Mythology and Folklore

[Deverfro]

I really want to read up more on different mythology and what not, simple because they can be really interesting. SO I was wondering if any one knew any good books or websites (aside from wikipedia) for this sort of thing.

If possible, some with a focus on:
-Norse (or just Scandinavian in general)
-English
-Irish
-Scottish
-Native American
-Mexican

Any help appreciated! =D

 

[Jamash]

Despite the convenience of the Internet, you can't really beat a good book for this particular subject.

For example, I've had this excellent book in my possession all of my life (my parent's bought it in the 1970's) and it has been one of my favourite books to pick up and delve into at random intervals when I was child, teenager and adult.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/FOLKLORE-LEGENDS-BRITAIN-Readers-Association/dp/B000RT1H5G/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350764318&sr=1-2

It's a great book for British mythology and folklore (and a smattering of adopted Norse), but it may be too expensive to buy yourself as it's pretty old and as far as I know, is only available as quite a substantial hardback.

However, your should be able to get it from your local library, or they should be able to order it or you.

Off the top of my head, this is the only book I have personal experience with and can recommend. The Amazon reviews for this book explain why it's such a good book, so in theory you should look for similar types of books on Norse, Native American and Mexican mythology that have similar recommendations from readers.

Amazon would be my first stop for sourcing the books and reading their reviews, then I would try and order the recommended books from my local library.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Not sure if it'll be of any use, but there's a shitload of older texts on archive.org. Google for a few titles then chuck them into the archive search and you should be able to get up some free (& legal) .pdf downloads, though it'll mostly be facsimiles of very old editions.

 

[beyondbrainmatter]

I really want to read up more on different mythology and what not, simple because they can be really interesting. SO I was wondering if any one knew any good books or websites (aside from wikipedia) for this sort of thing.

If possible, some with a focus on:
-Norse (or just Scandinavian in general)
-English
-Irish
-Scottish
-Native American
-Mexican

Any help appreciated! =D

For Norse mythology, you want to check out the Poetic and Prose Edda.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I have these fairly cheap, giant books.
They won't tell you the stories in the way a novel would, but they cover the basics pretty well and mention a huge quantity of stories and creatures, so you can do more in-dept research about them.

 

[NightmareWarden]

This website has Dutch(Not sure if that country is scandinavian) and Irish. I've only read the Russian tales, but they were terrific. So here you go:
http://www.compassrose.org/folklore/Folklore-Contents.HTML