Monday, July 30, 2012

30 Days of Books - Day 2

Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 time


There are a lot of books I've read more than 3 times.  If I like a book I'll re-read again and again whenever I feel like it.  I can't remember which one I've read the most but it's probably one of the Vesper Holly series but that's being used in another day's answer so...I guess I'll go with the Iliad.


It's a strange book to read cover to cover multiple times (four at least) but I really like it for some reason.  It's fun to get different translations and compare the best chapters and see the differences (yes, I'm weird).  I was first introduced to it in a short action-adventure pamphlet of classic story told for fourth graders (we read the scene where Hector and Achilles are fighting) and then I read a book in seventh or eighth grade called Greeks Bearing Gifts by Bernard Eyslio which is a summary of the Iliad and the Odyssey bridged together with what is missing from between the two books.  After that I read the Iliad in high school (sophomore year), then again before college and again in college.  I started rereading it yet again in 2005 but didn't finish it because I got busy with work.  I should really read it again in a different translation. (Fagles is my favorite translator thus far)



My favorite thing to do when I read it is fill in my own commentary and summarize each chapter in the most humorous way possible, because - let's face it - the Iliad is pretty funny if you read between the lines and actually question the historical feasibility of it.     



                                                          Photo from Amazon.com

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