Great Historical Fiction/Fantasy Novels
History is anthroplogy for the past. Great historical fiction brings you into that past world and makes it accessible. Would life in thirteenth century Wales chew me up and spit me out? No doubt. But that doesn’t mean I can’t spend many happy hours living there. I am also partial to the fantasy element of historical fiction in part because I acknowledge that past lives are truly inaccessible to me and if I wanted to read about something that was absolutely true, I would get the non-fiction version. That said the following are some of my most favorite books: Sherwood by Parke Godwin. He’s written a lot of books, but this one has always pulled me in. I’ve read it innumerable times. From Publisher’s Weekly: “Godwin sets his highly satisfying retelling of the Robin Hood legend in the time of Read more…
The Best and Worst of King Arthur Movies
While we’re on the subject of King Arthur, which of course, we always are, except when we’re talking about Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, I thought we could talk King Arthur movies. Since I’ve ranted about the King Arthurs I don’t like to read about or watch (https://sarahwoodbury.com/the-fictional-king-arthur-rant/), how many King Arthur movie depictions have there actually been? And how many have been done well? Here’s the list from Wikipedia of straightforward King Arthur movies: Parsifal (1904) Launcelot and Elaine (1909) Il Re Artù e i cavalieri della tavola rotonda (1910) Parsifal (1912) The Quest of the Holy Grail (1915) The Adventures of Sir Galahad (serial) (1950) Knights of the Round Table (1953) Parsifal (1953) The Black Knight (1954) Prince Valiant (1954) The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (serial) (1956) Lancelot and Guinevere (1963) Siege of the Saxons (1963) The Sword in the Stone (1963) Camelot (1967) Arthur of the Britons (1972) Gawain and the Green Knight (1973) Lancelot Read more…
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