I read the Odyssey and so should you

Tell me about a complicated man. Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy, and where he went, and who he met, the pain he suffered on the sea, and how he worked to save his life and bring his men back home. He failed, and for their own mistakes, they died. The ate the Sun God’s cattle, and the god kept them from home. Now goddess, child of Zeus, tell the old story for our modern times. Find the beginning… This week I finished the Odyssey. It was awesome. Was I inspired to read it by the film? Sort of, I guess — I started it before I was even aware of the film, but I had other reading projects with more time pressure (essentially, two “book clubs” that aren’t quite book clubs, more on that in an upcoming post), so progress was slow. When I heard about the imminent release of this movie, it became a much higher priority. I’m glad I did becuase I was able to get much more immersed in it. I had already read Fagles’ translation of the Iliad in…