Arthurian Literature

sweetpotatoboy · Post by **sweetpotatoboy** » Sat September 6th, 2008, 10:31 pm

[quote=""nona""]didn't Rosalind Miles write a few books on Arthur and others? maybe I have the wrong author.[/quote]

Yes, she wrote a trilogy on Guenevere, followed by a trilogy on Isolde. I have all 6 books but not read any of them yet. At one point, I read her saying that she was planning a third trilogy, creating a triptych of loosely related trilogies, but she's not released a new book since 2005 and her website hasn't been updated since then either.

Barbara Passaris · Post by **Barbara Passaris** » Sat September 6th, 2008, 10:52 pm

[QUOTE=MLE;655]for me, nobody beats Mary Stewart's four-novel set:
The Crystal cave,
the Hollow Hills,
the Last Enchantment, and
the Wicked Day.

Iloved these books, too. I started reading them when I was a teenager. I read some of Idylls of the King to my children. When my husband presented a golden retriever pupy to them, they named him Arthur.

Spitfire · Post by **Spitfire** » Sun September 7th, 2008, 12:49 am

We can't forget EC's First Knight. An excellent tale of King Arthur's Camelot and how he met Lancelot and both of their relationship with Guenevere. It's an interresting deviation off the popular theme of Merlin and the sword in the stone story. A must read!

nona · Post by **nona** » Sun September 7th, 2008, 2:04 pm

The First Knight, I've seen the movie but have not read the book , should I, is it better then the movie?

Spitfire · Post by **Spitfire** » Sun September 7th, 2008, 4:26 pm

[quote=""nona""]The First Knight, I've seen the movie but have not read the book , should I, is it better then the movie?[/quote]

Of course the book is better than the movie. (most are aren't they?) Yes I would recommend that you read it. But I was impressed with the movie rendition of this book, I wonder if EC had input?

nona · Post by **nona** » Sun September 7th, 2008, 8:55 pm

I'm worried Gere left a bad taste in my mouth with that movie, I didn't really care for the movie itself that why I was wondering. I know I've never been let down by EC but my not liking the movie might effect how I like the book or am I totally wrong in that?

Spitfire · Post by **Spitfire** » Sun September 7th, 2008, 11:34 pm

[quote=""nona""]I'm worried Gere left a bad taste in my mouth with that movie, I didn't really care for the movie itself that why I was wondering. I know I've never been let down by EC but my not liking the movie might effect how I like the book or am I totally wrong in that?[/quote]

I know what you mean about the Richard Gere thing. That is why I really try not to watch a movie before I read the book that it is based on, and that I am really interrested in reading. It is really hard not to visualize the actor and what the actor was doing in the movie whilst reading the novel. I hadn't watched the movie First Knight since the 80's (or close thereabouts, can't remember when it came out...long time ago anyways) so it no longer came to mind when I read the book. If this is the same for you, I say go ahead and read the novel, EC won't let you down. But if the movie is still fresh in mind, you just might want to wait abit...or alot!

nona · Post by **nona** » Mon September 8th, 2008, 2:31 am

well I watched the movie before I really got into Historical Fiction otherwise I would have read the book first. I've read one or two here and there but it's only been the last two or three years that it's become a huge past time.

Margaret · Post by **Margaret** » Mon September 8th, 2008, 5:27 am

I didn't care for Rosalind Miles' first Guinevere novel and didn't read the others. She mixes time periods in a way that I suppose is allowable in a fantasy novel (isn't everything?), but I found it jarring. One moment we would be in a recognizably medieval world with knights in armor, etc., and the next we would be back in a sixth century pagan Celtic world. On the other hand, I like the fantasy elements in novels like Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, which are of limited scope and feel consistent with the belief structure of the historical world of the setting.

MLE, I take your point about Nissyen and Evnissyen, but they were individuals. Granted, individuals who represented unmitigated badness and goodness, but the kind of badness and goodness that individual people display. (I'm sure we can all list a few individual people, besides Evnissyen, who have caused disastrous wars.) That seems fundamentally different, to me, than a view of the cosmos itself as essentially divided between the forces of good and the forces of evil, with people perpetually in danger of slipping into the clutches of the vast forces of evil.

SonjaMarie · Post by **SonjaMarie** » Mon September 8th, 2008, 5:48 am

Has anyone read "Arthurian Omen" by G. G. Vandagriff:
"Is the story of King Arthur history or myth? In this spellbinding novel, a Celtic scholar is murdered when she finds a clue to a priceless 13th century manuscript that will provide the true identity of King Arthur. The victim's sister takes up the quest to uncover the relic, but quickly realizes that someone close to her is the murderer. As pursuit of the manuscript winds through the ruined castles and monasteries of Wales, more than one reason emerges for keeping the manuscript and the legend buried in the past."

I have it on my queue at BF and I was wondering if it's worth reading, eventually that is, as who knows when I'll get it.

SM