The Decameron (Signet Classics)

The 100 Most Meaningful Books of All Time (100 items)
list by coroner

I read The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales at around the same time, and as collections of medieval stories go, this one wins by a landslide. The translation by Mark Musa is very accessible and the variety of the material is just about unsurpassed. There are tragic tales of loves lost and unrequited, even a story about a woman who puts the head of her dead lover in a pot of basil. (MMm. Spicy!)<... read more