About this episode

Mary and Charlotte share their favorite beach reads, blending classical literature with modern adaptations.

Summer is here (in the northern hemisphere at least) and with many listeners eyeing trips to the beach, Mary and Charlotte are here with some cracking beach read suggestions. Move over Carley Fortune, Ann Patchett, and Tana French and make way for Herodotus, Lucian and Longus. Charlotte does a hard sell for Herodotus’ Histories (all 700 pages) and Ovid’s (mercifully shorter) Heroides. Mary pushes the science-fiction humour of Lucian’s Selected Dialogues (while acknowledging it could do with a better title) and Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe. Turning to modern books set in the ancient world, Charlotte champions Colm Tóibín’s House of Names, while Mary chooses Samuel Butler’s The Authoress of the Odyssey - which, published in 1897, pushes the definition of ‘modern’ a little, but we don’t expect anything less from a Cambridge don!  Finally, something for the kids… Mary is a fan of Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Mysteries and Charlotte feels equally enthusiastic about Percy Jackson.  Charlotte’s recommendations: Herodotus, The Histories comes in many translations – Robin Waterfield for Oxford World’s Classics, and Tom Holland for Penguin Classics Ovid, Heroides, also has translations…

People in this episode

Hosts: Mary, Charlotte

Topics covered

• beach reads
• classical literature
• modern adaptations
• summer reading
• children's literature

Keywords

• beach reads
• Herodotus
• Ovid
• Lucian
• Colm Tóibín
• Percy Jackson
• summer reading

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Herodotus’ Histories, Ovid’s Heroides, Lucian’s Selected Dialogues, Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe, House of Names, The Authoress of the Odyssey, Roman Mysteries, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

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