The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends (Mammoth Books)

by Peter Berresford Ellis

Paperback, 2003

Status

Available

Call number

PR6070.R366 C47

Publication

Robinson Publishing (2003), Paperback, 536 pages

Description

Developed from an early oral storytelling tradition dating back to the dawn of European culture, this is one of the oldest and most vibrant of Europe's mythologies. From all six Celtic cultures - Irish, Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Manx and Breton - Peter Berresford Ellishas included popular myths and legends, as well as bringing to light exciting new tales which have been lying in manuscript form, untranslated and unknown to the modern general reader. The author brings not only his extensive knowledge of source material but also his acclaimed skills of storytelling to produce an original, enthralling and definitive collection of Celtic myths and legends - tales of gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, magical weapons, fabulous beasts, and entities from the ancient Celtic world.… (more)

Language

Original publication date

1998

ISBN

1841192481 / 9781841192482

User reviews

LibraryThing member ablueidol
Useful source of celtic stories and legends but from a oral performance perspective raw material only that needs a lot of work to make them live for the listener as they once would have.
LibraryThing member yvonnekins
The Love of Fand was just a goddamn mess of a story and it wasn't even compellingly written. I read a few of the other stories, none of which were especially entertaining or well-written, so I'm just gonna take the L on this one.

I'm really disappointed, I love mythology and really enjoyed the
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episodes about Cu Chulainn in the podcast Myths & Legends (highly recommend that podcast by the way) and decided to try reading this as I had seen it floating around in the past when I was looking for Celtic mythology recs. Ironic that it's the Cu Chulainn story in this book that made me decide to put it down.

I appreciate the authors efforts, and Celtic mythology definitely deserves to share some of the spotlight with the more popular myths out there, but... I'm not going to put myself through reading something I'm not enjoying.

Maybe I'll eventually continue, but for now I'm putting it down.
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LibraryThing member jpsnow
This giant, delightful tome showcases a selection of legend stories from each region of the British isles. Ancient tales can feel tedious when you get to the parts where the same series of events is repeated, typically in threes, sometimes going on for multiple paragraphs each time. Setting aside
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these and other more mundane tales, many of the other stories were distinctly captivating and beautiful.
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Physical description

536 p.

Pages

536
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