#got me out here reading the Homeric classics for the first time since lit class in school

[rileys-battlecats]

Favorite epic song???

Love ur art btw <33

hi i know this probably means my favorite song that i consider to be epic sounding BUT ive been bingeing EPIC the musical for the past few weeks so my brain instantly went to “just a man”

[rachaelslibrary]

February Wrap-Up

Hello everyone.  Wow it really has been a while since I’ve posted anything but I had my best reading month in pretty much ever this month so I feel duty bound to do a wrap-up.  I also really do plan on posting more this year (which I say every year) but I really do mean it.  

This month I read a total of 7 books, three of which were for my English Lit class but I am totally counting them because they were long and took me a bit to get through.  The class is weird because some weeks I only have to read like 15 pages, but others I have to read like 250.  Anyways, I’m pretty impressed with myself because on top of work and school, I was also busy moving into my new house this month.  But that’s besides the point.  Here are the seven books I read for the month of February.

1. The Epic of Gilgamesh by ???

I’m sure you can guess that this was for my English Lit class.  It’s a classic, and I know I’ve read part of it before for a class in high school but this was my first time reading it all the way through.  It was alright.  Really repetitive and Gilgamesh was kind of a little whiny at times.  I’m not going to give it a star rating, just because I don’t think it would be fair to grade this purely based on my enjoyment.

2. The Odyssey by Homer

Another one for my English lit class, and also one that I had to read part of for high school, but I did enjoy this one more than Gilgamesh.  Maybe it’s because I’m familiar with the storyline due to Percy Jackson, or maybe because it’s Greek mythology and I have a thing for anything in that category.  Either way, I didn’t entirely mind having to read 250 very, very thin pages of this book.  Again, I’m not going to give it a star rating, but it definitely ranks the highest of the ones I’ve read so far for my class.

3. Resistance Reborn (Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) by Rebecca Roanhorse

I was in a Star Wars mood for a solid week this month, so I re-watched a lot of the movies and picked this up.  This story takes place before movies 8 and 9 and follows the main characters as they try to rebuild after being decimated by the First Order.  I love Poe Dameron, he’s one of my favorite characters in the entire Star Wars universe so I was excited that this would be more Poe-centric, but a lot of the times he felt out of character.  It was like reading a watered down version of the character from the movies.  The book was enjoyable, but rather surface level, and while Rebecca Roanhorse did a good job of crafting a whole new Star Wars story, it ultimately felt like it could be skipped.  I was looking for a nice build up to the 9th movie, and this just felt like a weird fanfiction one shot.

3/5 stars.

4. Oedipus the King

Ever heard of an Oedipus complex?  This is the origin.  Poor Oedipus receives a prophecy that he will kill his father and marry his mother, so he decides to leave home and never see his parents again to prevent that from happening.  The catch?  He was secretly adopted, runs into his real father on the road not knowing who he is, kills him, and then goes and marries his mother not knowing who she is.  I didn’t expect to enjoy this but I found myself feeling really bad for Oedipus who was just trying to do the right thing.  Even though it was for my English Lit class, I’m glad I read it.  Will I ever read it again?  Probably not, but at least now I know the origin story behind the psychology. 

5. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

If you’re looking for a creepy story with a ton of queer relationships, this is the book for you.  In the early 1900s at the Brookhants School for Girls, a string of mysterious deaths occurred.  Fast forward to the present, and Merritt Emmons has written a book about the deaths and supposed curse that surrounds the school.  The book is now being made into a movie and as the cast arrives to begin filming, weird, creepy things begin to happen to them as well, making them wonder if the place really was haunted.  It’s a story within a story within a story, and a lot of it genuinely creeped me out in a good way.  I enjoyed both the 1900s timeline and the present day timelines presented in the book, and I enjoyed almost everything about this book.  It was a five star read for me up until the last 100 pages because it had a very dissatisfying ending that left a lot of questions and overall just didn’t feel wrapped up at all.  It felt like the author realized how many pages she had written and thought that she needed to wrap it up in the next 10 pages.  Not a bad book at all, but there’s just too much to be desired with the ending.

4/5 stars.

6. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I am so glad to report that I really really liked it.  I’ll be honest, not much happened to continue the overarching plot of this series, but that didn’t stop it from being an enjoyable book.  This is told entirely from Nesta and Cassian’s point of view as they train and fight and just learn to be around each other every hour of the day.  I didn’t like Nesta in the original trilogy and found her to be very bitchy but this book explains it all and does an excellent job of it.  It’s a book about hurting, depression, healing, PTSD, and love.  And it is DIRTY.  Easily the sauciest of any of Sarah J. Maas’ books.  As I was reading it I kept thinking to myself “is this what it’s like to read adult romances?” I haven’t been able to answer that question for myself yet, but I didn’t hate it. I also love Cassian so much, so any book that he was a central character I already knew I was going to love.  Is it a literary masterpiece? No.  Does it become the Rhys and Feyre show occasionally?” Yes.  But could I overlook the little problems and just enjoy the story?  Absolutely.  The more I read it the more I realized that this whole series just has such a special place in my heart. 

4/5 stars

7. American Royals by Katharine McGee

This is a contemporary story that answers the question, what if George Washington was made king during the American Revolution?  American Royals follows three royal siblings, the heir, Beatrice, and her younger siblings Samantha and Jeff as they navigate what it means to be royal as young adults.  Jeff and Sam are straight out of high school and trying to decide what they’re going to do with their lives, and Beatrice is under pressure to start dating and get married before she eventually inherits the throne.  The story also follows Nina, Sam’s best childhood friend who has always had a crush on Jeff, and Jeff’s ex-girlfriend Daphne as the two fight over him.  Although this book was predictable at times, I still enjoyed it.  It was a light, fluffy read that got me through my book hangover after a Court of Silver Flames. If it was an eight book series I probably wouldn’t continue, but there’s only one sequel so I’ll probably pick it up over the next few months.

3/5 stars