Steppenwolf is a poetical self-portrait of a man who felt himself to be half-human and half-wolf. This Faust-like and magical story is evidence of Hesse's searching philosophy and extraordinary sense of humanity as he tells of the humanization of a middle-aged misanthrope. Yet his novel can also be seen as a plea for rigorous self-examination and an indictment of the intellectual hypocrisy of the period. As Hesse himself remarked, "Of all my books Steppenwolf is the one that was more often and more violently misunderstood than any of the others".
Classics, philosophical novel
The Alexander trilogy (Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy, Funeral Games) (1969–1981) by Mary Renault
Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three, leaving behind an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt to India and a new cosmopolitan model for western civilisation.
In Alexander's childhood, his defiant character was molded into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion, on whom he depended for he rest of his life, taught him trust, whilst Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. He killed his first man in battle at the age of twelve and became the commander of Macedon's cavalry at eighteen - by the time his father was murdered and he acceded to the throne, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
Historical fiction, politics, Ancient Greece, series, adult
hi ive read you consider funeral games by Mary renault your favorite book out of the alexander the great trilogy. I was curious what are the reasons you consider it the best out of the trilogy?
Renault, Idealized Alexander, and Funeral Games
Part of the reason I prefer it has to do with what I perceive to be Renault’s problems writing Alexander in the other two. First, let me say I do quite LIKE Renault’s work, but mostly her other Greek novels. The Last of the Wine is my favorite, followed by The Praise Singer and The Mask of Apollo, although I’ve not read the latter two in years. (I’m re-reading the first just now for a class I’m teaching.)
My issue with her handling of Alexander is that she heroized him too much. If I’m hardly a fan of the Alexander-was-a-monster take, I tend to have a more mixed view. Yet quite aside from how one personally views the historical person, when writing a story, characters need to have flaws, places to grow, or they’re boring. This is especially true if it’s the protagonist (as in Fire from Heaven). Her Alexander not only makes few mistakes, he does everything well on the first try, and is heroized by most around him. If we might argue Alex is heroized in The Persian Boy because Bagoas heroizes him (fair enough), that excuse won’t fly with Fire from Heaven.
This is one reason historical fiction authors are routinely advised NOT to make a famous person one’s protagonist, as it then becomes tempting either to heroize or demonize that figure, depending on one’s personal view. Renault’s two novels about Alexander are what we’d call apologetic. (Not in the “I’m sorry!” sense, but in the old meaning of that word, as a defense. That’s why Plato’s “Apology” has that title. It’s his defense of his teacher, Sokrates.)
So I think Renault’s own idolizing of Alexander (it’s very Tarn-esque) got in the way of her ability to tell a good story about him. It’s a problem I don’t find in most of her other novels about ancient Greece. And Renault at her worst is still better than a lot of other authors at their best. Ha. YMMV.
That’s why I prefer Funeral Games: Alexander’s long, large shadow there–Alexander mythologized–is actually appropriate. And it’s interesting to read a novel where one of the main characters is already dead. :-) You don’t see that every day. She manages to make some sense of the craziness that followed ATG’s death, and if the characters are not necessarily likeable, I find many of them relatable, which is what I’m looking for in a novel.
Again, I haven’t read Funeral Games in over 20 years, not since I wrote reviews for all 3, back when I still kept the website “Beyond Renault” (which I think I started in ‘96?). So I can’t go into much detail these days, but I do remember my primary reason for preferring Funeral Games.
(For anyone who wonders, I’d not only started Dancing with the Lion but had a good chunk of the first draft completed before I ever read Fire from Heaven. I’d read some other novels by Renault, but not that one. I think the first Renault novels I read were The King Must Die, then Bull from the Sea.)
Christopher and His Kind (1976) by Christopher Isherwood
Voting ended onNov 22, 2025
Book summaries below:
The Alexander trilogy (Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy, Funeral Games) (1969–1981) by Mary Renault
Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three, leaving behind an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt to India and a new cosmopolitan model for western civilisation.
In Alexander's childhood, his defiant character was molded into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion, on whom he depended for he rest of his life, taught him trust, whilst Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. He killed his first man in battle at the age of twelve and became the commander of Macedon's cavalry at eighteen - by the time his father was murdered and he acceded to the throne, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
Historical fiction, politics, Ancient Greece, series, adult
Christopher and His Kind (1976) by Christopher Isherwood
Originally published in 1976, Christopher and His Kind covers the most memorable ten years in the writer's life-from 1929, when Isherwood left England to spend a week in Berlin and decided to stay there indefinitely, to 1939, when he arrived in America.
His friends and colleagues during this time included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and E. M. Forster, as well as colorful figures he met in Germany and later fictionalized in his two Berlin novels-who appeared again, fictionalized to an even greater degree, in I Am a Camera and Cabaret.
What most impressed the first readers of this memoir, however, was the candor with which he describes his life in gay Berlin of the 1930s and his struggles to save his companion, a German man named Heinz, from the Nazis. An engrossing and dramatic story and a fascinating glimpse into a little-known world, Christopher and His Kind remains one of Isherwood's greatest achievements.
The Montague Siblings series (The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks, and other stories) by Mackenzi Lee
Henry “Monty” Montague was born and bred to be a gentleman, but he was never one to be tamed. The finest boarding schools in England and the constant disapproval of his father haven’t been able to curb any of his roguish passions—not for gambling halls, late nights spent with a bottle of spirits, or waking up in the arms of women or men.
But as Monty embarks on his Grand Tour of Europe, his quest for a life filled with pleasure and vice is in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.
Still it isn’t in Monty’s nature to give up. Even with his younger sister, Felicity, in tow, he vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt that spans across Europe, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.
Setting: 18th century, various locations across Europe and Northern Africa
Historical fiction, romance, adventure, 18th century, series, young adult
The Alexander trilogy (Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy, Funeral Games) by Mary Renault
Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three, leaving behind an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt to India and a new cosmopolitan model for western civilisation.
In Alexander's childhood, his defiant character was molded into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion, on whom he depended for he rest of his life, taught him trust, whilst Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. He killed his first man in battle at the age of twelve and became the commander of Macedon's cavalry at eighteen - by the time his father was murdered and he acceded to the throne, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
Setting: Ancient Greece
Historical fiction, politics, Ancient Greece, series, adult
Endorsement from submitter #1: "Ugh Orlando deals with gender identity in such an interesting way: Orlando, a person living over several centuries, is born as a man and one night transforms into a woman. This is pretty much not commented by the people around her, but does affect her life and freedom. Amazing book and I adore Woolfs writing style"
Endorsement from submitter #2: "Funny, strange, boundary-crossing"
Virginia Woolf's Orlando 'The longest and most charming love letter in literature', playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf's close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Spanning three centuries, the novel opens as Orlando, a young nobleman in Elizabeth's England, awaits a visit from the Queen and traces his experience with first love as England under James I lies locked in the embrace of the Great Frost. At the midpoint of the novel, Orlando, now an ambassador in Constantinople, awakes to find that he is now a woman, and the novel indulges in farce and irony to consider the roles of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the novel ends in 1928, a year consonant with full suffrage for women. Orlando, now a wife and mother, stands poised at the brink of a future that holds new hope and promise for women.
The Alexander trilogy (Fire from Heaven, The Persian Boy, Funeral Games) (1969–1981) by Mary Renault
Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-three, leaving behind an empire that stretched from Greece and Egypt to India and a new cosmopolitan model for western civilisation.
In Alexander's childhood, his defiant character was molded into the makings of a king. His mother, Olympias, and his father, King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son's loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. His love for the youth Hephaistion, on whom he depended for he rest of his life, taught him trust, whilst Aristotle's tutoring provoked his mind and Homer's Iliad fuelled his aspirations. He killed his first man in battle at the age of twelve and became the commander of Macedon's cavalry at eighteen - by the time his father was murdered and he acceded to the throne, Alexander's skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.
Historical fiction, politics, Ancient Greece, series, adult
