For those of you who will be sitting around bored with nothing to
do during vacation, I have the perfect gift suggestion for yourself - an
876-page book!  (I'm only up to page 650, but I find myself limiting it to
a chapter a night to make it last longer.)  It's called The Mists of Avalon,
by Marion Zimmer Bradley.  I know a lot of people who've finished it, and
they all say the ending is great.

	Basically it's the story of the Arthur legend, with Merlin and 
Lancelet and Gwenhwyfar (a lot of the names are spelled different), Camelot
and the Round Table and the Quest for the Grail.  But it's all different.
It's told primarily from the perspective of the women involved, especially
Morgaine, Arthur's sister who is trained as a priestess on the island of
Avalon.  The basic theme is the battle for Arthur's mind during the 
transition from the Celtic/pagan/nature/Goddess religion of ancient Britain
f
oops -  to the Christian religion, which strives to drive the "evil" goddess
out of Britain.  Arthur is sworn to defend Avalon, which gave him Excalibur,
the magic sword which protects him from harm.  When he breaks this pledge,
Avalon must either persuade him to follow his oath, or overthrow him.

	The book gives you the feeling that this is the way the story really
happened, and that "sword in the stone" and similar versions is how the story
was rewritten by the winners.  This book is very rich, the characters are
utterly real, the ideas are fascinating, and the atmosphere is magic.

	There are a couple of real reviews (without typos) on the Audio
group bulletin board.  

		Earl