It's All Greek to Me!

Currently, I’m reading two books. It’s not as hard as it might seem. You just pick up whichever book strikes your fancy at that moment. Of course, I usually end up picking one and finishing it before I pick up the other again, but that doesn’t happen all the time. Sometimes I don’t return to the other book for another year or more. It’s really rather sad. I don’t know why I leave books half read. I know it’s weird but I usually always get back to my half-read books at some point. Right now I think I’ve started maybe five books that I haven’t completed yet, not including the two I’m currently reading. It really doesn’t bother me to go back to them after a year or so either. Hmm… this sounds like a problem. Does anyone else do this? Or is it just me? I’m sure there has to be someone else out there who does it too.

Anyway, it does help that these two books are rather different. The first one I started reading was Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, but unfortunately I think this one may be put to the side until I finish the other book. Don’t get me wrong it’s a pretty good book. Definitely geared for those who missed the Harry Potter phase. I’m talking middle school kids. But I’m really enjoying it. As you can probably tell from the title it has a lot to do with Greek mythology. I absolutely love Greek mythology. Any kind of mythology really. Recently I found two books on Irish and Norse mythology. I’m pretty excited about that but I digress. I’ve been in love with Greek mythology since 5th grade. I remember the book that truly got me into it. Well, at least what the cover looked like. Anyway, I’ve pretty much been drawn to anything Greek ever since. So of course I’d pick up the Percy Jackson books at some point. In this case, it took my little sister annoying me to death. Honestly the kid has no concept of “no time.” Anyway, I saw the movie before any of us had read the books. Not something I usually do, but I don’t usually argue against a free trip to the movies. So far the book is way better than the movie but then again when is the book worse? If anyone knows of any, please share!

So let me give a basic plot summary: it’s about a 12 years old boy who finds out that he’s the son of a god and a mortal and is also being accused of stealing a very important magical artifact. Is it just me or does everything happen when a kid is 12 years old? Why do authors do this? I mean, most kids are going through puberty at that age and you want to stick them in life-and-death situations? Really, I mean, they already overly emotional. Let’s give them even more reason to be overemotional! But then again, I guess this is so that the middle school readers can say “While I do have to deal with acne and body odor, at least I don’t have scary monsters plotting to kill me.” At least these things don’t have to be fought off with weapons and the like. It’s just deodorant and acne medicine. I use to work with middle school kids and I honestly don’t know if I like the idea of middle schoolers running around with swords and other weapons no matter if they are just fictional. And these kids are suppose to be saving the world! Where do authors get these ideas? I’m curious as to whether they remember middle school at all?

All right, so now back to what I like about Percy Jackson. I love guessing how all the details in the books relate back to Greek mythology. It was great when my sister read the book. She doesn’t know much about Greek mythology but the basics so she’d usually ask me if I know who or what certain things were in the book. It was funny because I could usually tell by just a few details. What’s great now is that I get to pick up on the vague details that she wouldn’t have known when back to Greek mythology. I think Riordan did a wonderful job incorporating the Greek myths that I love into this modern story. And I really can’t wait to finish it. But that will have to wait until after I finish my other book which I’ll talk about in my next post because I didn’t realize how long this post was going to be! Lol.

Anyway, as of yet, I would suggest Percy Jackson to anyone who grew up reading Greek mythology. But I’ll give a better review once I’ve finished. I’m only halfway right now. Besides it’s really fairly short and a very easy read. So give it a try if you’re in between books right now.

Okay, so that’s it for this post and please don't hold any typos against me! I’ll talk about the second book I’m reading currently in the next post and maybe discuss my bad behavior: another book as been added to the mountain… :) Until then happy readings!