We borrowed "Black Ships Before Troy", by Rosemary Suttcliffe, from the library. All the kids enjoyed that kids version. (including me) It was well written, kept our attention, covered most of the story (I think) and wasn't too wordy.
We also borrowed "The Oddessy" by Geraldine McCaughrene which was not bad, but seemed almost in a rush to get through the basic story line.
A friend had Troy so we borrowed it. Bloody but good. I have no problem with violence in my kids movies, I just hate explaining seduction. Thankfully there isn't much if any in this movie. It did leave a few big details out, but then all movies do. We also watched the 'making of' The kids really enjoyed hearing how much trouble they had learning to fight with giant spears, and how they had to shorten them just to make any moves work.
As soon as Dude learned that we had the full version of Homers Iliad, he wanted to read it. I really don't have a problem with that, except...well I haven't read it yet. Not that I read all the kids books, but I skim most, and get the general gist. I really don't know what is so different from the original, though I recall it is spoken of as a long bloody war. Oh yeah, and boring. I don't know anyone who enjoyed reading the original.
He sat with me to read out loud for the first few pages, and I actually thought it wasn't that bad. I had this idea in my mind that being old and poetry, it would be boring and stilted. While it is old (even this modern translation from 1974 by Robert Fitzgerald) It flowed rather well. Somewhat like a Shakespeare play. Still a bit odd in language, but in general easy to understand.
It seemed to 'read' better when we were doing it out loud, than any attempt I have made to read it to myself. I decided to look online for a spoken version. Librivox to the rescue! They actually have two versions. I listened to part one in both voices to see which sounded better. I actually preferred the voice for Samuel Butlers' translation better, but he seemed to be editing out a great deal of the book. Parts which were in our 'paper' version. So in the end I decided to listen to the Theodore A. Buckley version for now.
Oh and to top off my week, Princess decided she wants to read Swiss Family Robinson.
I realized I had never read that one either. Guess I had better get off the computer and get reading!
Linking up with 'What My child is Reading" at Mouse Grows, Mouse learns.
Cool, I have read both but not for a very long time. Swiss Family is good, my little guy enjoyed it. I have come to the realization that my YS needs a typing program badly. I thought I was being kind when I told him he could type his letter to his penpal but it took forever!!!
ReplyDeleteWow - impressive. I've read The Odyssey but not the Iliad. Thanks for joining WMCIR!
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