Member-only story
Stephen Fry can be at once hilarious, melodious, and serious. And cheeky. Often cheeky. He has managed to combine all of these qualities together in the book Mythos, with a new U.S. version out today from Chronicle Books (it was previously published in the UK to wide acclaim).
In , Stephen Fry retells the famous and not-so-famous Greek myths across over 300 pages with his own brand of wit, focusing on the humor of the stories and their relevance to modern day. As he says in the foreword, no prior knowledge of Greek mythology is required to enjoy this book. I concur. Though I have a base knowledge of a few gods and goddesses, and a mortal or two, most of it is long forgotten from my school days. So I found this book to be a completely entertaining refresher, written in plain language with plenty of fun references sprinkled throughout.
Fry tells the stories, but doesn’t explain or analyze them. They stand on their own. You’ll learn that there’s much more to the tale of Sisyphus than pushing (over and over) a rock up a hill. You’ll learn the love story arc of Eros and Psyche. And, you’ll learn in just how many pies Zeus had his thunderbolt. When applicable, Fry also mentions many of the equivalent Roman gods to orient readers, and there’s a helpful index in the back which includes the names of all the book’s gods…
