The Odyssey by Homer

I somehow found this book more accessable than The Illiad. It could have been because I was already familiar with the basic story. Odysseus and his journey home from the Trojan war to stop his wife Penelope from remarrying because she thinks he's dead.
Athena is the helper God here, assisting Odysseus throughout the book. And Poseidon's the one that's got it out for Odysseus. And well, Odysseus is traveling via boat(or at least trying to), so Poseidon gets lots of shots at him. It lands Odysseus on a variety of islands and encounters he either has to sly his way out of or just hack away with Athena's blessing and assistance.

Odysseus finally makes it back to Ithaca. Penelope's been doing her best to keep the suitors at bay. His son, Telemachus, sees him enter town disguised as a beggar. He lets is son in on this scheme that Athena laid out and he's the only one who knows who this beggar really is. Odysseus suffers several days of insults, being the butt of the suitors' jokes. But when Odysseus unveiled himself, he did smite them mightly. I believe someone's genitals had become a dog's lunch, even. Yeah. It gets violent and crudely graphic. But it's how they handled shit back then. It was a bit of a jaw-dropper, I'll admit. But the way Homer treats these violent acts of revenge, it reminds me of King Arthur again. Crudely graphic yet at the same time retaining a sense of dignity and honor. That the slayer is doing the honorable thing. Homer makes the slaughter sound dignified. I almost expected to hear Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries as I read it.

I told my good friend Noelle about the day I was reading this book and my lead at work saw it and asked what it was. The Odyssey? She hadn't a clue. Noelle made a slapping gesture, like the woman should be smacked for not even being aware of the story.
Of the two pieces of Homer's, I'll have to express a preference for The Odyssey. Like I said, it felt more accessable. A little more personal. And if you only read one piece of Greek literature, make it The Odyssey.