Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Myths!


One of the great books of my childhood, and as it turns out my adulthood too is the brightly colored volume by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. I discovered this book in my local library, became fascinated both with Greco-Roman mythology and the art which so vividly brought it to life. I already loved the juiced up myths found in the comics in books like Charlton's Hercules and Marvel's Thor, but here were the real deals in over-sized color glory.



And years later, I bought myself a copy of the volume. I bought more than a few, and shared them happily with my daughters as they were growing up. This was a book I wanted them to love as much as I did. They didn't, but they do remember it nonetheless and that's something.


But for all these years, I remembered there was another volume in that school library which intoxicated me also, a book not on Greek Myth, but on Norse Myth. as well. I never found it anywhere, and eventually imagined I might've made it up. The book itself might've been a myth.

Then a few months ago I found the Book of Norse Myths on Amazon. I immediately ordered a copy and though it's not quite as large as my Greek Myth volume, it's still lovely. I'm very happy to have it at long last.


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2 comments:

  1. Those books are great. My story is pretty close to yours, I wore out my library's copies of these, and got copies for a gift as an adult years ago. I've been wanting to do a post on them but couldn't fit them on my scanner.

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    1. The only word that fits these outstanding books is charming. I simply adore them. Glad to have an amigo out there who gets it.

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