The information below should help you find the books at your local library or bookstore or to get them online. Links lead to a site where you can compare prices and buy online, unless otherwise noted. Discussion of each book begins on the date indicated, so you'll want to read the book sometime before that.
Everyone is welcome to participate in our regular book discussion; please see this forum post for details.
- May 1
An Age of Tyrants: Britain and the Britons A.D. 400-600
by Christopher A. Snyder
Pennsylvania University Press, 1998
Paperback, 403 pages; ISBN: 0271017805 - June 1
The Consolation of Philosophy
by Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
There are several decent editions available, any one of which will serve our purposes:
- Translation by P. G. Walsh
Oxford University Press
Paperback, 2000 edition, 240 pages; ISBN: 0192838830 - Translation by Victor Watts
Penguin Classics
Paperback, Reissue edition (2000), 192 pages; ISBN: 0140447806 - Translation by H.R. James
London: Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, 1897
Electronic text
Read online or download from Project Gutenberg
- Translation by P. G. Walsh
- June 15
Beowulf
by Anonymous
Several editions for this, as well, including:
- A poetry edition by Seamus Heaney
Displays the Old English and Heaney's translation side-by-side
W W Norton & Co Inc
Paperback, 213 pages; ISBN: 0393320979 - New verse translation by R. M. Liuzza
Broadview Press
Paperback, 248 pages; ISBN: 1551111896 - Early 1900s translation by Francis B. Gummere
Electronic text
Read online at About's Classic Literature site
- A poetry edition by Seamus Heaney
- July 1
The Formation of Christendom
by Judith Herrin
Princeton University Press, 1987
Paperback, 544 pages; ISBN: 0691008310 - August 1
The Far-Farers: A Journey from Viking Iceland to Crusader Jerusalem
by Victoria Clark
Walker & Company, 2003
Paperback, 459 pages; ISBN: 033390219X
(The hardcover edition is comparable in price) - September 1
The First Crusade: A New History
by Thomas Asbridge
Oxford University Press, 2005
Paperback, 448 pages; ISBN: 0195189051 - October 1
The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century
by Charles Homer Haskins
Harvard University Press, 2005
Paperback, 439 pages; ISBN: 0674760751 - November 1
The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English
by Marjorie Chibnall
Blackwell Publishers, 1991
Paperback, 227 pages; ISBN: 0631190287 - December 1
The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature
by C. S. Lewis
Cambridge University Press, 1994
Paperback, 242 pages; ISBN: 0521477352 - January 1
The Name of the Rose
by Umberto Eco
Warner Books
Paperback; ISBN 0446357200
(A new hardcover edition will be available in September, 2006.) - February 1
Sir Gawain, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo
translated by J.R.R. Tolkien
Del Rey Reissue edition (1988)
Paperback, 224 pages; ISBN 0345277600
For the useful commentary as well as the excellence of the translation, this specific edition of the poems is advised. - March 1
A History of Illuminated Manuscripts
by Christopher de Hamel
Phaidon Press; 2nd edition (1997)
Paperback, 272 pages; ISBN 0714834521 - April 1
The Waning of the Middle Ages
by Johan Huizinga
Dover Publications, 1998
Paperback, 352 pages; ISBN 0486404439 - May 1
The Portable Petrarch
translated by Mark Musa
Penguin Classics, 2006
Paperback, 592 pages; ISBN: 0142437840
(This book is due to be released in July, 2006; pre-ordering is possible at some online merchants.)
