Reading, Odyssey Books IX-XII

Reading this week, has been a lot like other weeks. I'm still reading The Glass Castle, only a chapter or two a day. A lot happens fast, but the little girl, Jeanette, is still pretty little. Most of the time she was on the move with her family, but she stayed for almost a year in one place, but then her dad decided it was time to move. Then she moves on to Phoenix, where her grandma left them a house, and she's still exploring around there now. Each chapter is a different adventure, a different problem that crops up (or doesn't).
I also read A Good Man Is Hard to Find, I already wrote about that. I gave it to my mom to read. I still think it's pretty creepy.
The Odyssey was (I think) the last thing I read this week. I don't think I forgot anything. Anyway, I think Odysseus just got to talk a lot! It was time we heard his story, but it was a LONG story. Yup, I think I would actually be happier if there was more suspense, like it jumps from Telemachus to Odysseus' story and back again. I got a little bored when he just kept talking on and on, but I guess it might also be easier to keep the story going. I just don't like how you can freeze one story and go on with the other. I feel like then you just keep having to catch up on one story and the next, and you never get both in the present. Anyway, it wasn't that bad, and we got to the stuff I recognized a little more, (Come on, who hasn't seen the Arthur or Wishbone version on TV?) like the Cyclopes. He was really crazy, and that's just about it! I probably would have died in there, if I was him. Of course, I probably wouldn't be even fighting in a war, or on a ship back from a war. The whole hiding under sheep thing was a good idea, but it seems like a lot depended on that they poked his eye out. And if there had been some weird problem where they couldn't poke his eye, they probably wouldn't have escaped. It's sort of funny how they don't seem to care that he eats their friends while it's happening, but when they get back, they start to cry. It seems like you would look away while a giant cyclopes ate your friend, really. There's not much suspense because you know he gets out alive, but I guess it's all part of the story. I'm glad they escape, but what if his friends had sailed away without him? What would they do? There would be a cyclopes on the island looking for them, which might take a while, but it's still sort of strange to think about what might have happened to them. I'm glad they finally get away, because eventually he was going to run out of people to eat. They sail away, and are treated well for a while, but then they eventually come to Circe. She's just sort of strange. How would it be fun to turn people into pigs and lions and wolves? I also am curious why exactly Hermes wanted to help him out, because he couldn't have done much without him. She was sort of crazy, suddenly screaming and all sorts of weird things. He really should have left sooner, a year is way too long. I don't know why he had to go and visit the dead when she could have just told him. She told him a lot of what the prophet/seer already said. It was interesting to hear him talk to all the ghosts. The fact he couldn't hug his mom was sad, and all the stories of how people died were also pretty sad. It's funny how he talks to the guy who falls off the roof first, because he doesn't seem that important, but I guess it's a good reason to go back to Circe's island. I want to know why the other people who died, for example, in the Cyclopes' cave, don't get to come back and talk to him when the other people do. The people who are sitting on the ship must either be really bored or listening in, because he talked to a lot of people. Anyway, he goes back, and then goes off on his journey, more people get eaten by one of the monsters, and it gets bad again. The Sirens didn't really get to sing a lot. I wish we could hear them sing more, but I'm also glad it kept moving. Then they get to the place where the cattle and sheep are kept. That's just sort of frustrating because they ran out of food and there was only a little to eat. They couldn't go anywhere, what are they supposed to do? Of course, they definitely shouldn't have eaten the cows, and it was really creepy when they said that the bones were making cow noises and the legs were walking around. Then he with himself on Calypso's island after floating on a raft of sorts. It only took four books to tell! (That actually isn't that sarcasm) You'd think after all that stuff that happened to him, it would take longer to tell, but I like it wasn't super long. It's sort of mean that even though he wanted to go to bed, the king wouldn't let him. I'm surprised he didn't fall asleep in the middle, although I am pretty happy that he kept talking. They really should have let Nausicaa hear this story, just so it made sense to her. I would have been pretty excited if someone had come in and started talking about this long and really terrifying journey they had. (Forget the singing bard) I still would be a little afraid to think he had done all this, and I don't know if they would believe him, because it seems like a pretty crazy story. Now I want to know about Telemachus, and all the people at home, and even about what happens next. I am feeling tempted to read ahead! (But I won't)