Into the Forest discussion

It is already time to nominate the theme for the January 15-March 14 group read!

The theme can be a particular tale or myth, a geographical area, a mythical being, a culture, an idea, basically anything as long as books can be found for it!

Previous group read themes were: Yule-Tide, Faeries, Dragons, Animal Transformations, Unicorns, the Folklore and Mythology of Ireland, the Folklore and Mythology of East Asia, Fairy Tale "Helpers", the Folklore and Mythology of the North American First Nations-Native Americans, Trees (Dryads, Enchanted Forests), Water (Mermaids, Selkies) and more!

You have one week to nominate.
December 22 the poll will go up and we can vote for the theme.
December 29 you can nominate books for the winning theme. We always read 3 books; one longer original tale or a collection of tales, one young adult novel and one adult novel.
January 5 the polls go up and you will have one week to vote for the books you want.
January 12 the winners will be announced!

I'd like to nominate the djinn aka jinn.

I'll nominate monsters. It was nominated by someone last time, but I'll renominate it.

Leah wrote: "I'd like to nominate the djinn aka jinn."

I love the idea of Djinn! Just for you to know though, if you're wanting to read The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories, it does not come out until March 2017.

Monsters is a good one too!

Lila wrote: "if you're wanting to read The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories, it does not come out until March 2017."

That's why I didn't nominate it!

Great ideas so far.

I was wondering if we could do a theme of nominating from all of the recommendations of books to read that we have posted for each other on the threads here. Like maybe nominate from books on the What are you reading now? thread that are folk and fairy tale based?

Kathy wrote: "Great ideas so far.

I was wondering if we could do a theme of nominating from all of the recommendations of books to read that we have posted for each other on the threads here. Like maybe nominat..."

So theme "Books Suggested in What are you reading now?" thread?

Hello, what a good idea, thanks for inviting suggestions. I'd like to throw into the hat Norse Folklore and Mythology - Neil Gaiman is publishing retellings of Norse Mythology due for publication in early Feb, which I plan to be reading anyway, so it might be a nice way to (re-)acquaint ourselves with this branch of folklore with some contemporary retellings. Of course, this may have been covered in the recent past as I am fairly new to the group - in which case I look forward to seeing what the nominations!

Lila wrote: "Kathy wrote: "Great ideas so far.

I was wondering if we could do a theme of nominating from all of the recommendations of books to read that we have posted for each other on the threads here. Like..."

If that is a real theme, thanks. I've just always added and added books to my TBR list from those that are mentioned and can never think of a theme to match the ones I want to read.

Alister wrote: "Hello, what a good idea, thanks for inviting suggestions. I'd like to throw into the hat Norse Folklore and Mythology - Neil Gaiman is publishing retellings of Norse Mythology due for publication i..."

I'm excited about that book!

After a lot of consideration, because I like everything that's been mentioned, I'd like to nominate a Grimm's themed group read.
That means reading either one original tale from the Grimm's collection or a collection, one YA novel and Adult novel based on or inspired by Grimm's fairy tales!

Kathy wrote: "Great ideas so far.

I was wondering if we could do a theme of nominating from all of the recommendations of books to read that we have posted for each other on the threads here. Like maybe nominat..."

I love that suggestions!

We could also at some point do a "previously nominated but didn't win" theme.

I love the djinn idea!

Or how about an arabian story?

Love all of these suggestions!

Not sure if this was ever done or if it's too broad, but what about lost mythical cities? Thinking of Camelot, Atlantis, Avalon, El Dorado, etc.

dancing

The hero/heroine's journey as defined by Joseph Campbell, i.e. a hero/heroine in myth or fairy tale who has to go on a journey and successfully perform a task in order to save the community.

Lila wrote: "Leah wrote: "I love the idea of Djinn! Just for you to know though, if you're wanting to read The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories, it does not come out until March 2017."

I was actually thinking of Rebel of the Sands because it just won the Goodreads Choice Award for Debut, and my daughter's favorite Youth Services librarian gave it 4.5 stars on GR. So I'm curious about it now.

(But I'm definitely excited to read The Djinn Falls in Love collection in March. I plan to use that one for our 2017 challenge.)

I also love the themes of "Books Suggested in the What are you reading now? thread" (Kathy) and "previously nominated but didn't win" (Margaret). Of course, Monsters is right up my alley, too. Many good themes already nominated!

Shane wrote: "I love the djinn idea!

Or how about an arabian story?"

If the djinn theme won, I think nominating an Arabian story would go hand-in-hand with that theme. An original tale from Arabian Nights for example.

I'm going to have a hard time voting for a theme this time around.

Loving the ideas for a Grimm or mythical cities theme!!

This might possibly be too obscure, but I'm throwing it out there anyway, but I think a household spirit theme (e.g. brownies and other mischievous helpers) would be fun!

Margaret wrote: "Kathy wrote: "We could also at some point do a "previously nominated but didn't win" theme

In this case I think it's best just to keep nominating.
The Faerie was nominated so many times before it finally won.
Just don't give up!

Here is what we have up to now!

The Djinn /Arabian Mythology
Monsters
Books that were Suggested in "What are you reading now?" Thread
Norse Folklore and Mythology
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Lost Mythical Cities
Celtic Folklore and Mythology
Dancing
Hero/Heroine's Journey ( quest or task to save community)
Household Spirit
Cunning Girls

Maybe we could do something with either Celtic Japanese or Indian mythology like Japanese or Celtic folk tales or the Ramayama. Not many people seem to read these and it would be interesting.

I should have put in Native American folktales to because then we could read for the ya something by Sherman Alexie.

Jen wrote: "I should have put in Native American folktales to because then we could read for the ya something by Sherman Alexie."

We had a Native American themed group read March 15-May 14 2015. Here is the link the the threads for all the books we read:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

At some point it would be good to have another one, but not so soon afterwards.

Jen wrote: "Maybe we could do something with either Celtic Japanese or Indian mythology like Japanese or Celtic folk tales or the Ramayama. Not many people seem to read these and it would be interesting."

All good suggestions. Each person can nominate one theme, so just let me know which one you would like this time!

Celtic Themed then

Jen wrote: "Celtic Themed then"
I've added it! We did have an Irish themed group read a while ago,
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group..., but the novels we ended up reading did not have a particularly Celtic feel to them, except for the original tale, The Priest's Soul, the original tale, which was in Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry by W.B. Yeats.

Lila wrote: "After a lot of consideration, because I like everything that's been mentioned, I'd like to nominate a Grimm's themed group read.
That means reading either one original tale from the Grimm's collect..."

I heartily agree! I just received a book of Grimm's Fairy Tales for an early Christmas gift and I haven't touched it yet. I vote for Grimm's!!

Ton of great themes!

Can I slip cunning girls under the wire re this discussion? :-D

Sarah wrote: "Can I slip cunning girls under the wire re this discussion? :-D"

Just in time!

The Poll is up! Now it's time to vote!
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Just for clarification: is it all Arabian mythology or just the stories that include the djinn?

My intention was to nominate a theme where the focus was the Djinn. Subsequent conversations included Arabian mythology as the most prevalent source for stories featuring the Djinn.

Tamara wrote: "Just for clarification: is it all Arabian mythology or just the stories that include the djinn?"

Leah wrote: "My intention was to nominate a theme where the focus was the Djinn. Subsequent conversations included Arabian mythology as the most prevalent source for stories featuring the Djinn."

Exactly.

I added the Mythology because it was suggested and also to give more options to choose from.
My idea would be to have some modern books that feature the Djinn and also read some original myths or tales featuring them.

Sounds good. Thanks for the clarification.

Short story collections have been nominated (and I believe won) before. So if it's a YA short story collection (like, say, The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest), then it would be nominated for YA, and vice versa for adult. I believe The Djinn Falls in Love is adult (but it's not released until March so shouldn't be nominated).

I'm pretty sure we read Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England, a short story collection, in one of our reads.

Robyn wrote: "I'm not planning to nominate this - just wondering - since many have talked about The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories, how would you nominate that? In the adult novel category? ..."

Because it does not come out until March 2017 is the reason I am not voting for this theme for this read. However if the Djinn theme does win, of course I'll still participate ( and enthusiastically) in the group read, for I am certain there will be other books to choose from!

Robyn wrote: "Yeah, I was just wondering if it would be nominated in the adult novel category though it's not a novel - if short story collections are sometimes nominated in place of novels."

I think it would count as the Adult read.

Robyn wrote: "Yeah, I was just wondering if it would be nominated in the adult novel category though it's not a novel - if short story collections are sometimes nominated in place of novels."

Yep. Since it's a collection of adult retellings, you'd nominate it in the adult slot. Or, at least I'd assume so, since most of the authors involved primarily write adult fiction.

We've read collections instead of novels a couple of times. They don't win that often, though I suspect Djinn Falls in Love would have a really good shot at winning, with as enthusiastic as everyone is.