Reactions to the First Book of The Odyssey

When reading "Book I" in The Odyssey, there were some things I found interesting, some things confusing, and some surprising.  One of the things that I found most interesting about what I read was when Jove said that "there is no more capable man on earth, nor more liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in heaven," when talking about Ulysses.  I didn't know Ulysses was thought so highly of by the gods, especially Jove, the king of the gods.  Also, I found it very interesting that Telemachus knew that Mentes was actually Minerva.  I'm not sure how he would figure that out so soon.  Another thing I found interesting was how Neptune decided to torment Ulysses and stop him from coming home because of the fact that Ulysses blinded his son.  I am not sure why Neptune didn't just kill him if he was that angry at him.  Some parts of what I read were confusing, including the part where Telemachus sets a seat away from the suitors, so he can talk to Mentes without the suitors annoying her, and so "he might ask her more freely about his father."  I'm not sure why it says that he wanted to be able to ask her questions about his father when he didn't know why she was there yet, or even that it was Minerva he was talking to.  Another confusing part was when it said Minerva "flew away like a bird" right after talking to Telemachus.  It wouldn't make sense for her to do this if she was disguised as a man, and didn't want her identity revealed to everyone.  One more thing that confused me was the part where Telemachus says that "Ulysses is dead."  It might be that he is so tired of wondering when and if his father will come back that he has resorted to assuming he is dead, but what threw me off is that he says "now that Ulysses is dead," while talking to the suitors.  As for what I found surprising, one thing would be when Telemachus says that his mother "tells me I am son to Ulysses" like he doesn't believe it.  Also, it wasn't just interesting, but also surprising to me how Telemachus knew that Mentes was Minerva.  Even though he doesn't actually say anything about it, and it only says that "in his heart he knew it had been the goddess," I thought that that would be something he figured out after awhile.

When I read this book, I read it actively.  I'm glad I did, because doing so really helped me to better understand the material.  By highlighting words and phrases that I didn't get, and making notes on things, I better understood what was going on, and it helped me to think more about the text.  Also, when I highlighted main ideas and important parts, it made referring back to parts of the text a lot easier, because the main parts of each paragraph were a lot easier to find.  So far, I am enjoying this story, and I can't wait to see how it progresses.