King Arthur

[Christine]

Place to discuss the King

[Whitaker]

Hi, just wondering if anyone here has read Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence. The film version was total trash, but there's a wonderful King Arthur side to it.

[Christine]

I love The Dark is Rising Sequence. Five books, I believe.

[Mawgojzeta]

Barb: I love your profile picture (huge fan of hers).

"The Mists of Avalon" was great.

I have also read (enjoyed) The Once and Future King and the Mary Stewart books (4), as well as the book Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

[Whitaker]

Chris wrote: "I love The Dark is Rising Sequence. Five books, I believe."

Yep! My absolute favourite of the five was The Grey King. The whole sequence where they go to the drowned city was just amazing. And of course the whole story about Bran (?), wow!

I love the way she took Celtic legends and wove them into this modern Welsh landscape.

There's just something about the whole Arthurian legend that just resonates. The knights of the round table bit is one thing, but the doomed love between Arthur, Guenievere and Lancelot.

I liked The Once and Future King too, Mawgojzeta. My favourite musical of all time is Camelot. It just gives me chills thinking about it.

[Eh?Eh!]

Along with Susan Cooper, I loved The Forever King (the following books didn't have the same gravity but were still excellent) and enjoyed Merlin's Bones.

[Tia]

I actually read Le Morte d'Aarthur. I found a version that modernized the spellings. I think it is Penguin. It was great fun to read. The book is highly episodic, so you can simply open it to any page, flip around till you find the beginning of that storyline, and start reading. I definitely didn't read the whole thing all the way through, but I read most of it.

The most recent modern retelling I've read was Stephen Lawhead's Grail series.

[Christine]

Tia wrote: "I actually read Le Morte d'Aarthur. I found a version that modernized the spellings. I think it is Penguin. It was great fun to read. The book is highly episodic, so you can simply open it to any p..."

There are a couple different editions of Malory. I prefer the one with Lancelot gets shot in the bum with an arrow. But the Penguin edition is good (shoot, Penguin editions are good period).

[Gemma]

I've read a couple Arthur retellings, but I didn't like them much. They were Here Lies Arthur and Sword of the Rightful King: A Novel of King Arthur. I've also read The Sword in the Stone, but I have yet to get hold of The Once and Future King, The Mists of Avalon, Idylls of the King, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo, and Le Morte d'Arthur. I can recommend to anyone Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic & New Myths. There are some good stories in it.

[Christine]

You should try The Idylls of the Queen: A Tale of Queen Guenevere

[[deleted user]]

Some more modern takes on the Arthurian myth: The Hawk Of May and Cornwell's The Winter King and its two sequels. Richard Monaco's Parsival Or A Knight's Tale. A nice meld of the Arthurian legend, non-linear history, the bawdiness of Chaucer, all tied together with especially well written prose.

[Jessi]

So glad I found this topic as I really want to read more Arthur/Merlin books. All I've read is the children's story of King Arthur & the Knights.

[Christine]

You can check out the bookshelves for the group too, Jessi.

[Jessi]

Thanks will do =)

[Cat]

Finally, finally taking an Arthurian literature class next semester and I could not be looking more forward to it. We're reading:

The History of the Kings of Britain, Le Morte Darthur, and Sir Perceval of Galles and Ywain and Gawain (sadly, no book cover for that last one). I'm also doing an independent study with the same professor for my capstone project for honours/medieval studies on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Hoping to base my study on the folklore therein, but we'll see. Maybe connections to the Mabinogion....

[Jade]

Ugh. I'm so jealous Dodger. I hope you enjoy every minute of this :)

[Christine]

Isn't that several folklore connections to Gawain and the Green Knight?

[Cat]

Chris wrote: "Isn't that several folklore connections to Gawain and the Green Knight?"

Yeah, there are quite a few connections to folklore and mythology in SGGK, but they evolved over time. For example, the association with the Green Knight with the Greenman didn't start to take root (pardon the pun) until much later.

[Katie]

I recently read Song of the Sparrow and absolutely loved it. The story is told through a prose poem and focuses primarily on Elaine, the Lady of Shalott. I thought it was a fun take on the Arthur story, particularly for teenage girls.

[Beth]

Katie wrote: "I recently read Song of the Sparrow and absolutely loved it. The story is told through a prose poem and focuses primarily on Elaine, the Lady of Shalott. I thought it was a fun take o..."

Katie, I loved this one! I love novels in verse, and I thought the author did an excellent job.

[Beth]

I liked I Am Morgan le Fay by Nancy Springer. Not really the King Arthur tale itself, but rather how Morgan the girl came to be Morgan Le Fay. It's young adult, I believe. Kind of a sad story because obviously she turns out evil, but Springer is a really good writer.

[Beth]

I've also read The Mists of Avalon, really good and engrossing.

[Brittany]

I love King Arthur! But I have only read Sword of the Rightful King. He was mentioned in the sisters grimm first book though.

[Michele]

FYI, for a good list of Arthur books (fiction and non) you might want to look at the GoodReads group Arthuriana

[Christine]

Why would we kill you for having an opinion? Now, if you don't back up your opinion that's different, but you did. The great thing about people is we all like different things. Welcome to the group!

[Karen]

There is going to be a new series about the children of Merlin by Susan Squires I'm looking forward to reading it

[Jane]

Barb wrote: "The only "Arthurian" book I've read is The Mists of Avalon, which I loved BTW."

So did I.

[Jane]

I really enjoyed the The Mabinogion Sioned Davies translation, the collection of Welsh legends and stories. King Arthur and his knights figure in many of them.

[Laura]

I read Le Morte D'Arthur last year, and the movie version The Mists of Avalon has been a fave for some time. Have also read several other books regarding the search for the real King Arthur, but I'd have to look up the titles again. All of it's engrossing.

[Jane]

Will be starting soon.

[Julia]

I've read The Mists of Avalon and frankly too many sequels, Sword of the Rightful King, The Crystal Cave, plus sequels, The Young Merlin Trilogy, The Winter King and sequels,The Once and Future King and Out of Avalon.

[Carole]

Julia wrote: "I've read The Mists of Avalon and frankly too many sequels, Sword of the Rightful King, The Crystal Cave, plus sequels, The Young Merlin Trilogy, The Winter King and sequels,The Once and Future Kin..."

Julia wrote: "I've read The Mists of Avalon and frankly too many sequels, Sword of the Rightful King, The Crystal Cave, plus sequels, The Young Merlin Trilogy, The Winter King and sequels,The Once and Future Kin..."

Jane wrote: "Will be starting soon."

Jane wrote: "Will be starting soon."

Whitaker wrote: "Hi, just wondering if anyone here has read Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence. The film version was total trash, but there's a wonderful King Arthur side to it."

C

[Carole]

Jane wrote: "Will be starting soon."

Carole wrote, I have read all the books you mentioned re Arthur, and I have read all the books relating to The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, over and over again. I first read it 32 years ago and I still love it. It was very meaningful , imaginative, intriguing, and full of mystery..... I am a great fan of these books.

[Carole]

Whitaker wrote: "Hi, just wondering if anyone here has read Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising sequence. The film version was total trash, but there's a wonderful King Arthur side to it."
\
Carole Lane, please read my comments below I think re The Dark is Rising......

[B.K.]

Barb wrote: "The only "Arthurian" book I've read is The Mists of Avalon, which I loved BTW."

Excellent choice!

[B.K.]

My favorite book on Arthurian Legend is one titled, "The Pendragon," by Catherine ChristianThe Pendragon It's very hard to find now, though, and pricey if you do.

[Melanti]

What? I've never said a word in this topic?! Wow. I used to be a HUGE King Arthur buff in high school. Not so much nowadays since I've read so much that a straight retelling gets a bit dull, but every now and again I'll find something with a new perspective on things...

Hawk of May that someone's already mentioned was quite good...
Merlin's Booke by Jane Yolen was quite good. It's sort of an anthology, kind of? Almost stream of consciousness... and each little tidbit plays with a different variation on the Merlin myth.
Under in the Mere by Catherynne M. Valente (reprinted in Myths of Origin: Four Short Novels) is sort of in the same vein - anthology, stream of consciousness, but every short story is the myth from some minor character's point of view.

For something less serious, Gerald Morris has written a series of humorous middle grade adaptations of the various King Arthur episodes told from the perspective of a squire... The first book is a take on Gawain's quest for the white hare. The Squire's Tale