The Faber Book of Greek Legends

by Kathleen Lines

Book by

Genres: Mythology, Fiction, Classics, Fantasy

268 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Kathleen Mary Lines was a book critic, editor, anthologist and librarian from Canada. An expert on children's literature, she wrote, compiled, and edited Four to Fourteen (1950) for the National Book League. She also wrote the introduction to the second edition of F. J. Harvey Darton's Children's Books in England (1958) and edited a series of illustrated fairy tale picture books. Artists for the picture books included Edward Ardizzone for the Bodley Head. Lines was also the general editor of the Bodley Head Monographs and edited Lavender's Blue (1954), a selection of classic nursery rhymes illustrated by Harold Jones. The book won a Carnegie special commendation.[2]

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sanitised and not as funny or as fresh as Stephen Fry’s recent versions, this is nevertheless a readable collection of Greek (and Roman) myths, in which editor Kathleen Lines manages to give a large number of retellings by a variety of authors a consistent narrative voice.

[Subhiksha Kannan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Greek Mythology reading.

[Sho · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a version of the Iliad and the Oddessy when I was about 10 and have been vaguely interested in Greek Myths since then. I actually bought this for the Gruesome Twosome but they appear not to be interested at all, even the one who is reading the Percy Jackson series - which is why I finally read this one.

What a bloodthirsty lot those Greek Gods were/are! This one doesn't have the story about the children being eaten by their dad (by mistake) but it does have a few other violent ones and a very short account of the siege of Troy.

All in all not bad, a nice quick bedtime read. But now I think I'll finally have to give my grown-up versions of the Iliad and the Oddessy a spin.

[Rob -san · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the index of Greek heroes', gods', demigods' names..etc at the end of the book. Otherwise, there are much better books.

[Bob Melgeorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite collections.

[Kadri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this.

[Cuyler · Rating 1 out of 5]

there are WAY better books. I love Edith Hamilton