false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177038401m/676737.jpg 676737 24 Grendel is a beautiful and heartbreaking modern retelling of the Beowulf epic from the point of view of the monster, Grendel, the villain of the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon epic. This book benefits from both of Gardner's careers: in addition to his work as a novelist, Gardner was a noted professor of medieval literature and a scholar of ancient languages. 1348308 1971 Grendel total:4347|5:1186|4:1476|3:1111|2:396|1:178| 4347 16137 5636 433 5 23 false false Sun Oct 11 06:34:12 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 07:53:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 5 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 26 23:02:23 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 26 23:45:02 -0800 2007 more...]]> 2 3 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 04 20:11:44 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 11 18:38:22 -0800 2007 Grendel didn't really do what I expect novels to do: it didn't make me care about anything. Part of that may be because it's only a...more...]]> 3 3 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 07 17:30:55 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 07 17:31:17 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 4 false false Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 09 09:17:46 -0700 2007 Tue May 20 22:36:24 -0700 2008 -m
]]> 5 2 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 19:24:09 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 08 20:39:30 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Feb 09 14:46:27 -0800 2008 Sat Feb 09 15:27:34 -0800 2008
It's sort of weird that I've never read this book before. Having grown up with an English teacher for a father, I've known the story of Beowulf ever since I watched an 8mm film project one of his students made, the chief special effect of which i...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Dec 14 07:25:58 -0800 2007 Mon May 26 08:54:48 -0700 2008 "My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it."

This is one of those books that you can pretty much devour -- I am tempted to say, like a tasty thane, drunkenly asleep on a warm summer's night.

Strange to say, I liked the middle of the book t...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Mon Dec 15 19:18:11 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 15 19:19:59 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Feb 02 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 18:33:50 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 26 15:40:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 1 false false Wed Jan 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 19 19:15:08 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 22 06:23:53 -0800 2009 Beowulf in any class, nor had I read this before now; I don't know. But it's really, really weird.

My book club read this last year (or the year before...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Apr 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 09 11:45:28 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 28 04:43:18 -0700 2009
Grende...more...]]> 5 2 false false Wed Aug 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 06 06:33:48 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 18 05:38:30 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sat Sep 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 07 13:05:16 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 03:15:47 -0700 2008
As I read, his anguish began to seem familiar, and - horror of horrors - I began to identify with him.

Eliot's plea in "Ash Wednesday" - one of my favorite poems - applies: ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 09 07:05:51 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 17:05:03 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun Jan 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 16:36:03 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 16:37:19 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jan 25 16:54:02 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 21:54:16 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 16:54:02 -0800 2009
"A" for enthusiasm and imagination, rather grim and dark of course, and yet when you...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sat Oct 24 09:56:45 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 10:37:54 -0700 2009
I really, really, really tried hard to like this book as much as all of ...more...]]> 1 0 false false Fri Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 20:03:47 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 21:16:11 -0700 2009
So this is really Jo...more...]]> 4 2 false false Fri Aug 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 20:26:40 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 21 15:42:29 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=676737