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  Brag Time - New Books - Give me your 2 cents please!!!

  I am so happy - because nothing makes me happier than filling my libraray with new books!

  Okay, some are used, but still new to me :) Just got a birthday gift certificate from Amazon and here's what I got folks:

  Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy
  The Wicked Day (the 4th book of Stewart?)
  Idylls of the King (Tennyson)
  The Book of Merlyn (the final book for White?)
  The Mists of Avalon (Zimer-Bradley)

  Thoughts? Which is your favorite? I'm going to read T.H. White's other book first and then I'll go on to these.

  Thoughts please? I am so excited to start my Arthurian reading... :)
  

  Kathleen C started this discussion 3 months ago. ( reply )

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  bookwormerin 

  I've only read Mists of Avalon and it is one of my all time favorite books.

  posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

  show 2 replies

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    Kathleen C 

    I have heard that from so many people - I think I'll probably read that one first after T. H. White, because I am truly a beginner on this subject. Luckily I am also a sponge and can't wait to get started & learn all about it!!!

    posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

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    mossflower (edited)

    I also loved The Mists of Avalon but came to Arthur through Malory and the early medieval history. The Mists of Avalon is wriiten from the females in Arthurs life point of view and Arthur is fairly peripheral. White is a good starting point but he to has an agenda as a pacifist during the second World War and writes from that viewpoint.
    There are some great books to read on Arthur which you will find here in the back post starting from the Welsh Mythologies etc under the heading Arthurian Sources.

    What ever you read the main thing is to enjoy it.

    posted 1 month ago. ( reply )

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  Bennnc63 (edited)

  Mary Stewart's Merlin series, which starts with The Crystal Cave, is very good. (I have not read the 4th book yet)
  I like her style of writting and the way she addresses the legends of Arthur and Merlin.

  I would like to see us read Mists of Avalon as a group read, I have been meaning to read it for sometime.

  By the way, they always say "it ain't bragging if you can back it up", so.... with your books in hand you are just stating the facts :) Nice haul at that.

  posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

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  Sabina E 

  My favourite is The Mists of Avalon, too, and has been for about 30 years.

  Enjoy all your lovely new books!

  posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

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  Ondine 

  Don't feel as though you are required to enjoy The Mists of Avalon. I didn't.

  posted 3 months ago. ( reply )

  show 5 replies

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    mossflower 

    Why did you not enjoy The Mists of Avalon?

    posted 1 month ago. ( reply )

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    Ondine 

    I felt that the didacticism was beginning to impose. I felt the story (such as it is) was drowning in unpleasant characters, which seems to be a symptom of certain types of feminism. I guess as a rebellion against the cult of true womanhood, we like to celebrate our right to be unlikeable :) I support that, but I don't want it in my novels.

    posted 1 month ago. ( reply )

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    mossflower (edited)

    I felt it was very feminist and that detracted from the story in parts but I liked the novel overall as it gives us a different perspective from the testosterone washed versions

    posted 1 month ago. ( reply )

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    Kathleen C 

    Maybe I'll read this one next, I read the first of the Merlin books, and honestly for me it was difficult because of language and references to war/fighting. The language thing ALWAYS slows me down, I don't mind looking stuff up in the dictionary while I read but man does it slow me down! War... That's tough, for me it's as bad as sports. I so try to become interested, but usually end up skimming through those parts. I did however re-read the Robin (Hood) part because I knew I was doing that skimming thing and I really did want to read it - I could tell it was an integral part of the story.

    I'll let you know my take on Mists of Avalon as soon as I have some time to read it!

    posted 4 weeks ago. ( reply )

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    mossflower 

    We all have sections in books that we do not understand or cope with the language so you are not alone. Just enjoy reading and make up the sound of words you cannot pronounce it makes reading personel to you as everyone will have their own unique pronounciation.

    posted 4 weeks ago. ( reply )

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