I’ve read several translations of The Odyssey, and Emily Wilson's is easily the best--clear, plain, readable, both contemporary and true to the original. Rather than imitating Homer's dactylic hexameter, like previous verse translators, she uses blank verse--a far more natural choice for English. The result is a beautiful, musical new telling of the stories of Telemachus finding his way to adulthood; of shrewd, steadfast Penelope, alone and beset by boorish, grasping suitors; and of Odysseus, the world traveler, brilliant soldier, and guileful schemer, who at the end of the day wants nothing more than to go home to his wife.