An Epic Reading List: What to Read Before (or after) The Odyssey

As Seen on CTV Your Morning

The Odyssey is one of the biggest movies of the summer! Here are eight titles for readers who can’t get enough of mythology or epic storytelling. This segment originally aired on CTV Your Morning on July 23, 2006.

Lit for Little Hands is a series of classics adapted for young children featuring interactive elements (tabs, pulls, flaps, etc). Their version of The Odyssey contains the main beats of the story but they are softened slightly for the 3-6 year old audience.

There are many translations and versions of The Odyssey, but I very much enjoyed Steven Fry’s take in Odyssey, the fourth book in his Greek Myths Reimagined series. This detailed retelling includes depictions of The Odyssey in art and footnotes written in Fry’s dry, witty voice. It feels like hearing the story from your clever British uncle, complete with asides.

Circe, maligned as a bitter witch who turns mens into pigs, is turned into a complicated, sympathetic and fully realized character in Madeline Miller’s excellent Circe. This retelling was so popular it inspired an influx of other fictional retellings of female characters in Greek mythology. Similarly, Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad gives Odyssey’s wife Penelope the mic to tell her own story, accompanied by a chorus of Greek women. Funny, acerbic, and feminist, this is classic Atwood. The Golden Mean chronicles the relationship between Aristotle, hired to tutor a young Alexander (soon to be known as Alexander The Great). Intimate, philosophical and entertaining, this novel is currently in development for Netflix from Heated Rivalry creator Jacob Tierney—read it before you see it!

Epics from Other Cultures

Inanna is the first book in the lush Sumerians trilogy, based on the Epic of Gilgamesh. This Mesopotamian epic predates the Odyssey and has inspired countless myths and origin stories. Fast-forward a few thousand years to Jazz-era Mexico, the setting of Gods of Jade and Shadow. A young woman and a Mayan death god embark on their own odyssey (of sorts) involving ghosts, monsters, and sorcerers in a satisfying blend of Mexican history and mythology. Daughter of the Moon Goddess draws on Chinese mythology, particularly in relation to the Mid-Autumn Festival. It chronicles the adventures of Xingyin, the titular secret daughter of the Moon Goddess, who is forced to leave everything she’s known behind and is drawn into a magical power struggle that could free her mother, or send the realm into chaos.