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Evan Shively (Perseus271)

3½ starsTwo mysteries were solved by my finally finishing  The Iliad. 1) It is so obvious why these Ancient Greek stories have survived for so many years-- it's all gory violence and sex. Homer tapped into these marketing tools early. 2) I now understand why puritanical attitudes toward female sexuality developed. Pretty much everything bad that happens is caused by Helen of Troy - "slut that I am" - running off with Paris, and Hera seducing Zeus. The ancients must have read this and been like "please, girls, just... don't".Also: It seems I may have been too harsh with  Sarah J. Maas and her mist-rising, earth-shaking sex scenes. Clearly she was channeling Homer:\
  “The son of Cronus spoke and took his wife in his arms; and the divine earth sent up spring flowers beneath them, dewy clover and crocuses and a soft and crowded bed of hyacinths, to lift them off the ground. In this they lay, covered by a beautiful golden cloud, from which a rain of glistening dewdrops fell.”\
It's taken me so long to read this because, every time I tried to start, I kept comparing it to  The Odyssey, which I like much more. Odysseus's journey and encounters with creatures such as cannibal giants are very entertaining. And, when it comes down to it, I can only enjoy so many war scenes. Seeing as  The Iliad is all about the Trojan War, there are a lot of war scenes.BUT it is saved by the Greek gods. What a ridiculous bickering soap opera the Greek pantheon is. I genuinely burst out laughing multiple times. I like the Greek gods because they are so flawed and jealous and vindictive and, um, human. Hera, especially, is a piece of work. I love her. Sometimes you have to wonder what was going through the heads of Ancient Greeks when this is how they imagined their gods. From Hera calling Artemis a "shameless bitch" like something out of Mean Girls, to all the gods supporting their favourite team (Greek or Trojan) in the war like it's a damn football match. The Iliad gets better in the last eight books. It is more of a struggle in the beginning (mainly books 4-13) because there are some pages that blend together in a stream of similar-sounding Greek and Trojan men stabbing each other with spears. Often in the nipple or buttocks, too, which seems… peculiar.I'll stop being silly, though. It is a remarkable - if admittedly sexist - work. It's strange to think how themes and values that were important 3,000 years ago are still important today. I don't know if Homerian spoilers are a thing, but I'll just say that the one death, the death of the story can still be felt so very deeply all these years after its writing. The only thing more tragic than losing the one you love most is knowing you could have prevented it.I was disappointed my library didn’t have the Caroline Alexander translation, which is the first English translation by a woman, but Rieu’s Translation was fantastic. Very smooth reading, unlike another recent read of mine -  The Epic of Gilgamesh. I'm glad I finally read it.Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Animal Farm is a beast fable, in the form of a satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of anthropomorphic farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, the rebellion is betrayed, and under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon, the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before.

The Aeneid (; Latin: Aeneis [ae̯ˈneːɪs]) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It comprises 9,896 lines in dactylic hexameter. The first six of the poem's twelve books tell the story of Aeneas's wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem's second half tells of the Trojans' ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed.
The hero Aeneas was already known to Greco-Roman legend and myth, having been a character in the Iliad. Virgil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas's wanderings, his vague association with the foundation of Rome and his description as a personage of no fixed characteristics other than a scrupulous pietas, and fashioned the Aeneid into a compelling founding myth or national epic that tied Rome to the legends of Troy, explained the Punic Wars, glorified traditional Roman virtues, and legitimized the Julio-Claudian dynasty as descendants of the founders, heroes, and gods of Rome and Troy.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich (also Romanized Ilich, Ilych, Ilyitch; Russian: Смерть Ивана Ильича, romanized: Smert' Ivána Ilyicha), first published in 1886, is a novella by Leo Tolstoy, considered one of the masterpieces of his late fiction, written shortly after his religious conversion of the late 1870s.Considered to be one of the finest examples of a novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich tells the story of a high-court judge in 19th-century Russia and his sufferings and death from a terminal illness.Ivan Ilyich lives a carefree life that is "most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible". Like everyone he knows, he spends his life climbing the social ladder. Enduring marriage to a woman whom he often finds too demanding, he works his way up to be a magistrate, thanks to the influence he has over a friend who has just been promoted, focusing more on his work as his family life becomes less tolerable.

Twilight of the Idols presents a vivid, compressed overview of many of Nietzsche’s mature ideas, including his attack on Plato’s Socrates and on the Platonic legacy in Western philosophy and culture. Polt provides a trustworthy rendering of Nietzsche’s text in contemporary American English, complete with notes prepared by the translator and Tracy Strong. An authoritative Introduction by Strong makes this an outstanding edition.

The book is always better than the film, but I'd never read 2001 before. What I didn't know, until reading the foreword, is that this novel was literally written in tandem with the film, with Clarke and Kubrick feeding each other ideas. At some points, however, filming overtook writing, or vice versa, and the two stories, though similar, split along two different paths. After reading the book, the film becomes little more than a very well crafted container: It's pretty and neat to look at it, but open it up, and it's empty. There is none of Clarke's vision of how a being we'd call God would communicate with us across unfathomable time spans, or teach us, or lead us into higher consciousness. Stripped away by Kubrick is the sense that this being truly wants us to be in its image, and that the whole breadcrumb trail of monoliths was designed to do just that. And completely erased is the notion that David Bowman, as Star Child, is now one with the Universe, in some Zen-like way, and also much more like something we'd called a god.Don't get me wrong, 2001 is still one of my favorite films, but to get the full meaning and understand the full weight of why 2001 has been called "the perfect science fiction story," you must read the book. Clarke marries science, mysticism, theory, and fantasy in ways like no other. Unfortunately, Kubrick stripped away the mysticism and theory and left us what is, in comparison to the book, only a glimmer at something bigger.Kubrick touched the monolith, but Clarke went inside.

After a nuclear World War III has destroyed most of the globe, the few remaining survivors in southern Australia await the radioactive cloud that is heading their way and bringing certain death to everyone in its path. Among them is an American submarine captain struggling to resist the knowledge that his wife and children in the United States must be dead. Then a faint Morse code signal is picked up, transmitting from somewhere near Seattle, and Captain Towers must lead his submarine crew on a bleak tour of the ruined world in a desperate search for signs of life. On the Beach is a remarkably convincing portrait of how ordinary people might face the most unimaginable nightmare.

They watched Danilo Silva for days before they finally grabbed him. He was living alone, a quiet life on a shady street in Brazil; a simple life in a modest home, certainly not one of luxury. Certainly no evidence of the fortune they thought he had stolen. He was much thinner and his face had been altered. He spoke a different language, and spoke it very well.But Danilo had a past with many chapters. Four years earlier he had been Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a prominent Biloxi law firm. He had a pretty wife, a new daughter, and a bright future. Then one cold winter night Patrick was trapped in a burning car and died a horrible death. When he was buried his casket held nothing more than his ashes.From a short distance away, Patrick watched his own burial. Then he fled. Six weeks later, a fortune was stolen from his ex-law firm's offshore account. And Patrick fled some more.But they found him.

The Time of the Hero is a 1963 novel by Peruvian writer and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. It was Vargas Llosa's first novel and is set among the cadets at the Leoncio Prado Military Academy in Lima, which he attended as a teenager. The novel portrays the school so scathingly that its leadership burned many copies and condemned the book as Ecuadorian propaganda against Peru.

In this lively comedy of love and money in sixteenth-century Venice, Bassanio wants to impress the wealthy heiress Portia but lacks the necessary funds. He turns to his merchant friend, Antonio, who is forced to borrow from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender. When Antonio's business falters, repayment becomes impossible--and by the terms of the loan agreement, Shylock is able to demand a pound of Antonio's flesh. Portia cleverly intervenes, and all ends well (except of course for Shylock).

El Aleph es un cuento del escritor argentino Jorge Luis Borges publicado en la revista Sur en 1945 y en el libro homonimo por la editorial Emece de Buenos Aires en 1949. El original se encuentra en la Biblioteca Nacional de Espana, que lo adquirio por subasta en 1985. Presenta numerosas posibles interpretaciones; entre ellas la que plantea una lectura desde el existencialismo, basada en la idea de la incapacidad del ser humano de enfrentarse a la eternidad. Esta idea esta presente en muchos de los cuentos borgianos y en su lectura y manejo de autores preexistencialistas como Soren Kierkegaard, Franz Kafka, y Arthur Schopenhauer. En este cuento, que se ha convertido en objeto de culto, se puede reconocer toda su literatura, de tal forma que puede ser calificado como el cuento paradigmatico de la vasta biblioteca borgiana, abrevando en la ironia, el juego con el lenguaje y la erudicion -tanto veridica como ficticia-. Esto ultimo se deja entrever, por ejemplo, en los epigrafes iniciales, donde se cita a Hobbes y Shakespeare, asi como en la postdata de 1943 donde se hace una supuesta investigacion acerca de otros Alephs citando a autores historicos como Pedro Henriquez Urena, Richard Francis Burton, Luciano de Samosata e Ibn Jaldun."

A man returns to the town where a baffling murder took place twenty-seven years earlier, determined to get to the bottom of the story. Just hours after marrying the beautiful Angela Vicario, everyone agrees, Bayardo San Roman returned his bride in disgrace to her parents. Her distraught family forced her to name her first lover; and her twin brothers announced their intention to murder Santiago Nasar for dishonoring their sister.Yet if everyone knew the murder was going to happen, why did no one intervene to try and stop it? The more that is learned, the less is understood, and as the story races to its inexplicable conclusion, an entire society--not just a pair of murderers—is put on trial.

The Roman Empire is weakening. In 367 AD, approximately eight years after the great battle at Hadrian's Wall, Roman garrisons begin to hear rumors of barbarian tribes massing to the north. By 449 AD, Attila, the ruler of the Huns, has become the continent's most powerful monarch, his reputation in battle earning him the title "The Scourge of God."Anticipating an imminent attack by the Huns, Roman leaders negotiate with one of Attila's lieutenants, convincing him to play the part of assassin. He is joined on his mission by a Roman citizen, Jonas, an ambassador dispatched to negotiate a peace treaty with the Huns. When the plot is discovered, Jonas becomes a hostage, forced to fight for his captors if he wishes to remain alive. But he soon learns that Attila intends to conquer Rome itself, and is caught between two mighty empires, both poised for one of the greatest conflicts the world has ever seen. Jonas, knowing his life could be forfeit, has the potential to tip the battle in either direction––and his decision will alter the face of Western civilization.

The Begum's Fortune (French: Les Cinq cents millions de la Bégum), also published as The Begum's Millions, is an 1879 novel by Jules Verne, with some utopian elements and other elements that seem clearly dystopian. It is noteworthy as the first published book in which Verne was cautionary, and somewhat pessimistic about the development of science and technology.Long after The Begum's Fortune was published, it came out that its story is based on a manuscript by Paschal Grousset, a Corsican revolutionary who had participated in the Paris Commune and was at the time living in exile in the United States and London. It was bought by Pierre-Jules Hetzel, the publisher of most of Verne's books. The attribution of plot elements between Grousset's original text and Verne's work on it has not been completely defined. Later, Verne worked similarly on two more books by Grousset and published them under his name, before the revolutionary finally got a pardon and was able to return to France and resume publication in his own name.

In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future.The House of the Spirits is an enthralling saga that spans decades and lives, twining the personal and the political into an epic novel of love, magic, and fate.

A satiric masterpiece about the allure and peril of money, Our Mutual Friend revolves around the inheritance of a dust-heap where the rich throw their trash. When the body of John Harmon, the dust-heap’s expected heir, is found in the Thames, fortunes change hands surprisingly, raising to new heights “Noddy” Boffin, a low-born but kindly clerk who becomes “the Golden Dustman.” Charles Dickens’s last complete novel, Our Mutual Friend encompasses the great themes of his earlier works: the pretensions of the nouveaux riches, the ingenuousness of the aspiring poor, and the unfailing power of wealth to corrupt all who crave it. With its flavorful cast of characters and numerous subplots, Our Mutual Friend is one of Dickens’s most complex—and satisfying—novels.

Ostfront 41-45, which has gone on to sell...

Cat Quest is an open world RPG set in the pawsome world of cats! In search of your catnapped sister you pounce into the massive continent of Felingard - a world...

Innocence offers an adventure supported by an original scenario, with gameplay that blends action, adventure and stealth phases. Follow our prota...

Enter a dangerous and shadowy world of murder and cultists in this pioneering interactive thriller, exclusive to PS4, that asks you to reach into the game world...

The real-time strategy series returns to glory with Age of Empires IV, putting you at the center of epic historical battles that shaped the world. Featuring bot...

Experience this epic adventure on your own or together with your friends, guild mates, and thousands of alliance members. Explore dangerous caves and dungeons,...

Fate has summoned you to the shores of Aeternum, the Eternal Isle. Overcome the brutal legions of The Corrupted and draw battle lines with competing players in...

Life is tough for young Ash -- isolated and bullied, it's only in the discovery that he can bring his paintings to life that things become so much... brighter....

The Darkness features a distinct blend of dark modern crime drama and supernatural horror with intense first person non-linear gameplay. The game is a dynamic f...

Inspired by the comic book series, The Darkness II is a first-person shooter that thrusts you into the role of Jackie Estacado, don of a New York crime family a...

The Dwarves is a fantasy role-playing game with a strong story and tactically challenging real-time battles. 15 playable heroes, each with individual skills, ar...

Part one of the Mafia crime saga - 1930s, Lost Heaven, IL Re-made from the ground up, rise through the ranks of the Mafia during the Prohibition era of organize...

Set in the beautiful, volcanic scarred high-desert of the Pacific Northwest, Days Gone is an open-world action-adventure game in which you assume the role of De...

Three trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.

While on tour in Afghanistan, Sam's copter is shot down and he is presumed dead. Back home, it is his screw-up brother who looks after the family. Sam does return, but with a lot of excess baggage.

Two young brothers are drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is hurled through the depths of space by the magical board game they are playing.

Life changes in an instant for young Mia Hall after a car accident puts her in a coma. During an out-of-body experience, she must decide whether to wake up and live a life far different than she had imagined. The choice is hers if sh

Literature student Anastasia Steele's life changes forever when she meets handsome, yet tormented, billionaire Christian Grey.

2015 American romantic drama film by Sam Taylor-Johnson

A female lawyer becomes mesmerized by a self-made millionaire during an encounter in Rio setting off a series of erotic encounters.

In 1958 California, a teenage girl goes to work as a prostitute in a high-class brothel after the death of her father.

A down-and-out writer sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for fame and fortune.

An over-the-hill hitman faces off against a younger clone of himself.

A star-pilot for hire and his trusty sidekick must come to the rescue of a princess and save Planet Druidia from the clutches of the evil Spaceballs.

1987 American science fiction parody movie directed by Mel Brooks

A mischievous dog befriends a lonely young girl in a new town and helps her make new friends.

A look at the life of the legendary rock and roll star, Elvis Presley.

American rapper, record executive, and entrepreneur

Barbadian singer, songwriter, and businesswoman

American musician, singer, songwriter, producer, author, and animal rights activist

American musician, DJ, dubstep producer, singer

Star Wars anthology series that will see some of the world's best anime creators bring their talent to this beloved universe.

Set in the 17th Century, the story is told from the perspective of British hero John Blackthorne, a sailor who rises from outsider to samurai, while being used as a pawn in Japanese leader Toranaga's struggle to reach the top of the 

The story of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, a Castilian nobleman and war hero in medieval Spain.

Retells the story of the 10 year siege of Troy, which occurred in the 12 or 13th century BC.

Rocky, a plucky flying squirrel and Bullwinkle, a bumbling but lovable moose, have a series of ongoing adventures.

A 12-year-old boy and his best friend, wise 28-year-old dog with magical powers, go on a series of surreal adventures with each other in a remote future.

A foreign exchange student interacts with the inhabitants of a deserted island.

An updated version of the 1990s animated series featuring a trio of wacky characters causing mayhem on the Warner Bros. studio lot.

A robot rebels against its creators, refusing to kill, and goes on the run.

The beyond surreal adventures of Felix The Cat and his friends set in an incredibly weird and fantastical toon world where everything is alive and only dream logic rules. Each episode has three segments.

A military base builds a ray gun to take over and/or destory the world. What is needed to power this gun is a sheep, when a sheep of a small country farm is chosen it escapes to a nearby city and the chase is on...

The ill-tempered Grim Reaper gets into a wager that forces him to become the life-long companions of two scheming youngsters after he loses.

Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (simply known as Robot Jones or WHTRJ?) is an American animated television series created by Greg Miller for Cartoon Network. It follows Robot Jones, a teenage robot who attends the fictional suburban Polyneux Middle School in a retrofuturistic 1980s world. Episodes follow Robot Jones researching aspects of human life, including music, facial hair, and gym class. Jones is guided by his three friends, Socks, Mitch, and Cubey. Robot Jones is often smitten with his crush, Shannon Westerburg, a tall, young girl with orthodontic headgear and a prosthesis. In school, Robot Jones interacts with his teachers, Mr. McMcMc, Mr. Workout, and Mrs. Raincoat; the principal, Mr. Madman; and janitor Clancy Q. Sleepyjeans. His arch-rivals, Lenny and Denny Yogman, try to sabotage Jones's research by making school more difficult for him.

The series exploits the failed tries of an unlucky bad guy, Hector Con Carne, to domain the world, along with a stupid bear, an otimistic and annoying mad scientist and a grouchy army official.

The further adventures of Osmosis Jones (Phil LaMarr) and Drix (Jeff Bennett) as they defend the body of a young boy.

Various original cartoons by some of today's top animators.

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