I have been intrigued by the "7 Plots" idea in literary criticism lately, the idea that all stories follow and riff-upon fundamental archetypes.

In reading one of the Western World's first works of literature, I think I had a sense of the timelessness of story telling. And it was a great story. I especially liked the hero being warned by the shade in Hades that Odysseus shouldn't expect his wife to be 100% thrilled and convinced by his comeback and to maybe prep her a bit.

This translation was an ambitious choice; at times I did wish I'd chosen a somewhat more concise one.

One word choice was jarring: characters got off "scot free" several times. I thought Scotland hadn't been invented yet in the time of Homer? True enough, but the phrase comes from "skot" which is an ancient word for a tax or tribute and the phrase "scot free" appears in writing in 1066, so I guess I can't quibble.