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

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

Hello fellow Fairy Tale Readers readers,

Welcome to our discussion about The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, your discussion leader is Gem.
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about spoilers

Please note: If you have not finished reading the book spoilers are permitted in this discussion from the start. If you would like to use the spoiler formatting it can be found on the top right of the comment box in the "(some html is ok)" menu.
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Summary

First published in 1837, The Little Mermaid is a fairy tale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. The story follows the journey of a young mermaid who is willing to give up her life in the sea – and her identity as a mermaid – in order to gain a human soul.

Lisa wrote: "I'm not sure. I'll let others weigh in with their opinions first. To be honest, I'm definitely not in an epic mindset right now."

It doesn't have to be anytime soon. I just wanted to put it on the table as a possible for future reads.

I've got a few more chapters to read, hoping to be finished by the time the weekend is over.

After having read this selection how does everyone feel about reading The Lord of the Rings Trilogy? Is it something that interests you? I thought we could do one book a month over a six-month period interspersed with other books in between so we don't get burnt out.

I got in the mail today. So I'm set to start reading

Unless I counted wrong (always a possibility at almost midnight) there are 39 stories. Cheryl do you want to make several discussions in groups of five or six stories? That might be easier to keep the discussion about particular stories in one place.

I didn't realize this book is considered a reference book by my library. Just my luck. I ordered a used copy for about $6, I'm supposed to get it sometime next week.

Rumpelstiltskin by Jacob Grimm and Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

This one has been on my TBR list forever:
Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,


Nominations for our June 2023 Group Read are now open. To ensure your nomination will be included in our poll, please make sure it conforms to the following guidelines:

✔️ You may nominate two (2) books.

✔️By entering a nomination you are agreeing to act as our Discussion Leader for the month-long Group Read should your nomination win.

Don't worry it is neither difficult nor time-consuming. The moderators are here to help if you need assistance. Please refrain from nominating a book if you are not prepared to lead the discussion.

✔️ Your nomination can be any book that fits with the theme of the group:
Fairy & Folk Tales, Fables, Retellings & Fractured Fairy Tales, Mythology, High/Epic/Portal Fantasy, Low/Urban Fantasy, and Original Tales.

✔️Post your nomination(s) as a comment below.

✔️To ensure your nomination is included in our poll correctly, do include the name of both the book and the author. You would be surprised at how many books have the same title. You are welcome to use the "add book/author" tool, which is located above the right upper corner of the comment window when making your nomination.

If you have any questions, you can leave a comment in this discussion or message Gem directly.

The nomination period will close on Sunday, April 2 at approximately 7:30 pm PDT (UTC/GMT -7).

Polling will begin on Wednesday, April 5.

Thank you and happy reading!


Running List/verified

Hello fellow Fairy Tale readers,


Nominations for our May 2023 Group Read are now open. To ensure your nomination will be included in our poll, please make sure it conforms to the following guidelines:

✔️ You may nominate two (2) books.

✔️By entering a nomination you are agreeing to act as our Discussion Leader for the month-long Group Read should your nomination win.

Don't worry it is neither difficult nor time-consuming. The moderators are here to help if you need assistance. Please refrain from nominating a book if you are not prepared to lead the discussion.

✔️ Your nomination can be any book that fits with the theme of the group:
Fairy & Folk Tales, Fables, Retellings & Fractured Fairy Tales, Mythology, High/Epic/Portal Fantasy, Low/Urban Fantasy, and Original Tales.

✔️Post your nomination(s) as a comment below.

✔️To ensure your nomination is included in our poll correctly, do include the name of both the book and the author. You would be surprised at how many books have the same title. You are welcome to use the "add book/author" tool, which is located above the right upper corner of the comment window when making your nomination.

If you have any questions, you can leave a comment in this discussion or message Gem directly.

The nomination period will close on Sunday, April 2 at approximately 7:30 pm PDT (UTC/GMT -7).

Polling will begin on Wednesday, April 5.

Thank you and happy reading!


Running List/verified

Lisa wrote: "Hmm. LOL. With the Tolkien books and movies, I am the complete opposite of you, Gem. I have only watched the LOTR movies once each, and have yet to even watch the Hobbit ones. It honestly kind of i..."

It's not my fault! lol My husband loves the Lord of the Rings books and doesn't like the Hobbit. So when we watch we only watch the Lord of the Rings. The things I do for love!

Lisa wrote: "I haven't watched the movies (well, I watched The Lord of the Rings ones, but not the Hobbit ones). Where did you think Gollum lived based upon the movies?
I am reading it slowly this time, as I have been dealing with multiple other things like family health issues, and reading a lot of other books at the same time. I am only in the middle of chapter 7"

I've seen TLoR so many times I've lost count. I think I've only seen the hobbit movies once. From TLoR I knew he lived underground, in caves but if the island was mentioned I don't recall that. This doesn't mean it wasn't there, I just don't remember that being the case.

I completely understand the health issues. I'm in the midst of a pretty bad fibro flair-up, this one has been longer than I can remember in a long time. I don't always have the concentration to read when this is going on. I really want to read this one and not switch to audio, but I'll do that if it means finishing it.

How is everyone coming along with this one. I'm about 1/2 done. I've learned something that I don't think the movies made clear. For example, I didn't know Gollum lived on an island in the middle of an underground lake. It's little things like that which are coming to light for me.

Lisa wrote: "Could be that a lot of people consider snow and ice deadly, so therefore must be evil."

I never thought of that.

I really glad to hear everyone has such good memories of the book. I've never read it before. I've watched the movies but this is my first time reading the book.

This book should be a whole lot of fun. I read chapter one today and found this for the bakers in the group:

This recipe was chosen as a result of the requests from Bilbo’s unexpected guests of dwarves and a wizard. Balin specifically asked Bilbo for some seed cake, which, when gone, the dwarves started “on a round of buttered scones.” Bifur requested raspberry jam and apple tarts, Gandalf for a few eggs, and all asked for more cakes. This recipe combines some of those items (seed cake, eggs, butter, raspberry jam) into single-serving moist “seed cakes” or muffins.

Seedcakes Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted
2 large lemons, zested and juiced
1/2 cup vanilla or plain Greek yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 tsp raspberry jam
2 large eggs, at room temperature

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350° F. In the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed, combine zest, sugar, and melted butter for one to two minutes or until all are combined. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. To the mixer, add the Greek yogurt and vanilla extract and mix for one minute. Drop the speed to low and add half of the flour mixture a little at a time. Add the lemon juice, followed by one egg. Mix for half a minute, then add the rest of the flour, the poppy seeds, and the last egg. Mix on medium-low just until all the flour disappears and appears mixed in. Stop the mixer to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula if any of the flour is sticking to the walls of the bowl.

In a paper-lined (or well oil-sprayed) muffin tin, dollop a a heaping tablespoon of muffin batter into each muffin well. Use a teaspoon to place a dollop of raspberry jam on top (try to aim for the center) of each of these scoops of batter. Spoon the remaining batter evenly onto the tops of the jam muffins. Bake for about 16-18 minutes or until the sides of the muffins begin to turn brown. Makes about 1 dozen muffins.

I finished! I enjoyed that book. The narrator got on my nerves on occasion because of the way she read one of the characters... it was whiney. But overall I enjoyed the book and the author's writing style.

Lisa wrote: "I still find it so very interesting that in the original Hans Christian Anderson tale, the Snow Queen is not really the villain, but in most retellings, or even books such as Narnia, which have a Snow Queen, she is definitely the villain."

I admit I've always wondered about that. I'm not what the allure is that makes this character a target for eviling.

Hello fellow Fairy Tale Readers readers,


Welcome to our discussion about The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales by Alison Lurie, your discussion leader is Cheryl.
___________________________________________
about spoilers

Please note: If you have not finished reading the book spoilers are permitted in this discussion from the start. If you would like to use the spoiler formatting it can be found on the top right of the comment box in the "(some html is ok)" menu.
___________________________________________


Summary
Most people think of fairy tales as having been created anonymously and almost magically long ago, and later discovered and recorded by scholars such as the Brothers Grimm. In fact original fairy tales are still being written. Over the last century and a half many well-known authors have used the characters and settings and themes of traditional tales such as 'Cinderella', 'Hansel and Gretel', and 'Beauty and the Beast' to produce new and characteristic works of wonder and enchantment. The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales brings together forty of the best of these stories by British and American writers from John Ruskin and Nathaniel Hawthorne to I. B. Singer and Angela Carter. These tales are full of princes and princesses, witches and dragons and talking animals, magic objects, evil spells, and unexpected endings. Some of their authors, like John Ruskin and Oscar Wilde, use the form to point a social or spiritual moral; others such as Jeanne Desy and Richard Kennedy, turn the traditional stories inside out to extraordinary effect. James Thurber, Bernard Malamud, and Donald Barthelme, among many others, bring the characters and plots of the traditional fairy tale into the contemporary world to make satiric comments on modern life. The literary skill, wit, and sophistication of these stories appeal to an adult audience, even though some of them were originally written for children. They include light-hearted comic fairy stories like Charles Dickens's 'The Magic Fishbone' and L. F. Baum's 'The Queen of Quok', thoughtful and often moving tales like Lord Dunsany's 'The Kith of the Elf Folk' and Philip K. Dick's 'The King of the Elves', and profoundly disturbing ones like Lucy LaneClifford's 'The New Mother', and Ursula Le Guin's 'The Wife's Story'. Together they prove that the fairy tale is not only one of the most popular and enduring forms, but a significant and continually developing part of literature.

Another thought, well two actually.

We could read the Beyond the Four Kingdoms Series, there are six books, we just read #3 (retelling of the Snow Queen) so leaves us with five more books. And she also wrote Return to the Four Kingdom which has five books. I'm not sure if we want to dedicate 10 months to the same author or not, of course, we could intersperse other books along the way.

Or we could go the nomination/poll route. I just don't want to feel like I'm dictating.

Lisa wrote: "I think you will enjoy that part, Gem. It didn't disappoint."

Awesome.

Lisa wrote: "I'm fine with it if the group wants to go this way. I freely admit that it is not one of my favorites, as I really hate the idea of giving up your whole identity and self for another. The original ..."

I agree, not one of my favorites either. I'm open to something/anything else.