Circe by Madeline Miller

This is typically not my kind of book. I was definitely leery about reading it after I figured out the subject matter! Surprisingly, it didn't take me that long to become invested in it. I don't remember a lot about Greek mythology, but I am currently reading the Percy Jackson series, so there were familiar stories. I had never heard of Circe though. It was disturbing how awful her siblings were. I am not sure why they had to be so hateful. Although they didn't seem to have it that easy either, which Circe finds out much later in life. I thought it was interesting that Pasiphae summoned Circe to help her with birthing the minotaur. It seemed to be a kind of compliment to Circe's strength though. No one else would have survived the birth - or even attempted it. I really like Circe, despite her weaknesses. She was the last of her siblings to realize they were witches with special powers. I felt bad that her jealousy over Glaucos caused her to create the monster Scylla. So many lives were lost because of it. I was so relieved that she figured out a way to destroy her in the end, even for Scylla herself.

Odysseus was essentially a cruel man. Circe covers up his cruelty when describing him to their son, Telegonus, but Odysseus was a warrior. He was evolving with every experience, as we all do, but by the time he finally reached Ithaca again, there was no turning back. Athena even had to step in to stop his destruction of others in the end. I thought it was interesting that Telegonus killing his father is the reason why Athena tried to kill Telegonus so many times after his birth, before Circe realized what was happening and figured out a way to protect him on their island. But then when Odysseus died, Athena turned her attention to Odysseus' son, Telemachus, and when he rejected her, she accepted Telegonus instead. Who saw that coming?? Certainly not me.

I also thought it was odd that Penelope and Telemachus ended up finding a home with Circe. I guess if Telemachus had been more like his father, then things would have ended very differently. Telemachus had no interest in his inherited role at Ithaca. He was not the warrior his father was. And yet both Odysseus and Telemachus fell in love with Circe and she had children by both men. (Which is weird in itself, but I always had to remind myself that Circe was immortal and wasn't aging like the mortal men in her life).

It was satisfying that Penelope found her place on Aiaia and Circe found happiness with Telemachus. I really enjoyed this book, despite my initial reluctance to like it. ;)

Wendy's Rating: ****

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

This is a book within a book. Susan Ryeland is an editor for Cloverleaf Books. Susan receives the 9th book, and last book, of a mystery series written by Alan Conway. The main character of the series is a German detective by the name of Atticus Pund, who solves mysteries in quaint English villages. The first couple hundred pages of Magpie Murders is actually Alan Conway's mystery called "Magpie Murders". We are reading it along with Susan. The book comes to an abrupt end though because the last chapter(s) of the book are missing. Then Susan finds out that Alan Conway, the author, is dead, presumably by suicide because he found out he was dying.

The second part of the book involves Susan playing the amateur detective. She doesn't believe that Alan committed suicide, so she tries to figure out who killed him and why. She also wants to find the missing chapter(s) of Alan's final book, since she notices a lot of parallels between Atticus Pund and Alan Conway. (Atticus Pund finds out he is dying as well, so this will be his last chance at detective work). In addition to that, there is a financial concern for Cloverleaf Books if Susan and her boss, Charles Clover (CEO), cannot publish this final Atticus Pund book, which they can't do if they can't find the missing chapters.

The two stories intertwine because Alan uses people and places (with names cleverly re-named) that are familiar to him. Alan's sister mentions to Susan a couple of times that Alan had a fascination with puzzles, clues and word games since he was a child. So Susan tries to put all the pieces together to solve Alan's presumed murder, as well as the murderer(s) of the two characters in Alan's book, since Susan thinks the storyline and the missing chapters of the book hold the answer to solving Alan's murder. Confused yet? ;)

It does get a bit confusing! Since there are parallel characters in the two "books", with different names in different settings with a different storyline, I found myself having to think through the characters. Susan is trying to solve all the murders, both in "real time" and the fictional ones that Atticus Pund was solving in the book. It is cleverly plotted and there are word games involved. Alan Conway, who is bitter about becoming famous for writing mystery novels when all he ever wanted to do was write literary novels (which were really quite terrible), plays games with his readers in all nine books in the series.

It was an entertaining read with an interesting ending, which I won't spoil here. It's not what I expected, but it's more realistic than a fairy tale ending.

Wendy's Rating: ****