Into the Forest discussion

The Endicott books we're skipping, by the way, are ones that were already group reads - in some cases it was years ago though!

One great thing about having nominations and polls is that it's guarenteed to generate conversation in the nomination threads and ensure at least a couple of people will want to read the selection.

After finishing The Cats of Tanglewood Forest, which I really loved I went back to Turkey with one of my favourite writers who I only discovered this year Elif Shafak, and read The Bastard of Istanbul. Now I am re-reading Days of Blood & Starlight so I can finally read the last book of the series Dreams of Gods & Monsters. Honestly I don't know how all these people manage to read these series, waiting over a year in between them! I always forget too many details!
Then The Red Fairy Book is next!

I've read about 3/4s of the Red Fairy Tale book. There are a number of tales that I was either unfamiliar with or familiar with a different version, so I am enjoying it immensely. However my copy of Dreams of Gods & Monsters arrived from the library and having just reread the one before Days of Blood & Starlight I just could not resist! It is such a great series! Now that the entire series is out it's a good time to read it. I had to wait over a year between each book and forgot a lot of things and had to reread.
For afterwards I also am debating starting Red Earth and Pouring Rain, which I have a copy of, or going out and buying Bitter Greens. I feel left out with all of you reading it!

I just got back from a way-too-short camping trip and unfortunately didn't get hardly any reading done. I listened to a few audiobooks while hiking and got a giant blister between two toes but only read a couple hundred pages.

I'm up to around 2/3 of the way through The Red Fairy Book for the group read, and am still enjoying it.

The one print book I finished up was Faery Lands Forlorn by Dave Duncan, which didn't make nearly as much sense as it ought to have! It's the second book in a 4 book series and it's been a few years since I read the first one. I kind of assumed that Duncan would recap the first book, but no! He jumped right in where the first left off and went on at full speed! The book was half over before I was reasonably well caught up on events... I'll have the rest of the series ASAP so I don't forget again.

For audiobooks, I listened to The Quiet American which still has a lot to say about American foreign policy, despite being half a century old.

Then I listened to Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen, and it's definitely my favorite by hers so far! It's still a rather fluffy book, but it's a little deeper and more meaty than the others of hers I've read. Plus, it helped a lot that the lake I was camping at was quite a bit like Lost Lake in climate, so as the book mentioned cypress knees and alligators, all I had to do to get an illustration was glance around!

And I'm about halfway through The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier which is turning out to be a trippy time travel book. Not as good as Rebecca, of course, but still enjoyable.


I've designated December as a month to attempt to tame Mt. TBR, so I'm going to try to avoid buying books and borrowing from the library and focus on books I already own. We'll see how it goes.

Jalilah wrote: "For afterwards I also am debating starting Red Earth and Pouring Rain, which I have a copy of, or..."

I checked that out a LONG time ago and still haven't had the slightest urge to read it. I think it's due this weekend and I'm out of renewals. I haven't even bothered to place a hold on Journal of Antonio Montoya: A Novel yet. I'm extremely unmotivated when it comes to the Endicott group lately, it seems.

I'm also about 2/3rds finished with The Red Fairy Book and am enjoying it, though I think I've read it before and forgotten! It wouldn't be the first time that's happened, but the good thing about fairy tales is that I always enjoy re-reading them.

A few weeks ago I read Among the Thorns, a short story based on the Grimm's fairy tale The Jew in the Thorns. It's an excellent story. If you're familiar with the fairy tale, then you know it's antisemitic and incredibly disturbing. Kristina from this group recommended the short story based on the tale a while back, and I'm recommending it again! You can read it free here: http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/05/am...

I'm reading Che Guevara's journals right now, then I'll either read Haroun and the Sea of Stories or something for the 2014 challenge.

My library didn't have Journal of Antonio Montoya, so I'm skipping that one. And I never finished Red Earth and Pouring Rain!

I'm definitely interested in Journal of Antonio Montoya: A Novel and would also like to try Red Earth and Pouring Rain, but won't be able to read it at the time of the Endicot group reads. I might include one of them as part of my 2015 Challenge for this group. This year I have less time to read, so will probably only participate in group read discussions in this group and possibly a Middle East literature group I am also in.

I'm having a problem getting into Red Earth and Pouring Rain I really wanted to like this book! The premise, that the warrior-poet reincarnated into a monkey becomes conscious of who he was and is and tells his story, really intrigued me! So the introduction drew me in, but now that the actual stories started I am finding it harder to get into.

I've just finished reading Son of the Shadows by Juliet Marillier and I'm loving the Sevenwaters series so much I'm doing something which I rarely do which is starting the next book straight after. So currently reading Child of the Prophecy.

Ruby, I did the same with that series even though I rarely read series books back to back as well. I think Son of the Shadows was my favorite of the three, but then, I have strange likes sometimes when it comes to romances. ;) Enjoy!

Favourite of the three? Goodreads lists six. Is it a trilogy and then independent books in the same world? Does anyone know?

Reading Hounded,
re/reading Faefever, Demian and The Armageddon Rag

Ah, that's right, there are even more in the Sevenwaters world. I had the impression they were set much farther along in time, but it appears they're not. I haven't read beyond the first three, but will likely do so eventually! :)

I've just seen that the fourth one was released 7 years after the third so no doubt you're not the only one thinking they're a trilogy! I suspect a lot of people haven't checked back to see if there were more books. I'm always late to the party when it comes to series :D

Mary wrote: "I just read The Snow Queen. I loved it!"

Snow Queen is my favourite HCA. I'd somehow missed it as a child and I only read it this year when it was a group read.

Ruby Rose Scarlett wrote: "I've just seen that the fourth one was released 7 years after the third so no doubt you're not the only one thinking they're a trilogy! I suspect a lot of people haven't checked back to see if ther..."

I understood that it was originally a trilogy, but later on Juliet Marillier wrote more books in the same universe.
I've only read Daughter of the Forest, but plan to read more. My favourite of hers were Wildwood Dancing and Cybele's Secret.

Anyone interested in doing a buddy read of The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm? This is the 1st English translation of the 1st edition of the Grimms' fairy tales. I was going to read this edition alongside reading a later edition to see their differences.

I started reading Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and it's great! It's a very easy, fast read, but smart and funny too. I'll probably finish it tonight.

I just finished Snow White Red-Handed and found it to be quite a fun little cozy mystery. 4.5 stars Since the author is a PhD candidate, I'm curious if her version of the real Snow White is new or something already familiar to fairy-tale scholars, academics, enthusiasts, etc. It kinda reminded me of Ever After and its version of the real Cinderella.

Next up: Days of Blood & Starlight

Leah wrote: "I just finished Snow White Red-Handed and found it to be quite a fun little cozy mystery. 4.5 stars Since the author is a PhD candidate, I'm curious if her version of the real Snow ..."
Snow White Read Handed looks like a fun read Leah! Let us know how you liked Days of Blood and Starlight.
Margaret wrote: "Anyone interested in doing a buddy read of The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm? This is the 1st English translation of the 1st edition of the Grimms' fairy tales..."

I would definitely be interested in reading that book, but don't have the time now. I wont even get around to reading Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I am finally reading Bitter Greens and really enjoying it fir the most part. I much prefer the Italian Rapunzel story to the French Court story.

I just started Tiger Lily and I already mentioned in the non-spoiler thread that up to now, I like the way it's written. I also don't think it's necessary to read the original Peter Pan to appreciate it.

So, while I'd disappeared for a couple of weeks, I managed to finish up The Count of Monte Cristo, which was really long but fantastic.

And I finished up A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong which was pretty basic but interesting. I'm really enjoying the Cannongate Myth books.

I also read The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde which ended up being really, really funny. It gives me high hopes for his fairy tale collection (The Complete Fairy Tales). Has anyone around here read them? There's a couple in the Zipes' Western Lit anthology, but I haven't had a chance to read them yet.

Melanti wrote: "So, while I'd disappeared for a couple of weeks, I managed to finish up The Count of Monte Cristo, which was really long but fantastic.

And I finished up [book:A Short History of Myth|..."

I love Wilde's fairy tales. Many people enjoy Oscar Wilde for his biting sarcasm or his wittiness, but his fairy tales are compassionate and very humane.

After I finishing Days of Blood & Starlight I wanted to give myself a breather from fairy tales and myths for a couple weeks, so I read:

I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems by Cats - 3 stars - cute, but I'm not sure cats would write something THAT cute

The Deep by Nick Cutter - 3 stars - blends all kinds of sci-fi horror like Sphere, IT, The Shining, but ultimately didn't wow me like his first book. (Plus there was animal testing, animal torture, animal deaths which are super hard for me to read.)

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie - 4.5 stars - rocked my world! Borrowed it based on recs over at LibraryThing. So glad I did.

Now I'm reading The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz which I'm really, really enjoying. I love me some Sherlock Holmes mysteries.

Melanti wrote: "So, while I'd disappeared for a couple of weeks, I managed to finish up The Count of Monte Cristo, which was really long but fantastic."

Oh I've wanted to read that one for ages! I always get tripped up by which edition I *should* read. Is the one you linked to an abridged version? Is there an edition that others would recommend (with ISBN please)?

Leah wrote: "Oh I've wanted to read that one for ages! I always get tripped up by which edition I *should* read. Is the one you linked to an abridged version? Is there an edition that others would recommend (with ISBN please)? ..."

The Count of Monte Cristo is the print version of the one I read. It's an unabridged modern translation by Buss. It has nice footnotes explaining some of the more obscure references/historical events/people, etc, which was nice, and the Kindle edition is extremely well formatted, x-ray enabled, etc. I had no complaints at all.

There's a lesbian woman in the book and the Victorian era translators toned that down and made it a bit more subtle while the modern era translations are more accurate to what the original French says.

I compared a handful of passages and the ones I looked at, it just seemed to be a matter of degree. For instance, in one passage the Victorian era translation had her calling another woman "pretty" (or was it "beautiful"?) where the Buss translation used "magnificent". I didn't see a huge difference, frankly, and was told by someone who's read multiple translations that he didn't see a huge difference either. You have to do a little more reading between the lines in the older translations but it's still clear.

So there's no real "best" translation, from what I understand. It really just depends if you want Victorian English or more modern English.

But it is a REALLY long book. If you see an edition that's shorter than, say, 1,000 pages, you can generally assume that it's at least a little abridged.

Melanti, Thank you for that thoughtful explanation. I've been deciding what my really long book for 2015 will be - it's come down to this one or Les Misérables - but I've wanted to read The Count for years and years, and it's so my cuppa with the whole avenging wrongful imprisonment...hmmm...decisions, decisions. :)

Finished House of Silk, gave it 4 stars. It was more lurid than Conan Doyle's cases, but a good read. Just a bit heavier than I expected. Meaning the solution to the mystery was kinda depressing.

Now I'm starting The Pearl that Broke Its Shell by Nadia Hashimi which I discovered during the 2014 Goodreads Choice nominations.

Afghan-American Nadia Hashimi's literary debut novel, The Pearl that Broke Its Shell is a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.

ETA: I gave The Pearl that Broke Its Shell 4 stars but jeez, it's heavy reading. I'm so grateful to live with the freedoms I have. Next I have to read something light, maybe even silly.

Les Misérables was good, but I did not enjoy it near as much as The Count of Monte Cristo, which is one of my favorite books of all time.

Leah wrote: "Melanti, Thank you for that thoughtful explanation. I've been deciding what my really long book for 2015 will be - it's come down to this one or Les Misérables - but I've wanted to ..."

I committed to readingThe Count and Anna Karenina this year. Les Mis is on my list of books to read SOMEDAY but probably not this year.

I will say that there are sooo many references to The Count that I now realized I've missed over the years - especially the jail break scenes. At least with Les Mis I've seen the musical and get a few of the references.

Jalilah wrote: "I really liked Karen Armstrong's A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ..."

I think part of your comment got lost? The Classics group will be reading The Count for the next two months and change, by the way. Plenty of time to join in if you want!

A History of God sounds interesting, though I did read Reza Aslan's Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth and his No God But God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam last year, and attempted to read The God Delusion but quickly gave up because Dawkins is a bit of an ass. I'd kind of like my next non-fiction religious book to be about the history of Buddhism or Hinduism. Cover all of my bases, etc.

Melanti wrote: "Leah wrote: "Melanti, Thank you for that thoughtful explanation. I've been deciding what my really long book for 2015 will be - it's come down to this one or Les Misérables - but I'..."

There's Buddha by Karen Armstrong. I picked up recently for the same reason as you--trying to cover all the religious histories. I haven't read it yet, but I do really like Karen Armstrong.

How strange! Yes, my comment re The Count of Monte Cristo got lost!
I deleted the comment since it made no sense.
I just said that I really loved it when I read it many years ago and that I'd like to re-read it. Especially now that you mention all the references Melanti.
So how long will they be reading it in the Classics group?

And I said that I liked A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Karen Armstrong and found it very interesting!

Jalilah wrote: "How strange! Yes, my comment re The Count of Monte Cristo got lost!
I deleted the comment since it made no sense.
I just said that I really loved it when I read it many years ago and that I'd like..."

When you're quoting someone and the quote breaks off in the middle of one of the book titles (between the [ and the ]) it can cut off part of your comment... Just delete the rest of the book title, or add a ] and it should be okay.

It's a quarterly read, so it'll go up to the end of March. They give 3 months for the huge books. (This is the Catching Up on Classics group, by the way, for those who're wondering what group we're talking about.)

Margaret wrote: "There's Buddha by Karen Armstrong. I picked up recently for the same reason as you--trying to cover all the religious histories. I haven't read it yet, but I do really like Karen Armstrong. ..."

Oh, good! My library does have that one.

Melanti wrote: "It's a quarterly read, so it'll go up to the end of March. They give 3 months for the huge books. (This is the Catching Up on Classics group, by the way, for those who're wondering what group we're talking about.)"

Thanks for sharing that group. I hadn't heard of it before. My sister is even a member, so I'm gonna have to check it out.

Melanti wrote: " It's a quarterly read, so it'll go up to the end of March. They give 3 months for the huge books. (This is the Catching Up on Classics group, by the way, for those who're wondering what group we're talking about.)

Good to know! I think I just might re-read it then! I joined the Catching Up on Classics last year after reading To Kill a Mockingbird and realizing how much I love some classics. However lately I just have much less time to read than I used to. Books that used to take me a few days to read now can take up to two weeks, so that's why I was hesitating about some of the classics.
However if I remember correctly there is not a dull part in the Count of Monte Christo. I am definitely not up for a reread of Anna Karenina. It's too depressing!

I just finished and loved Doctor Who: The Doctor - His Lives and Times by James Goss & Steve Tribe. What's cool about this is that the narration changes: sometimes it's told by a Companion, by River Song, though she never says so, or by the TARDIS itself.

I'm currently reading The King's Peace by Jo Walton, I'm reading everything she's written, pretty much.

Wednesday my RL book group is talking about The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature, so I think I should start it...

Julia wrote: I'm currently reading The King's Peace by Jo Walton, I'm reading everything she's written, pretty much.."


Ever since I read Among Others I've wanted to read something else by Jo Walton! How does The King's Peace compare?

I am currently enjoying The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine. I can highly recommend it!

I just got done with J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun, which is a semi-autobiographical novel about a boy in a Japanese internment camp near Shanghai during WWII. Ballard writes a lot of sci-fi dystopian/post-apocolyptic-ish books where people generally have just a thin veneer of civilization over a whole lot of savageness and now that I've read this, I can look back at his other fiction and see how much his boyhood experiences must have affected his world view. It definitely explains a few things!

Now I'm reading Isabel Allende's Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, and even though I'm only a couple of chapters in, I can already tell that MG/YA is not her forte! She dumbs down things way too much and so far it seems a bit cliched - and that's not something I associate with her adult books.


We have some rain forecast this weekend, so hopefully I'll get a chance to read at least "The White Cat" from Beauties, Beasts and Enchantments: Classic French Fairy Tales and as long as I have the book open, I may as well read de la Force's (The woman from Bitter Greens) version of "Rapunzel".

I read the Perrault stories and the two versions of "Beauty and the Beast" a couple of years ago, but had to return the book to the library before finishing the rest. I've since bought my own copy, though, so I really should sit down and read the whole thing one of these days!

Reading Hero. A good mix of fairy and myth. Can't remember why I picked this one up (2nd in the series -- Enchanted is #1) when I haven't read the first. I know I picked it up because of reviews somewhere. Seems that it was in line for some award?

YA, but fun.

Melanti wrote: "Now I'm reading Isabel Allende's Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, and even though I'm only a couple of chapters in, I can already tell that MG/YA is not her forte! She dumbs down things way too much and so far it seems a bit cliched - and that's not something I associate with her adult books."


Isabel Allende is probably my favourite all time writer, but City of the Beasts was really disappointing! I also concluded that YA fiction is definitely not her forte!

As I already said in the White Cat thread, I'll be looking forward to reading your impressions of your impressions of both the tale within the tale of White Cat and La Force's version of Rapunzel!
If it is in the book you mentioned I might get it! It sounds like a good book to have on hand to read from time to time!

Jalilah wrote: "Isabel Allende is probably my favourite all time writer, but City of the Beasts was really disappointing! I also concluded that YA fiction is definitely not her forte! ..."
Definitely not! I really wish I'd read the sample before buying but I was busy and there was a huge, huge sale going on so I just took a leap of faith on authors I was already familiar with! Sadly, I bought book #3 too... Though according to a few of the reviews, #2 is the worst of the trilogy, so hopefully #3 will be a bit better.

Jalilah wrote: "If it is in the book you mentioned I might get it! It sounds like a good book to have on hand to read from time to time! ..."

I got a bit confused, I'm afraid. I keep thinking it SHOULD be in there cause I know I have a copy translated by Zipes and it's a French tale, so logically it should be in his French anthology - but it isn't. It's in his Spells of Enchantment: the Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture. It does have another La Force tale ("The Good Woman") but not the Rapunzel story.

But I think Beauties, Beasts and Enchantments: Classic French Fairy Tales is worth having anyway. It has all of Perrault's fairy tales, the Villenueve version of "Beauty and the Beast" as well as the shorter more famous Beaumont version, a tale from half a dozen or so other authors, then a little more than half of d'Aulnoy's tales. Actually, about half of the 600 pg book is d'Aulnoy. But whatever you do, do NOT get the mass market paperback version! It leaves out most of the d'Aulnoy stories and the Villenueve "Beauty and the Beast".

Margaret wrote: "Anyone interested in doing a buddy read of The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm? This is the 1st English translation of the 1st edition of the Grimms' fairy tales..."

Margaret, I found this on the new release shelf at my library yesterday!

I only have the book for 3 weeks and I'm assuming I won't be able to renew it since it is a brand-new book and there'll probably be holds on it soon. So I can't do a full buddy read, but if you wanted to pick a few tales to discuss we could do that.

Or, if anyone who doesn't have a copy is wondering what differences are on a specific tale, I can be of service.

I did read a couple of stories that I remembered having rather gruesome endings and the endings in the first edition were much tamer. (Rumpelstiltskin just runs off in a huff, he doesn't rip himself in half. The sisters in Cinderella do cut off parts of their feet but they never get their eyes pecked out by birds.)

Melanti wrote: "Margaret wrote: "Anyone interested in doing a buddy read of The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm? This is the 1st English translation of the 1st edition of the Gr..."

We can pick a few! In a review I read that one of the main differences between the 1st edition and later editions is that there are no stepmothers--they're mothers instead. So I'm curious to compare Snow White, since that one seems so dependent on the stepmother-stepdaughter relationship.

I set up a thread.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Melanti asked: Ever since I read Among Others I've wanted to read something else by Jo Walton! How does The King's Peace compare?

I liked The King's Peace enough that I requested book #2 The King's Name from the libraryJo Walton, but I lovedlovedloved Tooth and Claw. Also look at What Makes This Book So Great, though not a novel, it's like Among Others because it's a love letter to great science fiction and fantasy.

I am currently reading The Bone People. It is certainly not a page turner for me. I find the writing style cumbersone. Nevertheless the fact that it has Maori culture and Mythology in it makes it interesting. It could be that it is hard reading anything after The Girls at the Kingfisher Club because it was so fun and entertaining. After it I started In the Eye of the Sun for a group read in another group and could not make it past the first few chapters even though I loved The Map of Love by the same author. I often have a hard time transitioning from different types of books.

I just finished The Gracekeepers, and all you selkie nereid mermaid fans may want to give it a go. It comes out in May 2015. It was not a page-turner per se, but I didn't want to stop reading.

Jalilah wrote: "I often have a hard time transitioning from different types of books."

I'm like that too. Often that's when I have to pick up non-fiction to kinda reset my brain and give the next fiction a fair shot.

I haven't had much time to read in the last week or two, but I managed to finish The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo on the outbound plane ride. It's set in the Chinese community of Malaysia and deals with their folklore regarding the afterlife. I really enjoyed it. Thanks, Jalilah, for recommending it!

On the plane ride home, I'd planned to finish up Deathless but was too tired to really concentrate, so I read Forest of the Pygmies by Allende instead - mostly because I really didn't care if I ruined it by zoning out and missing something. I do NOT like this series at all. It's not very culturally sensitive. She compares the "pygmies" to children multiple times and at one point compares their children to dogs. I know she didn't mean it the way it sounds out of context, but that's not something you should ever say regardless of how you mean it. I'm very glad I'm done with the series!

Leah wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "I often have a hard time transitioning from different types of books."

I'm like that too. Often that's when I have to pick up non-fiction to kinda reset my brain and give the next ..."
Yeah, I should have read some non-fiction in between! Funny how it goes either way. When I read something more light and fun, it's hard to get into something more literary. But after reading more serious literature the light and fun reads can seem frivolous and silly!

Melanti wrote: "I haven't had much time to read in the last week or two, but I managed to finish The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo on the outbound plane ride. It's set in the Chinese community of Ma..."

Isn't The Ghost Bride a fun read? I am glad you liked it! A lot of the Chinese/Malay mythology was new to me.

Yes, sadly i could never recommend Isabel Allende children's books. That one was enough for me! The House of the Spirits,Eva Luna,Inés of My Soul are all 5 star books for me.

I just finished Marissa Meyer's Fairest and really enjoyed it. I loved how she went into so much detail about Levana (the main villain in the Lunar Chronicles) and how it sets up the events leading to Cinder (the first book), and the writing is lovely as always. Although honestly speaking, I doubt I'll be re-reading it. Not that it's not good, but I feel so bad for the characters that Levana inflicted pain upon.

Leah wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "I often have a hard time transitioning from different types of books."

I'm like that too. Often that's when I have to pick up non-fiction to kinda reset my brain and give the next ..."

I followed your suggestion Leah! Sacred Wilderness drew me in so much that I would have had a hard time getting into another novel, so I choose nonfiction The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo. Because it's so different I was able to get into it right away without any difficulty!
I started The Girl Who Married the Moon: Tales from Native North America his morning. They are very good!

I been bouncing between short story collections this week and none have been holding my attention properly but I just started A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan and am enjoying it so far.

It's more pure Victorian historical fantasy rather than her other faerie court inspired stuff, but it's still fun.

Jalilah wrote: "Leah wrote: I'm like that too. Often that's when I have to pick up non-fiction to kinda reset my brain and give the next...

I followed your suggestion Leah!"

That one sounds like an interesting read to break up the fiction. Next month, after I read The Count of Monte Cristo, I may have to check that one out too. Which will ruin the challenge I set for myself for April: not to borrow from the library for 30 days except for group reads - in an effort to read more of books I own... Oh well :)

As for my current reads, I've been on a picture book craze lately, LRRH mostly. But I also picked up a few Rapunzel and Cinderella this week.

And I'm about halfway through the new book by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Buried Giant. The only other one I've read to date is Never Let Me Go which I loved. However, The Buried Giant is very different. There's an interesting thing happening with people's memories, it reads like a quest story (started by an elderly Briton couple), joined by a Saxon warrior and 12-year-old boy, and Sir Gawain just entered the picture. So not really sure where this one's going or where it will end up. Feels like mythic fiction to me, though.