In addition to the book I’m supposed to be writing for National Novel Writing Month, I”m also in the middle of reading three separate books.  Why three separate books?  Well, pretty much because none of them are individually keeping my attention.  I am enjoying one a little more than the other two, but honestly I’ll be happy to finish them all and move onto something that I really like.

The book I find I like the most is “The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights” by John Steinbeck.  Actually, I’m not sure that I can say I’m truly enjoying it, but I know when I finish I’ll be glad to have read it. 

Why on earth did I pick this book, you ask?  Well, I’ll tell you.  Like most of my interests, it traces back to my obsession with all things television.  I may have mentioned before that I’m in love with the BBC television show, Merlin.  While watching it though, I realized that while I know the rough outline of King Arthur, Guenevere and the rest of the Camelot gang, I don’t really know the legend in any depth. 

For instance during an episode of Merlin, a small boy’s life was saved by Arthur.  When asked the boy’s name at the very end of the episode, someone said, “His name is Mordred.”  Cue suspenseful “Dum, dum dum!” music as the episode faded to black.  Not being a complete moron, I thought to myself, “Hey, I bet that Mordred guy is probably pretty important.”

(Spoiler alert – I’ve read enough to now know that yes, Mordred is important.)

Anyway, the show piqued my interest and I went to the computer at Borders to search for books on King Arthur.  I could have gotten a copy of the original stories, of course, but honestly I’m a little intimidated by anything written in the 1400s.  So, I continued my search and was very happy to find John Steinbeck had begun a “translation” of sorts to make the old stories more readable and available to the masses (like me.) 

Conclusion:  I’m liking the book, but it is really, really dense and I’ll also be very happy when I’m finished.

 Next:  Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon