CIRCE

Before you take the time to think about how to say the name, as I found myself staring at it for approximately 2 minutes and sounding out my letters, it is pronounced Ceresi, aka Ceresi of the House Lannister, First of Her Name, Queen of the Andals and the First Men, Protector of the Seven Kingdoms., the one, the only Queen Ceresi Lannister #GOT

As some of you may know, I love reading. I have always loved reading, but found as I entered college, grad school and the real world, that reading was placed on the back burner. One of my goals for 2019 was to read double the amount of books that I read in 2018, but I knew I was lacking one thing, time. Time is so precious as you get older. Life changes and time begins to speed up. Think about when you had to sit in timeout as a child for 10 mins, and how that felt like eternity. And now, as an adult, we find ourselves looking at 10 minutes in a totally different perspective. To an adult, 10 minutes becomes 10 precious minutes where we can post the pictures from our most recent weekend getaway to Facebook, while running to turn on the coffee pot, then turning to feed the dogs, checking our friends Instagram stories, remembering to check to cat’s food and water, jotting down a note to remember to grab bread and pick up the dry cleaning, only to turn back to Facebook, checking on the pictures, and in the end, glancing at the clock feeling like you have complete victory, when you realize you still have 7 minutes to spare. As we age, the concept of time changes and we start to understand the value of 10 minutes.

Considering where I live, I spend a considerable amount of time traveling to and from work, 5 days a week. I make it work, because I like the area and I want to be close to my family. But still, when I think about it, I am almost in the car traveling about an hour a day. An hour a day where I am just driving, listening to meaningless conversation on the radio or changing the station because no song is ever right. If there is one thing I am notorious for doing, it is multi-tasking. Time is valuable and time is money, so why not make the most of it?

I started listening to audiobooks through Audible almost two years ago and it has been the best thing I discovered. Now, I love to have a hard cover book in my hands just as much as the next person, but books take up space and they also require you to be looking at them. Something you can’t and shouldn’t be doing when driving. But when someone is reading to you and you are driving, you’re in a sense killing two birds, with one stone. You are getting to work, with full eyes on the road, and you are diving deep into a good book. Imagine that!?!

OK, OK back to why I started this blog (see how this always happens with my posts, totally veering off topic), I have listened to a ton of great books and have a handful of friends that I can turn to for recommendations when I need them. I wanted to start mini posts about the books that I am listening to, and occasionally actually reading. I will call them mini posts, because I am not going to delve into the details or do a book full fledge book review (I will leave that to my girl at Island Reader – I see you Nattie Girl xo), but I will basically just tell you what I am reading, how I like it and if you should read it. Plain and simple.

About a week ago, I downloaded Circe by Madeline Miller and I cannot stop listening. I finding myself listening while walking into work and bolting out of the door, just so I can pick up where I left off from the morning, at the end of the day. The theme for this book is Greek gods and goddesses, mixed in with mortals, witchcraft and Greek mythology. Before you start rolling your eyes, just think about your initial reaction to a vampire/warewolf series and how amazing it turned out after you completed the first book. This is that feeling, all over again. Or like the insane concept of humans killing each other to win the legendary Hunger Games. A lot of the character references and stories in the book tie to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. I will admit the hardest part about listening to this book is that the narrator has a heavy English accent and a lot of the names are hard to remember and differentiate. [Side Story: the first book I downloaded and another reason why I wanted to start audiobooks, was Game Of Thrones. I wanted to listen to the book because I wanted to read the book, but didn’t have the time or patience to sit through 800 pages. I soon realized that there were too many characters, the narrator had a heavy Scottish accent and I was just getting myself in too deep for my first audiobook.]

Luckily, the listener is provided with a PDF of all the characters with descriptions and family lineage. But I do not reference that when I am driving, for obvious reasons. If I wasn’t into the book so deep or a expert audiobook listener, I would definitely “read” this book. The narrator is good, but not one of my favorites. The story is great so I definitely recommend either the hard copy book or the audio copy. Just know what you are getting into if you chose the audio version.

The reader is taken into the life of Circe, a nymph goddess, daughter of Helios and knowledge of magic, potions, and herbs. The author takes the reader on a journey of a goddess who discovers who she truly is, while uncovering those around her. Throughout the book are snippets of wisdom and sentences that make you really start to look at the bigger picture. I have about 6 hours left in the book and every hour, every chapter, and every character has not disappointed. I would highly recommend this book, if you can go into it with an open mind and patience to learn all of the characters. I plan to download Miller’s second book, The Song of Achilles, which was actually her first book. She has not come out with anything since releasing Circe, but I wouldn’t be surprised if something is in the works.

Happy Reading xo