Well, one of my goals is to incorporate some French into the mix. I wasn't quite ready to commit to a French novel today, but I did happen to pick this up at a used book store the last time I was in Ann Arbor because I love folk and fairy tales and the like and medieval French literature is often full of fun surprises.
I especially loved the preface by Shapiro, explaining his approach to translation, and the introduction by his peer, going over many of the histories and versions of the different fables. Frankly, if I had skipped either, I would have been disappointed in the quality of the stories, because Shapiro does take liberties with the translations. But then again, the tales that were familiar to me are only familiar to me in some revised or translated form or another (I'm definitely not well-versed in medieval French), so this is one of those it's-all-relative situations. I think the changes to "The Fox and the Crow" were most challenging for me to accept because of the de la Fontaine version that's basically the "Für Elise" of French fables.
But I digress. As far as translations go, this was a good--if simple and short--compendium. I appreciated the inclusion of the "original" text to the left of the American English versions. I simply object to some of the translator's word choices. For instance, he translates vilein as "peasant" in one fable and "lummox" in another. But these were enjoyable tales and would be great to read aloud to children. And I did enjoy some of the artistic license.
~8/10~
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