During the month of October, I’m posting brief reviews of some of my favorite books from the past couple of years: those that really touched my heart, gave me a new perspective, taught me something, or were just plain fun. Hopefully you will be inspired to add something to your to-read list. 🙂
From my September 2012 Goodreads review:
For me, the key to getting through and enjoying this beautiful but intimidating poem is a good audio version. I highly recommend the one with Simon Vance narrating, available through Audible and on CD – he does a marvelous job. I was struck this time through with the abundance of references to history, mythology, geography and astronomy, and many of the allusions went over my head. Some study of Greek and Roman mythology and classical astronomy would greatly aid my comprehension.
I have listened to Paradise Lost twice now, and hope to do so again. I still need to brush up on my Greek mythology, though reading A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys and listening to Miss A and D narrate from Bullfinch and D’Aulaires Greek Myths has helped a bit, as did listening to The Illiad last year. I also have A Preface to Paradise Lost by C.S. Lewis on my to-read list to aid my understanding of this epic poem.
