Our reading group selection for July is Circe by Madeline Miller
Our Bibliophibians reading group meets every month at Tin-Aw Art Gallery, Somerset Olympia, Makati Avenue beside the Peninsula Manila. Everyone who’s read the chosen book is welcome. The discussion starts at 4pm, followed by refreshments and chika. Our fabulous host is Dawn Atienza.
Our past selections have been Dune by Frank Herbert (before the new Denis Villeneuve adaptation with the dream cast headed by Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides was announced); First Love, Last Rites by Ian McEwan; Don’t Look Now and other stories by Daphne DuMaurier; The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro; Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata; Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger; and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. For July, we are tackling Madeline Miller’s new novel, Circe.
Intoxicating and deeply moving, Circe is a retelling of Homer’s Odyssey from the POV of one of its very few—and demonized—female characters. In the Odyssey, Circe is a witch who turns Odysseus’s crew into pigs because women living alone have to be evil. Then she seduces Odysseus because women are supposed to fall all over the hero. Miller reclaims Circe’s story and gives it a contemporary spin. It’s still set in ancient times, Circe is still the daughter of a Titan, she still has powers and has a thing for Odysseus. But she’s now a complex and recognizably human character who stands by her own choices and refuses to be controlled by men.
Personally, I think the story of how she ends up on that island is even more interesting than the romantic bits. Apart from Odysseus, the Olympian gods Hermes, Apollo and Athena turn up, and the genius Daedalus, and Circe’s relatives including the Minotaur and Medea.
Our reading group discussion of Circe is on 27 July, Saturday, 4pm at Tin-Aw.
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