July book of the month | stylenua

Hey everyone,

This month I read a lot of books, but one in particular stood out to me, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. 

This book is a fictional retelling of the story of Ancient Greek hero Achilles, a significant figure in the Trojan war. The story is told by Patroclus, the best friend of Achilles, from the time they meet as young boys, to their adult lives. This book came highly recommended to me from friends and also from bloggers on tumblr who are interested in mythology and classics like I am.

Before reading this book I didn’t actually have much knowledge on Achilles, apart from what I would have heard in passing in other mythological stories. Throughout my reading of the book, however, I found myself wanting to know every recorded detail of Achilles. I don’t think this was a bad thing, though. It’s always good to learn new things, even if those new things are random facts about Ancient Greek epics!

The book itself was extremely easy to read which I loved, and told the story in a simple but beautiful way. In one way it’s hard to believe that Madeline Miller spent ten years writing this book because it flows so well, but in another way you can tell she put her heart and soul into this book, from the masses of historical research she must have done, to the eloquent language that she uses. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in Ancient Greece or just a well told story, but be warned: you will be emotionally traumatised after reading it. No classical epic is complete without heartache.

Let me know what book you have been reading this month and what your opinion of it is on twitter or instagram. Happy reading!

Much love,

JMG, stylenua.