pickier reader than eater

I have always loved a good book, but more often than not, my definition of a good book doesn't include anything in the science fiction or fantasy genre. I tried to love The Hobbit, but I kept losing track of who all the characters were and where they were going. I tried to get into Wicked, but I found myself skipping every single paragraph about munchkin politics, which was a fair amount of the novel. About ten years ago, though, I went through a phase where I was obsessed with Arthurian legend. Of course, I read The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.

I hated it. I hated that it drifted from the Arthurian geneology that most Arthurian researchers believed to be true (which I accepted as proper, as well). This bugged me to no end! The book is more about early Christianity and established paganism running into each other than the exploits of the Round Table companions, and I felt that many of the characters deserved more development than they got in this novel. I know that I'm probably in the minority and most people rave about this book, but it just wasn't interesting to me. I think that my favourite pieces of Arthurian fiction are The Wicked Day (the geneology of this one still is irritating, but it's an interesting study of the character Mordred) and a trilogy by Persia Woolley (Child of the Northern Spring, Queen of the Summer Stars, and Guinevere: The Legend in Autumn), which I suspect may be out of print.  I don't know if I still have my copies of the Woolley books; I might have to borrow them from the library the next time I want to read them.

I have food related tie-in to King Arthur: the King Cake (galette des rois) tradition is alive and well in Newfoundland, or at least the part that I live in (though the Wikipedia entry only discusses the tradition from the context of New Orleans and mardi gras).  We didn't bake our own; Chris picked one up at Auntie Crae's after reading about them. Ours had a teeny tiny ceramic cow in it.

Comments

[Ani]

Hey Laura. I reply to comments by email now but don't have yours. So could you email me?foodiechickie@yahoo.com.

You are so lucky you get cheesy tator tots in your freezer section.
I too love finding new supermarkets and products when I travel.

[marnie]

I am a self confessed book addict.

I read "The Wicked Day" and LOVED it. I also loved the Arthurain Trilogy by Mary Stewart that began with "The Crystal Cave". I've read so many different books based on the legend of King Arthur that I can't even keep them straight. There was another one primarily about Uthur Pendragon that was really good--but do you think I can remember what it's called?

Anyway, try "Broken For You", by Stephanie Kallos. We did it for my book group and I loved it! It's about the creative process, atoning for the past, and creating family in the absence of a real one and it's awesome.

[marnie]

SO it was bugging me so much I went and found the other book I was thinking of on Amazon. "The Crystal Cave" is the first in the series by Mary Stewart that ends with "The Wicked Day" so that's straight in my head (that's why I loved "The Wicked Day" it was part of that whole series that I loved--doh!!). The other book I was thinking of is "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White, NOW I can rest easy.