The Complaint of Mars - Geoffrey Chaucer

Advantages: A true classic of the English language
Disadvantages: In Middle English without translation, it can be difficult to read

...In Chaucer's work, 'The Canterbury Tales', perhaps the greatest of English literary works from the period of the language known as Middle English, there is one particular piece that have always stood out for me. 'A Clerk ther was of Oxenford also,' This is perhaps my favourite character, as when I first read it, it seemed to epitomise what I hoped for in my own life. 'That unto logik hadde longe y-go. .... For him was lever have at his beddes heed Twenty bokes, clad in blak or reed, Of Aristotle and his philosophye, Than robes riche, of fithele, or gay sautrye, But al be that he was a philosophre, Yet hadde he but litel gold in cofre, But al that he mighte of his freendes hente, On bokes and on lerninge he it spente, and bisily gan for the soules preye Of hem that yaf him wherwith to scoleye. .... ...gladly wolde he lerne, and gladly... Read review

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Advantages: Chaucer's Greatest Work
Disadvantages: Problems with reading Middle English

...Chaucer’s ‘CanterburyTales’, which appeared some time in the 1380s, has done his reputation a disservice in that its popularity and reasonable accessibility has led most people other than Chaucer scholars to ignore a very much greater work :’Troilus and Criseyde’. The ‘Tales’ are a valuable social and historical document. They are for the most part lively and amusing. The interplay between the various individuals telling the tales is a delight. Such is the charm of the work that its manifold faults are usually ignored. Some of the tales are very tedious, especially the one told by Chaucer himself. The style is often clumsy, that of someone who has not yet found his full voice. In a sense, it’s like the early works of Dickens, in which you see the potential for greatness not yet achieved. Like the work by Dickens, too... Read review

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Advantages: Great plot, detailed study of colonisation
Disadvantages: First in a trilogy that you must finish!

...Red Mars is the first book in the Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) and covers the start of a colonisation attempt of the red planet. The book begins on Earth with the selection of the team of 100 volunteers who will spend the rest of their lives on another planet, then covers the journey and the first years of the colony. This is a thrilling read, with an involving plot and an enormous amount of technical detail about setting up a colony and attempts at terraforming. The characters are engaging (if not likeable in all cases) and the storyline good. The one complaint that I have is that I got no real sense of resolution at the end of this book, forcing me to immediately go on to the next - oh well!... Read review

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