Good reads for 2007

Heading towards the end of the year makes me all nostalgic for the books I've read this year (and horribly aware of what I haven't read, and how pathetically I keep track of what I've read...)

Over the years I've had a love/hate relationship with books about King Arthur - he seemed to pop up everywhere! Especially while I was struggling through Malory, or something even more obscure...

There was the time when, within about a month, Arthur was on Gargoyles AND, bizarrely, Babylon 5 and, yep, I was writing an essay on Malory...

So, this year, there were two teen novels about Arthur and that I actually liked...

Here lies Arthur by Philip Reeve. In which the main character, a slave girl Gwyna, is taken in by Mryddin and transformed into Gwyn. By being close to the action, Gwyna sees the work Mryddin does to create the legend of Arthur - something which is totally removed from the Dark Ages bully-boy he really is.

Song of the sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell. About Elaine of Ascolat - the Lady of Shallott - in free verse and set just before the Battle of Mount Badon.

So, a couple of recommendations for you...