(Untitled)

[thecapturedspy]

I think this year's Christmas gifts show how much of a nerd I really am...

Here's what I received from my brother, parents, cousin, friends, and grandparents:

Books:
Mirror, Mirror by Gregory Maguire (Retelling of Snow White, set in Italy)
Enchantment by Orson Scott Card (Retelling of Sleeping Beauty, set in Russia

Comments

[thecapturedspy]

I thought so myself! I am extremely happy with all of them. :)

[miezen]

This is probably extremely stupid of me, but you've made me wonder how you feel about Fate/Stay Night, what with your King Arthur interest...

[thecapturedspy]

I haven't seen any of the F/SN anime, but I've read a few chapters of the manga (up to...the late teens I think) and I liked it. :)

[miezen]

OMFG. PLAY. THE. VN.

[thecapturedspy]

Where can I find that? :0 And is it like a prequel story?

[yuuago]

Ahhhh Once and Future King and Mists of Avalon! I keep meaning to read those, haven't gotten around to it.

I'd rec things to you, but I have no idea what you've already read. Also, have you read things in Middle English before, or no?

[thecapturedspy]

OaFK is very very good~ Although, I can't remember much of it because it's been a few years since I read it first.

Hehe, I read a lot of fantasy for years but it was usually the same authors (Robin McKinley remains one of my favorites, as is Ursula K. Le Guin, Bruce Coville, Jane Yolen, David Eddings, Diann Wynne Jones and Sherwood Smith. And of course Tolkien and C.S. Lewis).
Middle English? I...don't think so. I don't recall picking something up in Middle, or Old English, nor did I get the chance to take British Literature in high school. :(

[yuuago]

I see! Okay, well - sticking with the Arthurian theme, I'll recommend a few of my favourite medieval versions of the Arthur legend:

*Anything by Chretien de Troyes, esp. "Lancelot", "Yvain" and "Perceval". The edition I have is Arthurian Romances, trans. D. D. R. Owen, and it has those three as well as two others. I'm not a huge fan of Launcelot as a character, but I gotta' give Chretien a lot of kudos for inventing him.

*"Culhwch and Olwen". A Welsh story about Arthur (he goes around fulfilling tasks to help Culhwch win a wife), one of the earliest we have, and much different from the Arthur most of us know. And Kay is totally badass in this story (this story is the one that made him my favourite knight). It's in The Mabinogion; my edition is trans. Gwyn Jones. There are some other stories about Arthur in this volume, as well as Peredur (the more badass Welsh version of Percival

[thecapturedspy]

Awesome! Thanks for all the recs. :)

Oh, I have heard of 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight' but kept forgetting to look for it.

Ahhh yeah, I know about Chaucer. My friend who DID take BritLit showed me some of his work that they read in class, stuff that they also had to read it in true Middle English dialect. It sounded kind of tricky.

[nekocat17]

Wow, so many King Arthur books ♥ I saw the movie for Mists of Avalon and it was really interesting, I wonder how similar the books are.

As for recs for Arthurian books, have you read The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart? It's in a trilogy of books about Merlin, I read them in middle school so I don't remember much except for liking them at the time though.

The Lion King~ ♥♥♥

Ah, I used to love The Prince of Egypt. <3 ooh, and I just saw 17 again not very long ago. That is such a good movie!! I don't often like the movies that are released anymore, but I reallyreally loved that one!! <3

[thecapturedspy]

There's a movie for Mists of Avalon? :0 I might have to check that out, when I'm finished reading the book anyway.

Oooh, nope I haven't read that one! I'll add it to my list though, thank you~

Mmm, Lion King is awesome! And so, so cool to see on stage.

And yes, 17 Again is now one of my favorite movies! I thought it was going to be another teenybopper movie, especially since it had Zac Efron in it, but I was pleasantly surprised! He is actually a very good actor, and there were so many hilarious lines/moments in that movie, it's worth watching multiple times. <3

[nekocat17]

Yeah, but I'm not sure how close it is to the book. When I saw it I thought it was pretty good though (probably because I hadn't read original book XD).

Oh, and I guess there's actually four books in the series, I had only heard of the first three before:

The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
The Last Enchantment
The Wicked Day

And I gotta say that I love "The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady" by Gerald Morris that the person above me mentioned. I don't know if you'd be interested in it because it's really written for late elementary/middle school age kids and is kinda comedic and not serious, but I really love that author's Arthurian books. I find them funny and I love the characters. <3

haha, that's totally what I thought too! I love how the beginning and ending paralleled, that was so cool...and I have to say that I think I had a bit of a crush on the main character's geeky friend 8D

[thecapturedspy]

Sweet, thanks for the recs! :D More books to find/read~

I LOVE Mike's geeky friend. He was hilarious. 8D