Life Is an Odyssey
I’m practically peeing my pants in anticipation of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, arriving in theaters Friday, July 17.
Homer’s timeless epic follows a warrior, trickster, husband, father, and lover struggling to find his way home after the Trojan War. Nearly three thousand years later, we’re still telling versions of that same story—about courage, sacrifice, justice, temptation, and the dangerous seduction of power.
Homer’s fingerprints are still all over our stories. The archetypes he gave us—the reluctant hero, the faithful wife, the wise mentor, the seductive temptress, the vengeful god, the loyal companion—simply traded bronze armor for capes, lightsabers, and utility belts.
Think Batman and Robin, Wonder Woman, Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Katniss Everdeen, Frodo Baggins. We still gather around the same campfire. Only the costumes have changed.
These themes have been knit into my bones, and perhaps yours, too. We all long for fairness, don’t we? Stories of justice take us home—where we belong in the world, and with each other, and to ourselves.
Homer and I were late in finding one another. Stories had always been my refuge, but the classics somehow slipped past me while I was busy living a life that often felt more chaotic than heroic. By the time we met, I was already deep in the seas of my own odyssey. I already knew something about wandering. I already knew something about the long, slow work of finding my way home.
So I can’t wait for Friday night, when the lights in the theater go down, I’ve got popcorn and Red Vines in my lap, and another Odyssey begins.
One of the great joys of working in a library is living among stories. Every day I walk past that stacks that stretch like friends down long corridors, books whispering, “Pick me next.”
So burstingly in love am I with stories—in books and films, music, and long conversations over coffee. So I’m passing a little of that love along to you.
Which brings me to a handful of books, films, and a podcast that made me fall in love with Homer all over again.
Consider it an invitation to your own odyssey, one that takes you back to the time of Achilles and Hector, Penelope and Calypso. Of Zeus and Athena, Poseidon and Apollo.
It all begins, of course, with Homer’s Iliad and The Odyssey. What follows are some of the retellings I’ve loved most.
I’ve wandered through these books and films the way Odysseus wandered the wine-dark sea—sometimes lost, often astonished, always eager for whatever waited beyond the next horizon.
So strap on the greaves and gird your loins, for the Muses are calling your name.
BOOKS
A Thousand Ships (2019) by Natalie Haynes
“We all know about the heroes. It’s time to hear from everyone else.”
A breathtaking retelling of the Trojan War through the eyes of the women who endured it—queens, slaves, mothers, wives, and goddesses. Haynes gives voice to those history and myth often left in the margins, revealing that while men may wage wars, women carry their consequences for generations.
The Penelopiad (2005) by Margaret Atwood
“Now that I’m dead know everything.”
Penelope finally gets to tell her own story. From the Underworld, Odysseus’s famously faithful wife recounts twenty years of waiting, weaving, surviving, and outsmarting the relentless suitors, while Atwood asks whether history has been fair to either Penelope or the twelve maids who died in her service.
FILM
Troy (2004)
Starring Brad Pitt (Achilles), Eric Bana (Hector), and Diane Kruger (Helen)
“The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed.”
A sweeping, visually spectacular retelling of the Trojan War that focuses on the rivalry between Achilles and Hector and the events that ultimately give rise to Odysseus’s long journey home. While it departs from Homer in places, it captures the grandeur, tragedy, and humanity of the epic.
Troy: Fall of a City (2018)
Starring Louis Hunter (Paris), Bella Dayne (Helen), Joseph Mawle (Odysseus), Tom Weston-Jones (Hector), and David Threlfall (Priam)
“The stories we tell become the world we live in.”
An eight-part television series that gives the Trojan War room to breathe. Richer in political intrigue and family relationships than most film adaptations, it explores both Greek and Trojan perspectives while remaining surprisingly faithful to the spirit of the ancient myths.
Ulysses (1954)
Starring Kirk Douglas (Ulysses/Odysseus), Silvana Mangano (Penelope and Circe), and Anthony Quinn (Antinous)
“No man can escape his destiny.”
The classic Hollywood adaptation of The Odyssey, bringing to life the Cyclops, the Sirens, Circe, and the long-awaited homecoming to Ithaca. Though made more than seventy years ago, it remains one of cinema’s definitive interpretations of Homer’s epic.
The Return (2024)
Starring Ralph Fiennes (Odysseus) and Juliette Binoche (Penelope)
“Home is not a place you return to unchanged.”
Rather than recounting Odysseus’s adventures, this intimate drama begins after he finally reaches Ithaca. Scarred by war and years of wandering, he must rediscover his family, reclaim his kingdom, and decide whether home can ever truly be the same.
PODCAST
Natalie Haynes Stands up for the Classics
“The Classics belong to everyone.”
Classicist, novelist, comedian, and passionate champion of the ancient world, Natalie Haynes explores why Greek myths and literature still matter. With humor and scholarship, she moves beyond monsters and gods to reveal stories that are deeply human—and astonishingly modern.
Perhaps that’s why Homer’s stories still call to us. Not because they take us back to ancient Greece, but because they point us, again and again, toward home.
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Kyla Merwin 