Hello Bookclubbers

Over at r/AYearOfMythology we are getting ready to start our reading of 'The Iliad' by Homer. We will officially be starting on June 11th. We will be reading two 'books' (in modern terms chapters) a week for twelve weeks. Every weekend we will post discussion posts to talk about that week's reading. Our buddy read will run until September 2nd. Following this, we intend to start reading Virgil's 'The Aeneid'.

The Iliad is one of the all time classics of the Western canon, so the summary I give here is a bare outline. If you are familiar with mythology based retellings (or books that were popular on TikTok), you may recognize 'The Iliad' as the main inspiration for Madeline Miller's 'The Song of Achilles'.

The Iliad details some of the events during the final year of the Trojan War. The story focuses on the fallout of a disagreement between the demigod Achilles and the leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon. We meet most of the Olympians and get to see what happens when gods use humanity to fight one another. The story is fun, action packed and, in most modern translations, a joy to read.

If you are interested in joining us, please feel free to do so. We are a laid-back community that focuses on reading the classics for pleasure. I have provided a quick guide to some of the modern translations here.