Into the Forest discussion
Previous Group Read Nominations
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Theme Nominations for Next Group Read
Unicorns!!! -- Yes, I mean it. I have four books I'd love to reread, one (Meta) I'd like to finally read and I'd love to find out what you have on your bookshelves. Oh, and I still haven't really investigated Kirins, that might the push I need. :)Tricksters would also be nice.
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I nominate fairytales & folklore of Great Britain (Wales, England, Scotland).
My personal goal this year is to read the works of my fellow Dane, Hans Christian Andersen.Themes he might fit under:
Scandinavia
Composed/original folk tales (as opposed to collected)
Original versions of Disney movies (Frozen, Little Mermaid)
1800s
Hans Christian Andersen could be the theme on its own. Then it could include collections by him, books/works about him/critiquing his tales, retellings of his tales, etc.
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Phil wrote: "My personal goal this year is to read the works of my fellow Dane, Hans Christian Andersen.
Themes he might fit under:
Scandinavia
Composed/original folk tales (as opposed to collect..."
That's correct! If HCA were a theme then we would read either an original tale or collection of tales by him, then 2 novels, one YA other adult based on or inspired by one or several of his tales.
Then for the 2016 Challenge one of the book would count for Europe.
West African tales, having recently visited this exhibition at the British Libraryhttp://www.bl.uk/events/west-africa-w...
I actually like the unicorn suggestion. Ariel by Stephen Baxter would be a great one for the list. A HCA theme would be by second vote.
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I'd like to read more on Norse myths as I know so little about them.
Jane wrote: "I actually like the unicorn suggestion. Ariel by Stephen Baxter would be a great one for the list. A HCA theme would be by second vote."I adore "Ariel" -- one of the most underappreciated books in the fantasy genre, I think. I've got the sequel as well, but as far as I know there are no unicorns in the sequel. Haven't read it yet.
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I don't either Margaret, but would like to read some. Do you think there are also novels based on the folktales? I would think so, but could not name any.
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I adore "Ariel" -- one of the most underapprec..."
So unappreciated that I can't even find it in the Goodreads catalog! Or on the Wiki, or with Google. Can one of you add a Goodreads link? I'm curious now!
Jalilah wrote: "Margaret wrote: "I nominate Southern US folklore/fairy tales. I'm a Southerner, yet I know very little Southern folklore."
I don't either Margaret, but would like to read some. Do you think there ..."
Southern, no, not exactly, but I can think of a few Appalachian folklore books... Though parts of Appalachia are quite far north.
Off the top of my head, there's the Silver John series, which involves a guy walking around the Appalachians in the '50s, facing situations and monsters from the ballads and folklore of the region. The one I read is John the Balladeer .
One or two of Sharyn McCrumb's Southern Ballad series might qualify - I'd have to comb through the list though to see which ones... Her early ones are more closely folklore/ballad related than her later ones - which are more straight historical fiction.
Perhaps Lee Smith's Oral History, though I haven't read it yet.
There's got to be some stuff set in New Orleans, at bare minimum! There's some rich folklore there, with all the voodoo!
Hm. I'll have to ponder this a bit more! I can think of several good collections but whenever I try to think of novels, my mind keeps drifting a bit further south to the Caribbean or to Appalachia...
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I don't either Margaret, but would like to read some. Do you think there ..."
Would retellings of Fairy Tales placed in the South count?
Edited to add - I know of a couple books (including one graphic novel) that make use of New Orleans folklore).
Melanti wrote: "Oh! I think I found it. Is this the Ariel you're talking about? The author name is different. Ariel. Boyett, not Baxter."Yup, that's the one. Would probably be hard to find for a group read, though, since it's been out of print since 1983. :/
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Alex Bledsoe's Tufa series incorporates Southern folklore (I actually was only iffy on the first one). Sharyn McCrumb had also occurred to me. Wasn't the Jane Yolen Snow White in the South? I know there are more examples. We should be able to find nominations (if it's the theme that's chosen).
That shouldn't stop us, there actually was a new edition in 2009 and there is even a Kindle edition, as I discovered when I finally found it. I have to read this, whatever we decide! ArielI was thinking of Unicorn Mountain (bad reviews? I remember being quite impressed :( ), Magic Kingdom For Sale/Sold, The Little White Horse, Elidor and, of course, The Last Unicorn, one of the rare books I not only saw the film adaptation first but actually love film and book almost equally.
I discovered I even have two non-fiction books on unicorns, one on the tapestries and one on unicorns in general. And I'd volunteer to comb through some old bestiaries to provide some accurate information on the elusive beast. ;)
But I must admit that I also really like the idea of finally reading some more Andersen and having someone to discuss it with. Also, you reminded me of those two books about the Appalachians I own (I seem unable to remember what made me buy them and they remain unread- and, alas, don't look folklore related at all, but going down this road might spark some memory where that spleen came from...) Norse myths sound also great, I wanted to read the Edda for years. And Saxo Grammaticus since I learnt that that's where Hamlet came from.
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Unicorns
Southern US
Great Britain
HCA
Greek Mythology
West African
I was thinking of The Wandering Unicorn for the unicorn category myself, (it involves the Melusine myth) but I think that one has been out of print for too long. Though, I don't know. Looks like my local library has a copy. Might be doable.
Southern US would have some great stuff too!
Margaret wrote: "Alex Bledsoe's Tufa series incorporates Southern folklore ..."
Oooh, I like the sound of that.
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I was thinking of her Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-tales from the Gulf States which I read last year and enjoyed... I just browsed through her books and Moses, Man of the Mountain would work too - and it's a novel.
Jane wrote: "Melanti wrote: "Oh! I think I found it. Is this the Ariel you're talking about? The author name is different. Ariel. Boyett, not Baxter."
You found it! I had no idea it was difficul..."
It's not. We had the wrong author last name, which made it hard to find online. But it's back in print, and should be easy to get.
Melanti wrote: "Are these all the themes so far? It's so easy to miss a post, so speak up if I've done so!Unicorns
Southern US
Great Britain
HCA
Greek Mythology
West African
Norse..."
I'll withdraw my Norse nomination at the present and save it for another month. I'm liking the idea of Unicorns especially --- so I'll throw my support that way this month.
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I was thinking of her [book:Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-t..."
Margaret wrote: "I think anything taking place in the South would be fine--including Southern Appalachian folklore, Slave folklore/African American folklore that's exclusively about the South, and retellings that a..."
Zanna wrote: "West African tales, having recently visited this exhibition at the British Library
http://www.bl.uk/events/west-africa-w..."
Partly because it's Black History month and partly because I want to read books in these categories anyway, I am leaning in favor of either Southern U.S./African American or West African folk tales.
I am not going to nominate anything this time.
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Yeah... I really wanted to think of a African American choice to throw into the Southern US list but drew a blank... THe Hurston collection is good though...
Oh! There's The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales.
There we go! Some variety! Finally! But again - that's a collection rather than a novel-length retelling.
(But more practically, most of the folklore retellings by black writers that I can think of are more heavily influenced by Caribbean or African Folklore than they are by Southern US folklore.)
There's an interesting collection of short stories West African Folk Tales by William Henry Barker that I read a while back...worth the read even if it doesn't make the cut for monthly group read.
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I think half the fun of the nomination process is thinking of endless lists of books...
Monica wrote: "There's an interesting collection of short stories West African Folk Tales by William Henry Barker that I read a while back...worth the read even if it doesn't make t..."
I'll have to put that on my list
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That book has been on my radar for awhile now!
For West African there is also The Palm-Wine Drinkard & My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola which is also on the Endicott Mythic Fiction
Although the author Karen Lord is originally from Barbados, I believe her novel Redemption in Indigo is set in West Africa.
So while if we choose West Africa there might be less choices than if we choose a European country, I am sure we will still find some interesting books! Same goes for Southern U.S. or African American.
I'll have to look more!
What about Parable of the Sower? Would that count as mythic or folkloric in any way, or is it purely science fiction?
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Yes, it is. And it's based on Senegalese folklore.
There's some references to folklore here and there in some of Octavia Butler's work. But I wouldn't really count them as mythic of folkloric. She's pretty pure Sci-fi. THe closest she gets to folkloric, IMO, is vampires in Fledgling.
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I think half the fun of the nomination process is thinking of endless lists of books...
Monica wrote: "There's an interesting collection of sho..."
Almost all the books suggested for West Africa are on my TBR list. Now I'm not sure which theme I'll vote for!
Melanti wrote: "Wolf wrote: "I just thought of another book on my tbr shelf, that might be considered southern: Mules and Men."
I was thinking of her [book:Every Tongue Got to Confess: Negro Folk-t..."
This is the one I was thinking of nominating.
Oh, I'm glad to learn that Ariel is not so hard to come by after all. I got my copy from a used bookstore back in 2001, before it had been reprinted. I may have to see about tracking down one of the 2009 re-issues. Wolf, The Last Unicorn is one of my favorite books of all time, and I agree that the movie is just as good, probably because Peter S. Beagle wrote the screenplay. Unfortunately, the 25th anniversary DVD, which is the one I have, has an annoying issue with the soundtrack being sped up, and it cuts the swear words. :/
Jane Yolen's Snow in Summer definitely takes place in Appalacia, but I don't remember if it's in the Southern or Northern part.
Lacey wrote: "...ane Yolen's Snow in Summer definitely takes place in Appalacia, but I don't remember if it's in the Southern or Northern part. ..."West Virginia
Why would you do that? I've just tried to order one of the old ones. I'm nostalgic that way- it looks much more like the fantasy novels I loved as a kid and way less like Harry Dresden. :) (Not that I have anything against Harry Dresden, that is.)There is also America's music, of course. Wonderful. I can't remember any swear words though- maybe I have the anniversary edition, too? At least mine doesn't speed up the soundtrack. I think. I have this one DVD of Neil Gaiman's Stardust with a scratch that doesn't do anything but cut out the dormouse scene... Of course I had to replace it and am still looking for a worthy recipient who doesn't know the film and won't miss the scene...
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West Virginia?
The short story doesn't explicitly say but it does name a couple of towns... Per a google search, they seem to be in West Virginia (Canaan, Elkins, Webster).
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Wolf wrote: "Why would you do that? I've just tried to order one of the old ones. I'm nostalgic that way- it looks much more like the fantasy novels I loved as a kid and way less like Harry Dresden. :) ..."
The new cover does look like a rather generic Urban Fantasyish book. I certainly would have avoided it based on that cover art.
Melanti wrote: "Lacey wrote: "Jane Yolen's Snow in Summer definitely takes place in Appalacia, but I don't remember if it's in the Southern or Northern part. ..."West Virginia?
The short story doesn't explicitl..."
Yes, it's West Virginia. To someone who spent most of her life as a Yankee, WV is the south. (Not that I'm plugging for the Southern theme, but I admit I am. I hadn't heard of the Yolen retelling, and it sounds appealing. )
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Read the short story version of Snow in Summer rather than the novel! We read the novel as a group read a few years back and most of us felt the novel version was overly padded.
The short story version is in a couple of her anthologies - Sister Emily's Lightship and Other Stories for example - and one of the Datlow anthologies. Black Heart, Ivory Bones.
Sister Emily's Lightship has a lot of good fairy tale related stories in it. One of them being the hilariously named "Dick W. and His Pussy; or, Tess and Her Adequate Dick."
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Read the short story version of Snow in Summer rather than the novel! We read the..."
Yes, I did think the novel was overly padded. I mentioned it earlier because I knew it was an example...but I know there are others!
West Virginia and Virginia are as far North as the south gets, Arkansas and Louisiana as far West. Some contend that TX is also Southern, but most think it's more Western than Southern.
I live in Oklahoma, have all my my life, and I've yet to meet an okie who considers themselves Western. We're Southern, western is delineated by the rockies. Oklahoma wasn't a state during the civil war, but there are battle sites here. Just one okie's opinion, take it or leave it. ;-)
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Texas is a strange creature, because it's so huge geographically. I'm here in Houston, and I'd say the upper Gulf Coast and East Texas in general is culturally more similar to the South. I wouldn't classify it as the deep south, of course, but I'd still call it the South.
But the rest of Texas - Central texas, West Texas, southern Texas - including San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas - I'd agree that's more culturally similar to the West.
People around here try to tell me that since I grew up in Kansas, I'm a Yankee. I beg to differ. I don't think anyone in Kansas would think of themselves as that.
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Wow, really!!!! I'm a (mostly) native Tennessean (moved here when I was 5). According to wikipedia, you're correct: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souther...
It looks like my idea of what Southern is, subconsciously, correlates to the states that were in the confederacy. I'm not a Civil War buff--but it obviously must've been shaping my idea of what states were in the South.
They also consider TX Southern, but the people I know who've lived in TX are very against being called Southern. Hmm. But if Oklahoma is, Texas is too.
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People can be so particular about that sort of thing! I wouldn't consider Kansas yankee :)
I have people from the South tell me they're surprised I'm Southern (with a disappointed look), and friends not from the South say I'm obviously Southern (with a disappointed look). It's very silly, but still interesting what these geographical markers mean culturally, when there's such diversity in the South. And what people outside these places label as culturally 'Southern.'
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Where did they live in Texas?
From around Houston, north and east to Louisiana - no one that I know of around here would say a word if you called us Southerners... They'd probably whine if you didn't!
There's a ton of intermixing of populations between here and Louisiana. I can name dozens of people I know who either used to live or have family in Louisiana. And only three or four from central or western Texas. That's partially due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but it was the case before then as well - if not quite so pronounced.
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I was actually born in Fort Hood, TX, but moved before I was 1.
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I was actually born in Fort Hood, TX, but moved before I was 1."
Yeah, I can easily see people in Austin and Dallas being adamant they're not Southern.
That's not quite how Houston sees it, though. We don't want to be called part of East Texas, but we're fine with being considered part of the South.
Into the Forest
Books mentioned in this topic
A Plague of Unicorns (other topics)The Lore of the Unicorn (other topics)
The Last Unicorn (other topics)
Unicorn Mountain (other topics)
Snow in Summer (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Amos Tutuola (other topics)Karen Lord (other topics)
William H. Barker (other topics)
William H. Barker (other topics)
Saxo Grammaticus (other topics)
More...
The theme can be anything you can find appropriate books for; a particular tale, a geographical location, an idea or concept......
Themes we have had in the past were:
Folklore, Mythology, Fairy Tales and Legends of Ireland, Asian folklore and mythology,
Meta - i.e. Non-Fiction/Scholarly works about fairy tales, Folklore and Mythology of the American First Nations (Native American), Fairy Tale Helpers, Trees (dryads, enchanted forests etc), and Water (Mermaids, Selkies and other water creatures)
Polls for the theme nominations will go up in about a week and stay open for one week.
Then we will nominate books and finally vote for the books!
So nominate away!