Back in college i devoured Rolleston, the Penguin paperback series (Celtic Misc, Early Irish sagas, the Mabinogion, the Tristan legend too) & probable others. All these have been lost in the intervening years, as has my interest in the subject, largely.
However, a good friend has recently become intensely interested in these topics, and I’d like to gift them with a good book in it. I remember the Rolleston was the most readable, some of the others were abstruse in the max…dry, die hard, research stuff.
So: looking for a recent, fairly malarkey-free page turner. Sugestions, please.
i want to add a question
when i was for a year in turkey, maaany years ago, i bought several books, in english language, there, about an irish hero called Finn…whatever
tried to find them in back in germany but didnt, and now remember them, does anyonje have a clue about the titles, the author, the name of that hero?
That ought most likely to have been Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool, if you like), the central figure from a body of old Irish mythology now called the Fenian Cycle (also called the Ossianic Cycle). The tradition is that it was composed by the mythical poet and Fionn’s son, Oisín. But there are many associated works too, so it would be hard to take a general guess as to what stories you would have read.
I picked up a book called The Lore of Scotland at a local bookshop a few weeks ago. It’s a large book, detailing popular myths, legends and ghost stories from around Scotland. Brilliant for dipping into:
Dunno if that’s what you’re looking for. You maybe want something more like a collection of short stories, rather than brief descriptions of local faeries, ghosts and ne’er-do-wells.
Sugestions, please. 