I said when I started this blog that I'd try to post on a daily basis. I've slacked on that lately, but I can already tell the focus of the blog may not be entirely what I originally intended. Oh well...
Book #3 of 1001 is The Once and Future King by T. H. White. This book is a modern re-telling of the Arthur legends that have been told and re-told many times since the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, though, I don't feel that this particular re-telling really does them justice.
I had tried to read this book once before, years ago, and couldn't get much past page 100 or so (out of around 500 pages) before dropping it out of sheer boredom. I managed to get to the end this time, but I kept a pretty close track of how close I was to the end the whole time, which is never a good sign (and it won't be the last time in this reading project that it happens, either). Maybe that it's just that I was already familiar with the story and all the characters before I started, and the fact that I already knew basically how the story was going to go, that ruined it for me. I don't know... It certainly wasn't T. H. White's writing style, the book was perfectly readable. Oh well...
Without getting into too much detail, the book basically follows the life of King Arthur from his humble beginnings, to his heights of power and glory, to his eventual downfall through his own human failings and mistakes. All the familiar characters from the Arthur legends are here - Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, Guinevere, Mordred, etc. etc. - though some of them, particularly Lancelot, are portrayed quite differently than in other popular media. I'm sorry to report that there are no Knights who say Ni, though... :P
I really wanted to like this book, but for some reason I just couldn't.
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