Beowulf - Translated by Burton Raffel

Recommended for all ages.

Move over Homer, I've got a new favourite epic poem. And possibly a new favourite book (!)

Beowulf is extraordinary. It's an incredible epic poem (very-long poem) about the adventures of Beowulf. Full of wars and battles, kings and dragons, treasure and kinship, Beowulf comes off as the ultimate guy. Move over Edward Cullen - Beowulf is so much smarter, kinder, more generous, strong and clever, and ultimately more awesome.

At first I thought this book would be a struggle - I've found the language of other epic poems really hard to get into (Homer, Milton etc), but this particular translation (from Old English into new) was very reader-friendly. Raffel did a marvellous job translating the beautiful language into something readable, to the point where I could hardly put the book down.

All in all, it's a brilliant translation of a gripping story, and readers of every age will love it. Particularly if those readers love tales of ancient glory!