This month: Mary Renault's grounded take on Theseus, and Bolaño's one very long paragraph

Hello friends, it’s time for my fourth newsletter. Last month I said I was looking forward to By Night in Chile and The King Must Die. One of those delivered and the other I was not so impressed by, so this issue has both ends of the scale.

I found it interesting reading a more factual biography of a Greek historical figure such as Alexander the Great versus Mary Renault's, which is a bit more of a grounded re-interpretation. I have more fun reading Renault, and The King Must Die (subject matter Theseus) being the third novel of hers I’ve read confirms it for me. I’m obsessed enough that I launched a little ‘explorer’ of the family tree of Ancient Greek people of renown, check it out here!

Now, I've started to read American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee, which has been on my list of most anticipated books this year. Looking forward to your replies on what you’ve been reading!