First published in 1485, Thomas Malory's Le Morte d’Arthur collected the mythological-historical legends about King Arthur from numerous source texts into a comprehensive prose narrative divided into plot sections and written in late Middle English. Although multiple men named Thomas Malory lived around that time, the most likely author was an English knight, later a prisoner in Newgate, who would have been educated in all the practices of “courtesy” (knightly conduct). The title of his... Read The Death of King Arthur Summary

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"The Epic of Gilgamesh" is the oldest existing myth in the world. It tells of the historical king Gilgamesh who reigned over Mesopotamia (in what is now Iraq) around 2750 BCE. The author of the poem is unknown, for "The Epic of Gilgamesh" is sourced from multiple fragments that have been excavated since the 19th century. The earliest versions of the epic are written in Sumerian and date to about 2100 BCE. The current translation... Read The Epic of Gilgamesh Summary

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The Hidden Oracle (2016) is the first installment in Rick Riordan’s The Trials of Apollo, a five-book fantasy series for young readers. Inspired by Greek and Roman mythology and history, the books follow the fallen god Apollo on a quest to rescue the five Oracles from a group of foes. The Trials of Apollo series takes place in the same universe as Riordan’s popular Percy Jackson oeuvre. Praised for its humor, The Hidden Oracle earned... Read The Hidden Oracle Summary

Originally composed in Latin, The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth claims to be a history of Britain’s kings from the island’s founding by Trojan descendent Brutus in 1200 BCE, to the Britons’ abandonment of the island in the seventh century CE. The text first appeared in the 1130s and was immediately popular, inspiring retellings and adaptations by writers and artists through the centuries. Because its historical merit is almost nonexistent... Read The History of the Kings of Britain Summary

The House of Hades is the fourth of five books in the Heroes of Olympus series, which follows seven Greek and Roman demigods on a quest to prevent the rise of the earth goddess Gaea, who is bent on destroying the world.The House of Hades was written by Rick Riordan, a New York Times bestselling author who explores Roman and Greek Mythology in these two series. Riordan is the publisher of an imprint with Disney... Read The House of Hades Summary

The Iliad is a classic ancient Greek epic poem attributed to Homer, a name believed to refer to a tradition of epic hexameter verse rather than an individual composer. When, how, and by whom the poem was composed continues to be debated. Scholars generally believe the poem was composed and passed on orally, possibly over hundreds of years, before it was written down at some point during the mid-8th century BC (approximately when the Greek... Read The Iliad Summary

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The Journey to the West: Volume I (1983), translated and edited by Anthony C. Yu, contains the first 25 chapters of a 100-chapter hero’s epic, an allegory designed to impart knowledge on how to behave and what values to extol. Originally published in the late 16th century during the late Ming Dynasty, this epic is “loosely based on the famous pilgrimage of Xuanzang…the monk who went from China to India in quest of Buddhist scriptures”... Read Journey to the West: Volume I Summary

“The Lady of Shalott,” one of Lord Alfred Tennyson’s best-known poems, is a four-part lyrical ballad loosely inspired by the 13th-century Italian novella Donna di Scalotta. It makes use of vivid romantic language and heavy symbolism. Based on Arthurian legend and medieval sources, the poem tells the story of Elaine of Astolat, a fictional woman confined to a tower overlooking the fields surrounding Camelot. The Lady of Shalott falls in unrequited love with Sir Lancelot... Read The Lady Of Shalott Summary

The Lais of Marie de France is a collection of 12 romantic narratives—known as Breton Lais—composed in the late 12th century and credited to the French-English poet Marie de France. The lay or lai is a short tale of octosyllabic rhyming couplets which is generally 600–1000 lines long. It can be accompanied by music and is typical of Brittany, a Northern French region with strong Celtic influences. Themes of love, chivalry and the supernatural are... Read The Lais of Marie de France Summary

Rick Riordan’s The Last Olympian is the fifth and final installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Published in 2009, this fantasy children’s book was a #1 bestseller on the lists of USA Today, the LA Times, and the Wall Street Journal. The novel follows the teenage demigod Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and of a mortal woman. He and other demigods spend their summers at Camp Half-Blood, located in Long Island, NY.When... Read The Last Olympian Summary

The Latehomecomer, a memoir by Kao Kalia Yang, was published in 2008. It won the Minnesota Book Award and was a finalist for the PEN USA Literary Award for Nonfiction. Yang was born in Thailand’s Ban Vinai Refugee Camp in 1980 and immigrated to St. Paul, Minnesota when she was six years old. She is a graduate of Carleton College and Columbia University and co-founder of Words Wanted, an organization committed to helping immigrants with... Read The Latehomecomer Summary

Libation Bearers is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Aeschylus, first produced in 458 BCE at the City Dionysia in Athens. Libation Bearers is the second part of the Oresteia, a trilogy exploring the themes of justice, retribution, and the cyclical pattern of bloodshed within the family of the mythical king Agamemnon. Following the events of Agamemnon, the first tragedy of Aeschylus’s Oresteia, the play depicts the murder of Clytaemestra, the queen of... Read The Libation Bearers Summary

Book DetailsThe Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, published in 2005, is the first installment in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, a six-book fantasy series for young readers. It was named School Library Journal’s Best Book of 2005, an American Library Association Notable Book (2006), and a New York Times Notable Book (2005). The book follows its young protagonist, Percy Jackson, as he discovers that he is a demigod and embarks on a journey save his... Read The Lightning Thief Summary

Rick Riordan’s 2010 YA novel, The Lost Hero, tells the story of three demigods: Jason Grace, son of Jupiter/Zeus; Piper McClean, daughter of Aphrodite; and Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. The book alternates between narrating these three characters’ thoughts and experiences in free indirect discourse. Each has a distinctive style: Jason is vaguely confused, but aware of others’ high expectations; Piper is lovelorn over Jason, and self-pitying because her father’s fame has weakened their bond;... Read The Lost Hero Summary

Published in 2012, The Mark of Athena is the third novel in Rick Riordan’s young adult fantasy series The Heroes of Olympus, his second series in the Percy Jackson universe inspired by Greek and Roman mythologies. The Mark of Athena picks up the narrative where The Son of Neptune left off, with a Greek warship from Camp Half-Blood approaching Roman Camp Jupiter in hopes of collaborating to stop Gaea from waking up and destroying the... Read The Mark Of Athena Summary