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It's been a while since I've been on Goodreads - a good 6 months anyways - and I've got a lot of catching up to do! So all my reviews from this point on this year will be short and sweet reflections.
I decided to pick up The Canterbury tales because of a perverse need to read the classics. Not all the time, mind. Just enough to make me realize that they're better read in a group - preferably with someone who gets it.
But I will admit that I was pleasantly - and happily - surprised, as this adaptation of the original language was wonderfully and lovingly interpreted, with much of the original cadence and gist that the original has. Not an easy feat to be sure, but I applaud the author's honor to be true to it. It would have been daunting.
The reader's digest on this book of stories is that it is a group of strangers on their way to Canterbury on a pilgrimage. Their group tour leader basically cajoles them all to tell a story to the others to pass the time of day as they travel - because as we all know, travel back then was arduous (and sometimes dangerous) and there were no distractions to while away the time. So what better time distraction than listening to a story! And back then, they could really tell stories!
So the stories ranged from bad to good - and were long or short - but let me tell you they really entertained. There were some that had me laughing out loud - they were hilariously bawdy and crude. Others had great morals to offer. And the longest and most tedious was the one told by the preacher. (Go figure). That story was grueling to go through and in the end made me ever so glad that I'm alive and well in the 21st century and living in North America. No wonder they had to repent for sins - they really had to adhere to the letter of the religious law ...... or else.
Anyways it was a fun read. It also made me a little sad when I thought about whether or not this sort of thing could happen in our modern age. A group of strangers stuck together in an extended circumstance with no other distractions other than the stories we could tell each other. (insert sad face emoticon here).
I decided to pick up The Canterbury tales because of a perverse need to read the classics. Not all the time, mind. Just enough to make me realize that they're better read in a group - preferably with someone who gets it.
But I will admit that I was pleasantly - and happily - surprised, as this adaptation of the original language was wonderfully and lovingly interpreted, with much of the original cadence and gist that the original has. Not an easy feat to be sure, but I applaud the author's honor to be true to it. It would have been daunting.
The reader's digest on this book of stories is that it is a group of strangers on their way to Canterbury on a pilgrimage. Their group tour leader basically cajoles them all to tell a story to the others to pass the time of day as they travel - because as we all know, travel back then was arduous (and sometimes dangerous) and there were no distractions to while away the time. So what better time distraction than listening to a story! And back then, they could really tell stories!
So the stories ranged from bad to good - and were long or short - but let me tell you they really entertained. There were some that had me laughing out loud - they were hilariously bawdy and crude. Others had great morals to offer. And the longest and most tedious was the one told by the preacher. (Go figure). That story was grueling to go through and in the end made me ever so glad that I'm alive and well in the 21st century and living in North America. No wonder they had to repent for sins - they really had to adhere to the letter of the religious law ...... or else.
Anyways it was a fun read. It also made me a little sad when I thought about whether or not this sort of thing could happen in our modern age. A group of strangers stuck together in an extended circumstance with no other distractions other than the stories we could tell each other. (insert sad face emoticon here).
