Books of Titans

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Books of Titans

The goal of the Books of Titans project is to read 52 books/year that have been recommended or most-
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09/30/2024

I’m currently reading The Trojan Women by Euripides and it is so good. It unbelievably devastating (about the women of Troy after the city has fallen), but just beautifully written. It’s beautifully devastating.

09/28/2024

Saturday morning reading: The Trojan Women by Euripides.

“Sing, O Muse,
a new song about Ilium,
a funeral dirge accompanied by tears.”

09/27/2024

What if the tragic Iphigenia story had an alternate ending? If Agamemnon didn’t actually sacrifice his daughter for favorable sailing winds? That’s what Euripides presents in Iphigenia at Tauris, the subject of my latest podcast episode. It’s a sort of 2,400 year old fan fiction riffing on common mythology. This one has some fascinating ideas to consider.

09/25/2024

My Euripides stack has gotten out of hand. Please send help. 😳

09/24/2024

Spoke to two high school classes at Franklin High School today about the reading life. Great questions and super attentive teenagers. I wish I had read what they are reading now at that age.

09/23/2024

I’ve been preparing for facilitating tonight’s Iliad reading group for books 16 - 18. The thing that struck me the most was Ajax’s prayer to Zeus. Ajax is known as the natural warrior who doesn’t rely on the gods and who we usually see battling without their assistance. However, in book 17, Ajax not only prays to Zeus but Zeus hears him and responds. This is even more startling after reading Sophocles’ tragedy Ajax.

09/22/2024

Morning reading: Book 17 of the Iliad. The book covers the tug-of-war over the body of Patroclus. Will the Trojans take it and desecrate it or will the Greeks protect it? Zeus and Apollo continue to be involved with both force and persuasion. It’s like every book of the Iliad gets better and better.

09/21/2024

Saturday morning reading: Book 16 of the Iliad. What an incredible book/chapter. The interplay of Fate and the will of Zeus come to a head here. Patroclus disobeys Achilles to disastrous consequences, yet would it have happened without the intervention of Apollo? Do many rich ideas to consider from this one section.

09/20/2024

Let’s use this artwork by Frederic Leighton to describe the Alcestis tragedy by Euripides:

Here lies Alcestis, who exchanged her life for that of her husband Admetus.

Admetus is bent over in grief behind her. His father comforts him. But his father also should have died instead of Alcestis.

The children and others grieve on the left side.

Heracles battles and defeats Death on the right side to rescue Alcestis from Hades and raise her from the dead. This is the first instance of resurrection I’ve come across in Greek Literature.

Listen to the latest episode of the Books of Titans podcast for more about this play.

09/20/2024

Finished reading Hippolytus by Euripides this morning. This tragedy is about the wrongful accusation by Theseus of his bastard son Hippolytus that he attempted to r**e his wife Phaedra. Themes like pardon, virtue, guilt, and deception are woven throughout this masterful tragedy. I plan to record a podcast about this one. Very good!

09/18/2024

Morning reading: Hippolytus by Euripides. In this tragedy, Phaedra, wife of Theseus, has been struck by Aphrodite and is in love with her bastard stepson Hippolytus. Themes of love, forgiveness, and means vs ends abound. These tragedy 🎭 plays are so good.

09/17/2024

Here we are! The brave men and women taking our Monday evenings to discuss The Iliad. It’s been a blast so far.

09/16/2024

Started reading my 7th Euripides play this morning - Cyclops. This one is actually a Satyr play instead of a tragedy. Satyr plays would close out a performance of three other tragedy plays to lighten the mood. They were raucous, dirty, and funny. The intro here describes them as “tragedy at play” and they fall in the middle of tragedy and comedy. This play in particular picks up with the Polyphemus Cyclops story from the Odyssey and contains the first surviving pastoral song in Greek Literature.

09/15/2024

Friendly reminder to read the Iliad before you die. 😉☠️

09/14/2024

“…and courage-shattering death engulfed his corpse.”

Reading in Book 13 of the Iliad this morning.

09/11/2024

Started reading the tragedy play Alcestis by Euripides this morning. It’s likely one of the first he wrote (around 438BC) and it tells the story of King Admetus’ wife Alcestis, who willingly lays down her life in place of her husband’s. Amidst the tragedy, Heracles arrives and behaves as a drunken guest. I’m about 2/3rds of the way in. Apollo, Death, and the elderly citizens of Pherae also appear in this play. I’m on a quest to read 19 of Euripides tragedies and then dip into his surviving fragments.

09/10/2024

Finished Medea and other plays and am now on to Heracles and other plays. This is some of the most enjoyable reading I’ve ever done in my life.

09/09/2024

I know this is overkill, but I really want to read all 17 surviving tragedy plays + fragments by Euripides, but the book publishing gods have not made it easy. Here’s what I’ve had to do to obtain all 17 plays. Here’s the order in which I’ll be reading them (from top to bottom):

- Penguin Classics - Medea, Hecabe, Electra, Heracles
- Oxford World’s Classics - Alcestis, Heracles, Children of Heracles, Cyclops
- Penguin Classics - Hippolytus, Iphigenia in Tauris
- Oxford World’s Classics - The Trojan Women, Andromache
- Hackett - Suppliants, Phoenician Women
- Hackett - Ion, Helen, Orestes
- Penguin Classics - Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis, Rhesus
- A New Directions Book (re-read time permitting) - Hippolytus Temporizes, Ion
- Loeb Classical Library - Euripides Fragments: Aegeus - Meleager
- Loeb Classical Library - Euripides Fragments: Oedipus - Chrysippus, Other Fragments

I’ve read Medea, Hecabe, and Electra so far and am mid-way through Heracles. My method in choosing the order was to attempt to read them in the order in which Euripides wrote them as much as possible. I’m basing that off of this list:

- Alcestis - 438BC
- Medea - 431
- Heracleidae - 430
- Hippolytus - 428
- Andromache - 425
- Hecuba - 424
- The Suppliants - 423
- Electra - 420
- Herakles - 416
- The Trojan Women - 415
- Iphigenia in Tauris - 414
- Ion - 413
- Helen - 412
- Phoenician Women - 410
- Orestes - 408
- Bacchae - 405
- Iphigenia in Aulis - 405
- Rhesus - unknown
- Cyclops - unknown

09/07/2024

Jumping back into the Iliad to prep for Monday evening’s reading group. We’re covering books 10-12 and it’s been a blast so far. This is my first time leading a local reading group like this and it’s my 3rd time reading the Iliad in the past 12 months. It’s my new favorite book.

09/06/2024

Episode 224 is up. I cover murderous Medea, a tragedy play by Euripides. I address a question later explored by Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment - does murder simply end with the act itself? Some interesting themes in this play. Check it out wherever you listen to podcasts.

09/06/2024

Check out this 1855 edition of Euripides we have at Landmark Booksellers!

09/02/2024

Finished reading Hecabe by Euripides this morning. This is one of his 17 surviving tragedy plays out of 92 that he wrote during his lifetime. Each tragedy takes about 2 hours to read and I’m enjoying them so much.

09/01/2024

I’m continually amazed at how relevant the Greek Tragedies are to our modern conundrums.

08/30/2024

Just got accepted into the Catherine Project reading group covering these two works by Thucydides & Xenophon. It will correspond time wise almost exactly with when these are coming up on my Great Books reading list. I can’t wait!!

08/30/2024

Episode 223 of the podcast is up. I cover one of my favorite topics. Bookstores!! I share a bit about this book, what I found interesting as business manager of Landmark Booksellers, and talk about a few of my favorite bookstores.

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I have 5 spots left for tonight’s Zoom discussion of The Epic of Gilgamesh at 7pm CT / 8pm ET. It’s free to join. Sign up at booksoftitans.com #epicofgilgamesh

I’m thinking of beginning to share stories in the morning about what I’m reading. Yeah or nay?

Very cool story here about one of my clients, Landmark Booksellers (@landmarkbooksellers) and how best-selling author @karenkingsbury helped the bookstore stay afloat during their business shutdown.

Do you like to visit used bookstores? It’s one of my favorite things to do when I travel. The thrill of discovery, the smell of old books, the chance to stumble upon a book that could change your life - these are just some of the joys of a local bookstore. Independent bookstores have had a rough go of it over the past decade. But now, with Covid-19, it’s a dangerous situation. Some stores are barely getting by. Others are laying off staff and some are even closing their doors. As part of this Books of Titans project, I am very connected to a local bookstore where I live - Landmark Booksellers in Historic Franklin, TN. I handle their website development and marketing initiatives. But more than that, I consider it to be a second home. A place to meet other readers. A location to get lost. I want to encourage you to support Landmark Booksellers and other bookstores during this time. If you have a book order, you can call Landmark to place the order. If you need some book suggestions, call them at 615-791-6400. Landmark specializes in Southern Americana, Tennessee, regional and local history, culture, art and literature. Here is a video about Joel & Carol Tomlin, the owners of Landmark Booksellers. Their love story centers around this bookstore and was even highlighted in a Karen Kingsbury book called The Bridge, which was also made into a movie. We are all going to experience difficult times in the months and years ahead. If you have book needs, please do keep your local bookstores in mind. They may be deemed nonessential businesses for quarantine purposes, but they are essential businesses for the soul. #bookstagram #localbookstore #usedbookstore #landmarkbooksellers @landmarkbooksellers #books #buybooks #rarebooks #independentbookstores