First Book, Check!

Well I just finished the Odyssey, all twenty-four chapters. It took me exactly four days to finish and to tell the truth I would not have believed that I could have finished it that fast when I started it.

It was a very interesting book. I would not say that it was my absolute favorite book ever, but I did not dislike it. The book's story did not interest me as much as the culture of the time. Things that the people said and did that were perfectly normal then are strange and not fully understood now. For example the custom of grabbing peoples knees, I have no idea why this happens so much in the Odyssey, I think it might be some way of begging for peace or something. Several of the characters do this several times and it is never explained. But I guess we can't talk because our culture today also has some very strange customs, like when meeting someone we grab hands and yank up and down, and we hit doors to get the attention of those inside.

Odyssey Thoughts

Well I am already to chapter 5 of the "Odyssey" and so far it is not like anything I have ever read. It is more poetic than any of the modern books today, and it flows differently than books that I have read before. I especially like how whenever Homer writes that morning had come he writes, "When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared" Even though that sentence gets very repetitive, it does not make the book boring it just makes me want to laugh at the strangeness of the sentence.

So far I like it. Though while reading the "Odyssey" it comes in handy to have a list of the names of all the characters in the book because while reading it I mix up Amphimedon, and Amphinomus.

One of the best things about reading the "Odyssey" is that we have an older, hard-backed, yellow-ish paged, and awesome looking copy. This makes it all the more fun to read. There is something different about reading a new addition, clean, and unwrinkled copy of a book, than reading the older copy that looks like it has been picked up many times to be read again.

Reading a book that looks fresh off the store's shelf makes me scared to open it too wide, so when I read a wrinkled copy I feel more relaxed.  

Blog Intro...

Okay, so for school in 2012 my Mom decided that my two sisters and I would start reading more classics by joining the 52 week book challenge with her.  I joined in but I am only listing 28 titles because I have several other books that I recently got for Christmas that I want to read too. These new books are not allowed to be added to my list of classic titles because they are what my sister calls "Fluff". 

We are starting the challenge this week after school has started back.  I am starting with "The Odyssey" by Homer. I am not sure what I will think about this book. I have always enjoyed Greek mythology but I have never read a book like this and because I do not know if it has a happy ending I am slightly hesitant.