Status Updates From Iliad, Books 1-12

Book 12 finished.
Actually a really engaging book of fighting with so many beautiful similes. Homer really loves lions (but some epithets for them are quite odd like "mountain-nurtured").

Book 11 finished.
Good god, Agamemnon, Diomedes and Odysseus are wounded. All hope is lost. Unforunately Nestor is unbelievingly old, as Homer assures us, and cannot fight anymore (but somehow lingers around casually on the battlefield), otherwise he would slay all these Trojans easily, if we can trust his grandpa stories.

Diomedes' insults are hilarious: "Bowman, reviler, glorious with your curling locks, you ogler of girls!" (11.385 f.)
Just imagine this line on the battlefield. lol

Book 10 finished.
This book isn't necessary for the plot at all.
It's a brutal ambush scene with shows again Odysseus' genius and Diomedes' coldheartedness. Dolon was quite stupid to think they would let him live.

Book 9 finished.
Odysseus, Aias and Phoinix (a random guy who pops up out of the blue and becomes very important) put forth the most memorable and marvelous speeches to persuade Achilles to finally do something and not be pissed anymore. But Achilles was not as impressed as I was.

Oh wow, swift-footed Achilles finally moves and speaks. Totally forgot the whole epic is about him.

Book 8 finished. Here we see how the god control (or don't contol) the war.
Only Homer can compare a killed soldier with a poppy bowing its head heavy with fruit and raindrops (8.306-8).

Why did Hector give his horses wine to drink? lol

Book 7 finished. An epic fight between Hector and Aias, which they interrupt in the end because night dawns and it's dangerous to fight in the dark. A random plan by the Archaeans to build a wall (why??), on which Homer lays a lot of emphasis. And finally a big burial of the dead soldiers with sacrifices and a lot of wine flowing.

Book 6 finished.
An emotional ride. First Menelaus feels pity for an enemy and was about to spare him but Agamemnon changes his mind in the last second :(. Then the great scene of making friendship among enemies in war between Diomedes and Glaucus. And finally we get insights into the emotional suffering of the Trojan women, culminating in the scene where Hector sees his wife and child. I truely felt pity.