Tag: Trojan War

Checked In: A Davenport Public Library Podcast August Recap

- Brittany Leave a comment

Each month, we release a new episode of Checked In: A Davenport Public Library Podcast. In this blog post, I will give you helpful links to area resources, Library resources, and links to the books discussed in our episode!

Nostalgia Reads

We’ve talked a lot about what books we read when we were younger that have stuck with us, but we’re not done with that topic just yet! Below are the titles discussed in the episode!

Stephanie’s Picks:
Amelia’s Notebook by Marissa Moss 
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney 
The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka 
Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
Stephanie’s Ponytail by Robert Munsch 

 

Brittany’s Picks
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
There was an old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Pam Adams
Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae

Beth’s Picks
The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin
Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

Cancer Support Community Iowa and NW Illinois at Gilda’s Club

Our resource spotlight shines on Gilda’s Club Quad Cities, newly known as Cancer Support Community Iowa and NW Illinois at Gilda’s Club. Since 1998, Gilda’s Club has been a pillar of hope and support for cancer patients and their families. From its beginnings at the Mansion with the Red Door on River Drive to its current locations inside the Genesis Cancer Center, Gilda’s Club Davenport, and the UnityPoint Health – Trinity Cancer Center, Gilda’s Club Moline has continually expanded its services, reaching nearly 4,500 individuals.

Value Line

Value Line is the most trusted and prestigious name in the investment field. For more than 75 years, Value Line has been synonymous with trust, reliability, objectivity, independence, accurate information, and proven performance for investors. Click on the title to learn more about this free resource!

 

Retellings!

Are you a fan of retellings? Here we have gathered a list of classic literature retellings, reimaginings, and remixes. 

Stephanie’s Favorites:
Jane Eyre retelling
   – The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
King Arthur legend retelling
   –Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
Pride and Prejudice retellings
   –Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin 
   –Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
Romeo & Juliet retelling
   –A Pho Love Story by Loan Le 
Sherlock Holmes retelling
   –A Study in Scarlet Women (book 1 in the Lady Sherlock Series) by Sherry Thomas
Trojan War retelling
   –A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
The Odyssey retelling
   –Circe by Madeline Miller
The Wizard of Oz retelling
   –Wicked by Gregory Maguire 

Brittany’s Favorites:
Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 comedy with Cary Grant
   –Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
Cinderella
   –Cinder by Marissa Meyer
   –The Cinderella Murder by Mary Higgins Clark
   –An Offer From a Gentleman by Julia Quinn
Little Red Riding Hood
   –Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge
Dr. Moreau inspired reads
   –The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd
Alice and Wonderland
   –The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
Historical Retellings
   –My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand
Jane Austen
   –Pride and Premeditation by Tirzah Price
   –Sense and Second Degree Murder by Tirzah Price 

Beth’s Favorites:
Remixes — Classics presented as graphic novels
   –The Alchemist – original by Paulo Coelho; graphic novel by Derek Ruiz
   –Diary of a Young Girl – original by Anne Frank; “Anne Frank’s diary : the graphic adaptation” by Ari Folman
   –The Giver by Lois Lowry ; adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell
   –The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; art and adaptation by Renee Nault
Little House on the Prairie
   –Caroline by Sarah Miller
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
   –The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Bible – Book of Genesis
   –The Red Tent by Anita Diamant 

FRIENDS

August 17th is National Nonprofit Day! Did you know that we have a non-profit group that raises funds and manages an endowment portfolio to support The Library? The FRIENDS of the Davenport Public Library is a 501(c)3 organization powered by members and volunteers that advocates, volunteers, and runs used bookstores in all three locations giving money back to the Library for programming and other services! We are so grateful for their support in enriching the lives of our community! To learn more about the FRIENDS of the Davenport Public Library, click on the title of this section!

Emotional Reads

With the recent box office success of Inside Out 2 and after being inspired by another library, we showcased titles that gave us all of the feels (good and bad!).

  Brittany  Beth  Stephanie 
Joy  Anything by Emily Henry   Dozens of Doughnuts by Carrie Finison Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater 
Sadness  Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls  Burial Rites by Hannah Kent 
Anger  Normal People by Sally Rooney Maus by Art Spegelman   Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts by Rebecca Hall, illustrated by Hugo Martinez 
Disgust  A Simple Favor by Darcey Bell American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis  Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story by David Alexander Robertson 
Fear  Room by Emma Donoghue Devil in the White City by Erik Larson  American Predator by Maureen Callahan 
Envy  The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren Anything by Mindy Kaling  Soulmate Equation & The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren
Embarrassment  The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro Really Good Actually by Monica Heisey  Hello Stranger by Katherine Center 
Ennui  Last One Home by Debbie Macomber Blankets by Craig Thompson  The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Anxiety  Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson  Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter 
Nostalgia  A Nice Place on the North Side by George F. Will Landline by Rainbow Rowell  Throwback by Maurene Goo 

 

What Our Hosts Read In June

Beth’s Reads:
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

Stephanie’s Reads:
Lethal Licorice by (Book 2 in Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series) by Amanda Flower 
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Solomon
The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller
The Red Harvest: A Novel of the Terror Famine in Soviet Ukraine by Michael Cherkas

Brittany’s Reads:
Bear with Me Now by Katie Shepard
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis

If you would like to listen to our episode, it can be found wherever you get your podcasts. If you prefer listening on the web, it can be found here!

We love hearing from our listeners, please feel free to comment on this blog post, on our socials, or email us at checked.in@davenportlibrary.com.

A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

- Stephanie Leave a comment

“But this is a women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s, and the poet will look upon their pain – the pain of the women who have always been relegated to the edges of the story, victims of men, survivors of men, slaves of men – and he will tell it, or he will tell nothing at all. They have waited long enough for their turn.”
― Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships

Natalie Haynes has come into her own with her 2019 retelling of the Trojan War called A Thousand Ships. In previous writings, she has focused on the lives of those ignored in Greek mythology and life. A Thousand Ships amplifies this by telling the story of the Trojan War from an all-female perspective. She has managed to discuss mythology’s greatest war by highlighting the problems of modern day wars. Haynes brings to light the impacts of war on women, children, and families while more traditional retellings instead focus on the bravery of the men in war. Their brutal assaults leave out the impact that war has on society, only focusing on the male heroes and male victims. A Thousand Ships is a blessed divergence from the traditional: instead showing the women’s perspectives, from servants to goddesses and all the women and families in-between.

Calliope, a muse, is singing to a mortal poet man, hoping that he will instead tell the stories of wartime women. She is tired of hearing the stories of the warriors and feels that the women’s stories are equally as important. Through rotating narration, readers are taken from the start of the Trojan War to the sacking of Troy to Penelope finally welcoming Odysseus home after twenty years of his absence. This broader look shifts from Hecuba, Cassandra, Penelope, Calliope, Clytemnestra, Helen, Laodamia, among many others. The title of this book even focuses more on women than men: Helen of Troy is often called ‘the face that launched a thousand ships,’ a phrase coined by Christopher Marlowe in the 17th century. This cast of female characters battles war, politics, and religion as they either survive or come to a bad end.

“A war does not ignore half the people whose lives it touches. So why do we?”
― Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships

Online Reading Challenge – February Wrap-Up

- Ann 2 Comments

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in Ancient Greece that you enjoyed? Let us know in the comments!

I read our main title, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. This is a devastating book – beautifully written, heartbreaking, part love story, part cautionary tale on the perils of pride, this is a story that will stay with you long after finishing.

Patroclus is the son of a minor king in the Greek territories. He is a constant disappointment to his father. When he makes a fatal mistake he is exiled from his home and is sent to the kingdom of Phthia, ruled by the powerful King Peleus. There he meets the king’s son Achilles, “the best of all the Greeks”. That this golden boy and an outcast should become friends is unexpected, but soon they are inseparable. Patroclus blossoms in Achilles’ reflected glory and Achilles gains a true friend. When Achilles’ father sends him to study under Chiron, the wisest and most skilled of the centaurs, Patroclus follows. Together they learn many skills from Chiron, happy to be together and becoming more than friends.

Their idyll is ruined when word of the kidnapping of Helen reaches them. Achilles, hungry for fame and glory, joins the fight to retrieve her from Troy and Patroclus refuses to be left behind. What follows is the brutality of war, full of violence, cruelty and male egos. The fallout from Achilles pride is devastating and heart wrenching.

I was surprised at the violence of the scenes of the Trojan War and frustrated by Achilles and his refusal to compromise. In many ways Patroclus is the true hero, and a lesson to all.  A fascinating look at the culture and customs of Ancient Greece as well as a story of love and sacrifice.