I have a feeling I'm going to strongly identify with this movie.
From FAINTHEART ON MYSPACE: "Faintheart is a hilarious and heartwarming British romantic comedy set in the world of Viking battle re-enactments"
Yep, that's definitely British humor. Looks like it'll be released in the UK February 2009. Maybe us Americans will get it this spring too?
Happy 50th Anniversary to the Society for Medieval Archaeology! In celebration of the last half-century of publishing, they have released those 50 volumes online for FREE, all in a convenient PDF format.
Of course there are terms of use which you should read...if you chose to fall down the rabbit hole for a whole weekend like I have.
In a library I used to go to long, long ago, a few of the real volumes inspired me as a child, but many of the words or concepts were beyond me. These were the types of reference books that could not be 'checked out' so I had to read them there.
When I pointed out to the librarian that some of the words were misspelled, such as colour, theatre, and catalogue, I learned that the curious way in which the text was written was the "Queen's English".
Being born in Britain, this was one of the earliest memories I have of discovering my ancestry, since we left before I have any real memories of the place.
I learned a lot about the history of Britain from these treasures, and now that I can go back and re-read, and finally understand, the body of work as a whole, I don't doubt I'll be re-inspired in a whole new way.
Maybe I'll buy a metal detector and take a trip to the homeland...
If only more kids would take this course, then I'm betting we'd end up with a lot more nice grownups. Too bad this is all the way over in the UK, though. Better than boarding school, eh?
I'm not sure I can agree with Lesson #9, though. Me without a blade is never going to happen.
Ten years ago, when I first read The Eagle and the Raven, I was awed by the scope and power of this story. Being a borrowed book, I vowed that someday I would find my own copy and read it again. At the time, I was fully entrenched in what I call 'my Celtic thing' back in the early 90's, and chewed through enough reference material to make your head burst from all the knotwork.
This book is 'historical fiction' about the Roman conquest of Britain, seen through the eyes of various chieftains, and ending with Boudicca, the Queen of the Iceni. Most of the dust jackets and press that has been written about this book focus completely on her, but in reality, only about a quarter of the book is from her point of view.
I will try not to spoil the ending, but the last climactic battle is worth the 900 pages of story. Makes me want to go beat some Romans. In fact, ten years ago, after the first read, I was so moved that I went out and bought Iceni coins to show my support for the Boudiccan Revolution.
The character development of the chieftains, warriors and tribes ( like the Catuvellauni and the Iceni ) along with the sprawling plot make this book a MUST READ for anyone interested in the roots of Celticism, British History or Roman influence.
Pauline Gedge certainly tweaks a few of the names and possibilities, but overall does a great job of telling this story. She makes the chieftains seem very real, and her good use of drama helps move the story along during the slower parts.
It appears to be back in print now, which is good. I had to scour used bookstores for ten years to find this copy. No, you can't borrow it. Get your own.
