In Defence of Dogs: Why Dogs Need Our Understanding
Book
What would dogs ask for, if they knew how? In the Sunday Times bestseller In Defence of Dogs John...
Not the End of the World
Book
Not the End of the World is Kate Atkinson's first collection of short stories. Playful and profound,...
13 Dark Tales: Collection Two
8.0
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A headless corpse dumped in a field leads to a terrifying insight into the future, a UFO...
ClareR (5667 KP) rated Daughters of Sparta in Books
May 21, 2023
First of all, these books read as historical fiction, NOT as myths. There are no gods or goddesses intervening in the lives of mortals, messing it all up. The mortals are all perfectly capable of doing that themselves.
Secondly, the women are strong in the context of the time they live in, not by our modern standards. Women were completely reliant on their husbands and families; sold off to the men who would most benefit their fathers. As is the case with Klytemnestra (spelt with a ‘K’ here, but it can be a ‘C’ as well!) and Helen.
To be fair, both women have a lot about them. Klytemnestra commits the ultimate two fingered salute to her husband, and Helen removes herself from the possibility of dying in childbirth. There’s also the fact that Helen seems to be constantly searching for affection and love. Denied both by her mother, she doesn’t get those things from her husband either, probably because they never get to know one another. And Paris certainly doesn’t show her love or affection once they get to Troy. She must feel supremely uncomfortable around the other women in Troy once the Greeks turn up and start killing all of their husbands.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Greek myths where the gods are involved, but I really like this version too. Really very enjoyable, I raced through this book. I’m hoping that Claire Heywood has another retelling in the pipeline!
BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated Supernatural in TV
Sep 5, 2017
Season 1-5 are pure just amazing the monsters of the week are all just as interesting as the main plot that starts to build-up near the end of season 1. The writers found such an amazing balance between myths and character development that you just get hooked so fast and they stay so strong for five season which is pretty hard to do in my opinion.
Now season 6 - current is an entirely different story while not completely terrible and some of the seasons being pretty good as a whole I feel like they really lost their footing after season 5 and just never really recovered all the way.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Superman (1978) in Movies
Feb 20, 2018
Not especially like the Superman comics of the time, but a classy, charming movie all the same, performed by a charismatic and rather eclectic cast. Third-billed Christopher Reeve was instantly type-cast as Superman, but then Superman was also type-cast as Christopher Reeve for many years afterwards. The ending is somewhat confused but the movie's depiction of Superman himself is so very nearly perfect that it earns itself a pass on this.
David McK (3369 KP) rated Clash of the Titans (2010) in Movies
Dec 18, 2019
Starring Sam Worthingon - whatever happened to him? - as Perseus, the plot of this obviously takes inspiration from Greek myths, even down to having Liam Neeson playing the part of Zeus himself, and of the Pegasus.
Richard II
Book
Richard II is a figure famous in England's national myths - the king who went insane, the...
The Sports Gene: Talent, Practice and the Truth About Success
Book
In this ground-breaking and entertaining exploration of athletic success, award-winning writer David...