Book cover of The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break

Book description

Five thousand years out of the labyrinth, the Minotaur finds himself in the American South, living in a trailer park and working as a line cook at a steakhouse. No longer a devourer of human flesh, the Minotaur is a socially inept, lonely creature with very human needs. But over…

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Why read it?

4 authors picked The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

To read this book was such a pleasurable experience.

I truly loved the idea of a mythical creature mixing it with the modern world and trying to fit in. In some places, it resonated with me and some of my prior experiences, which made the book even more enjoyable. I read it twice, both times on long trips to Europe, and it made my journey easy and fulfilling.

This is an inspiring story that became personal to me and, in a way, served as inspiration for me to try my own hand in writing. I keep this book as one…

From Evgueniy's list on absurdly hilarious books on mythology.

Five thousand years after leaving the labyrinth, the Minotaur has traded in a diet of virgins for a job as a cook at a North Carolina joint called Grub’s Rib, a casually cannibalistic reference that gives a sense of Sherrill’s dark humor. His life is punctuated by problems that are both conventional (he lives in a trailer park and pines for one of Grub’s waitresses) and un- (his horns are awkward in the tight confines of kitchen and trailer, his tongue makes speech difficult, his penmanship is disastrous). What makes the Minotaur so appealing is that unlike the mortals around…

From Maria's list on stories told by monsters.

I found this in a second-hand bookstore in Wales – the title fascinated me, probably because of the Greek Myth connection! Once you suspend your disbelief and accept that a minotaur is working as a grill chef, it’s a wonderful story about the loneliness of an outsider, being an outcast, and how he finds love. A sad book though!

If you love The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break...

Book cover of ODIN's Baked Goods

ODIN's Baked Goods by Evgueniy Todorov,

An absurd, unhinged, and humorous journey through Norse mythology and Viking sagas through the eyes of a baker.

See how Odin baked the world, how the Vikings spread their sourdough starter, and how the Norse kings consolidated the northern bread markets!

I put off starting this novel, worried by the publisher's summary that it would be depressingly poignant along the lines of misfit stories like Edward Scissorhands or Flowers for Algernon but, while the author takes a sensitive look at the life of a creature trying to fit in, because the minotaur never feels self-pity, the book doesn't tap into that sadness that can come with being seen as different.

The literary minutiae of the minotaur's life and truths told about universal hopes and fears of any who doesn't neatly fit in are the heart of the book, though, and beautifully…

If you love The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break...

Book cover of ODIN's Baked Goods

ODIN's Baked Goods by Evgueniy Todorov,

An absurd, unhinged, and humorous journey through Norse mythology and Viking sagas through the eyes of a baker.

See how Odin baked the world, how the Vikings spread their sourdough starter, and how the Norse kings consolidated the northern bread markets!

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