The Song of Achilles has been nominated for the Orange prize. I very rarely read books which have been nominated for prizes, I remember being unimpressed by Anita Brookner’s Hotel du Lac which won the Booker prize years ago and that sort of put me off. I also don’t like doing things at the same time as everyone else, I’d rather plough my own furrow. However, when Anbolyn of Gudrun’s Tights mentioned that she had really enjoyed The Song of Achilles I thought I would give it a go, you can read her enthusiastic review here.

Patroclus is the son of a King but he’s a disappointment to his father and after a disastrous encounter with Clysonymus, the young son of a nobleman, Patroclus was exiled and sent to live at the court of King Peleus where he meets Achilles and the two become inseparable. It’s all gods and heroes and the Trojan wars but it isn’t very bloody and gory, if you’re worried about that sort of thing.

I was keen on Classical Studies when I was at school but after one year of Greek and Roman mythology I opted to do Latin for three years. In those dim distant days it was only boys who were going to be church ministers who took Greek so they could read the bible in the original. Yes, it was long before any women had even thought of the possibility of going into the church. Greek would have killed me.

Anyway, if you’re at all interested in Greek mythology then I recommend you read The Song of Achilles, it’s well written and entertaining and as Anbolyn said, it does make you want to look further into the subject. I had completely forgotten that the Trojan Wars were supposed to have lasted 10 years or so. Of course apart from fighting, this is basically a love story between Achilles and Patroculus, very delicately written.

Going off at a bit of a tangent – I was watching the Olympic flame being lit in Greece on the news yesterday, and when that sudden gust of wind blew out the flame – I wondered – who is the Greek god of winds? Of course it was Aeolus – as in Aeolean harp. What a bad omen, it doesn’t bode well for the games.

That poor woman!