Into the Forest discussion

Jalilah wrote: "The great thing about Psyche in a Dress is that it incorporates many myths. And it's a very fast and entertaining read!"

For anyone who is still searching for books to fulfill challenge #s 4 and 5 (original and retelling Greek/Roman myths)

I wholeheartedly second Jalilah's recommendation for Psyche in a Dress. Although I borrowed it back in September I just now got around to reading it, and whoa, it was SO good!! << yep, two exclamation points. I almost want to flip back to page 1 and re-read it again right now. It's a super quick read - took me about 90 minutes - and it incorporates / modernizes several myths, including Psyche (obviously), Echo, Narcissus, Eurydice, Persephone, Demeter and Hades.

Jalilah, many thanks for that recommendation!

Leah wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "The great thing about Psyche in a Dress is that it incorporates many myths. And it's a very fast and entertaining read!"

For anyone who is still searching for books to fulfill chal..."

I am glad you enjoyed it Leah! I will definitely read it again at sometime and if I still like it as much, bump up the stars! I recently read The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold for my Endicot YA retelling. Unfortunately I did not like it nearly as much as Psyche in a Dress!

I am so going to read that book someday too.

I'm not sure if I am going to make the challenge this year. I still have the Arthurian and Urban Legends books to read.

Do we want to do another challenge in 2015?

I'd love a challenge for 2015! If you start a thread for it, I'll post some of my suggestions there.

ETA: I may not complete the 2014 challenge either. But it sure has been a lot of fun anyway.

I would do it again as well, though I might not finish either!

I'm still lacking #9, Arthurian legend, #10, non-European fairy tale collection, and #11, a fairy tale I'm not familiar with. For #12, I read a kelpie retelling, The Scorpio Races, because I was unfamiliar with kelpie's, and while I did read some folktales online, I didn't read any actual books for #11. I had books picked out for the other two, but I might try to find something else. I read both on a kindle and in print at different times during the day, and I feel like I'll be more likely to finish 2 books on my kindle because I have a huge pile of print books to read before the end of the year. So I might find some e-books from the library for the Arthurian and non-European collection. Not sure what yet!

I think the only thing I have left on the challenge is the folktale I'm not familiar with and a retelling of it. I decided I was going to use the Green Children folktale, but that was when I was in the middle of that reading slump and I didn't manage to get the retellings read before they were due.

I did manage to finish the challenge, though a few days late! For the non-European folktale collection I went with Japanese Fairy Tales, which was fantastic. Some of them are definitely going to stay with me, and I highly recommend it.

I read Silence for the Arthurian legend, which was interesting. Written in the 14th century, the protagonist is a woman whose parents disguise her as a man so that she can inherit their property. She becomes a knight, and captures Merlin at the end. A very intriguing concept, that had some sexism (which is typical of the time) that bothered me, and the translation didn't seem great. There were some misspelled words and errors which made me wonder how well it had been translated from the French.

I also read Folklore of Scottish Lochs and Springs to read about kelpies. I enjoyed this one too, though it had a lot about saints and since I'm not Catholic, those parts didn't interest me as much. But it had two chapters on kelpies and selkies, which were great. Apparently kelpies weren't necessarily horses and were often people. What makes a kelpie a kelpie is that they're demons living in water and will take people into the water to eat them. And sometimes they're prophets (I would've liked some specifics about how that happens). The book also had a lot about healing rituals with springs, which was fascinating to read.

I'm glad I read so many new books! Now, on to the 2015 challenge!