This week's recommended (see right) are all traditional tales from great classic cultures, The Mabinogian is Welsh mythology, I suggest the OUP edition, it's the one I have. The Prose Edda is Norse, translated, the Penguin is a good edition, there's also the poetic version available as well. Finally I chose Seamus Heaney's version of the epic poem Beowulf. It's a beautiful, lyrical retelling of one of the oldest stories we have. There are plenty of other collections of myths and legends from around the world, something I collect and am fascinated by, especially creation myths and stories of gods, from Hindu to Ancient Greek. Many of these tales and myths recur in literature down the ages, as do folk and fairy tales. Something in these oft-retold histories speaks to us and means that they continue to survive and are handed down through the ages.
Here's a bonus recommendation of a few books that reinvent and retell the old stories;
American Gods - Neil Gaiman
The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
L'Morte de Arthur - Sir Thomas Malory
The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy
Happy reading!!
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