The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

While looking for Gargantua and Pantagruel I found the Decameron and downloaded it, although it's not one of the 1001 Books (and why not?)  It was readable, but again poorly edited - footnotes, for instance, appearing in the middle of the text when it would have been easy to move them to where they are referred to.

I've read the Decameron before and enjoyed reading it again.  Like Aesop's Fables and Metamorphoses and the Thousand and One Nights, it's a collection of stories - this time the context is that seven young women and three young men who escape the plague by moving to a country house and entertaining themselves telling stories.  Through the stories they tell we get a sense of their characters and the relationships between them.

And again, while the stories are entertaining (and frequently made me smile as I read), this book is just as interesting  for the insight it gives into life in 14th century Italy.

7 Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais

I'd never read anything by Rabelais, but knew 'Rabelaisian' implied bawdy humour.  This satirical French novel was published in 1532 and in several books tells the story of Gargantua, his son Pantagruel and Pantagruel's companion Panurge and their adventures and travels.

Rabelais makes fun of politics, education and religion.  I enjoyed the stories about Pantagruel and Panurge best, where Panurge seeks advice of various oracles about whether he will marry happily or be a miserable cuckold. 

6 The Thousand and One Nights by Anonymous

I remember reading this wonderful collection of Arabic stories in high school.  The local public library had the complete set in hard cover in several volumes and I think it was Richard Burton's translation, but can't remember.  And of course many of the stories, like Aladdin and the Lamp, have been popularised for children in picture books.

There were several versions available for download on the Kindle, but frustratingly the most readable version was incomplete and some of the other versions were very poorly edited, so in the end I didn't re-read all ten volumes.

The stories themselves vary immensely, from short anecdotes to love stories to long and complicated histories and stories within stories.  They are, on the whole, entertaining in their own right; and also give a useful insight into Middle Eastern culture.

3, 4, 5 The Golden Ass by Apuleius

Well, Amazon let me down for book number 3:  Chaireas and Kallirhoe by Chariton, and book number 4:  Aithiopika by Heliodorus. I couldn't find either when I searched on my Kindle.

Book number 5 is The Golden Ass by Lucius Apulieus.  I read it a few weeks ago and only now have got round to reviewing it, so my memory's going to be unreliable. 

Lucius is a Roman who is turned into an ass by accident and recounts his adventures, which are funny and often pornographic (did this help the story survive down the ages?) The story ends on a moral high note when Lucius is transformed back into a man and dedicates his life to the goddess Isis.