The Dusty Bookshelf discussion

I've noticed you guys talking a lot about Arthurian books, so I thought I'd start a thread for it. I think we should do one as a group read that others can join if they want. Arthurian book suggestions - Go! And anything else Arthurian that tickles your fancy :)

lol. I have to read about Arthur in school now. weird.

Soooo, DON'T read Tris & Izzie. Such a disappointment. :[

Also, if you haven't watched 'Merlin' on BBC yet...you need to do it! I mean, it's not always accurate (in fact, the first season consists of the writers making you think Guinevere and Merlin are going to fall for each other OTL; but that rights itself second season!), but as someone who's usually such a stickler for accuracy, I LOVE Merlin. It's like...wretchedly fabulous. <3

And as for our Arthurian book read, whenever that happens, I still nominate Steinbeck! (:

I feel as though I'm going to be rambling in this topic, lolololol.

Hey, I have some dusty Arthurian books! The Once and Future King, and The Book of Merlin, by T.H. White. They've probably been gathering dust since at least the 80s, and maybe even the 70s.

Awesome! I can't wait to get my hands on my own copy of The Once and Future King. I've only read bits and pieces from textbooks!

I think I got those at about the same time I got The Mists of Avalon, and Mary Stewart's Arthurian series, and once I had read those, I kind of ran out of steam and never got to the White books. They've probably been on my shelf longer than most of you have been alive! LOL!

Wow, wish I had all those classics! Someday, I will! (: But yes, probably Arthurian books are ones not to take on all at once, hahah. There's tons to take in!

Just popping in for a minute....Wow,I LOVE Arthurian books! I have had a passion for anything Arthurian! One awesome book I read years ago is "Mists of Avalon"" by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I read this in hospital in 1985, when my daughter was born, who is now 26, so it's about time for another reread! Another Arthurian author is Mary Stewart. I have about eight of her books on my shelf at home, waiting to be read!!I also have "The Once and future King" by T. H. White. Oh dear.....I better go through my 1,000 books and get back to you. Probably will have a lot more!!

Eep, I'm so glad so many other people like Arthurian literature! When we went through bits of it last year in English class, it felt like everyone hated it except for me! I actually think I cheered when my topic for the research paper was Morgana. Out loud. In class. It was pretty awesome though. (:

Where have you people been all my life?!

Right here....reading Arthurian literature! Can't get enough of it!! I was actually going to call my boy TRYSTAN (After one of the knights of the round table!!) But I had a girl instead!!

My best friend is named Tristan! (: Well, she's a girl, hahah! If I could get away with naming one of my kids after a knight, I totally would. But something like "Perceval" might be conspicuous. (;

You guys make me laugh...this is going to be fun! Glad you finally found some people with common interets, Thalia! . . . and now adays...any name goes:) You're safe!

Looking forward to our Arthurian group read!

Thank heavens! Today, we named our study group in history the Ladies of the Lake. Because me and Tristan were two out of three people in the group and well, we both have an addiction. (:

But the other girl in our group was like, "Oh, King Arthur. I actually hated that unit." Whaaaaa, it was like being stabbed in the heart!

Okay, I'm going to be completely honest here - I haven't ever actually read any Arthurians yet. ;) They're on the list for this year because we're studying the middle ages in our homeschool, and I'm very much looking forward to it and excited to read it, but I'm just starting with it!

So, I definitely want to read any that are considered the "original" story. Is the Roger Lancelyn Greene that? I have that one, in hard copy, that I absolutely WILL be reading this year.

I have several digital versions and stories to read also, and plan to add more. Steinbeck sounds good to me also and I'd not be disappointed to group read that one. (Someone mentioned having read Grapes of Wrath in high school... I did not, which is only one of the reasons why I'm all about reading classics THESE days! LOL) Might be the best GR idea anyway?


Whatever works! Will work on a list from my shelves here in a bit... I hope. ;)

We've read some...some because of school and some because mama likes knigts! But most that I've read have been totally fanciful! I've added some to my list that look amazing! But, I'm at the mercy of what all you ladies choose...I'm thinking for the group read the Steinbeck could be the way to go:)

Dalynn..that one looks good! I've got this one on my list too, and it's giving me the "I want to read that next" pretty bad too! :) but again, pretty fanciful??? :) Although, Thalia's probably already read it! :)Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy

April wrote: "Although, Thalia's probably already read it! :)"

HAHAHA. <3 If you're referring to Mary Stewart's books or the Roger Lancelyn one Dalynn mentioned, I haven't read either. (; For all my Arthurian love, my collection of the stories is rather small. 3 But both of what you mentioned (Mary Stewart's entire series, too) are pretty early on my TBR list, like, in the first couple hundreds (which is pretty good out of 1800+, hahah).

I'll be glad with whatever. <3

I think if we're all good with the Steinbeck that we should just go with that. Does anyone NOT want to read the Steinbeck? Or will be disappointed if we don't choose something else? I don't really care - just seems the easy choice. Or a poll I guess. :)

OK...these are my picks...I'm happy with any of these! So you can add, delete, or vote on any of these and when someone makes a decision on which one we're reading, I'll get it and start:) (whenever we're supposed to start!) :) Looking forward to it...

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights
The Killing Way
Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy (just the first one!)...but I couldn't find it...
The Winter King

Thalia wrote: "Soooo, DON'T read Tris & Izzie. Such a disappointment. :[

Also, if you haven't watched 'Merlin' on BBC yet...you need to do it! I mean, it's not always accurate (in fact, the first..."

OK...I even took it off my list because you said not to read it! :) Sad...

Okay which one is the Steinback novel?

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights That's the Steinbeck book:)

Okay! Looks really good.

I thought so...I'll be happy with any of those (probably any in general would make me happy...so:)

I have alot of Arthurian Books gathering dust.
In order, by year written, I have:

Le Morte D' Arthur by Thomas Mallory. Written in 1175. It's 2 inches thick with 950 pages. (So you can see why it's gathering dust! lol) (1175)

The Once and Future King by T.H. White (1939)

The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John Steinbeck (1976)

The Book of Merlyn by T.H. White. It claims to be the unpublished conclusion to The Once and Future King. (But since I've got it in my hands, it's not unpublished anymore is it. lol) (1977)

The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle (1986)

King Arthur by Norma Lorre Goodrich(1986)

The absolute *original* story, is Thomas Mallory's. Everything else that came later was based on that, but it won't be a quick easy read, or easy to find for that matter. The *traditional* arthurian legends come from T.H. White and Steinbeck. I think the only one I've actually read is Howard Pyle's. Very familiar with all of the arthurian legends though since (way back in college lol) I started doing medieval re-enactments. I havn't done any in the last ten years, but I had alot of fun with it for over 15 years as a hobby. If I had to choose one to read... I'd prefer The Once and Future King, since it's the first modern arthurian tale.

Yeah, I know... I have too many books! lol

*APPLAUSE*

Again with the killing of the TBR.

April wrote: "Dalynn..that one looks good! I've got this one on my list too, and it's giving me the "I want to read that next" pretty bad too! :) but again, pretty fanciful??? :) Although, Thalia's probably already read it! :)Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy
"

April, there are actually five books in that series. I have the first four, which I read several decades ago, but I later found that she had written a fifth one years later, which I don't have.

ஐ Briansgirl "Book Sale Queen"ஐ wrote: "If I had to choose one to read... I'd prefer The Once and Future King, since it's the first modern arthurian tale."

Briansgirl, I have that one on my challenge list! Not sure when I'll get to it, but maybe we could eventually read it together, even if they choose the other book for a group read (and maybe if we read it later than that, some people will have a taste for some more Arthurian stuff and join us!). I also have The Book of Merlin, which I bought several decades ago, so I don't know what they mean by unpublished - maybe within his lifetime, or something like that?

Okay am I a nerd or what? Just went to add all the ones you guys mentioned and I already have them all on my list. OTL.

April, good about Tris and Izzie! Not even Arthurian fans might find that one worthwhile, hahah.

Sounds good Denise. Have to see when I can get to it. My Book of Meryln is still readable, but the cover's been completed chewed to bits. :(

Denise wrote: "April wrote: "Dalynn..that one looks good! I've got this one on my list too, and it's giving me the "I want to read that next" pretty bad too! :) but again, pretty fanciful??? :) Although, Thalia's..."

Thanks Denise, I'll have to go find the other two and add them...I couldn't actually find the first one listed seperately...it was just listed as the trilogy!?! I did see a four, but I'll have to go add the 4 and 5~!

Any and all sound good to me! hmmm...how do we choose...Poor Jessica's gonna have to put them all in a hat and pick one! ;) I'm a happy camper with any (excpet Kate's 2 inch thick one...It'd take me till next year!)

Oh, and Hannah...on a side note! My daughter thinks I'm friends with Rapunzel...and she thinks that is AWESOME! :)

April wrote: "Any and all sound good to me! hmmm...how do we choose...Poor Jessica's gonna have to put them all in a hat and pick one! ;) I'm a happy camper with any (excpet Kate's 2 inch thick one...It'd take me till next year!)"

Yeah, well I'm not exactly too keen to read that one either. lol The language from 1175 isn't the easiest to read, even if I did do medieval re-enactments for 15 years. I found it on a book club order for only $5, so thought I'd invest (years ago) in the original, but it's so darn thick, it's intimidating!

ஐ Briansgirl "Book Sale Queen"ஐ wrote: "April wrote: "Any and all sound good to me! hmmm...how do we choose...Poor Jessica's gonna have to put them all in a hat and pick one! ;) I'm a happy camper with any (excpet Kate's 2 inch thick one..."

To a homeschool mama....that sounds like a read aloud for the eldest! Hahaha! :)

O.o look at this thread! LOL :) Okay, I've written down all the books mentioned in this thread that I could find. I think we should do a group read in March?? Since some people are reading Eragon this month? Also, to pick it I would do a poll in the group and people can vote! No picking it out of a hat :) When should I start the poll? Does anyone else have any more nominations? Here's the list so far:

Story of King Arthur by Howard Pyle
Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy
The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights by John Steinbeck
The Killing Way by Tony Hays
The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell
Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory
The Once And Future King by T.H. White
The Book of Merlyn by T.H. White
King Arthur by Norma Lorre Goodrich

ZOMG I had to add to the madness. Look what YA Arthurian re-telling I just found!
My Boyfriend Merlin by Priya Ardis.
My Boyfriend Merlin

The Mists of Avalon
The Forest House
Lady of Avalon
Firebrand

All by Marion Zimmer Bradley

I say...give everyone through this weekend to add any more they might be interested it...then Monday start the voting! Voting Closed on the 24th, so we can see which book has the most votes, and hopefully you can post it...then we can all 'hopefully' have the book in hand by March 1st??? Just an idea? Not sure if the tiimeline would work...but something like that!?) Maybe we should have a thread for VOTES only so it's easier for you to count...and/or only have people vote for one (which will be the hardest for me! Eekkk!) Just some thoughts! (and I'd be happy to count the votes or anything if you need help...I hate making it sound like YOU need to do this or that! Golly...)

Can't groups make polls? You could do that; that way you don't have to count them up or anything and you can add as many options as you want to. (: I think April's timeline works, but maybe open the poll on Sunday, and then close it on the nineteenth? That way we have some more time to find whatever book we're reading, since not every bookstore has a bunch of Arthurian fiction lying around and we might have to order online. (:

OK...I'm just checking to see if I'm missing anything, becuase there is sooooo much going on out on this group now! It's exploded:) Yay! That's good...'cept it's hard for me to keep up sometime and see all the new stuff I'm included in:) Yikes! Am I supposed to be doing anything, I think I have my Arthurian book picked out, but I'm not sure if I"ve been told where to put it! :) Sorry... I guess reading all those fairy tales hasn't made me any more tech savvy or able to follow along!!

Here's an idea: Instead of picking a specific book to read for a book of the month, you could pick a theme and let everyone pick whichever Arthurian book they'd like or can find. Set up a thread for it and folks can compare the different books as they finish them.

Oh, that sounds like a great idea! Everybody could read something different and then we could just talk about all our different books and how the tales compare with one another. I think that'd be fun! (:

I third the Book Sale Queen's idea. Mists of Avalon was on my tbr list anyway. ^^

I think that sounds totally fun! Nothing more interesting than finding books fiction/or NON with things that differ! Ok...so that's my vote too..we all read whatever Arthurian book we want for, we said March, right...and then come back to a thread when we're done to discuss!:) Great idea:) Sounds exciting!

Reading the Steinbeck definitely! :D I can't wait to discuss!

I havn't decided what I'm going to read yet, other than it WON'T be the 2 inch thick Thomas Mallery one written in 1175. lol

Great idea! Themes might work better for this group anyway, just the nature of the beast....

So I have this one hard copy, then I want to read the Steinbeck, and I have about a half dozen freebies on Kindle also.

So now how do I decide which one? ROFL

I was pretty set on The Winter King until Jessica had to go show us that Merlin's boyfriend book...decisions, decisions! :)

Oh yeah, I have like, a million Arthurian books on my Kindle app. Just realized that! (:

ஐ Briansgirl "Book Sale Queen"ஐ wrote: "Here's an idea: Instead of picking a specific book to read for a book of the month, you could pick a theme and let everyone pick whichever Arthurian book they'd like or can find. Set up a thread fo..."

Good idea! And this thread will have given you lots of ideas of Arthurian books it you couldn't think of one :)