I've wanted to give Mists of Avalon a shot for a while.
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
I like the John Steinbeck, but ISTR it's unfinished. Eta: yep [link]
This guy has some recommendations, though more in the way of references than novels. And I like his webcomic well enough.
Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset
Any recommendations for spinning of the Arthurian legends?
I've been meaning to try the Bernard Cornwell series The Warlord Chronicles, but it is a ways down my TBR list.
For a very different take on Arthuran legend Parke Godwin Firelord. I suggest skipping the sequel Beloved Exile. The Last Rainbow, the third in the series is first rate, but only peripherally Arthuran - about St. Patrick, but ties him to Arthuran legend. The series has what may be the best take ever on "Faerie" . Beloved Exile is weakened by losing that focus, and also by taking rape lightly (IMO).
Any recommendations for spinning of the Arthurian legends?
Ginger got in first. Rosemary Sutcliff has a series of novels set in Roman Britain, starting with Eagle of the Ninth (yes, that one). The Lantern Bearers is very good, and leads right into Sword at Sunset, which is gorgeously-written, well-researched (for the time, anyway), and totally heartbreaking. It's my ur-text for Arthur, and one of the reasons why most adaptations (written or filmed) don't do it for me.
Oh! That said, Gillian Bradshaw's Arthur sequence, starting with Hawk of May, is really good. And I hear great things about Elizabeth Wein, although I haven't gotten around to her yet.
Has anyone here read Code Name: Verity yet? It's getting a lot of attention on my LJ flist.
My YA book club is reading it this month, Consuela. I've heard it's fantastic.
I loved the Bradshaw trilogy.
Of course, the oldie is Mary Stewart's Merlin books. (Which I haven't read in ages and don't know how they stand up.)
starting with Eagle of the Ninth (yes, that one).
Did you see the movie, Consuela? From what I saw about it, I thought it was better to pretend it didn't exist.
I'm trying to reread all the dolphin ring Sutcliffs, and I'm up to Sword at Sunset now. The Lantern Bearers is pretty heartbreaking too. Many of her books I would not tagged as Young Adult, although heart breaking is more the norm these days.