Ariadne and Daughters of Sparta | Book Reviews

There’s a new(ish) genre in town and its one of the most exciting things to happen in literature in a long time. Of course I’m referring to the spate of retellings of classic Greek mythology. From Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad to Madaline Miller’s Orange Prize winning book, The Song of Achilles. I read the latter…

Oh William! & Vladimir: The wonderful world of books with older women protagonists.

I also appreciated the way the author talked about and dealt with the aging process and the significant role it plays in the lives of women. The many changes a women’s body goes through after childbirth and the obsessions we can develop on any particular part of our bodies, after someone compliments it. From ears, to knees to ankles, a single comment, even by a stranger, can take a hold over a person. The preparation we go through when faced with the possibility of meeting someone, and how age can affect that process. I love reading about women and our struggles and how differently we approach things at various stages of our lives.

Palestine – Show Up.

The regular bombardments of Gaza is referred to as ‘mowing the grass’ equating Palestinians to weeds, IN THEIR OWN LAND!! David M Weinberg, a former government analyst, wrote this dehumanising quote in the Jerusalem Post ‘If you fail to do so, weeds grow wild and snakes begin to slither around in the bush’ . Imagine if these words were used to describe any other group of people, for example substitute Palestinian for Israeli, it would be an antiemetic hate crime!