Mark Williams — Blog

What a month! The spooky season is over for another year, and I know I’ve said it already multiple times this year, but this was the quickest month I’ve ever experienced. I was thinking about maybe reading some spooky books, but I knew deep down that wasn’t going to happen due to how I am 100% a mood reader.

I finished five books this month; two audiobooks, two non fiction and one re-read and it was such a wonderful month of reading! The fact that I read two non-fictions in one month (again!) astounds me, but I guess since one of them was all about Greek pottery and was half images helps understand it better.

The first book I finished in October was Raelia by Lynette Noni. Raelia is the second book in the Medoran Chronicles which follows Alex, a teenage girl from Earth (Freya), who finds herself in a completely different world. This world, Medora, is full of gifted humans and other races of mortals, but most notable, the mysterious immortal race of the Meyarins and their lost city of Meya. I listened to the audiobook of Raelia and it was fantastic! It’s getting more intense, the stakes are getting higher, and the Stealth and Subterfuge part of this book was such a highlight!

The second book I read this month was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This was a re read and a buddy read with my lovely friend Myrthe over at SunflowerWinters, and it was truly a lovely time. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of those books I read for the first time when I was younger, about 13, and I have re read it multiple times since then (with one of those times being to study it in school). Although I definitely got more out of it in this re read, and there are subtle nuances that definitely went over my head in previous readings, the nostalgia that is connected to this book will always be there. I adore Scout as the narrator, and Atticus is one of the best father figures I have ever encountered in a piece of literary work. This will always be a favourite book, and a huge comfort read for me.

Book number three for October was The Greek Vase: Art of the Story Teller by John H. Oakley, and it was my first non-fiction read of the month. This richly illustrated book takes you on a journey through the history, creation, use and decoration of vessels from Ancient Greece from c. 800 BCE through to the Classical Period. Oakley takes you through the changes in designs throughout the years and reasons for fluctuation in subject choice, he takes you through the specific functions of each different type of vessel, and how often, the form, function and design are all interrelated. There were sections that delved into depictions of the gods and deities of Greek mythology, daily life of the ancient Greeks, and one of my favourite sections, the discussion around the makers of the vessels. I loved learning about how we have attributed some potters and painters to particular vessels, even if they didn't sign them. It’s all so fascinating, and if you haven’t noticed by now, I absolutely LOVE learning about pottery.

Coming to book number four is my favourite book of the month, and thats Draekora by Lynette Noni, the third book in the Medoran Chronicles. Once again I listened to the audiobook, and if I haven’t been clear thus far - I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook. The narrator is fantastic and you get so immersed into the story it’s hard to stop listening (I’m pretty sure I finished this book at 2am because I just couldn’t stop listening, the suspense was too much). In this instalment, you get a lot more Meya, and you get to learn a lot more about the Meyarins that you’re already familiar with, plus the brand new Draekora, and a couple of new characters (one of which has become my absolute favourite in the series). These books just keep getting more and more intense, and whenever I think Alex is in the clear and things are going her way, the plot does a 180 and I’m left completely stunned. If I had to wait for each of these books as they were released, I would have gone crazy. I am SO glad I get to just binge listen to this series. Read these books!!!!

The final book I finished in October is a book I’ve been reading since September, and that’s The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think by Mark Williams. I was kindly gifted a copy of this stunning book from Thames & Hudson to review both for my blog but also for World History Encyclopedia, so thankyou again Thames & Hudson! This book was a huge undertaking by Williams, who not only summaries the myths and legends in question, but also went into the language, the sources we know them from and their presence in modern literature and pop culture. I really enjoyed it but you would definitely get more out of it if you’re already familiar with the characters and myths, and even just the language of Celtic folklore. This quote really encapsulates the book perfectly.

Once again we are reminded that what we call ‘Celtic mythology’ is not a pure substance handed down from the pagan past, but a rich amalgam that developed over centuries.’ (213)

So that’s it for my October wrap up, hope you enjoyed reading this rundown of the books I read this month! Come and let me know over on Instagram (@kell_read) what genre you read the most this month on my wrap up reel!

★★★☆☆.75 I was provided a copy of The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think by Thames and Hudson.

What is the book about?

The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think by Mark Williams is a new look at the history and development of the tales at the centre of Celtic Mythology. Not only that, but he highlights the issues surrounding them, and ways in which they have been retold and reimagined for millennia. By the time the ‘Celtic myths’ were written down in the Middle Ages, not only were they already hundreds of years old, but were written after the influence of the Catholic Church. Williams works from the roots of these tales, he interrogates the sources in which we have drawn these legends and stories from, and unpacks the multiple meanings of, and the cultural impacts made by these legends.

Irish saga is remarkable for the richness and agency of its female characters. (171)

Thoughts and feelings

It is clear that this book has been researched, developed and written by someone with an incredible depth of knowledge and understanding both of the languages he is working with, and the entire corpus of source material. One of the highlights of this book is the times in which Williams includes his own translations to the tales in focus, which will definitely help the lay reader (me). It is these times that it becomes clear that you are reading a book written by a person who could not be more qualified to do so, not to mentioned the translated snippets were so helpful for someone like me who isn’t familiar with the tales focussed on in the book. Williams takes you on a journey through Celtic mythology, with first introducing what Celtic mythology is (which is especially important given that the writings of Celtic mythology all come from the medieval ages, and the term ‘Celtic’ is a very broad term), and then dives into well known figures like Arthur and Merlin, and perhaps less well known figures like Branwen, Cú Chulainn and Blodeuwedd. As William puts it in his introduction to The Nature of Celtic Mythology:

…for us, as for many heroes in Welsh and Irish tales, there is a fall of mist, and we find we have to enter an unfamiliar world with different rules. (7)

I’m torn with this book, because on the one hand I really enjoyed reading it, but on the other, I wish I knew more about the general history of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and their development of mythology and literature before jumping into this book. You can definitely enjoy it and get a lot out of it without any preexisting knowledge on Celtic literature and mythology, but Williams truly deep dives into the cultural history and impact of these legends as well as the development of the tales that you would definitely get more out of it if you were already at least familiar with the characters and stories he explores. Even just having some sort of familiarity with the Celtic/Irish/Welsh languages you will have an easier time reading it for the pure fact that you won’t get all the names and characters mixed up like I did. There is a pronunciation guide at the back though, which was so incredibly helpful though, a good touch and very appreciated! Every now and then Williams made some really fascinating comparisons to other ancient literature, like the parallels between The Aeneid and Rome’s founding story and Britains founding story in Chapter Four titled ‘Brutus,’ as well as the comparison between the tale of Deirdriu in Chapter Nine (‘The Celtic Love Triangle’) and the structure and features of Greek tragedy.

Once again we are reminded that what we call ‘Celtic mythology’ is not a pure substance handed down from the pagan past, but a rich amalgam that developed over centuries.’ (213)

This quote really encapsulates the essence of William’s book - he is both introducing stories and characters that may or may not have been developed in the ‘pagan past,’ and aims to reconcile what we do know about it, how we know it, and how we came to think about these particular tales and characters in the modern day. Truly, this is a monumental task, and the sheer amount of information in this book is unfathomable.

The book itself is beautiful, with green foiling on the naked hardback and a beautifully designed dusk cover and end pages. It is also gotten with images, both coloured and black and white which is always a plus for me! There were a few grammatical errors in this book, and it’s not like, one time a word is misspelled which happens in most books - but at one point a character had her name spelt three different ways on one page. A couple of times it felt like words were missing, and there were sentences that seemed to be cut off and unfinished. These were scattered throughout the book and although overall it didn't affect my ability to understand what was going on, it just feels like it might have needed one more edit to pick up on these errors prior to publication.

We must remember that these stories are not myths, though there is definite myth in them: they are medieval tales, written in medieval Irish for a medieval audience. (252)

The Celtic Myths That Shape the Way We Think is now available to purchase, and I would recommend this book to those who are looking to really sink their teeth into the intricate and layered history of Celtic Mythology, it’s development, history and prevalence in modern day pop culture.