Our Favourite Classics Retellings | with Lex

[@warlockofwordsreturnsrb4358]

Most sources portray Patroclus and Achilles as lovers, that's a large part of what pissed off so many people back when the abominable Troy was released, which shifted it to cousins, creepily.

[@mayfia]

We don't talk about that.

[@elizabethdevido2081]

I'm going to start referring to Zeus as "Really Bad Cloud Man"

[@EricKarlAnderson]

Really fun to focus on classic retellings. Nobody gets emotions as well as Madeline Miller! I hadn't heard of The Boneless Mercies before - sounds good and love the cover. Also curious to try the Lockhart book retelling Talented Mr Ripley. Jean Rhys is brilliant - her early novels are excellent as well. One of my favourite classic retellings is Foe by JM Coetzee which is a retelling of Robinson Crusoe.

[@alicewithapen]

It’s so rare that I’ve read a book in a big recommendation video like this but actually I’d read about half of them?? I guess retelling are my jam and I didn’t realise. I’m almost done with Lex’s book and can confirm I have done at least four laughter snorts.

[@mayfia]

I'm a simple girl, I see the song of achilles, I click.

[@iluv-toes8668]

Same😌

[@phoebeel]

The bear and the nightingale and the whole trilogy is my favourite series after the king killer chronicles! The mood, the tone, the setting, the characters, it's all just perfect!

[@nataliapanfichi9933]

Grendel is a novel and a retelling of biowolf from the perspective of the monster.

Many people get this wrong but Carry On is neither Cather's fanfiction nor the version of the fictional author in Fangirl. It's like a third version by Rainbow Rowell. That means that there's not a single extract in Fangirl that's actually featured in Carry On. Apart from that I think that you shouldn't skip the Simon Snow parts in Fangirl because they foreshadow what will happen to Cath in the following chapter. I loved them 😊 Can't wait to read Circe soon 🤗

[@LittleWordWeaver]

I’m in the middle of Carry On right now. I was hesitant to start it (I wasn’t a fan of Fangirl), but so many people recommended it that I thought I’d give it a try. I’m about 100 pages in and I absolutely love it!

[@bettyreads222]

song of achilles forever a fav; i started circe a little while ago and need to dedicate time and just delve in this summer. oh man fly on the wall; what a book; i read metamorphosis for a class in college and then when i heard of that i picked it up at the library and what fun to see the parallels! everything under, the boneless mercies and once & future sound so cool! :]

[@elleryrillaine]

Now I want to check out these books! The only one I've read is Carry On (I loved it and am waiting for the Book 2 this year). I've been in a reading stump, but now I want to go and read novels again.

[@betsygoodfellow5939]

I did a whole big project at sixth form on how Greek myth and literature have influenced modern literature, so I read Song of Achilles and compared it to Homer’s Iliad, I mentioned Circe bc she appears in Homer’s Odyssey! V interesting to look at!

[@TheLoudLightbulb]

I honestly can't recommend Wide Sargasso Sea enough. It's an anti-colonial response to Jane Eyre and it's phenomenal. I'm Indian, and when I was younger I devoured British classics and developed this romantic notion of 19th century England -- which I know now is a normal postcolonial response. My late teens and early adulthood has been spent unlearning all these things and spotting the racism in books I grew up loving, and Wide Sargasso Sea played such an important role during this. I think it should be read as a companion to Jane Eyre, just to give the reader a glimpse into an anti-narrative that picks up on themes that were largely ignored/unrecognized during the time. It made a world of a difference to me, having grown up in a postcolonial context, to bridge the gap in my own understanding of the various histories that exist outside a white-washed and imperial world.

[@OhItsTheresa]

I JUST finished reading Circe and after this video I immediately ran out and got The Bear and the Nightingale and The Boneless Mercies. Most of the others have been added to my list as well. GREAT recommendations!

[@Tryingtobringchange]

Home fire is so haunting and relevant. It tackles so many issues- family,loyalty,allegiance, fundamentalism, religion. Such a strong beginning, a memorable ending and a lot happening in between. It's definitely one of the best I read in 2018, and I recommend it to everyone who cares to listen😂.

[@katyspencer797]

I didn't think I wanted 23 minutes of Sanne and Lex recommending me books, but I totally did!! It was also super interested to learn about genuine fraud and we were liars, I didn't know they had stuff they were based on!

[@saraw1706]

Love We Were Liars so much! But its definitely a book that you can't replicate that first reading experience.

[@maggiemcgee123]

Came back to say THANK YOU for this video; I love adaptations and re-imaginings and I am planning to read everything here. (Sanne, I always love your suggestions! Both of you, actually!) But Lex, I wanted to let you know I picked up Everything Under at the library almost immediately after watching. I love surprises so I followed your suggestion and deliberately did NOT learn what myth it was based on. (To the point where I made my coworker pre-screen the book jacket and cover up one reference to the title of the myth in one blurb.) I fell into the language of it all and past the halfway point, I had the exact moment you described. I read a line, and gasped, and said, "I KNOW what this is now!" Everything is clicking into place plot-wise and all the characters are shifting in my head and it's made my reading experience all the richer. I'm still about a quarter from the end but the pacing of this book is beautiful; I think we're *meant* to realize at that exact moment, if we didn't know already, and this reading experience is going to stick in my mind for a long time, I can already tell. Thank you, thank you.

[@jonip83]

The bear and nightingale sounds perfect for me. I really enjoyed this. Thanks

[@katharinebaxter4662]

I adore this it feels so snuggly and old KZbin and bennet diaries to me

[@wlwcats5810]

yess Madeline Miller is so good😭 also I love that warm orangey hair color it's so cute💘

[@mouse72x]

I went to add Everything Under to my Goodreads but the first line on the description is 'a retelling of *******'. Oops. So if you want to read it without knowing the myth don't go there

[@JohnCTamayo]

I can’t wait to read Lex’s novel!

[@TicTacKitCat]

I didn't realised E.Lockhart wrote the boy book until after I got a We Were Liars tattoo and it made it even better!

[@BooksWithBrandywine]

Looking at the cover of The Fandom I would never have picked it up but now I really want to read it!

[@mikeeeeeec]

Hi, about 5 years ago or so you recommend The Humans by Matt Haig. Finally got round to reading it after having it on my book shelf for years, and I loved it (from someone who barely ever reads). Thank you for recommending it! :)

[@llm210]

Have a look at ‘A Curse So Dark and Lonely’ by Brigid Kemmerer ... it’s a retelling of Beauty and the Beast and the protagonist has cerebral palsy:)

[@blissclair9743]

I spoiled Everything Under for myself and I'm really mad now! Glad to hear the fanfic parts were everyone's least favorite in fangirl!

[@tarabite8469]

I just bought Forever by Judy Blume and plan to read it soon for the first time!

[@nadezhdakolokolova2249]

I loved Fandom. Such a cool story!

[@FairyLizzie]

I've just realized the "Circe" is pronounced like "Cercei" (as Cercei Lannister) in English language. Interesting!

[@emilypeacock6339]

The name is the Latin transliteration of Greek Κιρκη, so it 'should' be pronounced like Kirke, but I went to a book signing and even Madeline Miller was pronouncing it like Cercei. But yeah, I imagine George RR Martin must have been inspired by the witch for the name.

[@FairyLizzie]

@@emilypeacock6339 Thanks!

[@Y-WhatHowTalantTrueHelpfulKind]

"Cercei" means "earrings" in Romanian.

[@wlwcats5810]

aww this is the best video I love retellings😭💘

[@aprilgracereads9772]

Loved watching you both at Foyles event today!! 😁😁

[@booksandquills]

+AprilGraceReads ahh yay! Thanks so much for coming.

[@clairreads1965]

Oooo now about a video on books set in locations inspired by...other locations. That probably sounds weird but I mean books set in a world ‘like’ Russia, or a world ‘like’ Amsterdam. (I’m thinking of the grisha trilogy and six of crows as I type this)

[@kimmycheyenne]

A Darker Shade of Magic would fit this too! It's London, but... not.

[@clairreads1965]

@@kimmycheyenne yes!

[@grainneocruhuir6383]

I loved the writing stile of we were liars but if you are at all prone to depression I couldn’t finished cause it just made me super depressed

[@sinahasler562]

Has anyone read the silence of the girls ( retelling of the illiad from the perspective of the women mainly briseis i believe) and can recommend it? thinking about reading it on my summer holiday...

[@booksandquills]

+Lorena Haas I have, but I definitely liked Circe a lot better. I didn’t enjoy the voice as much and also felt like the focus was still mostly on Achilles.

[@candyisreading8813]

I have! It's good and accessible, but I didn't enjoy it as much as Madeline Miller's books. Also I was sold on the idea of it being about the women of Troy but it was mostly about Achilles in the end. It is also quite dark and heavy (which isn't in itself a bad thing but not what I was in the mood for at the time).

[@sinahasler562]

@@booksandquills thank you for the reply!!

[@sinahasler562]

@@candyisreading8813 thanks for sharing!!

[@Tryingtobringchange]

It's enjoyable. Moody, sinister, brutal and compassionate in parts,it ends on a hopeful note, not like others of the same genre.

[@inessamaria2428]

I loved this video.

[@grainneocruhuir6383]

Love carry on 💙

[@MaryAmongStories]

aaaah i love this 💕

[@Instawise]

Nice !!!

[@lauradove]

hi girls, i recently posted a video on the truth about social media, please let me know what you think 💕✨

[@lildramatic4760]

i looooove genuine fraud how. metamorphosis. what. feminist.