Overbooked Book Lists
Ancient Greece Booklist
Page Modified: June 19, 2009
Updated as time allows...Books about Ancient Greece and the Trojan War. Includes titles for adults and teens (YA).
Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.Fiction
Author: Cook, Elizabeth
Date: 2/02 Publisher: Picador $ 16 ISBN: 0312288840
BooklistPW Born of god and king, and hidden as a girl until Odysseus discovers him, Achilles becomes the Greeks' greatest warrior at Troy. This passionate retelling of the epic tale of Achilles recreates Homer's hero in a new and vivid reality.
Author: Cooney, Caroline B.
Date: 6/02 Publisher: Delacorte $ 15.95 ISBN: 0385729456
Bulletin for Childrens BooksKirkusPW A young girl, the sole survivor of a pirate raid of an island kingdom in ancient Greece, reinvents herself as the island's princess. When rescued, Anaxandra soon finds herself in the midst of events that plunge Sparta and Troy into war.
Author: Doherty, Paul
Publisher: Carroll & Graf $ 24 ISBN: 0786711574 Date: 2003
PWSpurred by dreams of conquest but dogged by treachery, the volatile young Alexander has set his ambitious eyes on the prize city of Halicarnassus in this new novel by Doherty.
Updated 7.28.03
Author: Douglass, Sara
Date: 03/01 Publisher: Tor $ 27.95 ISBN: 0765305402
PWThe first title in Douglass's compelling new series, this is a riveting historical fantasy series of love and revenge and the madness that can ensnare even the most noble soul.
Author: Ford, Michael Curtis
Date: 7/01 Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312269463
LJ In the spring of 400 B.C., ten thousand battered Greek soldiers stagger out of the frozen mountains of Armenia into a small Hellenic trading post on the eastern Black Sea. Their stunning tale of survival is the source of this epic debut in the tradition of Gates of Fire.
Author: Geras, Adele
Date: 5/01 Publisher: Harcourt $ 17 ISBN: 0152164928
PW, ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Horn Book AwardFor ten years, from the heights of Mount Olympus, the gods kept watch on the Siege of Troy. But Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, is bored with the endless, dreary war and, aided by Eros's arrow, sends two sisters down a bloody path to an awful truth: In the fury of war, love strikes the deadliest blows.
Author: Merlis, Mark
Date: 8/98 Publisher: St Martins $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312186754
PW Three millennia old, the story of the Trojan War is one of the benchmark works of the Western canon. Against a modern backdrop, Merlis retells this ancient tale to explore the intricacies of modern gay history, identity, and the wall between "gay" and "straight".
Author: Norfolk, Lawrence
Date: 10/01 Publisher: Grove $ 25 ISBN: 0802117015
KirkusLJPWFrom prehistoric Greek hunters to an S.S. officer on the run, this mesmerizing epic by the author of Lempriere's Dictionary and The Pope's Rhinoceros explores ancient myths and modern horrors.
Author: Pressfield, Steven
Date: 11/98 Publisher: Doubleday $ 24.95ISBN:
KirkusPW With an epic vision and a dynamic cast of characters, this literary page-turner, set in 480 B.C., brings the Homeric tradition into the 21st century with the tale of historic battle between the Greeks and the two-million-man strong Persian army.
Author: Pressfield, Steven
Date: 5/02 Publisher: Doubleday $ 27.50 ISBN: 0385492510
LJThe internationally bestselling author of Tides of War and Gates of Fire delivers his most gripping and imaginative novel of the ancient world yet--a stunning epic of love and war that breathes life into the grand myth of the ferocious female warrior culture of the Amazons.
Author: Pressfield, Steven
Date: 4/00 Publisher: Doubleday $ 24.95 ISBN: 0385492529
KirkusLJPW The internationally bestselling author of Gates of Fire returns with a stunning novel of the Peloponnesian War and Alcibiades, the man whose heroics and passions fueled the epic struggle. Narrated by the conqueror's trusted bodyguard and hired assassin in a mesmerizing death-row confession, Tides of War is historical fiction at its finest--a full-bodied, flesh-and-blood retelling of one of history's pivotal conflicts.
Author: Shanower, Eric
Publisher: Image Comics $ 29.95 ISBN: 1582403600 Date: 2004
LJ While Trojan prince Paris returns to Troy with Helen, the Achaean fleet mistakenly attacks Mysia, then is scattered by a storm. High King Agamemnon gathers the army again, but for the fleet to sail, the gods require the life of Agamemnon's eldest daughter, Iphigenia.
Suggested Reading: Graphic Novels and Comic Stars
Updated 11.2.04
Author: Spinner, Stephanie
Date: 10/02 Publisher: Knopf $ 15.95 ISBN: 0375814892
BooklistGreek gods and mortals spring to life in this riveting retelling of the myth of Atalanta, the fleet-footed girl warrior who could outrun any man in ancient Greece.
Author: Unsworth, Barry
Date: 4/03 Publisher: Doubleday $ 26 ISBN: 0385501145
KirkusPWAs the harsh wind holds the Greek fleet trapped in the straits at Aulis, frustration and political impotence turn into a desire for the blood of a young woman--blood that will appease the gods and allow the troops to set sail. High-sounding principles clash with private motives, and dark comedy ensues.
Also:
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Sand-Reckoner by Gillian Bradshaw
The Eye of Cybele by Daniel Chavarria
P.C. Doherty's Alexander the Great Mystery Series
Aristotle Detective by Margaret Doody
The Wreckage of Agathon by John Gardner
The Golden Fleece by Robert Graves
Olympiad by Tom Holt
Sappho's Leap by Erica Jong
The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough
Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli (YA)
Mary Renault - especially The King Must Die, The Bull from the Sea, The Last of the Wine, The Praise Singer, The Persian Boy, Funeral Games, The Mask of Apollo
Ariadne's Web by Fred Saberhagen
Illium by Dan Simmons
Over the Wine-Dark Sea by H.N. Turteltaub
Nonfiction
- Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter
Author: Cahill, Thomas
Publisher: Doubleday/Talese $ 27.50 ISBN: 0385495536 Date: 2003KirkusPW
In the fourth volume of the acclaimed Hinges of History series, the author of How the Irish Saved Civilization brings his characteristic wit and style to a fascinating tour of ancient Greece.
Suggested Reading: Adult Books for Teens
Updated 8.25.03 - The Spartans: The World of the
Warrior-Heros of Ancient Greece, from Utopia to Crisis and Collapse
Author: Cartledge, Paul
Publisher: Overlook $ 27.95 ISBN: 1585674028 Date: 2003PW
A compelling narrative exploring the culture and civilization of the most famous "warrior people": the Spartans of ancient Greece, told by the world's leading expert. The narrative also details the lives of such illustrious mythmaking figures as Lycurgus, King Leonidas, Helen of Troy (and Sparta), and Lysander.
Updated 4.14.03 - The Peloponnesian War
Author: Kagan, Donald
Publisher: Viking $ 29.95 ISBN: 0670032115 Date: 2003BooklistLJ
One of the world's foremost historians presents a fresh look at the greatest war of ancient Greece and a pivotal moment in Western civilization that still resonates today.
Updated 5.19.03
Booklist Links:
Ancient Greece in Fiction Booklist - Classics Department at Royal Holloway
Fiction Set in Ancient Greece
Other Links:
Exploring Ancient World Cultures
Ancient Greece
Perseus Digital Library
Diotima: Women & Gender in the Ancient
World
Images of the Trojan
War Myth
The Trojan War, and illustrated
companion
Overbooked On the Fly Themed Booklists
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Ann Chambers Theis (AKA Ann/ACT)
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Ann Chambers Theis: Collection Management Administrator, Chesterfield County (VA) Public Library. 9501 Lori Rd. or P.O. Box 297, Chesterfield, VA, 23832. Phone: 804.748.1760.
I really appreciate all the e-mail I receive from avid readers and writers and regret that I am not able to respond to all correspondents.
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