The Exeter Book Riddles

The fun part is re-reading each riddle once you have the answer and seeing how the author disguised what was being described.

This wonderful little book is full of very interesting medieval riddles, most of which I could not figure out on account of it's varying of literal and non-literal riddles. Nonetheless it is formatted very nicely and the amazing cleverness of each riddle was definitely worth every penny I spent on it.

Provides an interesting look into the past. Amusing as well.

A great reference and a lot of laughs. A well set out and presented book that will get much use in our house.

Great!

I was enthralled with this book. I had never encountered Anglo-Saxon riddles before, and they're a delight - not your stupid Elephant riddles, but elegant poems, each one describing something in a teasing way.The book has the riddle on one page and the explanation on the next, so when I was reading them I used to make sure I didn't look ahead until I'd solved it. Sometimes I got it, sometimes I didn't. But it's more fun than a crossword puzzle. (And sometimes those ol' Anglo Saxons surprise you - wait till you get to the one about "I grow upright in a bed... hairs underneath..." I won't spoil it by telling you the answer!

This is not a riddle book for kids as many of the riddles are sexual in nature. The answer is innocuous however, the riddle intentionally misdirects the reader to think the answer is something else of a sexual nature.

Great book, but I just wanted to clear up a few things that most people do not know. The Exeter Books riddles were never published with the answers. Thus, the answers in this book are not necessarily what the Anglo-Saxons intended, but just accepted answers. And depending on who in the scholarly world you talk to, the numbers of riddles, and the translation of those riddles is quite different.

If you enjoy riddles, if you are interested in history and poetry then you are almost certainly going to enjoy this book. One must remember is that it is a translation and a few different books will translate a few verses slightly differently. The is an example of an original copy of one verse's text and it would have been nice to have seen copies of the original texts against each translation, which is the only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.

A fascinating look at old riddles. Some are obvious (particularly if you know something about the object the riddle is about) and some are very obscure. Some are clever and some are just down-right entertaining. A good, but unfortunately, short read.

Love it!

Fascinating facts. The kind of book you think you can pick up to browse for a few minutes and find yourself still reading an hour later

If you are interested in Anglo Saxon riddles this is the book for you