Book Reviews

As an ex-English teacher and voracious reader I have thousands of books crammed onto bookshelves throughout my home.

When I was in grade school I first read Homer's "Iliad." I actually cried at the conclusion when Hector died. The book affected me so, that next I read Homer's "Odyssey" and then gobbled up Virgil's "Aeneid." Thus began a lifelong love affair with classical Greece. Today I have over 500 books on Greek literature, history, and culture. By the time I was in college I had read the major Greek authors: Herodotus, Thucydides, Euripides, Aeschylus, and Sophocles (never really cared much for Hesiod). By the time I had hit age 35 I'd visited Greece twice to clamber among the ruins of Athens, Sparta, Mycenae, Delphi, and Corinth.

My favorite book of all time is "Whom the Gods Would Destroy" by Richard Powell. Powell was a journalist, ad man, and eventually a creative writing teacher at Syracuse University. He is best known for his 1950's bestseller "The Philadelphian" (later turned into a movie starring Paul Newman).

"Whom the Gods," written in the 70's, is a modern re-telling of the epic Trojan War cycle of stories. Powell too was a Homer-ophile, and brings to life all the famous heroic characters: Achilles, Odysseus, Agamemnon, Helen of Troy, Hector, Paris... Nor do you have to be an ancient historian to enjoy this book. Anyone I have ever handed it to: from girlfriend to high school student, has enjoyed it for what it is, a great read.