Into the Forest discussion

Rachel wroteStarted Tithe by Holly Black today, "a modern faerie tale," and it is really, really good. I have to say that I enjoy Ms. Black's take on the world of fae! :."

I agree Rachel! Holly Black's Faerie Tale Trilogy is a favourite of mine. I like her take. I wish she'd written more of them. I believe her new series, the Curse Workers is completely different.

Yes, Jalilah, Holly Black's Faerie Tale series and Curse Workers are two distinct series.

Julia wrote: "Yes, Jalilah, Holly Black's Faerie Tale series and Curse Workers are two distinct series."

Have you read both series Julia? If so, How do they compare?

Just finishing up Throne of the Crescent Moon, which I have enjoyed very much indeed!

Rachel wrote: "Just finished Daughter of Smoke & Bone and started Days of Blood & Starlight today.
OMGGM (oh my goodness gracious me!!!)!!! If you haven't read this series, read it..."

I agree Rachel! I adore that series! It's really in a category of it's own, really above all the other Urban Fantasy novels. I highly recommend it.
Although it's labeled as YA, it's really for any age. I've never nominated it for this particular group simply because I could not link it to any particular Myths or Fairy Tales, but it actually closer to the themes than some of the other group reads we've had.
I still have not read the third book. I might reread the other two first.

I've just finished book 2 of Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters trilogy (first book is Daughter of the Forest), and have loved both volumes so far. A goodly dose of magic and Irish fairy tale, in a historical Ireland-and-England setting, with highly satisfying romances and family bonds. She has lots of books, so I'm stoked! Although it does mean an even longer TBR list for me. :)

Rachel wrote: "Just finished Daughter of Smoke & Bone and started Days of Blood & Starlight today.
OMGGM (oh my goodness gracious me!!!)!!! If you haven't read this series, read it..."

Yes, Rachel. I have to agree too. Absolutely one of my favorites. Have read the entire trilogy. Well worth the time.

Molly wrote: "I've just finished book 2 of Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters trilogy (first book is Daughter of the Forest), and have loved both volumes so far. A goodly dose of magic and Irish fairy t..."

Another of my favorites.

Rachel, I don't think there's any policy on nominating later books in a series,as long as they're mythology related, but speaking personally, unless they can be read as stand-alone books, it would leave out every one who wasn't already reading the series . Perhaps it would work better as a buddy read?

Rachel wrote: "Karou/Madrigal, the main character of the Daughter of Smoke & Bone series, is a chimera, which is from Greek mythology. I notice that "Greek and Roman myths" is one of the discussion topics in thi..."

Rachel, I agree the series is myth related, but also think as Melanti already said, stand alone or the first novels in a series are preferable for group reads.
I think there are a number of people in this group who, if they don't already know and like the series, would definitely like it. So what I'll do is open up a new thread for this series. Often you will have just as many people or even more people participating than in the group reads!

I picked up a copy of Anne Sexton's complete poems while I was at the library today. It includes Transformations, which is her fairy-tale-retellings collection. The retellings seem surprisingly straightforward, though - just in poem form rather than prose. I'm not sure why, but I kind of expected them to be different than this.

My other reads at the moment are Sayers' The Nine Tailors and Crime and Punishment, which I'm sure is going to take all month to get through!

Margaret wrote: "My favorite series are those that happen in the same world, but each contain their own story so can be read out of order. There's certainly plenty of epic series I enjoy, but I prefer when each nov..."

If that's the case, you'll probably like Newford. Each novel is a standalone, with many of the same characters. Sometimes there may be small references to events that happened in other stories, or characters who were in other stories may make appearances in others, but it's not so much that you miss out on anything.
If you want to read Someplace to be Flying, just let me know! I'd really like to reread it!

Jalilah wrote: "Margaret wrote: "My favorite series are those that happen in the same world, but each contain their own story so can be read out of order. There's certainly plenty of epic series I enjoy, but I pre..."


I'll let you know when I read that one! I'll probably start with Forests of the Heart, since I have that one, but I'll be on the lookout for Someplace to be flying.

Melanti wrote: "I picked up a copy of Anne Sexton's complete poems while I was at the library today. It includes Transformations, which is her fairy-tale-retellings collection. The retellings seem s..."


I was expecting the same thing when I first picked up Transformations, and I agree, they're surprisingly accessible.

Molly wrote: "I've just finished book 2 of Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters trilogy (first book is Daughter of the Forest), and have loved both volumes so far. A goodly dose of magic and Irish fairy t..."

Daughter of the Forest was a group read here a few months ago. Please feel. Free to post some of your impressions Molly! It's never too late!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Jalilah asked me ten days ago about Holly Black's books: Have you read both series Julia? If so, How do they compare?

Yes. They are both, no all three, very good. Specifics, I don't remember, I'm sorry.

Rachel then asked: Yes, I'm curious to know, too.
I really loved Tithe and The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Is the Curse Workers series as good as those?

Yes, it is, but it's different, in a very good way. In Curse Workers magic users have to register, and those that don't, are criminals, or the people register and still use illegal magic.

I expect if you liked The Coldest Girl in Coldtown and Tithe you are going to like the White Cat and the rest of the Curse Worker books.

Caveat: I didn't care for Kith and Kin, graphic novels by Holly Black.

I've only read a handful of Black's work (Zombies Vs. Unicorns, Valiant, and Doll Bones). I ADORED Doll Bones and definitely think it's the best work of hers I've read. It resonated with me on a very personal level, though, so I don't think it would garner the same response from everyone. I wrote a reflection on it (which links to my GR review) here: http://laceylouwagie.com/2013/06/17/i....

Julia wrote: "Jalilah asked me ten days ago about Holly Black's books: Have you read both series Julia? If so, How do they compare?

Yes. They are both, no all three, very good. Specifics, I don'..."

Thanks for letting us know Julia! I will definitely check them out too.
I do wish however Holly Black would write more Faerie books! Personally I loved her graphic novel series Kin,Kith and Kind because I found the art work so beautiful.

It's been kind of hard to tell what I'm going to like these days! I don't think I've ever given up on so many books as the past 2 months!
Last month I gave up on Spindle's Endabout halfway through.
I went on to read Swim the Moon and really liked it,
but only read about a third of Wildwood before DNFing it.
I thought it might be because it's a middle grade book, maybe.....but the next book was a YA book Over My Head and I really liked it!
Till We Have Faces was a so so read. I liked it in the beginning, but not so much in the third part. Over all, is just not as good as his Narnia books.
I tried to get into My Uncle Napoleon for a group read in another group but it was also not what I was in the mood for.
So finally I started Tithe and really enjoying it.

I haven't read the Wildings series yet but I can't imagine de Lint writing anything remotely similar to Wildwood. Not all YA is alike.

And I don't blame you on Till We Have Faces. I didn't like the last 50-100 pages of that book either.


I finished up Transformations (poetry) and A Tale of Two Castles which is sort of a rip-off of Sherlock Holmes with the main character like a Watson in training and a dragon consulting detective. Not Levine's best work by a long shot but not terrible.

I've moved on to McKillip's The Bards of Bone Plain, which I'm enjoying as well. It really reminds me of something, but I can't quite put my finger on what.

It's interesting, Jalilah, that you preferred C.S. Lewis's Narnia books to Till We Have Faces. I've always felt the Narnia books to be a little over-rated, so I was surprised by how much I liked Till We Have Faces -- I much preferred it to the Narnia stories and didn't mind the ending. I think that's because I had low expectations after seeing that many in this group didn't like the ending -- it wasn't as bad as I expected it might be.

I need to write a proper review of "Till We Have Faces" and perhaps check in on the thread for the book, but I thought this was an interesting example of a) how no two reading tastes are alike and/or b) how expectations can affect the enjoyability of a book.

Lacey, did your read Narnia as a kid or as an adult?

I adored them as a kid, but I tried to re-read them as an adult and quickly realized it was a bad idea.

as far as the writing style goes - I thought Till We Have Faces was darker and lusher than Narnia and liked it better - even though the allegorical passages were more overt and intrusive - but I just couldn't handle that ending.

Lacey wrote: "It's interesting, Jalilah, that you preferred C.S. Lewis's Narnia books to Till We Have Faces. I've always felt the Narnia books to be a little over-rated, so I was surprised by how mu..."

To be exact Lacey, I adore The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Although I did not like them AS much I still enjoyedThe Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Prince Caspian, but I hated the Horse and his Boy and the Silver Chair. I never made it to the last battle.

Lacey wrote: I need to write a proper review of "Till We Have Faces" and perhaps check in on the thread for the book, but I thought this was an interesting example of a) how no two reading tastes are alike and/or b) how expectations can affect the enjoyability of a book"

Oh and Please post the link your review in the discussion thread! I'd love to read your thoughts on it!
I did not dislike the ending for the same reason as Melanti (? i think) I did not so much perceive it as a rant as I was just confused about what happened. I will write about that in the discussion thread too!

Melanti wrote: "Lacey, did your read Narnia as a kid or as an adult?

I adored them as a kid, but I tried to re-read them as an adult and quickly realized it was a bad idea.

as far as the writing style goes -..."

I read the Narnia books as an adult, except for "The Magician's Nephew." (I had a set that wrongly marked that as the "first" book.) As an adult, I've read just the first three (Lion, Prince Caspian, Horse & Boy). You're probably right that I would have enjoyed them more as a child, since it's the writing style that bugs me most as an adult -- it feels distant and passive -- and those sorts of things didn't bother me when I was a kid. I agree with the writing in Till We Have Face being darker and lusher, and I liked it a lot more.

Lacey wrote: ""The Magician's Nephew." (I had a set that wrongly marked that as the "first" book.)"

It's the first in chronological order. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the first in publication order. Some sets/editions number the series chronologically and others do it in publication order.

I was reading The Painter, I haven't gotten very far into it, but it's not floating my boat, so far.
I am reading and loving a graphic novel version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which isn't in the library here...
And I picked up Boy, Snow, Bird and I'm loving it!

I started Till We Have Faces and Boy, Snow, Bird and am enjoying both. Boy, Snow, Bird has been on hold at the library for months now, so it's funny that I finally get a copy, and several of you are either reading or want to read it! Funny as in great:)

I might have to read Boy, Snow, Bird then! I really liked the first book I read by Oyeyemi (The Icarus Girl) but haven't been nearly as pleased with the other two or three by her I've tried. If you guys are liking it, then I might give her another chance.

I started Sabriel last night and it's all right so far. Had quite a bit of trouble getting into it since I somehow forgot my Kindle and was reduced to reading on my phone. Ick.

I've put The Armless Maiden: And Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors and Folk Tales of the British Isles on hold at the library since both have versions of the green children folktale we've been talking about over in the challenge thread so I should be reading those soon!

I may have read The Armless Maiden: And Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors fifteen or twenty years ago, but it blew me away.

Fiction that heals.

Julia wrote: "I may have read The Armless Maiden: And Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors fifteen or twenty years ago, but it blew me away.

Fiction that heals."

That has me very interested now.

Melanti wrote: "I might have to read Boy, Snow, Bird then! ..."

Me too.

Melanti wrote: I've put The Armless Maiden: And Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors and Folk Tales of the British Isles on hold at the library since both have versions of the green children folktale we've been talking about over in the challenge thread so I should be reading those soon!


Would The Armless Maiden count as fractured fairy tales? I'm still look for some that I think I'll like. Armless Maiden has been recommended to me before.

I am reading Valiant by Holly Black and enjoying it very much. It's the second book for the Modern Faerie Tale series.

I'm not sure what is meant here by fractured fairy tales. Fairy tales where elements have been changed and altered? Yes, definitely it fits that. Fairy tales where things have been broken and put back together, in not quite the same way? It also fits that.

A long, long time ago there was a television show with fractured fairly tales and they meant wacky and zany and funny. The Armless Maiden is not that.

Julia wrote: "I'm not sure what is meant here by fractured fairy tales. Fairy tales where elements have been changed and altered? Yes, definitely it fits that. Fairy tales where things have been broken and put b..."

Julia, I had never heard of the term " fractured fairy tales" until it was suggested for our challenge. I understand they are tales that have been changed somehow but I'm still not sure exactly!

I assumed fractured meant altered, though, wouldn't all retellings then be fractured? My vote is it counts:) And if you want to do a buddy reads for it, I'll join you in reading it.

To some extent, yes, most retellings are fractured. But we usually use "fractured" to talk about ones that are extreme changes.

Like Angela Carter where Little Red Riding Hood sleeps with the wolf after he eats her grandmother. Or where Beauty becomes a second Beast rather than the Beast becoming human.

Or Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West where the Wicked Witch is just a misunderstood woman fighting against the tyrannical oppressive wizard.

I'm assuming that The Armless Maiden will probably count. I'll let you know!

I'm a starting Jemez Spring, the last book in the Sonny Baca Mystery series by Rudolfo Anaya, I don't know why, but the first three books were written in the 90s, but the last did not come out until 2005.

I finished Boy, Snow, Bird and enjoyed it. It doesn't retell Snow White exactly, so there's no dwarves or apples, but it takes similar themes and ideas of the fairy tale, in a retelling about otherness in 1950s America. It's very quirky.

I also am almost finished with a fairy tale/fantasy poetry collection that I'm loving, Songs for Ophelia. Theodora Goss's poetry is so pretty and lyrical.

I just read a beautifully illustrated children's book Cupid and Psyche which pretty much follows the original myth except the part of Cupid coming into Psyche's bedchamber at night.
I started the third and last book of Holly Black's Modern Faerie tale series Ironside. This is a re-read for me. The series remains a solid 4 stars for me, it's very enjoyable.

I've been attempting to read While Beauty Slept by Elizabeth Blackwell. It's a non-fantasy historical adaptation of "Sleeping Beauty" told from the viewpoint of one of the queen's attendants. It had a really promising beginning, but now about halfway through, it seems to be turning into a historical romance. There's been two separate sex scenes in the last 30 pages, combined with plenty of pining over who the main character should marry. Sigh. Not sure if the "romance" aspect of it will keep playing a big role or if it'll tone down in a couple of chapters - but I'm really lacking motivation to finish it.

Melanti wrote: "I've been attempting to read While Beauty Slept by Elizabeth Blackwell. It's a non-fantasy historical adaptation of "Sleeping Beauty" told from the viewpoint of one of the queen's attendants. It h..."

That's disappointing! From the description it sounds really good, but from my experience a lot of historical fiction is thinly disguised romance. Personally I don't mind sex or romance in a novel, it just depends how. Honestly if there is no love story at all in the novel I am often disappointed, but I don't like it if the love story is all it is about. And with sex scenes, if they seem forced like the authors are either trying to deliberately titillate, manipulate my feelings, I find it very off putting!

I am currently re- reading So Far from God because I'll be going to New Mexico soon, and wanted to get into the mood. However I am liking it a lot less this time around. It's still good, but some parts are annoying me!

looks like we all need to find an awesome summer read!

Yes! Let's get something fantastic selected for the group read!

I'm in one of those moods where I just can't figure out what I want to read so I've just been picking up random books and nothing's hitting the spot. I almost never give up on books, but the past month or so there've been SOOO many I just couldn't finish.

Just in the past week or two, there's been: Emma, God of Small Things, While Beauty Slept, METAtropolis: Green Space, Bellman and Black, Wool, Black Like Me... Now and Forever by Bradbury I didn't like much either but it's short so I was able to force myself to finish.

I just can't seem to "get into" anything at the moment.

Melanti wrote: "Yes! Let's get something fantastic selected for the group read!

I'm in one of those moods where I just can't figure out what I want to read so I've just been picking up random books and nothing's ..."

Kathy wrote: "looks like we all need to find an awesome summer read!"

YES!
If the books chosen are not appealing we can always buddy read the ones we want. There are quite a few other books on the poll that look very good.
I have a copy Selkie Dreams which I am going to read later on this month regardless. It's also historical fiction so hopefully not the kind of romance I don't like! .


I've come to realize that not everything on the Endicott Mythic fiction list is my taste.

Sadly, my library doesn't have Selkie Dreams at all - not in ebook, and not in paperback, so I might have to skip on reading that.

It looks like Undine is leading in the adult pole so far, and that should be an interesting one to discuss along side "The Little Mermaid" since they're very similar.

I've heard good things about Cherryh, though I've never tried anything by her that I can recall.

And once again, the book that I started yesterday is the last thing I want to read this morning and nothing else I have in progress looks good either, so I've started something new... Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, which I wasn't sure if I'd like considering it's a YA Urban Fantasy about werewolves but I'm enjoying it so far. But I'll have to wait and see what I think about it tomorrow!

This has gotten so bad that I'm not even bothering to use "Currently Reading" anymore.

Melanti wrote: "Sadly, my library doesn't have Selkie Dreams at all - not in ebook, and not in paperback, so I might have to skip on reading that.

It looks like Undine is leading in the adult pole so far, and tha..."

I can relate! I've discontinued a lot of books lately too. But then something good comes a long!

I believe you said you already have copies of Holly Blacks Modern Faerie tale series. You might want to read them . While they are not the greatest literature in the world, they are light,fun and well written.

Jalilah wrote: "I believe you said you already have copies of Holly Blacks Modern Faerie tale series. You might want to read them ."

I don't actually. They've been on my radar for awhile but I don't own them and my library doesn't have them in ebook format. I looked for a paper copy at the library when you guys were talking about them a couple of weeks ago, but that particular branch's copy was already checked out.

But I agree that maybe I just need to be reading lighter, shorter stuff. Looking at the books I've read the last month or so, most of the ones I've finished are ones that I can read in a single day.

Melanti wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "I believe you said you already have copies of Holly Blacks Modern Faerie tale series. You might want to read them ."

I don't actually. They've been on my radar for awhile but I do..."

The books on your "want to read" are ones you have already right? I'll have a look later on today and see if there is anything I've read and really liked.

Jalilah wrote: "The books on your "want to read" are ones you have already right? I'll have a look later on today and see if there is anything I've read and really liked. ..."

Thanks for the offer! Yes, my "To-Read" shelf is all books I already own. At-Library-Ebook are books available from the library's Overdrive collection but only about half are available for checkout at any given time.