January TIOLI: A book that pre-dates the printing press

When Gutenberg completed his printing press was in or around 1440, his invention had a huge impact on the availability of books. But there was plenty of literature around before that date, even if it was harder to get your hands on it.

Any book which existed in its original, complete form before 1440CE counts for the challenge.

I was prompted to post this challenge when I was pulling my copy of Beowulf from the shelf ready for the group read (thread here) and realised just how many other pieces of old literature were lurking unread on my shelf.

I'll be reading Beowulf for the group read, and The Epic of Gilgamesh. I'm also hoping that I might manage to get to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and/or Suetonius's Twelve Ceasars. Sadly, I don't think I shall have time to tackle any Viking sagas, Herodotus' Histories, Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War or Augustine's City of God this month, much as I would like to.

So which ancient or medieval books are you reading? From which part of the world and from which century (or millennium)? Why did you choose that one? Are you reading in the original language or in translation?

ETA links to main TIOLI thread and the wiki.

My stretch goal for this challenge is to read Augustine's Confessions which is at least quite a bit shorter than City of God. Confessions is in translation because I didn't do Latin at school.

Also Beowulf for the group read if my copy arrives from the book depository on time. For Beowulf I've ordered the bilingual version so I'll have both the original version and the translation on hand.

Nice one! I'll be reading Beowulf for the group read, too, and since my Old English is nonexistent it will be in translation.

I'll be reading Beowulf for the group read as well. I have the illustrated version and I also have the audio version which I've listened to several times, though not lately.

If I can find it and have time I'll dip into Meditations by Marcus Aurelius which was written around 167 CE. I've been meaning to read it since reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

I'm going to be taking a class on medieval Spanish literature starting in January (one of the more wonderful perks of working at a university) and will be reading some pre-printing press books for sure. I'm pretty pumped about it; I think we might start with Cantar de mio Cid, which I'm excited to reencounter in a classroom setting.

I toyed with the idea of reading The Tale Of Genji (long on my TBR pile) for this challenge, but I think it is far more than one month's reading, so I have gone for something contemporaneous but shorter - As I crossed a bridge of dreams, a slim diary/memoir by another lady of the Japanese court.

I will be reading Beowulf for the group read as well as using for this challenge.

> 6

wandering-star, I think that chunksters have to be omitted from my request not to "preplan" your reads into a challenge for the following month. If you don't do something of this kind, you may be omitting a great read from a TIOLI challenge simply because of a book's size.

What I would say to do for a chunkster for which you have no hope of finishing in one month is to preplan a challenge to fit it for the following month. I would say to *only* do this for chunksters in order to get them read. In addition, do not reveal ahead of time what your next month's challenge will be. Should someone else enter a fitting challenge ahead of you into the following month, your problem will have been solved anyway!

wandering_star, I'm going to read The Tale of Genji for this one. Mine is an abridged version (which normally makes me shudder but this was the only copy I could get and it's supposed to be a very good version ... we shall see).

I'm reading The Epic of Gilgamesh for this challenge. It had never registered with me before, but last year I kept hearing it referenced all over the place.

>6 wandering_star:,10
However, The Tale of Genji has also long languished in my TBR pile. I think I'll try to read at least a large chunk of it. I have a few challenging texts that I'm reading in January, though, so we'll see.

#6 - I've owned a copy of As I crossed a bridge of dreams since forever and never read it, so will be interested in how you find it.

I've made a start on Beowulf.

For anyone else reading it who hasn't had a look at the group read thread, it is here.

Finally started Bhagavad Gita. I'm still debating whether I like this translation. Some parts come across lovely while others come across...weird.

Finished Heaney's translation of Beowulf. Good stuff!

I'm reading The Epic of Gilgamesh, but I hadn't realized how much of the text has been lost. I'm finding it a little frustrating actually. My edition has brackets, italics, and bracketed italics to show where they are unsure of the text. Every time I start to get into the story, I reach a heavily bracketed section and it pulls me out. The section with the goddess Ishtar is pretty funny though.

Edit: typo

Finished Beowulf on Saturday.

Tanglewood, which translation of Gilgamesh are you reading? I read the Mitchell translation, and enjoyed it. I like the goddess of beer a lot.

My translation is by Andrew George. Thanks for mentioning the Mitchell, I'll check out it out the next time I get a chance. If he uses something else to show damaged pieces, I think I'd much prefer it.

I plan on reading The Tain by Ciaran Carson, which I picked up while I was in Ireland earlier this month. It's an ancient Irish epic about some people fighting a war over a bull. I think.

There are two "original" versions, one in Old Irish and one in Middle Irish. I'll be reading a translation.

I'm about to begin the Cantar de Mio Cid and have been reading some introductory materials that explain how it relates to other European epics (as epics go, it's quite grounded in reality), debate how historically accurate its story is (more or less, depending on if you're a follower of Ramón Menéndez Pidal or not), and how soon after the life of Rodrigo it was written. I'm pretty pumped, I read it a few years ago and am glad to return to it in greater depth.

#19 I read the Tain many years ago at college while studying Old Irish literature - I read the Thomas Kinsella translation. I'll be interested to hear what you make of it.

I've finished reading Beowulf, though there is an afterword in my book - 'Visualising Beowulf' which I still need to peruse.
I've also got Meditations by Marcus Aurelius listed and will try to finish it as well, though it looks more like a book to read slowly.

Finished reading Beowulf with the group read here. While I really did enjoy the translation, there were times it seemed to be out of rhythm. As if there we didn't have the correct words to make the poem flow well.

I've still not got back to Beowulf - only a few hours left for it to count in this TIOLI challenge...