I first started reading this a couple years ago, but I never got past the first canto–not because I was bored or didn’t like the story, but simply because I had been reading it on the side and I forgot to keep up with it. I remember not being terribly impressed with it, considering I wasn’t very fond of Gawain’s love, Elfinhart, or even Gawain himself. However, when I picked it up again and just read it straight through in one sitting (and aloud), I just fell in love with it. It’s so lilting and beautifully written, and while I know every Arthurian writer has a habit of calling every knight the “most virtuous” or pure or whatever, you really do start to believe it of this version of Gawain. I really can’t think of anything I disliked about it, except maybe that poetry isn’t usually my genre of choice.

What I Liked: