Tag: Recs

professorerudite:

letsreadwomen:

This is the fourth installment in a series of book recommendations, all of which will introduce you to kickass women from mythologies around the world, all of them written by women. All books listed had to pass the following criteria:

  • Be written by a woman
  • Be fictional
  • Have a woman as (one of) the protagonist(s)
  • Feature Celtic mythology
  • Be set in Ireland / Great Britain

Occasionally characters hailing from different countries overlap. In these cases I listed them under the mythology from which the most prominent female character springs.

UPDATE #1: I included the New Tales From The Mabinogion series, to be found in the Welsh section.

UPDATE #2: I added the Broom Closet Mysteries series under modern interpretations of Irish mythology.

UPDATE #3: I added Green (a leprechaun story) under Irish mythology.

UPDATE #4: Decided to add a few stories surrounding the legend of Robin Hood under Britannia.

UPDATE #5: Have added the Caledonia Fae series and the Caledonia book under Scotland.

UPDATE #6: Have added Tam Lin – a modern retelling – under Scottish mythology.

Irish mythology

Scottish mythology

Welsh / Arthurian mythology

Britannia

Poetry

Honourable mentions

More lists you can consult

If you have any suggestions for other Celtic women who deserve more attention (and a corresponding book), or which mythology should definitely be in this series, drop me a line!

Other kickass women in mythology: women in Greek mythology | women in Egyptian mythology & history | women in Mesoamerican mythologies | women in Native American mythologies | women in Asian mythologies |

women in Russian & Slavic mythologies

| women in pirate lore & history

@fuckyeaharthuriana

grohver:

Hey!! I wanted to do some reading on King Arthur so I was wondering if anyone had anything they reccomended! I know there’s not exactly a solid or official canon for the mythos but I’d love to read whatever stuff there is!!

There’s not really a canon canon, but if you want, here there is a list of old texts (free and online!) in chronological order. I added a note for the ones that, in my opinion, are the most important or fun reads:

Old arthuriana texts

When I started I mixed old texts (that can be tedious sometimes) with novels, so here’s a list of novels with a rating and characters tags in case you are interested in a particular character:

List of novels tagged (characters, theme, romantic pairing)

In general, people tend to rely a lot on Malory’s Morte d’Arthur as “canon”, because it is very popular and has a mix of everything (and much easier to find than the Lancelot Grail).

Have fun!

blue-mint-winter:

fuckyeaharthuriana:

blue-mint-winter:

If anyone has any recs for King Arthur-related films/shows, I’ll be grateful!

I already watched Excalibur 1981, Merlin 1998 miniseries, and King Arthur Legend of the Sword (2017).

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the best (the one and only) arthurian movie ever made!

About other fun arthurian tv series:

  • Legend of King Arthur (1979 tv show) is one of the best arthurian series, in my opinion. The quality of costumes is not great, but the characterization is on point especially for Morgana and Mordred.
  • Camelot (starz) is also an… interesting show. The plot is a bit all over the place and Arthur is not great, but Morgana is the real star. Also, Sir Kay, Igraine and Merlin are quite interesting too.
  • Kaamelott (the French one) is THE BEST. The first three seasons are just comedic sketches (and no English subtitles) but season 5 and 6 are really dramatic and well written (also the dvds have English subtitles). I started watching this show from season 4, and I didn’t really need to go back to season 1-3 to understand the plot.
  • Mists of Avalon miniseries. While I am not a fan of the book, the miniseries is a softer version that I really enjoy.

and some arthurian movies (especially if you don’t mind some trashy fun ones):

  • I love Connecticut Yankee movies, but my favourite ones are A Knight in Camelot, the 1989 Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and A young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court (just for how Morgana is written!).
  • Camelot (1967) is my favourite arthurian movie alongside Monty Python. This is the movie version of the musical and it is the movie that actually made me love Lancelot. It focuses on Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.
  • Sword of Lancelot is somehow one of my favourite movies. It might be the fact that Mordred is adorable and has a cute hawk always on his shoulder.
  • Merlin and the Sword is also a fun cheesy movie. It has basically everything: evil Morgana and Mordred plotting, Gawain and Ragnelle, Arthur Lancelot and Guinevere, Merlin and Nimue.

Let me know if you really don’t mind… the trashier ones. I have more!

Thank you so much for those recs! I don’t mind trashy, as long as it’s fun to watch. (I didn’t like Legend of the Sword because it was so incoherent and badly cut, so there are limits.)

Sword of Lancelot and Merlin and the Sword (and Young Connecticut) are pretty trashy already!

Other trashy fun ones are (in my opinion):

  • Dragons of Camelot. The 100% bad acting, BAD movie, trash, but so so fun.
  • Excalibur Kid. This is actually one of my favourite ones because it has a lovely teen Morgause that uses her magic to transport into Camelot a random modern day teenager able to get the sword from the stone, because he is easier to manipulate than Arthur himself.
  • Guinevere 1994 and First Knight are more on the “meh” side than tun trashy (they take themselves too seriously), but I actually enjoyed them. They are both about the Guinevere-Arthur-Lancelot triangle focusing on the true love between Guinevere and Lancelot. First Knight in particular has a lovely Guinevere.
  • Merlin and King Arthur the Lion King is like SO RANDOM. Arthur is a lion, Mordred is a kitten, Morgana is the evil cat.
  • Spamalot (the Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s musical)
  • The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (tv) is a lovely series of self contained episodes focusing on Lancelot. It’s more random adventures than actual arthurian themes, but there is a lot of Merlin and Guinevere too.
  • La Legende du Roi Arthur (musical) is… something. The music is very catchy, and it’s definitely fun (a bit overdramatic)

blue-mint-winter:

If anyone has any recs for King Arthur-related films/shows, I’ll be grateful!

I already watched Excalibur 1981, Merlin 1998 miniseries, and King Arthur Legend of the Sword (2017).

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the best (the one and only) arthurian movie ever made!

About other fun arthurian tv series:

  • Legend of King Arthur (1979 tv show) is one of the best arthurian series, in my opinion. The quality of costumes is not great, but the characterization is on point especially for Morgana and Mordred.
  • Camelot (starz) is also an… interesting show. The plot is a bit all over the place and Arthur is not great, but Morgana is the real star. Also, Sir Kay, Igraine and Merlin are quite interesting too.
  • Kaamelott (the French one) is THE BEST. The first three seasons are just comedic sketches (and no English subtitles) but season 5 and 6 are really dramatic and well written (also the dvds have English subtitles). I started watching this show from season 4, and I didn’t really need to go back to season 1-3 to understand the plot.
  • Mists of Avalon miniseries. While I am not a fan of the book, the miniseries is a softer version that I really enjoy.

and some arthurian movies (especially if you don’t mind some trashy fun ones):

  • I love Connecticut Yankee movies, but my favourite ones are A Knight in Camelot, the 1989 Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and A young Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court (just for how Morgana is written!).
  • Camelot (1967) is my favourite arthurian movie alongside Monty Python. This is the movie version of the musical and it is the movie that actually made me love Lancelot. It focuses on Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.
  • Sword of Lancelot is somehow one of my favourite movies. It might be the fact that Mordred is adorable and has a cute hawk always on his shoulder.
  • Merlin and the Sword is also a fun cheesy movie. It has basically everything: evil Morgana and Mordred plotting, Gawain and Ragnelle, Arthur Lancelot and Guinevere, Merlin and Nimue.

Let me know if you really don’t mind… the trashier ones. I have more!

Do you have any film/TV show recommendations in particular for people just starting to get into the legend? I want to find more information about the story and characters because I think it’s quite interesting, but I have some difficulties with reading at the moment :)

Hello!! 🙂 and welcome!
Yes, I do have some recs, even if I have to say that arthurian TV is not always the best. Still, for someone that wants to start and pick up who’s who and the general story, these might be useful:
– The legend of King Arthur, a 10 episodes series that you might also be able to find on YouTube. It’s very Malory like, so it is truly a gem.
– Excalibur 1981. I’m not a superfan of this movie, but it might be useful to see how the grail theme is intruduced.
– Sword in the Stone (the cartoon), mostly because it’s a classic and not many other shows and movies focus on pre king Arthur.
– Mists of Avalon miniserie is another popular one and has a lot of the Lancelot Arthur Guinevere love triangle.
– Merlin and the Sword is a not very famous movie, a but cheesy but very fun. It has some interesting plot regarding Merlin and Nimue and about Gawain and Ragnelle.
– Camelot 1967 is the beautiful musical that made me love Lancelot for the first time.
– Any Connecticut Yankee movie. These are great, all different adaptation of Mark Twain’s novel where a modern guy ends up in Camelot. A Knight in Camelot is a good one!
– Kaamelott. This is the best arthurian show out there. The first two seasons are just comedic sketches, so you can even just start from the third season to have more plot (more in the Kaamelott tag of this blog!)
– Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the best arthurian movie out there, but I put it last because it’s a parody and best enjoyable I think after having watched some serious take on the legends!

Hii, I’ve been wanting to dive into arthurian for a while. Any recommendations? I’d prefer not to dive into heavy poetry though I love Lady of Shallot but as fun as Merlin is, I’ve been looking for something with more of a plot. Any help will be appreciated. Thankss!

Hello! I agree about the poetry, I love poetry (a recent development in my life) but I definitely prefer novels. And I apologize for answering this late.

I think diving in arthuriana can be approached through different ways: following one character and looking up their novels/texts first (that’s what I did), trying to go in a chronological way (first historical texts and then modern novels) or just looking for good novels that can also help summarize the arthurian canons and headcanons around.

As I am not sure which character you like, I will suggest this post if you’d like to approach arthuriana in a chronological way, but if you instead want to dive in with novels… I’ll just make a list of novels I love and I consider fundamental (and helpful!). 

I’ll start with long series that narrate Arthur’s story from beginning to end:

  • The Once and Future King (White), this is a classic, a good novel and, as a plus, it goes from Arthur’s childhood to his death. Mostly about Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot.
  • Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy + The Wicked Day, this is another classic. The trilogy is all about Merlin and it narrates the story of Uther and, later on, of Arthur, while the Wicked Day is about Mordred. I am not in love with this series, but it is still a good one!
  • Mists of Avalon (Bradley), while I am not a fan of this novel, Mists of Avalon is still an important book in modern arthuriana and it was the first novel (if I am not wrong) with a female protagonist, also I think it defined this idea of Morgana as Mordred’s mother. Mostly about Morgana.
  • Persia Woolley’s Guinevere trilogy, this is a trilogy I adore. Guinevere is, of course, the main character and the story follows her childhood and ends with what happens after Arthur’s death.
  • Sword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff, this is an historical reinterpretation, mostly focused on Arthur.

And now some of my favourites:

  • Exiled from Camelot (Baldry). Kay is the main character. A lot of angst and lovely adventures.
  • The Winter Prince (Wein). Mordred focused and historical
  • Idylls of the Queen (Karr). Kay and Mordred investigate a murder. AMAZING.
  • Here Lies Arthur (Reeve). Historical, Arthur is not a good person. A Nimue-like character is the protagonist.
  • Corbenic (Fisher). Modern reincarnation AU with Percival as protagonist.
  • The Squire Tales series (Morris). A series of parodies about King Arthur, but with an overall complete plot.
  • The Pendragon (Christian). Bedivere narrates Arthur’s story.
  • Gawain (Rowley). A romance and adventure novel that focuses on the story of Gawain and Ragnelle.
  • The Road to Avalon (Wolf). A story about Arthur’s love for Morgana and Guinevere’s love for Lancelot.
  • The Doom of Camelot. A collection of short stories about the end of Camelot.
  • I am Morgan le Fay (Springer). The story of Morgana pre-King Arthur.

Please, let me know if you’d like some character-focused recs!

lenafromthenordiccoven:

anybody got recommendations for books on the arthurian legend and possibly the history behind it? I found the Historia Brittonum by Nennius on amazon, but I’m not sure it’s what I’m looking for… 

No need to buy it! That and many other ancient texts are free online in English!
Here’s a link:

http://fuckyeaharthuriana.tumblr.com/post/160940330191/download-arthurian-texts-6th-century16th

About a book rec, it depends on what you are looking for! Any favourite characters/themes? 🙂
Otherwise my very favourite, very quickly, are (with main characters):
Idylls of the Queen (Phyllis Ann Karr) – Mordred, Kay
Exiled from Camelot (Cherith Baldry) – Kay, Arthur, Gawain
The Winter Prince (Elisabeth Wein) – Mordred, Morgause, Agravaine
Guinevere Trilogy (Persia Woolley) – Guinevere, Arthur
I am Morgan le Fay (Nancy Springer) – Morgana
Here lies Arthur (Philip Reeve) – Nimue, Percival, Guinevere
Corbenic (Catherine Fisher) – Percival, Gawain
The Forgotten Sister (Higgins) – Elaine of Tintagel, Morgana, Morgause
The Pendragon (Catherine Christian) – Bedivere, Palamedes
The Road to Avalon (Joan Wolf) – Arthur, Morgana, Guinevere, Lancelot
The Once and Future King (White) – Arthur, Lancelot, Guinevere

more here (I have not updated it in some months but I’ll do it soon)

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