Mythology and Folklore Books

wonderful, excelent, perfect. Cortazar is a GENIUS. That's all. (I recomend "Don't blame anyone")

Final del juego es uno de los primeros libros de cuentos de Cortazar, en este se encuentran cuentos ya clasicos como "No se culpe a nadie", "El rio" y "Axolotl". Cortazar tiene la maravillosa propiedad de hacerte llevar a un lugar magico, que va mas alla de los sueños y este libro lo refleja. Si le gusta cortazar, compre este libro o aun mejor, compre "Cuentos completos 1" que contiene a este libro. No hace falta decir que la obra maestra de Cortazar es "Rayuela", asi que si este libro le gusto, "Rayuela" lo atrapara aun mas.

Es uno de los mejores libros que he leido nunca. Me gusta la literatura latinoamericana en general y creo que Cortazar es uno de sus mejores representadores. Los Venenos, Final del Juego y El Rio son los cuentos que mas me gustaron. Recomiendo.

"Final de Juego" (or Endgame) is one of the most remarkable books in Julio Cortazar's vast bibliography. A collection of 18 short stories, this book is a clear example of Cortazar's genius and mastery as a story teller. All the stories are gripping to the end, but "No se culpe a nadie" (Do not blame anyone), "El rio" (The river), "Axolotl" and "La noche boca arriba" (The night facing up), deserve special mention. Cortazar's style was truly revolutionary, and he managed to shake the literary establishment becoming an obligatory reference and an influence on many writers, both in Latin America and in the rest of the world. This volume constitutes an excellent way to approach one of the best writers of the Twentieth Century.

This collection of poems, stories, narratives, folktales, oral histories and essays very aptly portrays the vital importance of salmon to the native peoples of the entire northern Pacific rim - not just as a food resource, but as a basis for their culture and a component of their identities. Several of the contributions, particularly an essay by Jeanette Armstrong, note how sustainable yield was applied in salmon fishing for thousands of years and how the discarding of this principle in modern times has led to the excessive depletion and near extinction of this species. Since I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, I am more or less familiar with the importance of salmon to the local economies and the Native American cultures of the region, so I found the sections of the book dealing with the Ainu of Japan, the Ulchi of eastern Siberia and the Nyvkhs of Sakhalin particularly informative and enjoyable. It is also a bit depressing to learn that like the U.S. and Canada (although not nearly as brutally), Japan and the USSR/Russia similarly mistreated the local populations by, among other things, limiting or restricting their access to traditional salmon runs and/or trying to force them to adopt non-traditional ways of life (assimilation). "First Fish, First People" may be attractively published, with striking cover art and attractive photos and illustrations, but it is not a coffee-table book - its diverse contributions, taken together, outline a philosophy of respect for and wise use of natural resources, as well as (and just as importantly) respect for different cultures and different ways of life. It is almost a cliche to say that it is high time that such lessons sink in at all levels of our modern globalized and hyper-industrial societies.

Aba book of the Year!!

Buy it especially for the Sherman Alexix poen at the beginning. It's touches the core of the Salmon environmental and cultural dilemna in the Northwest.

This book is a work of art, and provides evidence that the University of Washington Press, through its cooperation with other smaller publishers (such as One Reel) is doing the work that needs to be done in Northwest history and cultural studies.

This book is a collection of perpectives on salmon from representatives of the peoples around the pacific rim whose lives have centered on salmon for thousands of years. The contributors are talented indigenous writers from the United States, Canada, Japan, and Siberia. The engaging text is amply illustrated with historic and contemporary photographs, as well as drawings. The historic photographs are not the same ones that usually appear. For example, nearly every book on salmon in the nortwest has a twentieth century photograph of Indians fishing at Celilo Falls. Most books use the same photo. This book uses one that features in the forground the cable system that was used to get down to the fishing platforms, with the fishing platforms themselves in the background.

Some of the work in this book has been published elsewhere. But the context it is given here accentuates it in useful ways. For example, Sherman Alexie's poem, "The Place Where Ghosts of Salmon Jump," is engraved into a sculpture in Overlook Park behind the Spokane Public Library and is published in _The Summer of Black Widows_. But in this book it appears beside a nice photograph of the falls as it appears today, and a photo of Mr. Alexie standing on the footbridge above a section of the falls pointing downstream.

I have been collecting and reading the Foxfire series for several years now and I consider them as some of the best reading that I have found.I think that they are a direct link to our mountain heritage as well as American history. I have learned many skills and lost arts from these books and I would highly recommend them to anyone who has such interests.

It's a great deal of fun to read about the historical needs and solutions of the Appalachian people that applies as well to my own history. There are great reminders of a simpler and maybe happier life.

Both my husband and I enjoyed this book. He is from W.N.C. and enjoyed reading about areas near where he grew up. I liked it also, having lived there for four years.

The Foxfire books are a wonderful thing and we are so lucky to have them. Many of the ways, crafts, planting lore, animal lore, and as the book says "affairs of plain living" are preserved here. This particular volume includes oral histories of the Great Depression, CCC Camps and their impact on the local areaa and ecomomy, folk art, chair makeing, and of special interest to me, gourd art. This is a wonderful recording of life the way it was and probably never will be again. The book is quite well written and has faithfully recorded even the dialect of these wonderful people, from which so many of us sprung. That is a big part of the charm of these works. This book includes actual interviews with folks from that region of the country which I am sure are long dead now. Their knowledge would be completely lost without works such as this. Another generation or two and it will all be completely gone. This book will cetainly be of great interest to those, like me, who are interested in the depression era and in the CCC in particular. Thank goodness we have recordings such as this. Recommend this one highly.

Foster's work is a collection of literature from the ancient Near East. With little commentary, Foster provides the reader with a variety of genres that are useful for seeing the parallels between ancient Mesopotamia and biblical literature. As a university instructor in ancient history, Foster's work is required reading. It is eye opening to most students as they reconstruct what they think they understand about life and culture in the ancient Near East. A recommended reading for serious students of the ancient world and biblical literature.

This has just about everything, although, as the author notes in his preface, this is an abridgment of an earlier work, Before the Muses: Anthology of Akkadian Literature. The selections are arranged by type, beginning with myths and epics--the Enuma Elish and a composite Akkadian flood story--and working its way through deeds of kings, hymns, prayers, proverbs, magic spells, elegies and celebrations. There is also some satire--a land deed drawn up for birds and a curse against a bleating goat.

Foster provides an introduction to each piece, and to sections of the longer pieces. There are gaps in most narratives, and Foster notes them. He also provides footnotes explaining the more obscure points and allusions, as well as some issues with translations. At points, it is less than a leisurely read, but Foster seems determined to present the material in plain but telling language.

I have quoted often from the book and return to it frequently. One piece, an elegy for a woman who died in childbirth, has always moved me. It is told from the point of view of the dead woman. After remembering a happy life with her husband, she says that the day she went into labor, her face "grew overcast." Despite her pleas and the pleas of her husband to Belet-illi, the goddess of childbirth, "shrouded her face" She concludes:

[All... ] those days I was with my husband,

While I lived with him who was my lover,

Death was creeping stealthily into my bedroom,

It forced my from my house,

It cut me off from my lover,

It set my foot toward the land from which I shall not return.

FROM DISTANT DAYS : Myths, Tales, and Poetry of Ancient Mesopotamia. Translated by Benjamin R. Foster. 438 pp. Bethseda, Maryland : CDL Press, 1995. ISBN 1-883053-09-9 (pbk.)

I currently have three anthologies of Sumerian-Akkadian literature on my shelves: Stephanie Dalley's 'Myths from Mesopotamia' (1989), Thorkild Jacobsen's 'The Harps That Once' (1987), and the present book. All three are by specialists and are designed for the general reader; all, within the limits of their shared conventional viewpoint, are excellent; and anyone with a serious interest in this remote and fascinating literature will want to have all three.

Of the three, Dalley's is the most 'technical' translation, in the sense that it has far more extensive footnotes, and that it wisely prefers to retain original terms such as "Kurnugi" (page 155), instead of offering essentially misleading equivalents such as "Netherworld" (Foster, page 78) or "Hades" (Jacobsen, page 207 ff). Her translations also seem to me to be the most vigorous, but that's just a personal feeling, and all three of these tranlations are wonderfully readable.

Foster tells us that the present book is "a selection, rearrangement, and abridgement of 'Before the Muses, An Anthology of Akkadian Literature' (Bethseda, MD : CDL Press, 1993)" (page vii). His substantial anthology is organized as follows : 1. Gods and Their Deeds; 2. Kings and Their Deeds; 3. Divine Speech; 4. Hymns and Prayers; 5. Sorrow and Suffering; 6. Love and Sex; 7. Stories and Humor; 8. Wisdom; 9. Magic Spells.

As is the case with the Dalley and Jacobsen anthologies, all texts have been provided with their own brief introductions, and all gaps and losses of text in the original tablets have been indicated in the translations, though Foster's texts are much more lightly annotated. His book opens with a short 8-page Introduction, and is rounded out with a Glossary of Proper Names, but lacks both a Bibliography and an Index.

The book has clearly been designed as a reader's edition, with minimal impedimenta in the way of notes and so on that might interfere with the reader's enjoyment of the texts. Foster tells us that those who want to learn more about these texts, or to read further in Akkadian Literature, should consult his much fuller 2-volume work, 'Before the Muses.'

The book is well-printed on excellent paper in a large clear font that might have been a bit heavier, is bound in glossy wrappers, and has one of those abominable glued spines that crack when opened. I wonder what happened to stitching?

Here, as a brief example of Foster's style, are the opening lines of his 'When Ishtar [i.e., Inanna] Went to the Netherworld,' with my obliques added to indicate line breaks :

"To the netherworld, land of n[o return], / Ishtar, daughter of Sin, [set] her mind. / Indeed, the daughter of Sin did set her mind / To the gloomy house, seat of the ne[therworld], / To the house which none leaves who enters, / To the road whose journey has no return, / To the house whose entrants are bereft of light..." (page 78).

Those with access to the Dalley and Jacobsen will find it interesting to compare Foster's version with theirs. His rhythms seem a little more stately and relaxed, a little less vigorous, and he seems less sparing of words. But, as I've indicated, all three books, though differing in flavor, are intensely readable, and we should be grateful to Professors Dalley, Jacobsen, and Foster, for the enormous labors which must have gone into them.

What I said in my review of Jacobsen applies equally here. The limits of Foster's book are the limits of the official point-of-view. Within these limits his book becomes a labor of love, a wonderfully readable literary treatment of some of the world's most ancient, fascinating and beautiful literature by a noted authority, and one that can be strongly recommended to all sensitive readers.

Readers, however, shouldn't take Foster as gospel but as something vastly more interesting, since what Ishtar/Inanna may well have been visiting was not the "Netherworld" but the mines of Africa. But to understand this you'll have to read linguist and scholar Zechariah Sitchin's 'The 12th Planet.' Only he provides a framework in which all becomes intelligible.

Benjamin Foster's book contains many original compositions from the major literary genres of Sumero-Akkadian culture: myths, king epics, omen literature, prayers, lamentations, love lyrics, wisdom literature, magic spells, and even humor. Indeed, although the Epic of Gilgamesh is noticeably absent, "From Distant Days" is one of the most comprehensive Mesopotamian anthologies available for the general reader.

Foster's introduction lays down the organization of the book and describes many of the structural markers used in Sumero-Akkadian literature. Each presented composition is also accompanied by an appropriate description that gives context for the modern reader. The translations in this book are very readable, with lacunae and omissions clearly marked. Also, the translations are current as of 1995, and include versions that are considerably more complete in some cases than ones available in other widely available anthologies.

My favorite parts of the book focused on the wisdom literature and lamentations, since the subject matter dealt primarily with human feelings and experiences, rather than monotonous praise of the gods. I was amazed at how the feelings expressed in these 3000-4000 year old compositions still managed to strike a chord of resonance with me. One also cannot help but notice the many parallels that exist between the Bible and the older literary corpus of Mesopotamia.

For the reader who is looking for a good anthology of Mesopotamian literature, I would readily recommend "From Distant Days". Furthermore, I believe this book along with two others would form an authoritative collection of Sumero-Akkadian original compositions translated into English. The two other books are "The Epic of Gilgamesh" by Andrew George (ISBN 0140449191) and "The Harps that Once..." by Thorkild Jacobsen (ISBN 0300072783).

Now in a new revised and reformatted edition, Gems in Myth, Legend, and Lore is an in-depth examination of the supposed mystic and magical qualities humanity has attributed to forty-six different gems throughout history. Written by jeweler, gemologist and educator Bruce G. Knuth, Gems in Myth, Legend, and Lore covers writings on gems throughout history, birthstones, literature concerning gems, the entire translated text of Marbode's eleventh century gem treatise, and much more. A cross-culture treasury of legends, and a first-rate addition to mythology and folklore reference shelves.

This book was worth every penny. It discussed myths and legends throughout history associated with a great variety of precious and semi-precious gemstones from different cultures. Very easy and interesting to read. The pictures were not as clear as I expected from a library bound book, but it doesn't really distract from the quality of information. The best book that I have found so far on the subject of gemstone lore. If you are gemologist, this is worth including in your library, as it is a welcome deviation from the science that most gemstone books cover.

Written by a gemologist/jeweler, Gems in Myth, Magic and Lore, combines minerological information with a comprehensive review of gemstone lore. Knuth begins the book with a succinct, but comprehensive, review of the history of gemstone lore as it coincides with the rise of gemology as a field of scientific study.

The second part of the book details 46 of the most common gemstones. Each gemstone entry includes a large photograph of the stone, minerological information and the gemstone lore. The lore is presented very respectfully with an acknowledgment that we do not know everything and that there are factual bases to many of these beliefs. As a bonus, there are numerous, well referenced footnotes for each of the stones.

In the third part of the book, he includes information that I have not found elsewhere such mythological gems and gems in literature. There is even a compete copy of a famous Lapidarium writen in the Middle Ages. This section also has some very useful and well done charts detailing things like birthstones through the ages and the significance of gemstone shape.

In my work as a jewelry designer, many of my customers ask my advice about which stones they should use for different forms of protection or as an aid to achieve their goals. In order to help them, I began researching gemstone history and lore. I have now read about 15 books on the subject and I have found that many of them offer contradictory explanations and/or information that is too general or too vague to be of much use. For my purposes, Knuth's book has been the most helpful.

Fantastic book. Full of gemstone lore that will dazzle, and impress. Great selling tool for anyone in the jewelry or gem trade.

I too was first introduced to George MacDonald by way of CS. Lewis. A friend gave me this book, "for recreation" during my busy final term in college- and it has become one of the most highly prized works in my collection. This series of short stories and fairy tales will enchant anyone who already loves Hans Christian Anderson or delights in "wonder" tales, and anyone looking for fresh parables and expressions of Christian faith.

Highly recommended!

The stories in this volume are so original and intriguing.
George MacDonald writes multi-layered tales that make great read aloud stories for children and fascinating studies for adults.

My wife gave me this book for Christmas; she new I liked C.S. Lewis and that he counted Geo MacD as his mentor. I can heartily recommend this volume to anyone. The variety of style is what struck me the most: some of these I will read aloud to my children, some made me laugh out loud, and others left me scratching my head as to what the author was alluding to. Geo MacD has great insight into human nature, revealing our innermost thoughts so we can see we are not so different from the next guy. If you have heard of the author but aren't quite sure you would like him, try this one --- you'll know instantly!

George MacDonald was one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest, 19th Century fantasist, and a key influence on C. S. Lewis. He was a Unitarian minister, and much of his fiction was essentially religious. I am particularly fond of his children's novels, At the Back of the North Wind, The Princess and the Goblin, and The Princess and Curdie. He also wrote adult novels, most importantly Phantastes and Lilith.

He also wrote a lot of shorter fiction. Much of the best is collected in The Gifts of the Child Christ and Other Stories, selected by Glenn Edward Sadler. Two of the very best are "The Light Princess", a very funny story about a princess with no gravity, either of spirit or physically; and "The Golden Key", a lovely symbolic story about a boy and a girl and their long journey together. Other highlights are "The Wise Woman, or The Lost Princess", a long story (35,000 words or so) about a spoiled princess and a spoiled shepherd's child and the efforts of an old wise woman to reform them; the title story, about how the daughter of a too serious man and his neglected young wife brings them together after their younger child is stillborn; "The Carasoyn" (or "The Fairy Fleet"), about a young man and his less than enjoyable involvement with a group of fairies and their queen; "The History of Photogen and Nycteris" (or "The Day Boy and the Night Girl"), about two babies kidnapped by an evil fairy, the boy brought up only in daylight, the girl only in darkness; and "The Cruel Painter" is a fine story about a painter who insisted on distorting his scenes to bring out the worst in their subjects, and the young man who falls in love with his daughter and comes to work as his apprentice.

There are quite a few more stories, most quite interesting, roughly evenly divided between fairy tales or fantasies and contemporary tales. Only very rarely does MacDonald moralize to the detriment of his stories, though his stories do quite often make moral points. (And quite explicitly Christian points.) Sadler has also selected quite a few period illustrations, many by Arthur Hughes, many from the original publications of the stories.

The best book I have ever read regarding the birth of Christ from an aboriginal viewpoint. Those in the pulpit need to move over and make room.

The Give-Away is beautifully written and illustrated. Mr. Buckley's story is simply the story of Christmas, based on the tradition shared by many Native people known as 'the give-away." A friend recommended this book and I share that recommendation with you. The Native people have much to teach in their tradition of the give-away.

Both the illustrations and the story are wonderful. The book artfully combines Native American spirituality aspects with Christian aspects. I used this book in a "children's church" class at our Native American / Catholic church at Christmas. The kids loved the story and afterwards made a collage of Jesus in the manager surrounded by all the animals mentioned in the story. The book could be used during Easter as well or during a discussion about Native American give-aways.

I became aware of this book yesterday when I heard Ray Buckley read it at a Christmas Tea & Tree for the Red Bird Missionary Conference. The book touched the hearts of each of those present. Small children, youth and adults were warmed with the story.

The Give-Away is for all families, with children and without. It would be an excellent resource to give to families that do not attend church.

Ray re-presents God's story of love and self-giving by sharing from his tradition the story of giving.

Lopez heralds a message to our so-called "modern" Judeo-christian culture from the stone-age past: You can't separate the good from the bad. Coyote resembles nothing short of an agent of Bacchus, welding god-like powers of creation, with basal human desires and weaknesses.

In his anthology, Lopez has focused strictly on the Coyote of Native American lore, and thus has attempted to filter out most of the more modern interpretations and spin-offs, as well as removing any european influences. The observation that Lopez was not entirely successful in this effort shows the difficulty of such a task. The last story, "Coyote Finishes His Work", shows a distinctly "Euro-christian" influence. However, Lopez was at least successful enough to distinguish this piece from Bright's "Coyote Reader". Both are excellent works, and deserve your eye.

Of all the Coyote mythology collections I've read, this is the best. It features an assortment of styles from over 30 tribes, giving a broad sense of what the Coyote is. The author takes great pleasure in the introduction when he states that the greatest mistake is to generalize the Coyote, even to say he is a trickster is sometimes wrong. This book is just as if someone took all their favorite Coyote stories and put them in order (he starts the book at the creation of the Earth, and Man. Ending when "Coyote finishes his work.")

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the Coyote.

I know this book is out of print and hard to find, but if you can let Amazon.com search it out for you, it is worth the effort. Lopez is at his best form in telling these stories of the coyote trickster. Some of the stories can best be described as ribald versions of the Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit stories. However, these are fresh stories that will engage your imagination and tickle your funny bone. I once entertained a group of young men with these stories one evening around a campfire...young men who thought they were too old to be read to. They laughed and wouldn't let me stop reading until my throat was hoarse. Find a copy if you can!

For those people who are still trying to decide between evolution and intelligent design, here is yet another creation story to ponder (or add to the curriculum), this one involving Coyote, who "was not necessarily a coyote, nor even a creature of strict physical dimensions." The subtitle of this book is "Coyote Builds North America."

"Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with his Daughter" is a magical read, like all of this author's books. It is mythology without the density of "The Golden Bough," but still with the serious purpose of teaching world views that may seem strange to non-Amerinds.

I needed to ponder the implications of these stories. I wondered if coyote creation myths were any more unbelievable than the invention of a CNN 'faith and values' correspondent, or the news of a televangelist encouraging his fellow Christians to assassinate a foreign head-of-state. Are they stranger to the human experience than mullahs issuing death fatwas against authors or encouraging followers to gang-rape young women?

Coyote steals, rapes and murders in these sixty-eight stories from forty-two different First Nation tribes. He is a Creator, dupe, loving husband, and lusty rogue; a sorcerous Rhett Butler with a brushy tail and extreme bipolar disorder. My favorite stories involve other clever creatures who dupe the Trickster into eating his own anus or tossing his eyeballs into a tree. It's always good to see a powerful bully with an uncertain temper taken down a notch or two.

Luckily Coyote is able to laugh at himself, unlike certain gods on the other side of the Atlantic.

Lady Gregory has written a very precise and easily read translation of some of the best of Irish mythology. Originally written at the turn of the ninetteenth century it still holds today.I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Celtic mythology and lore.

The works of Lady Gregory are the best way to get a pure taste of the original Irish Myths - unless you are fluent in Gaelic and can get a hold of older copies. Lady Gregory's elequent speech and style breathes life into Ireland's forgotten Heroes and Gods!

Gods and Fighting Men is an excellent resource because it preserves the lore from the Book of Invasions as well as other sources -- the legends of the earliest inhabitants of Ireland, the coming of the Tuatha De Danaan (The People of Dana) and the stories of Finn MacCumhail.

What is portrayed as "Early Irish Mythology" 99% of the time actually isn't -- the dozens of translations of The Tain, albeit worthy reading, are actually the lore of Ulster, a single Irish province. This makes it Ulster Mythology (regional) more than Irish Mythology (national).

The legends of the Tuatha De Danaan are essential for a comprehensive understanding of Irish mythology, actually comprising the majority of the Mythological Cycle, and deal with the initial settling of all of Ireland.

Unfortunately, it seems to be modern New Age reconstructions of the Mythological Cycle rather than the native stories that seem to be infusing themselves into the mainstream, and that is sad.

In my mind, the Mythological Cycle is the most important cycle in Irish mythology, because it sets up the scenario for all that is to follow. The Fenian Cycle (legends of Finn MacCumhail and his warband) are fascinating not only for their strong associations with Nature, but also for the fact that the stories are well-known both in Ireland and in the Scottish Highlands. The Gods still walked and resided on (or in) the Earth and interacted often with mortals. Magic was all around.

The Tain, on the other hand, is more a time of towns and forts and war-chariots; a time when magic was less present and people were less intertwined with Nature than in the Golden Age. The Gods had already departed our realm and only made brief cameos in the stories.

In summary, Gods and Fighting Men is the actual collection of Irish Mythology from the earliest legends. It affects all of Ireland and the stories are fairly widespread throughout the Gaelic world. Lady Gregory wrote these translations with a view to retain the native Irish sense of story-telling; this she achieved remarkably well.

My one concern is that it would have been nice for Lady Gregory to have cited her sources for each story. I know that in many cases she blended versions from several sources to produce what she saw as the purest form of the story, but a simple listing of these would have been fantastic from an academic standpoint.

Overall this is probably the greatest collection of Irish Mythology I have found so far, albeit Lady Gregory's focus was primarily as storyteller rather than academic (this is not a bad thing -- dry, stale translations of Irish lore would have been extremely anti-Irish in themselves).

This should probably be the FIRST book one reads of Irish Mythology. I highly recommend this book and the fact that it is value-priced definitely doesn't hurt, either. This book is definitely worth several times its cost.

Happy Reading!

Lady Gregory faithfully renders old Irish stories into a form that we clods that only speak English can understand. She does not, however, make them more prosaic, or fix them into what we normally find as our story format! They are true to the original structures of the genre, and are much more lively and fun for that. My wife places them firmly in the nature of Irish legend, which she calls "We went over there and stole their cow!" (Tain Bo Cuailnge is basically a story of a cow theft, and is one of the most famous stories of Irish legend). I love the split style, and it does give the reader a good understanding of the way stories were related in the old days. A must for those who want to know where some of the ancient Irish names derive!

I would not recommend this work if you haven't had vast exposure to the Ramayana and the Mahabharata (from any translators). If you have a good acquaintance with the major players of these epics, then this book will help clarify many things, as it provides back story that isn't covered in either epic, that explains many otherwise odd aspects of some of the characters' actions and beliefs. No collection of Indian epics is complete without it. Wonderfully written, and a joy to read overall.

R.K Narayan is perhaps one of the best known Indo Anglican writers. He is known capture the Indianness of his subject despite of writing in english. In this wonderful little book he tries to narrate some excerpts from Indian mythology. These are chosen from portions of great epics to folk lore tales. Most of these tales are usually naratted by a priest or some story teller in a villlage side temple. Having listened to some of those story telling concerts I would say Narayan's book gives you the same exhiliration and joy you would experience as you listen to a live story teller in a village.

Fantastic book from truly one of the greatest english writing authors of the 20th Century. Once you read Narayan, any other author is only second best.

This is a very nice book in which R.K. Narayan retells various stories and legends from India. The stories range from those of Devi to the demon king Ravana and pretty much everything in between. What makes this particularly nice is Narayan's mastery of the English language. He manages to make these stories understandable and approachable for a western audience, and in doing so has created a wonderful book. Even if you are not familar with the many epics of ancient India, I strongly recommend that you approach this book. It makes it very easy for westerners to understand and appreciate the cultural works of South Asia. Check it out.