The Fireside

Currently, I'm reading The Saga of the Volsungs , published by Penguin as part of their Legends From the Ancient North series (other titles include Beowulf, The Elder Edda, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Wanderer . I am quite enjoying it so far, as well as some similar books I've read lately. However I've yet to read any of these sagas. There a few different versions from a few publishers. There are 49 Sagas total, so I'm going to look at which editions of the Sagas offer what. First up is Penguin's Sagas of Icelanders . (ISBN: 9780141000039) This collection offers some of the Sagas and Tales, and is a great 'best of' in that sense, or greatest hits. This edition also 'matches' some of their other deluxe paperback editions, such as Robert Fagles' translations of The Iliad, The Odyssey and The Aeneid ; as well as some other titles (like Anna Karenina ). Please note that the pages are 'deckle edge', so they're supposed to loo...

Hwaet! I have an interest in Icelandic and Old Norse myths and legends. The old sagas and tales, they interest me. Have I read any? No, not yet... This interest was initially sparked with the publication of Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun . It was marketed quite well by both Houghton Mifflin and HarperCollins. I got the book around the publication date of May 2009 I believe it was. Over the years, I've also dabbled my toes in other areas related to some of the old legends and tales. The following year, 2010, saw HarperCollins start their print-on-demand service for some specific titles. One of them was for the 50th anniversary publication of The Saga of King Heidrek by Christopher Tolkien. A few years following that, Penguin published some of their titles under the theme of 'Legends From the Ancient North'. Titles include: Beowulf, The Elder Edda, The Saga of the Volsungs, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (all are re-published and existing translations at t...