Beowulf (Seamus Heaney)

"That was one good king"

Our group's only real concession to anything which could be labelled "literature" (at least with a straight face). It really is where a lot of the anglo-saxon myth that pervades fantasy fiction has been spawned from. "Beowulf" deserves to be read by every fan of the genre - it's a simplistic story in three acts, it's elegaic, poignant and above all epic. I admit it can be hard work, but I have to say that Heaney's beautiful, appropriate and accurate translation captures the feel of what the Beowulf-poet was probably trying to accomplish originally.

If you like it, try Michael Crichton's "Eaters Of the Dead", a slightly skewed and less mythic retelling of the same tale It's the book upon which the film "The Thirteenth Warrior" (which I rate) was based.