Hello everyone! My name is Kyli (SleepyKittyStitches) and Naelany has graciously invited me to write a guest post on her blog. How exciting! I’ve never done a guest post before, but I’m happy to be here (:
I am a 24 year old Anthropology student and I spend every second of my free time either cross stitching or reading (sometimes both – thank you audio books!). Back in January I started a massive project that combined my two hobbies – a large 250,000 stitch tapestry of the cover of one of my favorite books.
It’s going to be a portrait of Shallan Davar, one of the main characters from the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson. If you haven’t read it yet, you absolutely must! It has a little bit of everything – and is incredibly well written. You might recognize Sanderson as the author who finished up the Wheel of Time series. He’s also creating other series within his grand universe the ‘Cosmere’ – I love when authors do that!
Previous to my discovery of the Stormlight Archives, I would have said that the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss is my favorite series. Now, it’s a very close match. The audio books (of both series, actually) are read beautifully by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, but the Sanderson books themselves have gorgeously drawn sketches and diagrams that can’t be missed.
You can see all of my preparation and background for my cross stitch journey here, and keep up to date with my current progress here. Unfortunately, I haven’t stitched on her in quite a few weeks. I have been too engrossed in my reading! I had forgotten how enjoyable reading can be when you’re not forcing your way through a dense textbook.
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I started my Summer by reading an old favorite – The Once and Future King by T.H. White. A coworker spotted me reading it and recommended I read The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte (also published as A Dream of Eagles and Legends of Camelot). He explained it as an historical fiction approach to the Arthurian legends, placing them within a realistically plausible timeline. Sounds amazing! I bought the first book and fell in LOVE! Before I even finished book one, I went out and bought 7 more in the series. I can’t wait to read them all!
The first book starts out a few generations before Arthur’s time – before Camelot exists, and before the fall of the Roman Empire. I don’t want to give too much of the book away, but it is so exciting to see little puzzle pieces from the future falling into place 80 years before it happens. The way they describe magic is brilliant as well – simply something they know works, but they don’t quite understand how or why yet. I can’t wait to see how they explain magic once it becomes more prominent in the series. So far they’ve only really touched on Dragons.
As far as I know, the series is complete – which is always a bonus. There are 6 books in the main series, followed by an alternate book from Uther’s point of view and a book detailing Lancelot’s back story. Who doesn’t love Lancelot?? His story is absolutely the most tragic and heartbreaking.
And just look at those covers!
I don’t know about you guys, but Arthurian lore will always hold a special place in my heart. I had a baby sitter when I was young that would tell me all sorts of bed time stories about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
And then the Quest for Camelot movie came out – remember that one? My little girl heart exploded over Arthur all over again.
Let’s not talk about my teenage girl heart over Merlin’s version of Arthur & his Knights.
Um.
Anyway, thanks for having me!
In conclusion – everyone in the world should read the Stormlight Archives. If you like historical fiction and Arthur lore, you should definitely read the Camulod series. And The Kingkiller Chronicles is worth looking into if you like fantasy!
Happy reading (:
Another Piece of Me 
Hi Kyli! Thank you for being my guest 🙂 Man oh man, it sounds like I’ve got a lot of books to get my hands on. I love The Once and Future King as well, though I haven’t read it since I was a teen. Might need to change that, too 😉
That piece you’re working on is going to be so lovely, I can’t wait to see it finished.
So did you get into anthropology because of your babysitter’s stories about King Arthur?
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They’re all great reads! Haha that might be why! I love historical fiction and learning about people from the past. It’s too bad we don’t learn about Arthur in class ):
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I chose Arthur for a paper in English at one point, because I loved it, too 😉
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Oh COOL, new books I haven’t read! I’m going to have to go look but I know I have some Jack Whyte books in my stash. I have long adored Arthurian legend; just found an antique book on the subject and can’t wait to have time to pore through it.
Also, one of the benefits of being a LONG time Renaissance faire performer is meeting an amazingly diverse bunch of people. I have a dear friend who holds his doctorate in the Arthurian legend. When I was playing QE at our local faire he was playing my Shakespeare (yes, I know the years don’t add up right but it’s history-esque) and we’d have a rainy day, he would come and tell us obscure Arthurian stories. It was heavenly!
That’s going to be a gorgeous cross-stitch!
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that sounds like fun to me 🙂
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Yeah, it was heavenly. Made me look forward to rainy days which otherwise are a mess.
He currently teaches English Literature at a college in the Ozarks. He and his wife were the K & Q right before me and…well, that’s a whole ‘nother story.
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nice 🙂
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Sounds like a really wonderful community to be a part of!
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A PhD in Arthurian legend?? That sounds incredible!! I haven’t been to a renaissance fair since I was really young but I want to go back. I think Jack Whyte has a few other stories too that I’ll probably read next (:
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My favourite Disney film when I was a little girl was the sword in the stone and, ever since, I’ve loved the Arthurian legends (okay, so my other favourite was Robin Hood and likewise I love those stories too).
I’m definitely going to check out the camulod chronicles now.
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Oh how did I forget to mention the sword in the stone!!!! I STILL want to be a squirrel because of that movie ❤️🐿 I was surprised when I read the Once and Future King how similar it is to that cartoon – it brought back the same childhood fantasy feeling
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