King arthur books?some ideas?

Question

i want to read some books about king arthur and his stories, and other books of that sort, closely related. and i want books that are actually adult leveled, not 5th grade level. i hear that stuff by T.H. White is good, but some ideas?

Answer 1

It depends what type you want. Bernard Cornwell's Winter King trilogy is more realisitic in one sense (mentions of blood and guts and so on) and more down to earth (although he mentions at the start which bits probably are and are not accurate).

Mary Steward's Crystal Cave trilogy are more mystical.

Thomas Berger's "Arthur Rex" is closer to the original authorian myths, but written considerable more recently and with a lot of dry humour.

As for the original myths, I have yet to find a decent retelling that doesn't have the later French additions of Galahad and Lancelot running around (although at least Bernard Cornwall discusses some of the earliest sources in his author's note) and Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae is hardly bedtime reading (it was written in 1138). However, there are modern day translations: here is an online version:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/gem/...

Although Arthur doesn't appear until about chapter nine. Although still the *myth* rather than the history, at least it was based before the romantic versions of the Arthurian myth became the norm. It all depends on what version you want.

Answer 2

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

Answer 3

Yes T.H White is very good. I also recommend Mary Stewart's Arthurian trilogy and Marion Zimmer Bradley's Arthurian novels written from the feminist point of view.