Into the Forest discussion

Time flies and it's already time to nominate books for the November 15-January 14 Group Read!
Each person can nominate one book in each of the three categories:
-one adult novel that is either a retelling, contains or is inspired by fairy/folktales or myths
-one young adult novel that is either a retelling, contains or is inspired by fairy/folktales or myths
-one longer traditional fairy/folk tale or myth or a collection of fairy/folk tale/myths.

Please nominate books that you would like to read yourself or that you've already read but wish to discuss!
It's also not a bad idea to check to see if the books you are nominating are readily available!

Everyone has around a week to nominate, then the polls will go up. Polls stay about a week then the winners will be announced hopefully leaving everyone around 2 weeks to find the books!

So nominate away!

1. The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia A. McKillip

2. Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon

3. Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane

How about Hag by Kathleen Kaufman

It’s based on the Cailleach, a mythic goddess of Scotland. More info here :: https://ashleycowie.com/new-blog/the-...

Jalilah wrote: "one adult novel that is either a retelling, contains or is inspired by fairy/folktales or myths..."

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
It is the the first volume of "The Dreamblood Series" so I am not sure it fits , it is inspired by the Egyptian mythology.

Niledaughter wrote: " The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
It is the the first volume of "The Dreamblood Series" ..."

It's the magic system that's inspired by mythology, rather than the book as a whole, as I recall.

The Last Atlanteans by Katrina Ryan is a good young adult I've read recently :) a nice mix of magic and mythology

Adult: Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman - "A compelling mystery, an emotional roller-coaster, Blue Diary is a modern retelling of Bluebeard, a dark fairytale of love gone wrong." (source: Alice Hoffman's website)

YA: Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore - I've read this is a mashup of Snow White and Rose Red and Swan Lake.

"Blanca & Roja is the captivating story of sisters, friendship, love, hatred, and the price we pay to protect our hearts." (source: Anna-Marie McLemore's website)

Original: I'm seconding Mary's nom, Italian Popular Tales

Niledaughter wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "one adult novel that is either a retelling, contains or is inspired by fairy/folktales or myths..."
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
It is the the ..."

From all I've heard it takes place in an alternative universe that resembles Ancient Egypt and the author was inspired by Egyptian mythology. There are so few novels based on Ancient Egyptian mythology, so I say we keep it in!

Leah wrote: "YA: Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore - I've read this is a mashup of Snow White and Rose Red and Swan Lake. "

I want to read this too and would second it. My only concern would be it's availability. It just came out this year. My library ordered it, but the copies still have not arrived, but there's already a cue of people waiting to loan it!

1. The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs - the story has echoes of B&tB
2. Since I was talking a lot 'bout A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston, I might as well nominate it
3. I don't know, maybe The Poetic Edda ? I bet you'd enjoy kickass norse heroines :) . Otherwise, I third Mary's nomination.

Jalilah wrote: "From all I've heard it takes place in an alternative universe that resembles Ancient Egypt and the author was inspired by Egyptian mythology. There are so few novels based on Ancient Egyptian mythology, so I say we keep it in!"

The novel doesn't draw from Egyptian mythology at all, though the setting is inspired by Ancient Egypt.

Still there is Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny

I did quite enjoy The Killing Moon, but if there's any Egyptian mythology in it, I couldn't find it. I remember that being one of my disappointments in it, since the blurb says it's inspired by Egyptian mythology.

For adult: Melmoth by Sarah Perry

YA: I'm seconding Leah's nomination

Collection: The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice

Asaria wrote: "Still there is Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny "

Haven't read that one! Did you like it?

Margaret wrote: "I did quite enjoy The Killing Moon, but if there's any Egyptian mythology in it, I couldn't find it. I remember that being one of my disappointments in it, since the blurb says it's..."

Too bad! The only other books I can think of using Egyptian mythology are the Rick Riordan series The Red Pyramid which I only read the first few chapters of with my son when he was little before abandoning. Another series Shadow Blade by Seressia Glass is also supposed to have Ancient Egyptian mythology in it, but like Trail of Lightning the actual mythology is minimal and it's more about fighting monsters.

Jalilah wrote: "Asaria wrote: "Still there is Creatures of Light and Darkness by Roger Zelazny "

Haven't read that one! Did you like it?"

I liked it, would love to read again, but it isn't everyone's cup of tea. Zelazny was experimenting a lot here.

Asaria wrote: "1. The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs - the story has echoes of B&tB
2. Since I was talking a lot 'bout A Thousand Nights by [author:E.K. Johnston|741..."

hello, first time commenter on this group (joined a while ago but i like seeing other people's recommendations rather than joining in as i've not long since got back into reading and don't have many recs of my own). i wholeheartedly back the Poetic Edda! i've been reading Jackson Crawford's translation of it for a while, i've already read it but i'm going back and trying to translate my favourite lines into Old Norse so it's still on my 'currently reading' list. it's a more modern translation and a lot easier to read and understand than earlier translations (Bellows or Thorpe). Crawford doesn't have a proper author profile by the way, so i haven't tagged him. for some reason his other book 'the Saga of the Völsungs & Saga of Ragnar Loðbrók' is on another author's profile who shares the same name 😟

If it gets picked, I'll see if I can find the Crawford translation!

For the Adult Novel I'll second Patricia Briggs's The Hob's Bargain!
Her Mercy Thompson Series Collection is the only urban fantasy/paranormal romance series I still continue to read and I've always been curious about her other series. I know a number of you mentioned you didn't care for the first in the Mercy series, Moon Called. I did not like it much either!
In fact after reading it I had no desire to read the rest of the books in the series. It was only a few years later I decided to read on after reading one of Charles de Lint's reviews and I discovered he was right, the rest of the series is really good and full of fairy and folk tale references.

For YA I second Blanca & Roja! I can never get enough Anna-Marie McLemore! My only concern is that the book will not be that available yet, as it just came out this year. Perhaps if people can't find it yet we could also have an alternative read for her The Weight of Feathers? It also has fairy/folk tale references

For original tale collection I nominate The Arabian Nights II: Sindbad and Other Popular Stories translated by Husain Haddawy.

I know I've been completely absent from this group for several months, but I'd like to jump back in here and nominate!

For adult, I'll go with Lud-in-the-Mist, which is a fantasy classic I've been really excited to pick up for a long time.

For YA, I'll nominate The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic, which is a fairy tale collection set in Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse, but as I understand it not dependent on any of her previous books. I've had it out from the library through several renewals now, and I need incentive to pick it up!

I am, however, also happy to see people nominating Anna-Marie McLemore's books! Both When the Moon Was Ours and Wild Beauty have been all-time YA favorites of mine, and I own copies of both The Weight of Feathers and Blanca & Roja (which I preordered) already.

Jalilah wrote: "Leah wrote: "YA: Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore - I've read this is a mashup of Snow White and Rose Red and Swan Lake. "

I want to read this too and would second it. My only concern would be it's availability. It just came out this year. My library ordered it, but the copies still have not arrived, but there's already a cue of people waiting to loan it!"

I requested from the library back in September and am currently number one in the queue. If it wins and we find out that several members can't join in due to availability, I'm totally okay with reading The Weight of Feathers as an alternative.

Kelsey wrote: "I am, however, also happy to see people nominating Anna-Marie McLemore's books! Both When the Moon Was Ours and Wild Beauty have been all-time YA favorites of mine, and I own copies of both The Weight of Feathers and Blanca & Roja (which I preordered) already. "

Last summer, after I read When the Moon Was Ours, I added Anna-Marie McLemore to my top 10 favorite authors. I knew after reading that one book, she had "it" and I wanted to binge read everything she'd released up to that point. But I stopped myself because I wanted to savor each book. I managed to wait a whole six months (lol) and read Wild Beauty about a month after its release. I've intentionally been saving The Weight of Feathers because I have a gut feeling it's going to be my favorite of hers so far.

I'm on a limited book buying budget, so when I found When the Moon Was Ours (hardcover) in the clearance section of Half-Price Books I snatched it up for $1... can you believe it?! I was simultaneously ecstatic (over my luck) and outraged -- who would own that book then let it go?!! Why hadn't a customer bought it long before it hit the clearance rack? At any rate, I probably looked like a psycho with a huge grin, hugging that book to my chest as I walked to the checkout. lol

Leah wrote: "At any rate, I probably looked like a psycho with a huge grin, hugging that book to my chest as I walked to the checkout. lol "

I have that look on my face so often, Ha!

Okay, here are our nominations so far. Please correct me if I'm missing something. I'll post polls tomorrow night, so everyone still has time to nominate books if you haven't already!

Adult:
The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia A. McKillip
Hag by Kathleen Kaufman
The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
Blue Diary by Alice Hoffman
The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs
Melmoth by Sarah Perry
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees

Young Adult:
Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon
The Last Atlanteans by Katrina Ryan
Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore
A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston
The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo

Traditional:
Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane
The Poetic Edda
The Return of the Light: Twelve Tales from Around the World for the Winter Solstice by Carolyn McVickar Edwards
The Arabian Nights II: Sindbad and Other Popular Stories by Husain Haddawy

An excellent list so far.

Margaret wrote: "Okay, here are our nominations so far. Please correct me if I'm missing something. I'll post polls tomorrow night, so everyone still has time to nominate books if you haven't already!

Adult:
[book..."

I agree! An excellent list!

Polls are up! https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/3...

You have until Oct. 30th to vote.

@Mary - it doesn't look like Italian Popular Tales has much of a chance. We've both nominated this one, what, three or four times in total now? I guess they're not so "popular" tales with the group. lol

Would you wanna do a Buddy Read with me starting mid-November? It may take me a couple months to work through them all, but a buddy read might be our only option at this point. No pressure, just thought I'd offer.

Don't know about November -- I'm donig NaNoWriMo.

And we have our winners!

A tie for Adult! The winners are: The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs and Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees.

Young Adult: Blanca & Roja by Anna-Marie McLemore

Traditional: The Poetic Edda

Here are the discussion threads: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

The group read begins November 15th and ends January 14th. So you have about 2 weeks to acquire copies of the books, though of course you can start posting early or late. Posts always stay open.

For any library folks, I especially recommend going ahead and requesting Blanca & Roja. It's a new release and pretty popular, from what I hear.

Discussion threads are also listed on the group homepage.

What are people going to read first? My copy of Blanca & Roja came in to the library today! So I'll end up reading that early. I've read Lud-in-the-Mist before and I have too much to read to reread it, but I'll definitely still participate in the discussion.

Oh, and if the book you nominated didn't read, feel free to nominate it again! You can also set up a buddy read, if other people are interested in reading it with you.

The Buddy Read folder: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Anyone can start a thread for a book. Just click on New Topic.

Margaret wrote: "And we have our winners!

A tie for Adult! The winners are: The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs and Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees.

Youn..."
How exciting! I look forward to reading them, in particular Blanca y Rosa which my library ordered at my request!

My copy of Blanca & Roja came in at library last week and I’d just been waiting to see if it’d be the group read. Since it won I’ll be starting it Monday. I can’t wait!

What translation of The Poetic Edda do you suggest. An online search gave each translation as the best at some point.


And many others

Anna recommended the Crawford translation. I haven't started researching yet.

I will definitely be reading
Blanca & Roja
And
The Hob's Bargain
I'm not sure about Lud-in-the-Mist or The Poetic Edda
My library does not have either of them and I'd have to request an inter-library loan. I'm still waiting for the Icelandic tales.

yeah the Crawford translation is the best I've read so far, much easier to understand since it's written in modern English! gonna order Blanca & Roja and already own Lud in the Mist and the Poetic Edda. got a library book to finish first but excited to start reading these!

Unfortunately, my library also does not have The Poetic Edda. Odd! I did find a free version online, translated by Henry Adams Bellow: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/i...

Edda and "The Hob's bargain" for me.

Probably I'll be stuck with Bellow's translation, but there is still an option of rereading Polish edition instead. All depends on how readable this English version is.

I read Lud-in-the-mist before and I don't want to return to that world. Blanca & Roja is unavailable, but at least I have The Weight of Feathers by the same author.