16 must-read mythology books like Arcadian Days by John Spurling

Cover of Arcadian Days by John Spurling

Arcadian Days

By: John Spurling

3.79

Format: 324 pages, Paperback

The Greek myths, refined by the great poets and playwrights of Ancient Greece, distil the essence o…

If you liked the mythology plot in Arcadian Days by John Spurling , here is a list of 16 books like this:

Cover of The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes

1. The Children of Jocasta

By: Natalie Haynes

3.91

Format: 336 pages, Hardcover

My siblings and I have grown up in a cursed house, children of cursed parents... Jocasta is just… read more

Similar categories in Natalie Haynes's The Children of Jocasta book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
Cover of Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1) by Josiah Bancroft

2. Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)

By: Josiah Bancroft

4.11

Format: 448 pages, Paperback

The Tower of Babel is the greatest marvel in the world. Immense as a mountain, the ancient Tower ho… read more

Similar categories in Josiah Bancroft's Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1) book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • adult
  • fantasy
"Never let a rigid itinerary discourage you from an unexpected adventure."

-Josiah Bancroft, Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)

"Each spring, the schoolhouse was painted white as a bride, and every year the oceanic elements slowly undressed it."

-Josiah Bancroft, Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)

"The handkerchief is the universal utensil of the seasoned traveler. It can be a sanitizing device, a seat cover, a dust mask, a garrote, a bandage, a gag, or a white flag. One may feel well-prepared …"

-Josiah Bancroft, Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)

"I’m glad your self-righteousness has given you some exercise, but you forget: we are not such a tidy, reasonable, and humane race. Our thoughts don’t stand in grammatical rows, our hearts don’t draw …"

-Josiah Bancroft, Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)

Cover of A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

3. A Thousand Ships

By: Natalie Haynes

4.07

Format: 368 pages, Hardcover

This is the women’s war, just as much as it is the men’s. They have waited long enough for their tu… read more

Similar categories in Natalie Haynes's A Thousand Ships book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
"If he tells me to sing one more time, I think I might bite him."

-Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships

"An artist constantly risks falling fully into chaos, instead of transforming it."

-Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships

"Because really, how many cannibalistic giants can one Greek plausibly meet as he sails the open seas?"

-Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships

"We are all human. That means there is something about our experience that is the same. Otherwise, we would not all be human."

-Natalie Haynes, A Thousand Ships

Cover of Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes

4. Stone Blind

By: Natalie Haynes

3.82

Format: 373 pages, Hardcover

A fresh take on the story of Medusa, the original monstered woman. They will fear you and flee y… read more

Similar categories in Natalie Haynes's Stone Blind book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
"Then look."

-Natalie Haynes, Stone Blind

"The sea gods keep their secrets deep; they always have."

-Natalie Haynes, Stone Blind

"There is one question that devours me still. Why didn’t I close my eyes?"

-Natalie Haynes, Stone Blind

"And the monster? Who is she? She is what happens when someone cannot be saved."

-Natalie Haynes, Stone Blind

Cover of Arm of the Sphinx (The Books of Babel, #2) by Josiah Bancroft

5. Arm of the Sphinx (The Books of Babel, #2)

By: Josiah Bancroft

4.32

Format: 448 pages, Paperback

The Tower of Babel is proving to be as difficult to reenter as it was to break out of. Forced into … read more

Similar categories in Josiah Bancroft's Arm of the Sphinx (The Books of Babel, #2) book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • adult
  • fantasy
"Routine is rather like the egg whites in a batter: It imparts little flavor, but it holds everything together."

-Josiah Bancroft, Arm of the Sphinx (The Books of Babel, #2)

"If you remember nothing else of what I say, remember this: When humanity ceases to aspire, it begins to decline."

-Josiah Bancroft, Arm of the Sphinx (The Books of Babel, #2)

"We are, each of us, a multitude. I am not the man I was this morning, nor the man of yesterday. I am a throng of myself queued through time. We are, gentle reader, each a crowd within a crowd."

-Josiah Bancroft, Arm of the Sphinx (The Books of Babel, #2)

"Yes, it is somewhat vexing to thread through the stacks of a library, only to discover an absence rather than the sought-after volume, but once the ire subsides, doesn’t one feel a sense of community…"

-Josiah Bancroft, Arm of the Sphinx (The Books of Babel, #2)

Cover of Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

6. Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

By: Natalie Haynes

4.24

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

The Greek myths are one of the most important cultural foundation-stones of the modern world. St… read more

Similar categories in Natalie Haynes's Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • mythology
  • short stories
"For my mum, who has always thought that a woman with an axe was more interesting than a princess"

-Natalie Haynes, Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

"Medusa wasn't always a monster, Helen of Troy wasn't always an adulterer, Pandora wasn't ever a villain."

-Natalie Haynes, Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

"The greatest virtue, in other words, that an Athenian woman could aspire to was not to be registered, almost not to exist."

-Natalie Haynes, Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

"The guiding principle when searching for the cause of everything wrong in the world has been, all too often: _cherchez la femme_."

-Natalie Haynes, Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

Cover of Daughters of Sparta by Claire Heywood

7. Daughters of Sparta

By: Claire Heywood

3.88

Format: 370 pages, Paperback

For millennia, men have told the legend of the woman whose face launched a thousand ships--but now … read more

Similar categories in Claire Heywood's Daughters of Sparta book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
"He helped her to rule without ever trying to rule her."

-Claire Heywood, Daughters of Sparta

"Sometimes we must be led by duty, and sometimes by what is right....The trick is to know when these things are the same, and when they are not. [Tyndoreos]"

-Claire Heywood, Daughters of Sparta

"None of this was Agatha's fault, Helen knew that in her honest heart. And yet she resented her. For doing what she could not, for being what she was not, for giving her daughter what she had not. Whe…"

-Claire Heywood, Daughters of Sparta

Cover of Elektra by Jennifer Saint

8. Elektra

By: Jennifer Saint

3.68

Format: 291 pages, Hardcover

The House of Atreus is cursed. A bloodline tainted by a generational cycle of violence and vengeanc… read more

Similar categories in Jennifer Saint's Elektra book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
"I had not dreamed I would bring my children into a world that could drain their blood in the light of dawn before they’d had a chance to live at all."

-Jennifer Saint, Elektra

"Nothing brought them more joy than the fall of a lovely woman. They picked over her reputation like vultures, scavenging for every scrap of flesh they could devour."

-Jennifer Saint, Elektra

"The wine tasted like dirt to me. I could shriek out my warnings, claw at my flesh, hurl my goblet right into Paris' face, but they would still carry on as though I did not exist."

-Jennifer Saint, Elektra

"Let him come back so that I can see his eyes as the light drains from them. Let him come back and die at the hands of his bitterest enemy. Let him come back so that I can watch him suffer. And let me…"

-Jennifer Saint, Elektra

Cover of Ithaca (The Songs of Penelope, #1) by Claire North

9. Ithaca (The Songs of Penelope, #1)

By: Claire North

3.70

Format: 391 pages, Kindle Edition

Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting a… read more

Similar categories in Claire North's Ithaca (The Songs of Penelope, #1) book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
"...for it is the poet’s art to make every ear that hears the ancient songs think they have been sung for them alone, the old made new."

-Claire North, Ithaca (The Songs of Penelope, #1)

Cover of Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth by Natalie Haynes

10. Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth

By: Natalie Haynes

4.05

Format: 259 pages, Hardcover

New York Times bestselling author Natalie Haynes returns to the world of ancient Greek myth in thi… read more

Similar categories in Natalie Haynes's Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • adult
  • mythology
"The distinction that only sciences are useful and only arts are spirit-enhancing is a nonsensical one. I couldn't write much without scientists designing my computer. And some of them must want to re…"

-Natalie Haynes, Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth

"According to Hesiod's Theogony , Rhea gives birth to the following children in this order: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Kronos swallows each of the first five deities, and Rhea i…"

-Natalie Haynes, Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth

Cover of Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill

11. Our Hideous Progeny

By: C.E. McGill

3.96

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

It is not the monster you must fear, but the monster it makes of men. . . For readers of Circe o… read more

Similar categories in C.E. McGill's Our Hideous Progeny book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • historical fiction
"We had built here, in this half-ruined boat house on the edge of the Moray Firth, a temple to our own strange gods- to Chemistry and Anatomy and Electricity."

-C.E. McGill, Our Hideous Progeny

"There is something romantic about feeding a predator from the palm of your hand, I think- a creature which might bite you if it chooses, but chooses not to. But how does one turn such awful beauty to…"

-C.E. McGill, Our Hideous Progeny

"I will always hold dear to my heart that fact that I was the first to see those golden eyes open, to see its reptilian pupils narrow and focus on my own- for in those eyes I saw, for the first time, …"

-C.E. McGill, Our Hideous Progeny

"I suppose that is why it often makes me sad to read about history, or even natural history, as you do; I cannot help but think of everyone whose tale cannot fit in one book, those poor creatures who …"

-C.E. McGill, Our Hideous Progeny

Cover of Atalanta by Jennifer Saint

12. Atalanta

By: Jennifer Saint

3.78

Format: 291 pages, Hardcover

From the beloved, bestselling author of Elektra and Ariadne , a reimagining of the myth of Atalanta… read more

Similar categories in Jennifer Saint's Atalanta book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
"I made a bargain with him: if he let me have the mountains and my girls, then I'd keep out of Hera's way. But the main thing I wanted was to live untouched by men. I wasn't going to find myself in my…"

-Jennifer Saint, Atalanta

"I missed the spread of the sky above me. Sometimes as I lay awake, I yearned so powerfully for freedom; for the dark silhouette of the Argo, blotting out the stars behind it; the promise of another j…"

-Jennifer Saint, Atalanta

"Standing in the shadows, gathering my resolve. I'd been among too many people, living according to their rules for too long. It was clouding my vision, gnawing away at my confidence and certainty, ma…"

-Jennifer Saint, Atalanta

"I despised my father, of course I did. The thought of presenting myself to him, of him thinking that my deeds could reflect on him was repulsive, that he thought what I would do would be a substitute…"

-Jennifer Saint, Atalanta

Cover of Phaedra by Laura Shepperson

13. Phaedra

By: Laura Shepperson

3.32

Format: 400 pages, Kindle Edition

Debut novelist Laura Shepperson offers a powerful feminist retelling of Phaedra and her unyielding … read more

Similar categories in Laura Shepperson's Phaedra book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
Cover of Psyche and Eros by Luna McNamara

14. Psyche and Eros

By: Luna McNamara

3.78

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

In this utterly transporting reimagining of Greek mythology, the god of desire is cursed to fall fo… read more

Similar categories in Luna McNamara's Psyche and Eros book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
Cover of Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati

15. Clytemnestra

By: Costanza Casati

4.25

Format: 435 pages, Hardcover

For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, a stunning debut following Clytemnestra, the most notorious vi… read more

Similar categories in Costanza Casati's Clytemnestra book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
"She will bow to no one. Her destiny will be what she wants it to be."

-Costanza Casati, Clytemnestra

"It is unwise to let a man who isn't king sit on a throne for too long."

-Costanza Casati, Clytemnestra

"As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her better. Let her be hated forever."

-Costanza Casati, Clytemnestra

Cover of Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

16. Ariadne

By: Jennifer Saint

3.80

Format: 308 pages, Hardcover

Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listeni… read more

Similar categories in Jennifer Saint's Ariadne book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
"the world was on fire, and theseus was a shaded green pool."

-Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

"We might only have a mortal lifetime, but it will belong to us and no one else."

-Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

"We might only have a mortal lifetime, but it will belong to us, and no one else."

-Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

"My mother's private constellation of shame intermingled with love and despair no longer."

-Jennifer Saint, Ariadne

Cover of Hera by Jennifer Saint

17. Hera

By: Jennifer Saint

3.75

Format: 400 pages, Hardcover

Hera, immortal goddess and daughter of the ancient Titan Cronos, helped her brother Zeus to overthr… read more

Similar categories in Jennifer Saint's Hera book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology
"She has been alone for a very long time."

-Jennifer Saint, Hera

"All she knows is that he leaves a trail of broken women in his wake, and she is the most broken of them all."

-Jennifer Saint, Hera

"But as he looms over her, blocking out the sky, it seems that he is everything in the world, that he is bigger than that sky. He is too immense and too strong. There is nothing that Hera, the warrior…"

-Jennifer Saint, Hera

"She can be anyone. Vengeful Hera, wrathful Hera, the queen of the heavens, most long-suffering of wives and cruellest of punishers, will continue without her. She can slip away from the tethers of wh…"

-Jennifer Saint, Hera

Cover of Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

18. Where Sleeping Girls Lie

By: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

4.05

Format: 416 pages, Hardcover

In Where Sleeping Girls Lie ― a YA contemporary mystery by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, the New York Time… read more

Similar categories in Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé's Where Sleeping Girls Lie book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

Cover of Wrath of the Triple Goddess (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #7) by Rick Riordan

19. Wrath of the Triple Goddess (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #7)

By: Rick Riordan

4.43

Format: 288 pages, Hardcover

Percy Jackson, now a high school senior, needs three recommendation letters from the Greek gods in … read more

Similar categories in Rick Riordan's Wrath of the Triple Goddess (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #7) book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • fantasy
  • mythology
Cover of Arcadian Days by John Spurling

20. Arcadian Days

By: John Spurling

3.79

Format: 324 pages, Paperback

The Greek myths, refined by the great poets and playwrights of Ancient Greece, distil the essence o… read more

Similar categories in John Spurling's Arcadian Days book and John Spurling's Arcadian Days

  • retellings
  • greek mythology
  • short stories
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • mythology

17 Best adult books like Arcadian Days by John Spurling

Transform Your Habits

The Children of Jocasta

Natalie Haynes

3.91

Transform Your Habits

Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1)

Josiah Bancroft

4.11

Transform Your Habits

A Thousand Ships

Natalie Haynes

4.07

Transform Your Habits

Stone Blind

Natalie Haynes

3.82

View all the books

18 Best adult books like Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

Transform Your Habits

The Children of Jocasta

Natalie Haynes

3.91

Transform Your Habits

The Witch's Heart

Genevieve Gornichec

4.05

Transform Your Habits

A Thousand Ships

Natalie Haynes

4.07

Transform Your Habits

The Silence of the Girls (Women of Troy, #1)

Pat Barker

3.90

View all the books

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