Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

THE SECRETS OF the past meet the shocks of the present. Aslaug is an unusual young woman. Her mother has brought her up in near isolation, teaching her about plants and nature and language—but not about life. Especially not how she came to have her own life, and who her father might be. When Aslaug’s mother dies unexpectedly, everything changes. For Aslaug is a suspect in her mother’s death. And the more her... (more)

The Mabinogion

by Charlotte Guest

Drawing on myth, folklore and history, the stories of the "Mabinogion" passed from generations of storytellers before they were written down in the thirteenth century in the form we know. Set in dual realms of the forests and valleys of Wales and the shadowy otherworld, the tales are permeated by a dreamlike atmosphere. In "Math Son of Mathonwy" two brothers plot to carry off the virginal Goewin, while in... (more)

The King Must Die: A Novel (Vintage)

by Mary Renault

The story of the mythical hero Theseus, slayer of monsters, abductor of princesses and king of Athens. He emerges from these pages as a clearly defined personality; brave, aggressive and quick. The core of the story is Theseus' Cretan adventure.

Sagas and Myths of the Northmen (Penguin Epics)

Sagas and Myths of the Northmen (Penguin Epics)

by Jesse L. Byock

In a land of ice, great warriors search for glory. When a dragon threatens the people of the north, only one man can destroy the fearsome beast. Elsewhere, a mighty leader gathers a court of champions, including a noble warrior under a terrible curse. The Earth's creation is described; tales of the gods and evil Frost Giants are related; and the dark days of Ragnarok foretold. This is a journey into a realm of... (more)

Cairo

by G. Willow Wilson, M.K. Perker

Journalist G. Willow Wilson brings an extraordinary fable to Vertigo in October with CAIRO, an original graphic novel illustrated by Turkish artist M.K. Perker, himself a contributor to The New York Times and The New Yorker. Set in bustling modern-day Cairo, this magical-realism thriller interweaves the lives of a drug runner, a down-on-his-luck journalist, an American expatriate, a young activist, an Israeli... (more)

The Ghost's Child

by Sonya Hartnett

This enchanting fable of a young woman and a wild boy is a haunting meditation on the nature of love and loss. Maddy, an old lady now, arrives home one day to find a peculiar boy waiting for her. Over tea, she tells him the story of her life long ago, when she wished for her days to be as romantic and mysterious as a fairy tale. It was then that she fell painfully in love with a free spirit named Feather, who... (more)

The Prince of Persia Collector's Edition: The Graphic Novel

The Prince of Persia Collector's Edition: The Graphic Novel

by Alex Puvillard, A. B. Sina

BEYOND THE LEGENDARY GAME THE LEGEND ITSELF Long ago in Persia, there lived a Prince -- a man of honor, of valor, and full of strength -- a man for his people, who lived with them and took on their trials and hardships. And he was loved. His name is no longer remembered. When people speak of him, they call him merely, 'The Prince of Persia,' as if there have been no others, and his descendants are enjoined to... (more)

Canongate Myth Series

Girl Meets Boy (Canongate Myths)

by Ali Smith

Girl meets boy. It's a story as old as time. But what happens when an old story meets a brand new set of circumstances? Ali Smith's re-mix of Ovid's most joyful metamorphosis is a story about the kind of fluidity that can't be bottled and sold. It is about girls and boys, girls and girls, love and transformation, a story of puns and doubles, reversals and revelations. Funny and fresh, poetic and political, Girl... (more)

THE ILIAD & THE ODYSSEYHomer

THE ILIAD & THE ODYSSEY

by Homer

The Island of The Mighty (formerly The Virgin and the Swine) (Welsh Mabinogion, Fourth Branch)

The Island of The Mighty (formerly The Virgin and the Swine) (Welsh Mabinogion, Fourth Branch)

by Evangeline Walton

Previous books of the Welsh Mabinogion: Prince of Annwn, The Children of Llyr, The Song Of Rhiannon.

Mythology

Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

by Edith Hamilton, Steele Savage

A new trade paperback edition of Edith Hamilton's world-renowned classic--a book that has enthralled and delighted generations of readers with its timeless tales of gods and heroes. 50 line drawings.

The Lady of Shalott

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Lady of Shalott is the third book in Visions in Poetry, an award-winning series of classic poems illustrated by outstanding contemporary artists in stunning hardcover editions. Tennyson's beautiful and enigmatic poem of unrequited love, set in Arthurian England, has enthralled artists for well over a century. With her luminous illustrations, Genevieve Cote weaves a refreshingly modern interpretation of this... (more)

by Matthew Loux

Eleven-year-old Jack Putnam and his eighth-year-old brother Benny are being dragged against their will on a summer-long vacation with their family. And not to somewhere cool like Disney World, but to a little port town in Maine named Chowder Bay, far away from anyplace fun. But what promises to be a very bleak summer quickly becomes a series of exciting adventures in one of the most mysterious places on earth! ... (more)

Beowulf (A Norton Critical Edition)

by Seamus Heaney, Robert Nye, Kevin Crossley-Holland, Burton Raffel, Michael Alexander

Winner of the Whitbread Prize, Seamus Heaney's translation "accomplishes what before now had seemed impossible: a faithful rendering that is simultaneously an original and gripping poem in its own right" ( New York Times Book Review ). The translation that "rides boldly through the reefs of scholarship" ( The Observer ) is combined with first-rate annotation. No reading knowledge of Old English is assumed.... (more)

Lugalbanda : the boy who got caught up in a war

Lugalbanda : the boy who got caught up in a war

by Kathy Henderson

Before the Bible and the Koran, before even the Greek and Roman myths, there came a story from the land we now call Iraq. Speaking across five thousand years, in a voice so fresh and timeless it could have been written yesterday, this tale tells of an extraordinary journey, of a magical bird, of a battle that wouldn’t end, and of wisdom gained. It is the story of Lugalbanda, a boy in a time of war.

Binu and the Great Wall (Canongate Myths)

Canongate Myth Series

Binu and the Great Wall (Canongate Myths)

by Tong Su

In Peach village, crying is forbidden. But as a child, Binu never learnt to hide her tears. Shunned by the villagers, she faced a bleak future, until she met Qiliang, an orphan who offered her his hand in marriage.Then one day Qiliang disappears. Binu learns that he has been transported hundreds of miles and forced to labour on a project of terrifying ambition and scale - the building of the Great Wall.Binu is... (more)

The Spy Who Haunted Me (Gollancz)

by Simon R. Green

Eddie Drood’s evil-stomping skills have come to the attention of the legendary Alexander King, Independent Agent extraordinaire. The best of the best, King spent a lifetime working for anyone and everyone, doing anything and everything, for the right price. Now, he’s on his deathbed and looking to bestow all of his priceless secrets to a successor, provided he or she wins a contest to solve the world’s greatest... (more)

The Lord of the Rings: Book 1

The Fellowship of the Ring

Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings

by J. R. R. Tolkien

Frodo Baggins knew the Ringwraiths were searching for him--and the Ring of Power he bore that would enable Sauran to destroy all that was good in Middle-earth. Now it was up to Frodo and his faithful servant Sam to carry the Ring to where it could be detroyed--in the very center of Sauron's dark kingdom.

Canongate Myth Series

Weight

The Myth of Atlas and Heracles

by Jeanette Winterson

"When I was asked to choose a myth to write about, I realized I had chosen already. The story of Atlas holding up the world was in my mind before the telephone call had ended. If the call had not come, perhaps I would never have written the story, but when the call did come, that story was waiting to be written. Rewritten. The recurring language motif of Weight is ‘I want to tell the story again.’ My work is... (more)

Legends of Ancient Rome (Leather)

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: myths and legends

by Christina Meldrum

by Charlotte Guest

by Mary Renault

by Jesse L. Byock

by G. Willow Wilson, M.K. Perker

by Sonya Hartnett

by Alex Puvillard, A. B. Sina

by Ali Smith

by Homer

by Evangeline Walton

Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

by Edith Hamilton, Steele Savage

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

by Matthew Loux

by Seamus Heaney, Robert Nye, Kevin Crossley-Holland, Burton Raffel, Michael Alexander

by Kathy Henderson

by Tong Su

by Simon R. Green

Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings

by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Myth of Atlas and Heracles

by Jeanette Winterson