Books: Malory, White, and The Child That Books Built

[woodwardiocom]

Le Morte D'Arthur (Part 1) by Sir Malory and The Once and Future King by T.H. White

-I read TO&FK many times between ages 10 and 20, but I'd never gotten around to reading Malory. I thought it was time to fix that. Lordy, but it's repetitive and dry. "And then the knight unseated the other knight, and then they laid about each other with swords, and then the damsel said, 'Oh, for thou art surely the best knight, to have aided me thus.'" Repeat, ad nauseum. I rewarded myself for sticking it out by re-reading TO&FK simultaneously. And hey, now I get a lot of White's jokes! I'll probably wait a while to tackle the second part of Malory (even though the publisher decided to divide the book into two parts on a cliffhanger . . . ). Amusing bit: I decided to skip the section in Malory on the Roman War . . . and then discovered that White also skips it, dealing with a multi-year campaign in about a page and a half.

(Of course, White also deals with Tristram hardly at all, while I've had to deal with three major sections on that doofus thus far . . . I'm liking the theory that he was terribly nearsighted, and a bit dim from getting clonked on the head, and thus didn't actually realize that the two Isouds were two different people until he was climbing into bed with Isoud-White-Hands . . . )

-Maybe I'll read Camelot 3000 again soon . . . and watch Monty Python's Grail. Anyway, I highly recommend TO&FK as one of the most beautiful and accessible renditions of the Arthur Myth. Malory is more for scholars, though it comes close to being one of those things you have to have read in order to really grok the modern fantasy genre.

The Child That Books Built by Francis Spufford

-I believe it was jphekman who spoke well of this book . . . It's an autobiographical story of Spufford's reading history, up through about college age. He's only a few years older than me, and he dances across a lot of the same books I read . . . Narnia, Tolkien, Phantom Tollbooth, James Bond, TO&FK (see above), Bradbury, Heinlein, Le Guin, et cetera. (He also spends a fair amount of time on the coded Libertarian messages in the Little House on the Prarie books, which I haven't read, but maybe should zip through one of these days.) He delivers at least two analyses of fiction I found very useful. First, a useful guide to the functional distinctions between kids books, young adult books, and adult books. Second, since Spufford is English, a nifty explanation of what American literature looks like to an outsider.

-He, for my taste, does spend a bit too much time talking about psychology instead of books, but at least it's moderately interesting psychology. And his dry humor (such as when he goes into his adolescent devotion to Anarchism) is a treat. For anyone like me, who is a "child that books built", this one is highly recommended.

Comments

[chadu.livejournal.com]

Anyway, I highly recommend TO&FK as one of the most beautiful and accessible renditions of the Arthur Myth.

I am most fond of Mary Stewart's Merlin books (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment, plus Wicked Day). I also dig Parke Godwin's Firelord and Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle.

The Child That Books Built by Francis Spufford

I will have to look this up!

CU

[futurenurselady.livejournal.com]

Have you read Madeline L'Engle?

She had a huge effect on me when I was growing up.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

-The Wrinkle in Time trilogy, certainly. I've read them many times.

[ian-gunn.livejournal.com]

I couldn't get through it. As a long time scadian and lover of TO&FK I figured I should read Le Morte D'Arthur for the source material but man, dry... as... toast. Prehaps I'll try it again some time toggling back and forth like you did. Shoot, I had an easier time reading the Silmarillian.

Holy Minnesota!

[(Anonymous)]

"the Little House on the Prarie books, which I haven't read"

woah, how is that?? OK, so, maybe you and Nat weren't glued to the TV show and dressing up in play-prairie outfits and reading the entire series of books until they fell apart, like me and my sisters...but, Kate? :) These are without question my favorite childhood reads, and they launched my interest in memoir & historical fiction. She writes so evocatively, not only of the frontier (and its locusts, fires, blizzards, and "injuns") but of family life, that I still have crystal-clear images in my mind of the Ingalls girls and their adventures. There has been some criticism over the years of some un-PC and the fact that the stories are "recollected" and probably somewhat embellished, and yeah, I could see a Libertarian slant, but who cares? Still magical. In fact, Disney made a very good TV miniseries last year of the first 2 books, captures the feel MUCH better than the corny Michael Landon TV series -- it's on Netflix, check it out! m.