christian myself. The result, however, turned out the opposite: I lost any faith I ever had in the truth of the Church and all its dogmas. This book gave me an idea that if there is God, it is certainly not what we are taught He is.
I think that in this work Dostoevsky reached the very height of what I would call "a war with oneself". He created this unforgettable contrast between what he wanted to believe (and, indeed believed at times) and what he actually was going through in his spiritual search, which were probably indescribable spiritual torments of doubt. I now have this indelible image of Ivan confiding in Alesha, arguing with Satan and, at last, denying God himself in his search for the truth. It was he, who stirred my whole being and it was Dostoevsky himself speaking through Ivan with the most profound sincerety and desperation.
On the opposite, Dostoevsky introduces Alyosha, who didn’t doubt, but just loved and believed. This young man, according to Dostoevsky’s plan, is a prototype of Jesus Christ himself, a man in whom the truth is open within, a man through whom one can truly feel God’s love. It is a fascinating character, although, Dostoevsky depicts him in the light of Christian Orthodoxy, as an example of TRUE spirituality, as opposed to any other spirituality. Download The Brothers Karamazov – April 28, 1992 Free PDF
mother, the sea goddess Thetis, and I became a bystander in the battlefield of Troy awash with blood, exaltation, and despair. The Song of Achilles infuses the essence of Homer with modern storytelling in a combination that is utterly absorbing and gratifying–I can
