Mythology by Edith Hamilton

There has long been a need for the stories of ancient mythology written to appeal to the twentieth-century mind. Edith Hamilton's orderly and lucid presentation of Greek, Roman and Norse mythology promises the casual reader and the avid student a sound, modern and adult key to the foundation stones of world literature. Her years of study of classical literature have already produced notable books and the charm of her writing is well established by THE GREEK WAY and THE ROMAN WAY. She has not been content to be merely a reteller of tales. She has blended and organized the sometimes conflicting myths of the early storytellers, molding them with vivid clarity.

I remember a few summers as a kid when I was obsessed with Greek mythology. I had one of those Complete Idiot's Guide books about it that I loved that covered a lot in an interesting way.

This book seems extremely comprehensive, but isn't nearly as interesting. It's pretty studious in the way it presents the tales, often just laying out the “facts” of the story with very little insight added (though I did like how the beginning of a section often outlined the source poems/writings from which the author pulled). I thought this worked really well in some cases, but it made certain sections feel like more of a chore as it read as of some uninteresting stories were just bullet pointed in in order to not be missed.

I bought this on sale for Kindle, but I know there is a beautiful illustrated anniversary edition and I kind of wish I bought that as a coffee table book to occasionally browse instead of reading through this entire thing at once.

I returned this book to the library half finished, not because it was a bad book, but because I already knew most of the myths inside. Also because the due date was looming. It's definitely a great resource for anyone who wants to brush up or learn about well-researched Greek myths in the story format we love so much about them.