Book Review: Galatea by Madeline Miller

Galatea by Madeline Miller

Book title: Galatea
Author: Madeline Miller
Genre: Ancient retelling, fantasy, short story
Published: First published in 2013; this edition from 2022
49 pages
My rating: 5/5

It was almost sweet the way they worried about me.
“You’re so pale,” the nurse said. “You must keep quiet until your color returns.”
“I’m always this colour,” I said. “Because I used to be made of stone.”

Galatea is Madeline Miller’s short story that retells the myth of the sculptor Pygmalion and his statue-come-to-life Galatea. The short story is based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which narrates several ancient myths where people become animals or plants, or as in the case of this myth, an inanimate object comes to life. In Ovid’s version, sculptor Pygmalion is horrified by “shameless” and “lascivious” prostitutes and instead carves himself a woman from ivory, making her more perfect than any woman can be. He falls in love with his creation and after many prayers, the goddess Venus brings the statue to life. Ovid's version seems to indicate that the couple lives happily ever after.

Favorite Classics: E.M. Forster

Three novels by E.M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster (1879–1970) was an English author who published six novels as well as short stories, essays, and other works. I’ve read three of Forster’s novels and his influential work of literary criticism, Aspects of the Novel. I still want to read at least A Passage to India and Maurice, a posthumously published love story between two men.

Book Review: Circe by Madeline Miller

Circe by Madeline Miller

Book title: Circe
Author: Madeline Miller
Genre: Ancient retelling, historical fantasy
Published: April 10, 2018
333 pages
My rating: 5/5

“When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist. They called me nymph, assuming I would be like my mother and aunts and thousand cousins. Least of the lesser goddesses, our powers were so modest they could scarcely ensure our eternities.”

Circe is not like her parents, the terrifying sun god Helios or the alluring nymph Perse. Slighted by other Titans, including her own family, she seeks the companionship of mortals instead and discovers she has a dark power of her own. When she turns her witchcraft against her own kind, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her craft and tames wild beasts. But even banishment doesn’t stop her from crossing paths with many famous figures, including the beastly Minotaur, the sorceress Medea, and wily Odysseus.

Circe is a retelling of the ancient Greek myth of the powerful witch Circe who transformed men into swine until she was bested by Odysseus in Homer’s The Odyssey. I loved Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles when I read it a few years ago, and I was excited to read her second novel. It wasn’t quite the emotional ride The Song of Achilles offered, but I still loved this book.

Jane Austen July 2025 Wrap-Up and August Hopefuls

July reads

July Wrap-Up

• Finished: 6
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 1,743
• Average rating: 4.58

This was my second year of participating in Jane Austen July, and even though it wasn’t quite as fun as last year, I still had a great time. And as the average rating shows, there was nothing wrong with the books I read, as most of them were four or five-star reads. Besides Jane Austen related books, the first book I finished in July was Agatha Christie’s A Murder Is Announced (4/5 stars). I actually reviewed it as part of my June wrap-up, as I started it in June and finished it in the beginning of July. The rest of the books were Austen-related, though.

Solo Writing Retreat / Writing Update

This week I had a fun time going on a solo writing retreat in the Finnish towns of Hämeenlinna and Tampere. I started the second draft of my Pride and Prejudice retelling that I wrote the first draft of last November. As all my other writing projects are now on hold, I decided it was the perfect time to get back to this project!

I finished the fifth draft of Project Prehistory in June, and in July I have been preparing for querying. I've read books and watched hundreds of YouTube videos on the querying process, and I've written the first drafts of both the query letter and the synopsis. I have a blog post about how I wrote my synopsis, but since I wrote the synopsis while I was working on draft three, it needs to be updated. But luckily, it seems to be mostly in order!

Book Review: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Book title: Sense and Sensibility
Author: Jane Austen
Genre: classic
Published: 1811
My rating: 5/5

After their father’s death, the Dashwood sisters are left with very little money and have to find love in a world that values wealth. Elinor’s stoic and detached sense and Marianne’s romantic and passionate sensibility cause them their own trials and tribulations. Elinor must suffer silently after she falls in love with secretly engaged Edward and Marianne is jilted by the immoral Mr. Willoughby.

Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen’s first published novel. It has always been on the lower half of the list of my favorite Jane Austen novels, and that was partly the reason I was interested in reading it this Jane Austen July.  I wanted to see if my feelings for it have changed, and whether I could pinpoint more clearly what it is about this book that I don’t like. I’m sorry to say that even after this reread, Sense and Sensibility still remains at the bottom, possibly only besting Emma (but then again, I need to reread Emma as well, so the situation may change!).

Book Review: Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Book title: Ayesha at Last
Author: Uzma Jalaluddin
Genre: Contemporary romance
Published: June 12, 2018
368 pages
My rating: 3.5/5

“Because while it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single Muslim man must be in want of a wife, there’s an even greater truth: To his Indian mother, his own inclinations are of secondary importance.”

Ayesha Shamsi dreams of becoming a poet but has to take a job as a substitute teacher so she can pay off her debt to her uncle. Her flighty younger cousin Hafsa, about to reject her one hundredth marriage proposal, is a constant reminder that Ayesha is still single. But Ayesha doesn’t want marriage, especially not an arranged marriage. But then she meets Khalid and is irritatingly attracted to him, no matter how conservative and judgemental he is. As for Khalid, he is perfectly fine letting his mother find him a suitable bride, and outspoken Ayesha certainly isn’t the modest wife his mother would approve.

Ayesha at last is a contemporary romance and a debut novel by the Canadian author Uzma Jalaluddin. I read her second novel, Much Ado about Nada, last year and wanted to read her debut for this year’s Jane Austen July.