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#a thousand ships
emilybeemartin · 3 months
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Your Odysseus art is GORGEOUS. You are keeping me fed, god bless. I’d be really interested to see your take on Penelope, because you seem to excel at drawing kick-ass women!
Thank you! Here's a really quick one:
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My friends and I were just talking yesterday about how much we liked A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes. It's been a few years since I read it, but I remember enjoying the glimpses of Penelope we got, especially when her patience was worn thin and she was like "really, Odysseus? Twenty years, though? Circe *and* Calypso? You know that unraveling weft isn't easy, right? You know I spend as much time at night taking this cloth apart as I do weaving during the day? You understand that, right?"
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there’s a very specific genre of modern greek mythology retellings a in a vaguely madeline miller-ish way that are all just catering to a market of ex percy jackson kids but i will eat up every single time without fail.
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amicus-noctis · 3 months
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“I am made of memories.” ― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles
Painting: "A" by Graham Dean
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lord-jen-grey · 9 months
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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love❤
Thanks @flyinghome-againstthewind for the ask!!
My 5 fave fics that I wrote.
You know I’m a big supporter of self love 😏.
I have to say O Night Divine would have been on this list, but I don’t think of it as a fic anymore because it’s so much more. Because of that, my 5 faves are pretty easy to come up with. Here we goooooo….
5. The Silver of Moonlight from the Sun, Moon, and Truth series
This story was so natural to write. The series might be some of the sexiest stuff I’ve written (for whatever that’s worth). The main reason it’s such a fave for me is because multiple people shared with me how it helped them open their minds about their sexuality and accept proudly who they are. Fucking incredible.
4. A Thousand Ships from the Tales of James Fraser series
I sat with this idea for 6 months before I started writing it. I laughed myself to tears coming up with the idea, and I laughed typing every fucking word. If I’ve done anything brilliant in my life, it execute this concept.
3. Paved With Yellow Stones
I can’t begin to describe the effort that went into this story. The planning of every minute detail. The intricate plot that could not be deviated from once it was started. It was not easy, and it took a few years of learning to plan and execute complex plot to write something like this. So, yeah, I’m proud of this baby.
2. Like Petals Falling
This story was meant to be a quick and simple palate cleanser after writing a few dark, heavy plots in other fics. How did it turn into something so deeply personal? Well, THE POETRY. Poetry is, at its essence, DEEP and MEANINGFUL. I’ve poured so much of myself into this story in a way I had never done so with any fic before. 🥹
1. Journey of a Thousand Kisses and the 1000 Kisses series.
The intention with this story was to combine my favorite things: obsessively in love Frasers, fucking in the Highlands like rabbits, and building a perfect, happy life. I wanted to write a joyful story that did not require a ton of devastation as the main point of the plot. That’s not an easy feat as a writer. It’s beat into our heads that conflict is vital to good storytelling, and I was intentionally removing so much of that conflict, focusing more on the dynamic between them and resolving a mystery that the readers didn’t even know existed until 6/7 of the way through the story! I wanted people to think it was pure fluff, but then be blindsided by so much more. Then I wanted to do it again with 6 more stories in this universe. I love this series the most, and I love its beginning more than anything.
Do you agree with this list? Do you have another thoughts? I’d love to hear them. 🥰
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why do i keep reading/watching/listening to things i already know end sad
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words-and-coffee · 2 years
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He is learning that in any war, the victors may be destroyed as completely as the vanquished. They still have their lives, but they have given up everything else in order to keep them. They sacrifice what they do not realise they have until they have lost it. And so the man who can win the war can only rarely survive the peace.
Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships
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virgils-muse · 6 months
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My Roman Empire is Thetis. Not my oc/anon (although I think of my Ocs way too much) I mean like Thetis is the Iliad and stuff.
I think about her way too often for my own good because then I end up getting sad. It’s not helpful that the book I’m reading, “Wake, Siren” has a chapter on Thetis (it’s a collection of retellings from the different characters in Ovid’s Metamorphosis). And it hit so hard. Like, nothing tops that five page chapter on her in A Thousand Ships, but this was really close (there also isn’t much variety. Literally the only other retelling she’s in is in TSOA and I hate how they portrayed her). There need to be an entire book dedicated to her immediately!
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pazoo-underscore · 10 months
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Okay if you are interested in classics I cannot recommend enough the podcast Natalie Haynes stands up for the classics. It's free on Spotify and you can probably find it on YouTube too. It's so good she is so funny while also covering everything I love her sm
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shxpeshifterr · 7 months
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gargoyle-doyle · 7 months
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Eeek ! Got this doll the other day, she reminds me so much of gelflings and Wendy Froud dolls. She's my first doll of this brand.
Her name's Oenone for the nymph wife of Paris. She appears in Natalie Haynes 'a thousand ships' in one of my favourite quotes 'He loses his wife so he stirs up an army to bring her back to him, costing countless lives and creating countless widows, orphans and slaves. Oenone loses her husband and she raises their son. Which of those is the more heroic act?'.
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RECENT READS: “A Thousand Ships” by Natalie Haynes
"When a war was ended, the men lost their lives. But the women lost everything else."
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clayduckling · 10 months
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Books I've Read This Year
A Thousand Ships || Natalie Haynes
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wutheringmights · 3 months
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2023 Reading Wrap Up
I tried starting this post about 20 times already, and no introduction is really hitting. I am quite a bit hungover, and in dire need of a rest. But alas, I want to talk about all the books I read last year.
So I had the goal of reading as much as I physically could last year. Why? After finishing my degree, I was having trouble reading for the sake of reading. I wanted to be someone who read a lot, but my self-motivated reading habit was in the dumps. My sibling and I ended up making a bet to see who could read more in 2023, and I was determined to win.
I did win, but that's besides the point. My importantly, I am now back in the habit of reading again.
I really enjoyed starting my reading tag and making little write-ups summarizing my thoughts. I really appreciate everyone being so patient with my book-posting, especially as I gradually went from writing a sentence or two to rambling bullet point lists to well-thought out reviews. If you ever interacted with one of those posts-- thank you so much! I hope to continue in this upcoming year.
So to wrap up my year of reading, I figured I would rank all of the books I read. If I read an entire series, I'll count it as one entry on the list. Also, the ranking is going to be determined less by quality and more by personal enjoyment.
All that being said, let's go~
Ranking My 2023 Reads
#17) Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg - This was my first read of the year, and my worst. This book is near unreadable in terms of prose, and features one of the most infuriating lines I have ever read in my entire life:
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Add the most unoriginal plot I have ever seen, and this makes for one bad read. I knew it was going to be bad going on, but the levels of incompetency on display here was mind-boggling.
#16) Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan - Is this the worst book I read this year? No. But it definitely pissed me off more than the others. I didn't need this book to be good; I just wanted it to be fun, but it couldn't commit to a plot line long enough to do so. I will give this book credit for having one of the unintentionally funniest villains I have ever read. That man failed upwards and it was GREAT. No notes.
#15) Ariadne by Jennifer Saint - I don't think this book is terrible, but its flaws are the most glaring to me. Structurally, it's a mess. The prose tries to use imagery to cover up how much telling it's truly doing. Both hampered an overall decent plot.
#14) Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston - This book wasn't really for me. It was an entertaining read, but the references to pop-culture were more cringey than humorous. I also could not stand how the book was ashamed to be escapist literature and tried to uplift itself with shallow critiques of American politics.
#13) Lightlark by Alex Aster - That I am putting this book so high on the list is a crime and an insult against every book ranked below it. If I was ranking off of quality alone, it would be the second worst book I read this year. Unfortunately, I started an inside joke with my friends about how I'm Lightlark's #1 Fan, which ended up increasingly my enjoyment of this very stupid book exponentially. #TeamOro
#12) Garrison Girl by Rachel Aarons - This book really isn't anything special, but its place in publishing and anime history tickles my brain. It's not bad but it's not all that good either.
#11) The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking) by Katie Mack - Someone with a more thorough baseline on science would probably find this book more enjoyable than me. As is, I didn't understand half of it.
#10) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - A fast, enjoyable read. I think it reveals its hand a bit too quickly, but the plot overall is really fascinating. Lacking on prose, but it didn't need a lot of it. This is a book begging to be made into a movie (which will probably be better than the book itself).
#9) A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes - What this book lacks in originality and plot, it makes up for with comprehensiveness. As much as I enjoyed reading all of its varied perspectives, I am still peeved by how Penelope's perspective was wasted and how Haynes had no interest in writing from Helen's perspective.
#8) The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin - A prime example of a book series that is objectively excellent, but was simply not for me. My interests didn't align with what the narrative thought was important. However, the characters are fantastic and what there is of the central conflict between mother and daughter is earth shattering.
#7) The Poppy War Trilogy by R.F. Kuang - An incredible fantasy series with some excellent characters and ideas. While I do think that the series is a little simplistic, it makes up for it by being endlessly entertaining. Except for the last book, which leaned too heavily into its grimdark flares.
#6) Beowulf by Unknown (Translated by Seamus Heaney) - A reread featuring a fantastic introduction from Heaney that connects the text to his Irish roots. The translation itself, while good, prioritized brevity a bit too much for my taste.
#5) Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - A long overdue reread that reaffirmed why I found this book life changing when I first read it in junior high. Lyrical, brutal, and surprisingly funny, this book paints an honest picture of depression and trauma in adolescence.
#4) In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado - A lyrical, dreamy exploration of an abusive relationship. I love how this memoir pushes the limits of its own medium as it also tries to establish a canon for abusive queer relationships. Machado's imagery is insane, and I devour it every time.
#3) The Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger - My last and most surprising read of the year. I did not expect to love this novel as much as I do. I will never forgive the world for insisting that Holden Caulfield is an archetypal male manipulator when he's a traumatized kid (albeit a bratty one) who desperately wants to be feel happy.
#2) Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price - An incredible, comprehensive look on the history, culture, and legacy of the vikings. Price parses through popular fiction to bring humanity back to a historical group of people every subculture wants to claim as their own, for better and for worse. This book broke a damn in my head that was preventing me from doing world building for a piece of original fiction I want to write.
#1) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas - I have been haunted by this book since I was a little kid, promising myself that I would one day gather the courage to read this behemoth of a story. As long as it is, every word was worth it. It was both parts entertaining and stimulating, and I ended by the book knowing why so many people call this the best book ever written.
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And that was my year! Please feel free to share what you read this year. Let me know if there's anything I should try to read in 2024. You can also fight me about any of my opinions lol
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amicus-noctis · 3 months
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“We were like gods at the dawning of the world, & our joy was so bright we could see nothing else but the other.” ― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles
Painting: "Monseigneur Love" by Thomas Cooper Gotch
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hadersgf · 1 year
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my little collection of Greek mythology books 🏛️🤍
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totorotori · 1 year
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Yeah Briseis deserves better.
It's sad how much she gets overlooked even in retellings.
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