100 books like Lore Of The Land

By Jennifer Westwood, Jacqueline Simpson,

Here are 100 books that Lore Of The Land fans have personally recommended if you like Lore Of The Land. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Pagan Celtic Britain

Sharon Paice MacLeod Author Of Celtic Cosmology and the Otherworld: Mythic Origins, Sovereignty and Liminality

From my list on authentic Celtic mythology, religion, and cosmology.

Why am I passionate about this?

My passion for Celtic cultures, languages, and traditions comes from my family, where singing and storytelling were common. I worked as a singer and musician, and trained in Celtic Studies through Harvard University. That was an amazing experience, and research in Scotland and Ireland expanded my knowledge tremendously. I taught Celtic literature, mythology, and folklore at numerous colleges, and am Expert Contributor in Iron Age Pagan Celtic Religion for the Database of Religious History at the University of British Columbia, and invited Old Irish translator for the upcoming Global Medieval Sourcebook at Stanford University. I wake up every day excited to share the historical realities of these amazing cultures and beliefs!

Sharon's book list on authentic Celtic mythology, religion, and cosmology

Sharon Paice MacLeod Why did Sharon love this book?

This classic and unsurpassed study of iconography and literature pertaining to deities and various types of symbolism found in Celtic myth, I think has often been overlooked by students... as well as by enthusiasts, who inexplicably prefer trying to discern the veracities of topics related to Celtic paganism through online chat rooms, where many posts (including heated arguments and mind-boggling claims and posturing) rarely seem to culminate in any kind of helpful or accurate conclusions. And readers and seekers deserve better!

I would highly recommend that people step away from the phone, and pick up this book! So many of the questions that never seem to get answered on social media are both answered and clarified in this excellent work (which I use myself!). The chapters talk about a variety of gods and goddesses, and mythic themes (with examples from Britain, Ireland, Gaul, and the Continent) including horned gods, the…

By Anne Ross,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Pagan Celtic Britain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Although some aspects of pre-Roman and pre-Christian beliefs remain shrouded in mystery, the author of this comprehensive, profusely illustrated volume contends that neither the Roman invasion of Britain nor the coming of Christianity eliminated pagan religious practice. Dr Anne Ross, who speaks Gaelic and Welsh, writes from wide experience of living in Celtic speaking communities where she has traced vernacular tradition. She employs archaeological and anthropological evidence, as well as folklore, to provide broad insight into the early Celtic world. She begins by examining Celtic places of worship, the shrines and sanctuaries in which sacred objects were housed and from…


Book cover of Britain Begins

Brian Haughton Author Of Haunted Spaces, Sacred Places: A Field Guide to Stone Circles, Crop Circles, Ancient Tombs, and Supernatural Landscapes

From my list on folklore and traditions of ancient sacred places.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been fascinated by ancient sacred sites since I first visited the ancient Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border decades ago. I am interested in how the study of folklore and local traditions can be used in conjunction with archaeology to trace the origins and purposes of ancient monuments. I am an author and researcher who has had seven books published on the subjects of ancient civilizations, prehistoric monuments, and supernatural folklore. Born in Birmingham, England, I am a qualified archaeologist with a BA in European Archaeology from the University of Nottingham, and an MPhil in Greek Archaeology from Birmingham University.

Brian's book list on folklore and traditions of ancient sacred places

Brian Haughton Why did Brian love this book?

I was attracted to this book as it uses the most up-to-date archaeological evidence together with new work on DNA and other scientific techniques to tell the story of the origins of the British and the Irish peoples, from around 10,000BC to the eve of the Norman Conquest. Whilst there are new archaeological discoveries made every week, one or two of which could potentially challenge some of the ideas in this work, at the moment it is the most up-to-date book on the subject which we have, and as such should be treasured.  

By Barry Cunliffe,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Britain Begins as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The last Ice Age, which came to an end about 12,000 years ago, swept the bands of hunter gatherers from the face of the land that was to become Britain and Ireland, but as the ice sheets retreated and the climate improved so human groups spread slowly northwards, re-colonizing the land that had been laid waste. From that time onwards Britain and Ireland have been continuously inhabited and the resident population has increased from a few hundreds to more than 60
million.

Britain Begins is nothing less than the story of the origins of the British and the Irish peoples,…


Book cover of The Greek Myths

Lance Lee Author Of Orpheus Rising: By Sam And His Father John With Some Help From A Very Wise Elephant Who Likes To Dance

From my list on YA/middle grade fantasy and their parents.

Why am I passionate about this?

I don't write within received categories: our lives aren't lived in categories, but are full of varying realities, whether of home, childhood, marriage, parenthood, fantasy, dream, work, or relaxation, and more all mixed together. I can't write in any other way, however dominant a particular strand or age may be on the surface in a given work. Orpheus Rising may have a child hero, and a fantastic, elegant Edwardian Elephant as a spirit guide, but it let me tell a story of love lost and regained, of family broken and remade, of a father in despair and remade, themes of real importance in any life.

Lance's book list on YA/middle grade fantasy and their parents

Lance Lee Why did Lance love this book?

This is the best collection of the Greek Myths I believe, and of course covers the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, the direct inspiration for my book. In the classical myth the poet and musician Orpheus loses his love, Eurydice, and sings his way into Hades, overcoming all opposition, until even Hades agrees to let him have Eurydice back in the living world, so long as he does not look back at her until returned there. Once in daylight he does look back, and loses her forever as she hasn't stepped into daylight too. However, unlike Orpheus my young hero succeeds.

By Robert Graves,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Greek Myths as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Robert Graves's classic retelling of the Greek Myths is definitive, comprehensive and unparalleled - and available now in the Penguin Classics Deluxe series, featuring a new introduction from Rick Riordan (bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and Olympian series).

Including many of the greatest stories ever told - the labours of Hercules, the voyage of the Argonauts, Theseus and the minotaur, Midas and his golden touch, the Trojan War and Odysseus's journey home - Robert Graves's superb and comprehensive retelling of the Greek myths for a modern audience has been regarded for over fifty years as the definitive version.

With…


Book cover of Avebury: Biography of a Landscape

Brian Haughton Author Of Haunted Spaces, Sacred Places: A Field Guide to Stone Circles, Crop Circles, Ancient Tombs, and Supernatural Landscapes

From my list on folklore and traditions of ancient sacred places.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been fascinated by ancient sacred sites since I first visited the ancient Rollright Stones on the Oxfordshire/Warwickshire border decades ago. I am interested in how the study of folklore and local traditions can be used in conjunction with archaeology to trace the origins and purposes of ancient monuments. I am an author and researcher who has had seven books published on the subjects of ancient civilizations, prehistoric monuments, and supernatural folklore. Born in Birmingham, England, I am a qualified archaeologist with a BA in European Archaeology from the University of Nottingham, and an MPhil in Greek Archaeology from Birmingham University.

Brian's book list on folklore and traditions of ancient sacred places

Brian Haughton Why did Brian love this book?

Dating back over 4,500 years, Avebury is the world's largest prehistoric stone circle. It stands inside a village in Wiltshire, southern England. This book is not just a biography of the ancient site itself but also of the fascinating and highly unusual ritual landscape surrounding it. The most detailed, interesting, and clearly expressed account of the origins of Avebury I have read. The context of this magnificent prehistoric site is finally revealed in all its mysterious glory.

By Joshua Pollard, Andrew Reynolds,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Avebury as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Designated a World Heritage Site, the landscape around Avebury in north Wiltshire contains a remarkable wealth of archaeological remains, including some of the most spectacular prehistoric monuments in Europe. Incorporating extensive research and fieldwork from the last ten years, this is the only book to explore the landscape context of Avebury over six millennia. There is of course a full description and interpretation of the impressive Neolithic monuments within the immediate area (including the Avebury henge itself), but the authors range far wider in both space and time. Extending from early prehistory, through the Roman occupation, to the Anglo-Saxon and…


Book cover of Down the Long Wind

Kit Whitfield Author Of In the Heart of Hidden Things

From my list on to feel like you’re living inside their folklore.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a lifelong nature-lover, and for me, the old folk tales are deeply tied to this: the history of our attempts to give meaning to the beautiful and the unsafe. I spent a lot of time in the West Country as a child, and that shaped my imagination: the tangible magic of a landscape with chalk bones and golden snails and birds that exploded from the hedgerows before you. When I came to write my own folktales, that was the magic I wanted. And that’s what I love in books: the way they can make you feel like you’re standing on the soil of someone else’s inner world. 

Kit's book list on to feel like you’re living inside their folklore

Kit Whitfield Why did Kit love this book?

Oh, I cried my eyes out over this book when I was a kid! It’s a tale of Arthurian Britain, but somehow it reads, more than any other I’ve seen, like a historical novel – less T.H. White than Rosemary Sutcliffe. Bradshaw grounds it deeply in Welsh rather than French culture, and the magic feels eerily normal – terrifying, but also just part of the weave of the world. Add to this characters you get truly attached to, and it’s bewitching in the best sense; the book lingers in my imagination like a place I once lived when I was a child – and imaginatively, that’s what it is. 

By Gillian Bradshaw,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Down the Long Wind as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Intelligent and imaginative...even the magic convinces."
-Mary Renault, author of The King Must Die

On The Path Toward Greatness, Every Hero Makes a Choice

Legends sing of Sir Gawain, one of the most respected warriors of King Arthur's reign and one of the greatest champions of all time. But this is not that story. This is the story of Gwalchmai, middle son of the beautiful, infinitely evil sorceress Morgawse, and gifted student of her dark magical arts. A story of an uncertain man, doubting his ability to follow his elder brother's warrior prowess and seeking to find his own identity…


Book cover of Concepts of Arthur

Nicholas J. Higham Author Of King Arthur: The Making of the Legend

From my list on the origins of King Arthur.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a university historian and archaeologist my focus has been the Early Middle Ages. In the 1990s I wrote several books about the fifth and sixth centuries which barely mentioned Arthur but popular histories and films based on his story just kept coming, so I decided to look again at his story and work out how and why it developed as it did. I have published three well-received books on the subject, each of which builds on the one before, plus articles that have been invited to be included in edited volumes. I disagree with much in the five books above but collectively they reflect the debate across my lifetime. It is a great debate, I hope you enjoy it. 

Nicholas' book list on the origins of King Arthur

Nicholas J. Higham Why did Nicholas love this book?

Green’s book is a great read, very scholarly, and inclusive of a great deal of comparatively early source material on Arthur. If you want a good discussion of how you could go from a figure of Celtic myth to one of history, again and again in multiple stories, this is the best guide to that journey and deserves a hearing, whether ultimately you agree with it or not. You’ll probably not be surprised to hear that I am not persuaded, despite my considerable respect for the arguments made herein, largely for the same reasons as I noted in looking at Padel’s work above. It is extraordinarily difficult to determine whether Arthur passed from ‘history’ to folk-lore or folk-lore to ‘history’, better in my view to not distinguish these as two separate genres with this much clarity.

As usual, it all comes down to the Historia Brittonum, which is called…

By Thomas Green,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Concepts of Arthur as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ever since Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote his 'History of the Kings of Britain' in the twelfth century, there have been numerous attempts to prove that the Arthur of Celtic legend was in fact based on an actual historical figure. This trend continues to the present day, although as yet no definitive literary or archaeological proof has emerged for Arthur's existence.
In this new and vigorous re-examination of the Arthurian legend, Thomas Green considers the earliest surviving literary and folkloric sources for Arthur and contests the belief that he was an actual person. Far from being an historical figure, Arthur emerges…


Book cover of The Arthurian Encyclopedia

Helen Fulton Author Of A Companion to Arthurian Literature

From my list on sensible stories about King Arthur.

Why am I passionate about this?

I came to the Arthurian legends through the medium of medieval Welsh literature, a subject that had intrigued and challenged me since I was an undergraduate. I found the language impenetrable and yet beautiful, while the literature it encoded was fascinatingly unlike the literary traditions of England and France. I wanted to connect with a version of Arthur that preceded the romance traditions of France and England and bears witness to a much older culture and social organisation. Though I've learned to love other versions of Arthur, and indeed I teach the Arthurian legends as part of my academic work, the stark drama of the Welsh poems and tales continues to intrigue me.

Helen's book list on sensible stories about King Arthur

Helen Fulton Why did Helen love this book?

This was one of the first Arthurian reference books and remains one of the best.

Its comprehensive scope, covering Arthurian legends and characters across many European literatures, provides answers to all possible questions about the world of Arthur. The format of short alphabetical entries is perfect for browsing – you will find all you need to know about the Bleeding Lance or the ‘Gargantuan Chronicles’ among many other lesser-known Arthurian curiosities.

I found this book invaluable when I was preparing my own book and I still dip into it when teaching students.

By Norris J Lacy (editor), Geoffrey Ashe (editor), Sandra Ness Ihle (editor) , Marianne E. Kalinke (editor) , Raymond H. Thompson (editor)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Arthurian Encyclopedia as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Discusses the literary, musical, and film versions of the story of King Arthur and surveys the characters, themes, and history of the Arthur legend


Book cover of The Sword in the Stone

Tom Mitchell Author Of How to Stop the End of the World

From my list on classic kids’ adventure stories that may or may not feature a sword.

Why am I passionate about this?

Full disclosure: I don’t know much about swords. But as a children’s author and English teacher, I’ve learnt what makes kids want to pick up a book. In short, make it fun! My teenage membership in the Young Archaeologists Club sparked my love of history and archeology. It wasn’t quite as glamorous as Indiana Jones would have you believe, but the idea that hidden treasures might be lurking under our gardens has fascinated me ever since.

Tom's book list on classic kids’ adventure stories that may or may not feature a sword

Tom Mitchell Why did Tom love this book?

Who doesn’t love this book? Only those who haven’t read it.

I love the blend of humour and adventure but, in particular, the way that White transforms these characters from mythical figures to real people. And what a story! Which, you may have forgotten, also features an appearance from another legendary British figure: Robin Hood.

Lots of swords in this one.

By T. H. White,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Sword in the Stone as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

The extraordinary story of a boy called Wart - ignored by everyone except his tutor, Merlyn - who goes on to become King Arthur.

Collins Modern Classics are re-launched with gorgeous new covers bringing these timeless story to a new generation.

"Come, sword," said the Wart. He took hold of the handles with both hands, and strained against the stone... but nothing moved...

When the wizard Merlyn comes to tutor Sir Ector's sons, Kay and the Wart, studying suddenly becomes much more exciting. After all, who wouldn't enjoy being turned into a fish, or a badger, or a snake?

But…


Book cover of Taliesin

R. A. Whitworth Author Of A Retreating Tide

From my list on breaking the fantasy cliché with mythical themes.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since I was a child the world has fascinated me. I’ve grown up with a deep love of reading and passion for the natural world, so much so that this often inspires both my writing and my artwork. As an artist and writer I seek to showcase the wonder and magic in the world. I have been able to draw upon ancient legends for inspiration into how people’s minds worked in the deep past and use it to enrich my writing further to cement the stories into our world and become more tangible. As a part-time adventurer, it’s only natural that my novels should be that.

R. A.'s book list on breaking the fantasy cliché with mythical themes

R. A. Whitworth Why did R. A. love this book?

Although magic doesn’t feature as strongly in this as the other recommendations and in the subsequent books in the series, I recommend this it cleverly disguises magic within the world, it's not showy but still believable, something which makes you think. It's also a gripping tale that connects Atlantis with the stories around King Arthur.

By Stephen R. Lawhead,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Taliesin as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A magnificent tale which begins with the tragedy of Atlantis and the arrival in Britain of King Avallach. In this world, Celtic chieftains struggle for survival in the twilight of Rome's power, and one heroic figure towers over all, the Prince Taliesin, in whom is the sum of human greatness. This is a tale of a love that spawns the miracle of Merlin and Arthur and a destiny that is more than a kingdom.


Book cover of An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies and Other Supernatural Creatures

Hal Johnson Author Of Apprentice Academy: Sorcerers: The Unofficial Guide to the Magical Arts

From my list on magic not to let your parents catch you reading.

Why am I passionate about this?

The only thing I love reading more than books about myth and legend are books you’re not supposed to read. George Bataille once wrote that if you ever caught him producing a book that he risked nothing to write, you should throw it away, and I take that to heart. Every book should be dangerous, because only danger makes you think. I hope every book I’ve written is, in some sense, dangerous, although of course I also hope my readers do not get ripped to pieces by the devil. That’s a little too dangerous. 

Hal's book list on magic not to let your parents catch you reading

Hal Johnson Why did Hal love this book?

Katharine Briggs spent her whole life learning every single thing about every fairy, goblin, bogie, and sprite, and she put it all in one book.

Now, fairies are famous for their dislike of being talked about—cautious people refer to them as “the fair folk” or “the people of peace” so as not to offend. But Briggs put it right in the title! An Encyclopedia of Fairies! That was a very dangerous thing to do.

If your parents know anything about anything, they will object to your reading a book so dangerous. Still, you’ve got to learn these things sometime, don’t you?

By Katharine M. Briggs,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked An Encyclopedia of Fairies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A complete guide to fairy lore from the Middle Ages to the present. Both an anthology of fairy tales and a reference work with essays about the fairy economy, food, sports, powers and more.


Book cover of Pagan Celtic Britain
Book cover of Britain Begins
Book cover of The Greek Myths

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