88 books like Lord of Sherwood

I read this book so many years ago, but it has stayed with me. It struck me then, as it does now, as revolutionary in that it was one of the first retellings of the Arthurian myth from the female perspective.

I took a class on Arthurian Literature in university, and the tales of the period are obviously male-dominated. But The Mists of Avalon showed me a way into the female characters in the tale, and they are fascinating.

This inventive novel is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but what I enjoyed most about it is the portrayal of the “Fairy Folk” of myth. The Fae.

In most myths, we encounter the dark side of the Fae, the gruesome and frightening side. In modern times we have reduced these creatures to flower fairies. What I loved about this novel is that Maas sticks with the dangerous and malevolent portrayal of these immortals, and she weaves a beautiful mythic tale into their world.

I had stopped reading children’s and teen fiction for a couple of years, for the first time in my half a century of life, and then I read A Curse So Dark and Lonely.

There’s a different sort of adventure here, and I think I related to Harper a little bit extra because I have a chronic illness and when it flares up, my limp is so very obvious. It felt good to see magic + that realism.

The combination of magic, a protagonist I could connect to, and fairy tale elements made me start opening the covers of other books I’d bought and shelved.

This passionate paranormal romance between a talented soprano singer and a macabre musical genius blends mythical aspects of a legendary ghost haunting the Paris Opera House. I was enthralled by the supernatural forces and deliciously dark seduction of Christine Daaé by the unlikely Romantic hero, the Phantom. I enjoyed how the chivalrous Raoul, le Vicomte de Chagny, nobly battles the diabolical Phantom like a medieval knight defending his Lady. I read this classic in its original French language version while obtaining my MA in French literature, and I loved both the English translation as well as the modern musical film adaptation.

As an archery enthusiast, I always feel a bit Maid Marian when I’m practicing with my bow and arrow! This historical YA reimagining of Robin Hood gives a new perspective on one of our most beloved childhood tales. However, it doesn’t focus on Robin as we’d expect but instead on his teenage daughter as she flees the clutches of King John in search of the father she has never known. Finding herself forced into a world of criminals to search for safety. This is a great adaptation and gives the story a whole new angle which makes it feel brand-new yet still features the beloved characters we’d wish to see. I love that this book allows you to rediscover such a classic story all over again!

I will read anything by Parke Godwin. His command of language and his talent for bringing history to life won me over from the first book. In Sherwood, he takes on Robin Hood, whose legend is compiled of stories collected over a 200-year period. Godwin sets the story a hundred years prior to the legend, in the time of William the Conqueror. Sherwood gives us the life of a brash young Saxon landholder, displaced by the conquerors, who leads a guerrilla resistance from Sherwood Forest. It also paints a sympathetic young sheriff of Nottingham, who starts as Robin’s foe but grows to admire the outlaw—and falls in love with his wife Marian.

Embark on a fascinating exploration of Zen philosophy and its connection to the mastery of archery in Eugen Herrigel's captivating book.

As Herrigel recounts his six-year journey in Japan, learning the ancient art of archery under a master archer, he reveals profound insights into the Zen principles of mindfulness, discipline, and the unity of mind and body. As Herrigel learned the art of archery, we must undergo similar experiences in our own lives, be it learning to code or learning how to raise children.

I see the difficulties in this every day when I work as a trainer. This text highlights the difficulty of learning something essential as Zen and puts my own learning into perspective. This classic text elegantly interweaves personal experience with timeless wisdom.

This book is about "not stopping" but going forward, step by step. 

This is one of my favourite books and I believe it is essential reading for any golfer looking for the secret to performing under pressure. The lessons from Zen archery are a must for any player who has experienced the thrill of the perfect shot and wondered why it was so effortless. Using the detailed example of the archer’s training regime, this book explains how the breathing, the body’s physical centre, and true balance all unite in the moment the arrow is released towards the target. In the same way, I have tried to teach golfers about the fundamentals of the martial arts for creating a state of relaxed readiness, this book shares the author’s insights gained over many years of practice, to achieve the pure simplicity of action within non-action. 

The controversial topic of the English longbow continues to haunt medieval warfare studies today. I was delighted to read this robust book which convinced me with its clear argument that the “long” bow was not itself a revolutionary new weapon of the later Middle Ages, but a bow that had evolved over time and which had always been significant in medieval warfare. Throughout there are lots of absorbing accounts of battles.

The memory of a primary school-teacher reading this book to the class has remained with me for decades, and was partly responsible for me wanting to write stories of my own.

Living in a historic village myself, the idea of Peter, the young protagonist, finding a rusty, medieval gauntlet and, after slipping his hand into it, being transported back to a life in that era, appealed so much to me that I spent a lot of time digging the vegetable garden afterwards in the hope of unearthing something similar.

That Peter then buries a different object in 1326, which he digs up in the twentieth century to prove the truth of his experience, really fired my imagination and left me fascinated by time-bending stories ever since.