Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold

Excellent and well-told stories of Greek mythology come together to almost form a full narrative – the original myths themselves are almost entirely self-contained, so to have a narrative stringing them together is a breath of fresh air. There were some myths (those of Herakles, Icarus and Jason) that I wish were told here, but as Fry states in the afterword, that would have been a MUCH longer book. Stephen Fry takes some liberties with the story-telling to add the proper depth of character and breath of real life, and with his English wit and some tongue-in-cheek wordplay, this really is a marvelous retelling of the myths I learned as a child.

A hint – find the audio format of this book narrated by Fry himself, it adds a lot of character.