Just thought I’d mention here that the HUP made Ebbott’s The Poetics of Ambush freely available online here.
Re-reading Sander Goldberg’s “Epic in Republican Rome” (I know it’s an academic book but we’ve had others here so whatever). I enjoy this work, actually generally I really enjoy a lot of what this guy writes, a good scholar. Reading through the book I can see the germs of his later ideas on textualisation and canonicity at Rome and he has some very valuable things to say about the Roman element of Roman epic. Definitely recommend.
The Names of Homeric Heroes: Problems and Interpretations by Nikoletta Kanavou
This book was recommended to me by Amazon.co.uk. I wonder how they knew…? 
Anyway, I “looked inside” and it looked pretty nice, not just a dry exposition of the etymologies of different names, but a random (in the good sense of the word) collection of interesting stuff around personal names of heroes. Only a small part was included in the preview, so it’s difficult to know if it really is good.
Has anyone read the book or skimmed it or do you know the author otherwise? The books is so new that there won’t be reviews for some time.
Oooo. No, not read it but I recall that the authoress has a similar book on Aristophanes which was certainly useful. Though, from the amazon preview, the Homeric one seems a bit less dry and more interesting. That said I could never imagine purchasing it. 
Ok, thanks. “Useful” means that the the other book was informative, but not so much fun, right…?
Basically, yes.
Is anyone familiar with ‘Landmarks in Greek Literature’ by Bowra? Yesterday I noticed a used copy in good condition in a second hand book store for a bit under 10 euro. Is it worth having/ reading?
I was wondering if someone can recommend a book on Greek vases. One with lots of good pictures in colour. I already have John Boardman’s The History of Greek Vases, which is good, but is there something that really concentrates on having lots of good illustrations? It doesn’t matter if it’s skimpy on the text side (I have Boardman for that), but I wouldn’t want it to be entirely unacademic either (i.e. some context for vases should be given etc).
If you know a good website, that’d be nice too.
Trying to think of books with colour plates and analysis is kind of hard, I just use the boring academic catalogues. Do you know about the Beazley archives? I don’t mean to be condescending or anything, but people often overlook basic tools.
It’s a fairly sizeable database, though without analysis, and I suspect some of the pictures are in colour:
http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/index.htm
I figure you can complement the website by reading Boardman. You might also find Martin Robertson’s “The Art of Vase Painting in Classical Greece” useful.
Thanks! I’ve never heard about Beazley!
I’m reading Courtesans and Fishcakes (http://www.amazon.com/Courtesans-Fishcakes-Consuming-Passions-Classical/dp/0226137430/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447743074&sr=1-1&keywords=Courtesans+and+fishcakes), that seems to fit perfectly in the category nice but not academic. It’s an interesting and highly readable overview of Athenian social mores with emphasis on food, booze and sex.
Here’s quite a glowing review: https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/06/reviews/980906.06jenkynt.html