Gem ’s Comments (group member since Sep 12, 2022)

Gem ’s comments from the Once Upon a Time... group.

Cheryl wrote: "It does come down to the freedom to choose, I agree. And one could certainly argue that our little mermaid did make conscious, thoughtful, non-impulsive, non-imposed choices."

Hmmm, I agree her choices were conscious but she felt very much like a teenager. She made choices that while thought-out she didn't necessarily consider or even understand the repercussions... for instance what if he doesn't fall in love with me? I don't think her "bad" just immature in her thinking process.

It has been a few years since I read this and I completely forgot about her desire for an immortal soul. I don't know how that got past me the first time.

Cheryl wrote: "I know that we feminists are supposed to disagree with the little mermaid's choice to give up so much for the sake of the prince."

My perspective on feminism is that women should have the right to choose any path they (individually) want to walk down regardless if it's a career or a stay-at-home mom. I've made a lot of personal sacrifices for the men who have been in my life and some were admittedly bad choices, but they were my choice.

I'm halfway through. I'm enjoying it more than the remember from reading it the first time.

I'm behind, as usual, I've been dealing with getting my husband to the doctor in advance of his surgery which was last week. I don't know what happened, I'm usually a pretty together person but this knocked me for a loop. I will reading as I've enjoyed all the stories sans Nathanial Hawthorne... I've tried, I just don't like his writing.

Cheryl wrote: "Tbh, I have no interest. I've tried several times and cannot get into LotR at all. But don't defer on my account!"

Thanks for the feedback Cheryl.

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland #1) by Lewis Carroll, your discussion leader is Shanna.
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Summary

After a tumble down the rabbit hole, Alice finds herself far away from home in the absurd world of Wonderland. As mind-bending as it is delightful, Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel is pure magic for young and old alike.

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,

Welcome to our discussion about The Wonderland Trials (The Curious Realities #1) by Sara Ella, your discussion leader is Shanna.
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Summary

All Alice Liddell wants is to escape her Normal life in Oxford and find the parents who abandoned her ten years ago. But she gets more than she bargained for when her older sister Charlotte is arrested for having the infamous Wonder Gene—the key to unlocking the curious Wonderland Reality.

Soon, Alice receives a rather cryptic invitation to play for Team Heart in this year’s annual—and often deadly—Wonderland Trials. Now she has less than twenty-four hours to find her way into Wonderland where nothing is impossible . . . or what it seems.

The stakes are raised when she discovers players go missing during the Trials each year. Will she and her team solve the clues and find the missing players? Or will betrayal and distrust win, leaving Alice alone in a world of her own? Follow the White Rabbit into this topsy-turvy fantasy where players become prey, a sip of the wrong tea might as well be poison, and a queen’s ways do not always lead one where they ought to go.

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,

Welcome to our discussion about The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum, your discussion leader is Gem.
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Summary

Every child knows about Santa Claus, the jolly man who brings gifts to all on Christmas. There are many stories that tell of his life, but the delightful version relayed in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is by far the most charming and original of all. Only L. Frank Baum, the man who created the wonderful land of Oz, could have told Santa's tale in such rich and imaginative detail.

Hello fellow Crime, Mystery & Thriller readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel (Tyme #1) by Megan Morrison, your discussion leader is Gem.
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Summary

In all of Tyme, from the Redlands to the Grey, no one is as lucky as Rapunzel. She lives in a magic tower that obeys her every wish; she reads wonderful books starring herself as the heroine; her hair is the longest, most glorious thing in the world. And she knows this because Witch tells her so---her beloved Witch, who protects her from evil princes, the dangerous ground under the tower, even unhappy thoughts. Rapunzel can't imagine any other life.

Then a thief named Jack climbs into her room to steal one of her enchanted roses. He's the first person Rapunzel's ever met who isn't completely charmed by her (well, the first person she's met at all, really), and he is infuriating-- especially when he hints that Witch isn't telling her the whole truth. Driven by anger at Jack and her own nameless fears, Rapunzel descends to the ground for the first time, and finds a world filled with more peril than Witch promised ... and more beauty, wonder, and adventure than she could have dreamed.

Hello fellow Fairy Tale Readers readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Rapunzel by Jacob Grimm, your discussion leader is Gem.
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Summary

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Trapped at the top of a tall tower, every day Rapunzel throws down her long, long golden hair for her captor, the enchantress, to climb. Until one day the King's son discovers Rapunzel and they fall in love. Together they devise a plan to escape but the enchantress discovers their scheme and chops off Rapunzel's hair. Will Rapunzel and the prince be parted forever?

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Christina Henry, your discussion leader is Gem.
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Summary

Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt's grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that's just legend, the village gossips talking.

Twenty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play Sleepy Hollow boys, reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the sinister discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,

Welcome to our discussion about The Legend Of Sleepy Hallow by Washington Irving, your discussion leader is Gem.
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Summary

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a horror story by American author Washington Irving, contained in his collection of 34 essays and short stories entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. written while Irving was living abroad in Birmingham, England. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was first published in 1820, along with Irving's companion piece Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is among the earliest examples of American fiction with enduring popularity, especially during Halloween because of a character known as the Headless Horseman believed to be a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannonball in battle.

Hello fellow Fairy Tales readers,

Welcome to our discussion about The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition by Jacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm, and Jack D. Zipes (translator) your discussion leader is Gem.
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Summary

When Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their "Children's and Household Tales" in 1812, followed by a second volume in 1815, they had no idea that such stories as "Rapunzel," "Hansel and Gretel," and "Cinderella" would become the most celebrated in the world. Yet few people today are familiar with the majority of tales from the two early volumes, since in the next four decades the Grimms would publish six other editions, each extensively revised in content and style. For the very first time, " The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm" makes available in English all 156 stories from the 1812 and 1815 editions. These narrative gems, newly translated and brought together in one beautiful book, are accompanied by sumptuous new illustrations from award-winning artist Andrea Dezso.

From "The Frog King" to "The Golden Key," wondrous worlds unfold--heroes and heroines are rewarded, weaker animals triumph over the strong, and simple bumpkins prove themselves not so simple after all. Esteemed fairy tale scholar Jack Zipes offers accessible translations that retain the spare description and engaging storytelling style of the originals. Indeed, this is what makes the tales from the 1812 and 1815 editions unique--they reflect diverse voices, rooted in oral traditions, that are absent from the Grimms' later, more embellished collections of tales. Zipes's introduction gives important historical context, and the book includes the Grimms' prefaces and notes.

PLEASE NOTE: While you are welcome to read other editions, this particular edition is a translation of the Grimm's first publicaiton translated by Jack Zipes. There are 70 stories and the translation are as close as we can get to the original language the Grimms used before they began to sanitize the stories for children.

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, your discussion leader is Gem.
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Summary

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father's inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.

When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk--grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh--Miryem's fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar.

But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love.

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Rumpelstiltskin by Jacob Grimm, your discussion leader is Gem.
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Summary

When the king charges the miller’s beautififul daughter with spinning straw into gold she makes an ill-advised deal with the cunning Rumpelstiltskin.

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,

Welcome to our discussion about As Old as Time by Liz Braswell, your discussion leader is Lisa.
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Summary

When Belle touches the Beast's enchanted rose, memories flood through Belle's mind — memories of a mother she thought she would never see again. And, stranger still, she sees that her mother is none other than the beautiful enchantress who cursed the castle and all its inhabitants.

Shocked and confused, Belle and the Beast will have to unravel a dark mystery about their families that is 21 years in the making.

Hello fellow Fairy Tale Readers readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Beauty And The Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, your discussion leader is Lisa.
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Summary

Generations of readers have been bewitched by the epic love story of a beautiful young girl imprisoned in the magical castle of a monstrous beast.

PLEASE NOTE: Beauty and the Beast is a fairy tale originally written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740. Her lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and published by French novelist Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756. Later, Andrew Lang retold the story in Blue Fairy Book, a part of the Fairy Book series, in 1889. Therefore the story may be different depending on the author you select.

Lisa wrote: "That story is quite funny. Who would imagine tobacco smoke being the source of life. LOL"

I've been trying to get through that story all day.

NathanialHawthorneiskillingme!

Hello fellow Fairy Tale Readers readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Of Sea and Song (Daughters of Eville #3) by Chanda Hahn, your discussion leader is Gem.
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Summary

I killed a man to protect my sisters, and now I am a fugitive. With bounty hunters hot on my trail— willing to take me dead or alive— I’m forced to disguise myself as a cabin boy on the Bella Donna. I should have been safe at sea, but I cannot escape the dangerous feelings evoked by the ship's handsome captain.

For I am Merisol, one of the adoptive daughters of Lady Eville, and to escape my past and save my friends I will make an uncertain bargain with a shady sea witch. The deal sounds too good to be true. What could possibly go wrong?