Before Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan, there was Edith Hamilton's version of the myths. This book was meant to be an introduction to the myths - of Roman, Greek, and Norse. This book was part of my high school English class. Required reading to be discussed and tested and I was happy to have this book.

This book was my first introduction to myths. I had not read anything about them in the past as I held no interest in them. They held no interest and certainly were not needed in the three years of high school. This book was placed in my hands during one-afternoon class and told that this would be the subject for the next six weeks.

You know from previous entries that I do not play well when I am told that I have to read a book and that has always held true even in high school. In high school, I fell in love with not only history but with the mythology of all cultures and religions. This book was meant to be an introduction to these worlds, a reference, and short stories packaged nicely into a book.

This is the book that introduced me to one of my favorite myths - Hades and Persephone.

This book has since opened doors to other more detailed books on myths and their stories. Because of this book, I am thankful for it. I am thankful that I did not write this book off as something forced but something to enjoy. I will keep coming back to this book each time I want just a little nostalgia. ( )

12/1/22

Scholarly in a way that most retellings of the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths are not. A discussion of the originals of many of the stories, with commentary. Quotations from translations of the poets. A discussion of the purpose and meaning of the myths and what place they have in our cultural heritage.

The illustrations by Steele Savage seem rather arbitrarily chosen. I found the color illustrations by Jim Tierney in the 25th anniversary edition unappealing, but the decorations were fine and the book itself is pleasantly bulky. Both editions have quite a few family trees. ( )

Includes index.

I remember reading parts of this in high school and liking it then, but rereading this book in it's entirety those are just found memories. For the most part, I didn't really enjoy this book. This is more for beginners or high schoolers, which could also make people love this book.

I just kept finding more flaws than reasons to like this book. First off, the Norse part of this book was pointless. I'm not sure why she had it in here either. I feel like if your going to talk about other culture's myths at least add other cultures. I feel like she intentionally snubbed other myths.

I hated her commentary. Every time she talked about where she got the myths I want to tell her to shut up and just tell the tale. She made Ovid look like a fool sometimes. She also picked which version of a myth she like better making the other versions she though were less important.

The chapters where she retold the Odyssey and the Iliad I thought were pointless too. Having read those to book earlier this year I felt it was repetitive. She managed to take Homer's stories and make them sound less interesting. I did like her chapters on the heroes though, maybe because they don't really have books just for there story.

There are better mythology books out there, this isn't one of them. It's a super popular book though. I can see why. Like I said this is for beginners. This was better than Bullfinch which I had issues with that book too. This should get credit too just for the fact a woman wrote it, which was rare at her time.

I'll most likely look at this book from time to time. It's a good reference book. This isn't really good to read the whole thing over and over. I thought it was short stories, but it's more encyclopedia entries. ( )