Reviews

The Oxford Book of Ballads by James Kinsley

rebeccacider's review

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5.0

I may need to buy this book. The selection of ballads I read were FABULOUS: strange, dramatic, silly, dark tales of love, sex, magic, and mayhem. Also very, very well-edited - Kinsley presents original texts, antiquated spelling and all, and his interpolations are clearly marked.

It's the sort of book that you can't read in the same room as another person because you will be compelled to interrupt them every five minutes with yet another wacky plot sketch of what you just read.

book_nut's review

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I never intended to finish this one: I was just interested in the ballads of Tam-Lin and Thomas the Rhymer. Which were both very interesting. I did flip through the rest of the book, and attempted to read some of the others (old English is difficult to read!), but I wasn't terribly interested. It did, however, make me curious about hearing some of the ballads sung, though.
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