Recommended Reading and Other Media
These are books about honour and swords (among other things). Many of them take place in historical times, although others are fantasies. They will help you understand the ways people have used swords and the ways they have thought about them. They’ll also help you in developing your own personal sense of honour.
EUROPEAN TRADITIONS:
Lloyd Alexander: “The Prydain Chronicles”:
The Book of Three
The Black Cauldron
The Castle of Three
Taran Wanderer
The High King
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:
The White Company
Rudyard Kipling:
Puck of Pook’s Hill
Rewards & Fairies
C.S. Lewis: “The Chronicles of Narnia”:
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Horse and His Boy
The Silver Chair
The Magician’s Nephew
The Last Battle
Howard Pyle:
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
The Story of the Champions of the Round Table
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
J.R.R. Tolkien:
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (translation) (the name’s pronounced
“GOW-an”, by the way)
For Teens and Up
Parke Godwin:
Firelord
Sherwood
T.H. White:
The Sword In The Stone
ORIENTAL TRADITIONS:
Lone Wolf & Cub (Kazuo Koike)
Musashi (Eiji Yoshikawa)
Films
Dragonslayer
Robin & Marian (Richard Lester – Sean Connery & Audrey Hepburn)
Three Musketeers
(Richard Lester, ‘70s – Michael York, Oliver Reed, Raquel Welch,
Christopher Lee, Faye Dunaway)
Four Musketeers (ditto)
Sanjuro
Yojimbo
Seven Samurai
The Hidden Fortress
Chushingura
Samurai Trilogy
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Bulletproof Monk
Ghost Dog
Karate Kid (first one only)
Jackie Chan:
Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow
The Young Master