Let me guess: Torah, Quran, and New Testament?

It's definitely an interesting exercise to read the originals when the work has been adapted repeatedly (possibly ad nauseum). Very often the later adaptations are referencing the first adaptation, rather than the original. If the first adaptation wasn't all that careful, you find that you really know far less about the story than you thought.

Oh man...if we're talking religious texts alone...

There are so darn many, depending on what you want to study.



Yeah, try reading Dracula for this. The changes that have been made are absolutely amazing.

Actually no. Mostly because of my current interest in things medieval-Norse, I wanted to recommend (for an adult reader) the Icelandic sagas and Ibn Fadlan's writings about his time with the Volga Rus.

If Tolkien is the father of the modern fantasy genre, then the sagas are its grandfather. Tolkien was hugely influenced/inspired by them. Reading them in translation, they do read at times like a cross between Tolkien and a D&D session... with the Grim Dark settings turned way, WAY up. The level of violence in them is pretty amazing... something that Tolkien didn't really put into his own work.

Ibn Fadlan's writings about the Rus (I can't recall the title at the moment, unfortunately) make for interesting reading as a detailed account about a culture that is very alien to, say, a typical modern American reader. The work contains a considerable amount of "adult"/"not PG"/"not sanitized for modern readers" content, so I can't recommend this one for a young person.

The third work I'm thinking about is Machiavelli's "The Prince." It's a strong work all on its own, but it has had a strong influence on both historical and contemporary readers, so it's definitely worth a read. It contains less gruesome content than either of the other two works referenced above, but a lot of what Machiavelli writes about is predicated on a very cynical view of human nature.

I'm almost ashamed to admit I've never actually read the Eddas or the Sagas. They're on my list of "need to read" and I really want to....

I've read a bit of the Eddas, but I haven't read them comprehensively. (I should.) In general I find the doings of the Norse gods less interesting than the doings of the humans themselves.

You should have told me! I could have brought my copies with to ACIAGAFA.

I own the Eddas, and the Sagas are currently on my "I'll buy you soon" list. I own a bunch of other books about Norse mythology, and I've read a lot of those...I just haven't actually read through the Eddas. I tried a couple years ago and had a hard time with it.

The translation of the Kalevala (Finnish legend) by Ursula Synge is pretty good, probably readable by (or to) an intelligent nine-year-old. There is also an adaptation for quite young readers, The Canine Kalevala, which tells the stories briefly, with dogs, cats, and wolves.

The original proper Pinocchio (in translation) is a terrific read and much more involved than the Disney movie.

Many good suggestions already. I'd like to add Oscar Wilde to the list, The Picture of Dorian Grey is great although the short stories may be better for young kids, The Canterville Ghost and The Selfish Giant especially comes to mind.

Also Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Long but very, very good.