lunabee34

1. We went to the beach at Tybee Island yesterday. Fiona had never been to the beach before, and that was her vacation request this summer. When I went to bed last night, I felt like somebody had beat me up. I can't believe how much of a workout that was. I probably only tread water for 20-30 minutes total, but doing it in those waves was hardcore. Same with just standing and bracing myself against the surf. Wow. The girls had a fantastic time; poor Josh spent the whole day up under the umbrellas and praying not to get sunburned. He is a good sport.

2. ( Stranger Things season 3 episodes 4-6 )

I hope we finish tonight!

3.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don't have a lot of strong feelings about the Homeric epics; they basically amount to Odysseus is a jackass, Achilles is a whiny baby jackass, and Hector is bestest. The Iliad starts in the middle of the action with an invocation to the muse featuring Achilles's rage, and there's just not much more to him in the poem IMHO. The classics are not my bag; I've read the Homeric epics and Hesiod and many other primary texts from ancient Greece and some secondary texts to contextualize, but it is not my area of study at all, and if there's more to Achilles than an angry dude who sticks out his bottom lip and crosses his arms and takes his toys home, I don't see it. Well, until he turns into grief-stricken Achilles who is infinitely more interesting to me.

Miller makes me like Achilles and care about Achilles and see him as an essentially good guy. His anger and his choices make a lot more sense to me in the context of this book than they do in the poem.

The novel reminds me a great deal of Renault's The King Must Die except that the divine there is always ambiguous and may not even exist, but the supernatural is very real in The Song of Achilles. I love Thetis, how otherworldly and hard and frightening and destructive to what is human she is. Her mercy at the end means so much more as a result.

This is such a good book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.



View all my reviews

Because any vacation time we could have taken this summer was occupied by Josh's hospitalizations, we decided to take a quick trip to Savannah. We got here yesterday and checked into The Marshall House. We had lunch at The Cotton Exchange which sits on the river front. I devoured two pounds of Alaskan King crab (leaving no sliver to languish in the shells, mind you) while Josh and Emma ate a mahi-mahi po'boy. We also tackled a dozen raw oysters.

Then we walked around the river front. Notable purchases include art and a shit ton of salt water taffy. Our hotel has complimentary wine and cheese from 5:30-7:00 (with pink lemonade for the kiddos! yay!), so we chilled out in the library for awhile and then went to The Savannah Bee Company (where we purchased more than is strictly necessary LOL) and Nourish (where we were lamentably restrained in our purchases).

Dinner that night was at Molly Macpherson's Pub which I highly recommend. We shared salmon fingers (smoked salmon rolled around cream cheese and chives with some crisp, sweet cucumbers), a tiny meat pie topped with luxurious dark gravy, Guinness-battered onion rings, and two scotch eggs. Josh had the cottage pie (it was advertised as shepherd's pie, but unless it's lamb, it's not shepherd's pie LOL), and Emma and I tried valiantly (and failed) to polish off a gorgeously seared ribeye nestled atop a bed of mashed potatoes and neeps (turnips).

We started off this morning with breakfast in the hotel, and y'all, Marshall House does a fantastic complimentary breakfast. Best Quiche Lorraine I've ever had, hands down.

Then we took a walking tour for two hours around the Historic District. The live oaks here are so gorgeous. I'm surprised by how much Savannah reminds me of New Orleans (except, you know, without all the trash and vomiting LOL; I love me some New Orleans, but the lady doth stinketh a bit). Lunch was at Papillote, which again I highly recommend. We started off with the cheese plate, and Emma had the crab and mango tartine, I had the Duck Pate Baguette, and Josh had the Melted Angel. I was seriously grateful for every delicious bite I put in my mouth.

After lunch, we bought an amazing gift for a friend (OMG, OMG, I am awesome), more art for ourselves, and a gorgeous ball and chain necklace for me from Metal and Paint.

And it's only half over! Whoooooo! After the summer we've had, this is exactly the unwinding I need. :)