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Circe
2016-19 Activities & Challenges
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Buddy Read in November for Circe by Madeline Miller
Susie wrote: "Ok, so as I mentioned earlier, I LOVED this book. It has gone straight to the pool room for me (a reference to an iconic Australian film called The Castle!). What elevated my experience was that it..."
Susie, I love your thoughts on Circe. She was definitely a woman in man's world and she was not beautiful. Just that put her at such a disadvantage.
Susie, I love your thoughts on Circe. She was definitely a woman in man's world and she was not beautiful. Just that put her at such a disadvantage.
KateNZ wrote: "The pig thing is from book 10 of the Odyssey, yes.
I agree about the language, Meli. It’s like a shaft of sunlight at times - you can exactly see what she’s picked out.
As others have said, exi..."
Those are good points KateNZ. She was truly exiled from the beginning for other reasons. Her appearance is a big one. It seemed she was a social outcast, therefore exiled already in a sense.
I agree about the language, Meli. It’s like a shaft of sunlight at times - you can exactly see what she’s picked out.
As others have said, exi..."
Those are good points KateNZ. She was truly exiled from the beginning for other reasons. Her appearance is a big one. It seemed she was a social outcast, therefore exiled already in a sense.
Meli, wonderful review! I enjoyed reading your thoughts and perspectives. I enjoy reading the reviews of those who loved this book so much more than me. It really does give me more to think about.
Meli wrote: "I finally put together a review and I think in retrospect I liked it more than I thought I did sometimes when I was reading it... ?https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
That is so true, Meli!
Finished! And I really liked it! Sorry my review is not very detailed, I'm just not in the mood to dissect it, but suffice it to say I enjoyed it and I'm glad I didn't give up on it.
Just to mention it, fourth Buddy Read option - Magdalena and I are reading the Winter Palace in December about Catherine the Great! Doubles as a Fall Flurry due to temperate season conditions as expressed by the title.
I'll never catch up to all of you because I just started this book. Seems good so far but I'm only about 2 chapters in. I'll be interested in reading all these comments though, once I'm further in the book. I want to have my own impressions first and not be influenced but I have scanned through and already see some helpful things!
Amy wrote: "Just to mention it, fourth Buddy Read option - Magdalena and I are reading the Winter Palace in December about Catherine the Great! Doubles as a Fall Flurry due to temperate season conditions as ex..."My library does not have this-although I may be able to get from a neighboring library-it had been on by TBR list for a while, so I am going to try to join you.
I am hopefully going to finish it by tomorrow.....
Just want to say it has been a blast doing this buddy read and having such a diverse and passionate discussion about it. Can you imagine what it would have been like if we had all been sitting in a room, talking over each other, voices rising and falling as points made?Thanks all!
What a fabulous discussion!
Joanne wrote: "Amy wrote: "Just to mention it, fourth Buddy Read option - Magdalena and I are reading the Winter Palace in December about Catherine the Great! Doubles as a Fall Flurry due to temperate season cond..."That would be wonderful if you could join us Joanne!
Nicolas wrote: "I am hopefully going to finish it by tomorrow....."I'm hoping to finish by tomorrow as well. Are you still enjoying it?
I'm so happy to discover this thread. I'm enjoying the book so far. I'm alternating between listening and reading. The audio performance is lovely and her voice is well suited to the story. I overlapped quite a bit with one chapter, and I discovered that I appreciated her writing more when I read it myself. She has many interesting, complex, and well crafted sentences that I didn't really catch when I was listening. It might be nice to have a kindle of this to make some highlights.
Rachel wrote: "I'm on page 101 and have struggled to be sucked in. I am getting there, and there have been times I felt that way for a fleeting moment. There are SO MANY CHARACTERS. Too many but I had felt this w..."I don't feel that way (yet), but I'm not quite as far along as you are. I haven't felt the need to remember too many of the character's names so far. I actually found this book to be a relief, because before this I was reading War and Peace, where each character has multiple names and you have no idea which characters are going to the be the most important. In Circe, you have one clear protagonist, and each character has only one name.
NancyJ wrote: "Rachel wrote: "I'm on page 101 and have struggled to be sucked in. I am getting there, and there have been times I felt that way for a fleeting moment. There are SO MANY CHARACTERS. Too many but I ..."
NancyJ I hope you absolutely love this book!! This really is the first book this year I have not liked so much and I was surprised by this.
NancyJ I hope you absolutely love this book!! This really is the first book this year I have not liked so much and I was surprised by this.
This really has been a wonderful discussion and I have enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on the book. This buddy read has had some interesting thoughts and it seems we were all over the scale for this one. I think that can be a good thing.
Amy wrote: "Just to mention it, fourth Buddy Read option - Magdalena and I are reading the Winter Palace in December about Catherine the Great! Doubles as a Fall Flurry due to temperate season conditions as ex..."
Amy, I would love to join you two with Winter Palace. I don't think I am going to get around to the Fall Flurries this month but would love to read something for next month.
Amy, I would love to join you two with Winter Palace. I don't think I am going to get around to the Fall Flurries this month but would love to read something for next month.
Rachel I was hoping you would say you were in. For one, this will be our sixth buddy read of the year!
Oh good! I'm so glad you're joining us Rachel. It should be really fun!
I'm thinking that's a possibility of Five: Magdalena, Amy, Theresa? Joanne?, and Rachel. Anyone else who feels compelled to read the Winter Palace - that's next. Thank you guys on collectively reading 8 books with me this year. Like 8 of us read together Trevor Noah's Born a Crime, for the Autobiography tag in March. The summer Buddy Read challenge in July brought for me, His Majesty's Dragon, The Hearts Invisible Furies, and The Last Watchman of Old Cairo. September was We Were the Lucky One's, October was the Weight of Ink, and Circe was November. And I loved how Magdalena extended the fun for us all by jumping onto this last intended push.So for those of you who are new to PBT, December will be when the moderators will have us vote on year long challenges. It will be fun to see how the year long challenges will have us circling together again in 2019. Listopia didn't lend itself to that. It all depends on how the membership votes. I have loved the year long challenges in the past, and I am looking forward to seeing what next year brings. PBT and you guys has shaped my reading so much, and I have liked the challenges over the years. Its been kind of fun to plan. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
Amy wrote: "Rachel I was hoping you would say you were in. For one, this will be our sixth buddy read of the year!"
I'm excited and just found the book at my library!
I'm excited and just found the book at my library!
Thanks to everyone who checked out my review, and all that participated in the buddy read! This was definitely very interesting since there were so many varying opinions and reactions to the book. I think you can get so much more out of certain books when you share them with others and this certainly was one of those type of books.
Agreed with your points above, Amy!
I joined PBT in May I think and it has really pushed me to diversify my reading and I read more this year than I have in my whole life, so it has been the best discovery of 2018 :)
I look forward to discovering more in 2019.
I have an idea for my own personal challenge for next year, so I will have to dig around in the challenges thread to understand how this works... maybe I could try one of those as well in 2019.
Amy wrote: "I'm thinking that's a possibility of Five: Magdalena, Amy, Theresa? Joanne?, and Rachel. Anyone else who feels compelled to read the Winter Palace - that's next. Thank you guys on collectively read..."I have requested the book from another library, so I should have it by the 1st, and won't be lagging , like this month-still reading Circe!
Joanne wrote: "I have requested the book from another library, so I should have it by the 1st, and won't be lagging , like this month-still reading Circe! "There's a Pop Sugar Reading Challenger group that is doing Circe for its December read along and discussion for the 2018 Pop Sugar Challenge prompt book published in 2018. I plan to contribute to that discussion having gotten a jump on it with all of you. If any interesting and different discussion pops up there, I'll bring it over. All here are welcome to join that group. Discussions on the monthly reads can be quite lively.
Amy wrote: "I'm thinking that's a possibility of Five: Magdalena, Amy, Theresa? Joanne?, and Rachel. Anyone else who feels compelled to read the Winter Palace - that's next. Thank you guys on collectively read..."Much as I have loved reading along and discussing Weight of Ink and Circe, and sorry as I am to have missed discussing with you Last Watchman of Old Cairo (my favorite book discovered and read this year), I am not sure I'm going to do Winter Palace. I'm planning to binge out on Christmas cozy mysteries and romances...before starting 2019 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge, which is actually how I found all of you. KateNZ is part of the GR Ultimate Pop Sugar group and I saw her post in my newsfeed about August espionage for PBT so I went investigating since I love espionage...and voila!
But who knows -- I might find I have a copy of Winter Palace in my personal library...or I could just miss you all so much that I just have to read it and join in!
Theresa wrote: "Amy wrote: "I'm thinking that's a possibility of Five: Magdalena, Amy, Theresa? Joanne?, and Rachel. Anyone else who feels compelled to read the Winter Palace - that's next. Thank you guys on colle..."I am thinking of doing the Pop Sugar challenge for 2019-I do not want to join the group until late December as I need to complete all I signed for this year-I get forgetful, so If you think of it perhaps reminded me as I had been lurking in that group for a while and do want to try it-
Joanne - I hope you do! In fact, it was because of that Pop Sugar group that I discovered and read The Hate U Give in 2017. So I will definitely remind you!
Do join us for 2019 Joanne! I’m going to do Popsugar again next year (not that I will finish it this year, as I still have PBT challenges to complete, but I’ll have done about 75% and it was fun to get as far as I could). I’ll aim to finish it in 2019 - the challenge list looks quite cool. Everyone is really helpful with suggestions for books to read too.
I haven’t joined in any of the actual book discussions in the group yet - the threads get very long so take ages to read, and I find the size of the group a little daunting though people seem super-nice. I haven’t even done a weekly update for the last few months as I have been a little swamped with RL and I prioritise PBT because I love you all 😘 But again I might try to do more next year.
I was going to do Pop Sugar this year but the Booker list took over, one thing led to another, and now I find myself reading the Tournament of Books list. Next year’s my Pop Sugar year!
Brilliant, Susie! Maybe our admins would let the Popsugarites set up a Footnotes thread so we can chat a bit more easily about progress? ...
That’s a grand plan.
Amy wrote: "*Tagged as a classic only as it refers heavily to and interweaves with the Oddessey - which clearly is a classic in its own right...."
Amy, I really appreciated your in-depth comments and insights.
I think this book could have used two threads, one for early comments, and a spoiler thread to discuss in-depth themes, plot, ending, etc.
I agree with what you said about immortality, exile and loneliness. I thought the author did a really great job interweaving those themes. I think Circe felt alone even when she was living with her family though. There was one comment where she realized that while she had never eaten alone before her exile, people often didn't talk to her during the meal, so being alone was fine. I thought that was interesting. I sometimes feel more lonely or uncomfortable if I'm alone in a crowded place (but not connected to someone there), than I do if I'm home alone.
The gods and titans didn't seem to really care about one another. The parent's lack of interest in their children was surprising, but I guess once a kid looks grownup they're not as much fun? Also, I believe that most people gain some wisdom or perspective as they get older, but the gods seemed to just get more petty.
Maybe it's true that we really do appreciate life more, if we view it as short.
I enjoyed the evolution of Circe's character as she developed deeper relationships, though it took her what, 1000 years or more? She showed kindness as a child (with Prometheus and her brother), but kindness wasn't valued among the Gods, so it wasn't reinforced.
I really liked the character Daedalus, and I liked that the author kept referring back to him later in the book. He had more real character than others in the book, and it was a pivotal relationship for Circe. I also liked the insights about Odysseus and his family, and how they contrast with what I remembered about his story. I liked the ending of the book, and the fact that it was earned, and not superficial.
I think I knew just enough about mythology to enjoy the connections to the other characters, but not enough to feel that there was nothing new here.
Theresa wrote: "I may be rehashing some of my review but I want to specifically address some of the recent discussion more specifically.Vulnerability is a good description. But also Circe's perception of herself..."
Excellent comments. I don't know that the assault was rock bottom for her either, but it was a big disappointment to be very nice to people, only to have them attack her. It gave her good reason to feel vulnerable and distrustful.
As to the earlier question of "why rape?" I think one answer is that One in Five women get raped in their lifetime. I imagine the odds would be worse for a woman who was alone and in the path of men who hadn't seen a woman in weeks, months, or longer. She also feared theft and worse.
One thing bothered me a little. There were many girls (nymphs) in the house then, but she didn't make the slightest effort to get to know them. I guess there was no mutual respect there in general, but you'd think one or two of them might have been good for some conversation.
I wonder if the term "male chauvinist pig" was partly inspired by the pig scenes with Circe in The Odyssey..
Meli wrote: "When we all finish I could also change the title of the thread to warn future browsers that there are spoilers and to beware. On a side note, I was jotting down all the quotes I collected in this..."
I agree! I love the way she writes. I often had to stop to reread (or rewind the audio) to savor the great lines.
I really wish I had the kindle now to highlight the lines that I really loved. When I do get it (I'm on a waitlist), I'll have to remember to check first to see what other people highlighted. That could save me a lot of re-reading. It's so nice to be able to go back and quickly revisit the lines that really resonated with me.
Re Kindle: So far, I highlighted more lines in Their Eyes Were Watching God than any others. Ken Follett who wrote The Pillars of the Earth, shared his own notes from the book using kindle.
Meli, you picked a good one here. You have a lot of people for a buddy read. Regarding the spoiler issue... I'm a mod in another group and we usually have two threads for each book in a group read (or more for long books). We start with a no-spoilers thread thread, for pre-read comments, library issues, first impressions, encouragement from people who liked the book, etc. The second is a spoiler thread for in-depth discussions, key plot points, ending, etc. This makes it easier for people to jump right into the deep end if they want, without having to wade through all the warm up comments.
KateNZ wrote: "Brilliant, Susie! Maybe our admins would let the Popsugarites set up a Footnotes thread so we can chat a bit more easily about progress? ...".
Absolutely Grand plan Kate!!!!!
Theresa wrote: "Joanne - I hope you do! In fact, it was because of that Pop Sugar group that I discovered and read The Hate U Give in 2017. So I will definitely remind you!"
Thanks-eyeing this list this AM-looks daunting, but one of my goals is a goal Jolene's brother shared when she passed "to see now many challenges I can squeeze out of one book!😁
KateNZ wrote: "Brilliant, Susie! Maybe our admins would let the Popsugarites set up a Footnotes thread so we can chat a bit more easily about progress? ..."
No problem with us! And the Footnotes folder is the perfect place to put it.
I think I'm going to start a discussion on the ending of Circe, something touched upon by many. I am however going to hide it behind spoiler tags for now given I think there are a couple of people still reading. (view spoiler)
I think the ending was inevitable.
Let the discussion rage!
NancyJ wrote: One thing bothered me a little. There were many girls (nymphs) in the house then, but she didn't make the slightest effort to get to know them. I guess there was no mutual respect there in general, but you'd think one or two of them might have been good for some conversation.I would assume she didn't find any common ground between them which made her distant. The circumstances under which they found themselves on the island was punishment for being spoiled brats, so maybe they reminded her too much of her own sister or other nymphs from her past life... I related to that aspect of her personality, her feeling different and disconnecting from other people.
I wonder if the term "male chauvinist pig" was partly inspired by the pig scenes with Circe in The Odyssey..
Holy shit, that did not occur to me at all! 🤣
Meli, you picked a good one here. You have a lot of people for a buddy read.
I have to give credit where credit is due... Amy came up with this one for November Buddy read and I just set up the thread.
Also, good point about the spoiler and non-spoiler thread. Of course, I remember this from Frankenstein.
Should I change the title of the thread to warn people against spoilers? What does everyone think? Or wait a little longer? I think some people are still reading....
Meli, I am one of those still reading, and I am just skimming the reviews right now-will go back and re-hash when I am done(hopefully by the week-end)-Spoilers to one person, could be NOT to another-I think this thread has been fine, as people have hidden what they believe to be spoiler-
I'm another person still reading but hope to be done by the weekend as well. I think this thread has been great, I love that we all had different opinions on the book. It makes for a much more interesting discussion.
Finished at last-I loved it-gave it 4 1/2 stars-My review is in the November Tag posts.Lord I wish these threads were more like Facebook, where you can reply to each comment...I am going to open a second window and go post by post to reply to all our fabulous comments-Fair warning this could be a long post-
Amy-posted 11/11 I'm not one for spoilers in a review, but for those of us who are currently talking about it together, that is one reason I really want to have us talk about the ending. Is it fitting? I actually saw the end coming when Circe and Telemachus were traveling, and I do think it was fitting. I think this all Circe ever wanted and I am happy she got it.
Rachel posted 11/12 Everything in this story was so vividly described I felt like I was a part of this ancient world and this is the one thing I loved about this book. First, I am sorry you did not enjoy it so much-however I am with you about the entrancing, descriptive writing-while reading I could almost feel the breeze from the shore, the smell of herbs. Miller took me to Mediterranean and I could taste and feel it all(full disclosure-I had my wine going at times 😉).
Susie posted 11/13 She was a woman in a man's world. She wasn't beautiful. She wasn't adored. She was second rate, and yet she was BAD ASS! Already told you I was on team BAD ASS-for all the same reasons you said. The abuse and neglect Circe endured broke my heart, and it was wonderful to see her stand up and fight back-especially near the end when she confronts Helios.
Nicole R. posted 11/13 I would consider her "second rate" because her mother was a lowly nymph and so Circe was always viewed as less I felt the same-In my head I was kinda relating how she was treated to the way a friend of my daughter's was
treated by his parents when he came out in High School, that infuriated me. (and kicked in my mothering instincts enough to take him into my home for a summer-he will always be by son-from-another-mother). Miller wrote Circe's emotions so spot-on
that my heart could not stop breaking for her.
Charlotte posted 11/13 (view spoiler) I agree Charlotte-it seems to be apart of most Pop-culture medium. how do we change that? Like all else, it seems, the change will have come from women-yet here is a female author using it-
Meli posted 11/13 I think what truly solidified her resolve to protect herself was motherhood and the love of her son. It was easy for her to cast spells on the travelers, and she even got joy out of it for a time, but once she was a mother everything really changed I so agree, Meli- I feel that once you are a parent and that protective crazy person kicks in your whole world changes-and Lordie, how I related to her experience with the child who demanded constant attention!
Theresa posted 11/13 It is about a woman who constantly doubts herself, her strength and her abilities I felt the same way, and through-out, as I said before, compared the tale to the everyday life of people in the 21st Century-I can't help thinking that Miller intended that-the old cliche "something's never change."
Nancy J. posted 11/20 One thing bothered me a little. There were many girls (nymphs) in the house then, but she didn't make the slightest effort to get to know them. I guess there was no mutual respect there in general, but you'd think one or two of them might have been good for some conversation. What I noticed is that the only "close" relationships Circe developed were with Mortals, or half mortals-I thought she ignored the other Nymph's because she had been ignored when she existed in their world.
Whew-this was a great read for me, and I loved all the conversation! As Amy stated earlier, so many deep-thinking, intelligent readers here, it makes all the difference in the world!
I have 77 more pages left. I look forward to being able to participate more in the discussion. I'm sorry it's taking me so long, please don't feel like you have to hold back on my account!
Wow, Joanne, how thoughtful of you!I HATE getting to a thread late because as much as I want to respond to everyone I am just too lazy.
I am glad you enjoyed it!
I lent this to my grandma-in-law.
We often share similar tastes with some deviation, so I am interested to hear what she thinks.
She isn't much for a formal review - usually limited to "I liked that" or "that was weird, but interesting" - but I could at least get a sentence or two out of her that I can share, hopefully.
Magdalena wrote: "I have 77 more pages left. I look forward to being able to participate more in the discussion. I'm sorry it's taking me so long, please don't feel like you have to hold back on my account!"I am hear to discuss Mag-the only reason I got done is we had to travel around town a bit and I always read when we in the car as my husbands driving always brings out the worst in me-lol
Update from the grandma-in-law... "I liked it. Maybe because mythology always interested me. Although I don't know a lot of it."
That's it.
I didn't think I'd make it for November but I had a lot of reading time over the past three days while sitting in the hospital with my husband. He's OK now but was a little scary for a while. Anyway, I had lots of time for a good solid read. I've written my review and never do spoilers - in fact, I don't even know how to hide spoilers. I was not too sure about what I was going to feel about this read through a lot of the early part of the book. Reading over some of the comments here, I see I was not alone.
The ending, though, just made the whole book for me. My last book was The Weight of Water and the end got me down, so this just lifted me up. I didn't see it coming but I thought it was just perfect!
Play Book Tag
Books mentioned in this topic
The Silence of the Girls (other topics)Circe (other topics)
The Silence of the Girls (other topics)
Circe (other topics)
Their Eyes Were Watching God (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Thomas Bulfinch (other topics)Thomas Bulfinch (other topics)
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