Into the Forest discussion

Psycheinhell wrote: "Hello to you all,

I've joined the group a few weeks ago, so it's high time for me to introduce myself and take part in the discussions.
I'm a French reader, deeply fascinated since childhood by my..."

Welcome to this group Psycheinhell!
We love and read most of the authors you've mentioned ( I haven't heard of Lea Silhol either)
Please feel free to browse around and comment on any of the threads, even the older ones. They all stay open and it's never too late to join in.
We recently read De Lint's Someplace to Be Flying

Thank you for the welcome! I will definitely browse around, and have already noticed some threads dedicated to books I love. Good to know they are still open. :-)

As for Lea Silhol, most of her novels and collections have been published in French, except for two short stories, translated in anthologies. I remember a post about her on the Journal of Mythic Arts, though...
(I might open a thread to introduce her books, if that's ok — she's one of the most powerful voices working with myth and folklore I've ever read!)

Welcome, Psycheinhell!

Wishing I knew more languages, are any Léa Silhol books published in English? I couldn't find any with a quick search.

Psycheinhell wrote: "I might open a thread to introduce her books, if that's ok — she's one of the most powerful voices working with myth and folklore I've ever read!)
..."

Of course! You are welcome to start up a thread for her!

Leann wrote: "Welcome, Psycheinhell!

Wishing I knew more languages, are any Léa Silhol books published in English? I couldn't find any with a quick search."

Thanks, Leann!
As to her books, alas not yet. Just a few short stories. And I totally understand the struggle, about wishing to know more of them: the urge not to wait for translations from my favorite authors was totally the reason why I became fluent in English!

And thank you, Jalilah, I will definitely do that! :-)

Learning English as a second language can't be easy! I know some very rusty Spanish and Italian. I feel like I'd keep up so much better if I lived in a multi-language culture or traveled more! My dream world.

Hopefully, Silhol's books will get translated soon. :)

Hi, in response to the above remarks of teaching English as a second language, which was my last area of teaching. I think one of the assets I acquired from teaching this subject which I did for 8 years was that I learned how to act, to be funny, and to reach out. I suppose over time, one develops a few words in various language depending on how many of one group was in the class ie Vietnamese and Arabic for me but I of course I am in Western Australia, it may be different in other countries. No form of teaching is easy, as I have been a teacher all my life, but it does teach you to be methodical and planning......

You must have learned so many skills in teaching! Acting, being funny, and reaching out sounds like great teaching skills to me. I'm in the mid-west US. Others areas of the states are much more multi-lingual than here. Many different ethnic sections of Chicago, for example, are probably the closest to me. One could immerse one's self in another language there. It's an interesting world!

Hello All,

I’m Tamara, am relatively new to Goodreads, and have just joined this group. I’m glad I found a group that shares my passion for mythology and fairy tales.

I used to teach a segment on fairy tales in the Women’s Studies course I introduced to the college many moons ago. I discussed the damaging influence some fairy tales can have on a girl’s self esteem by fostering dependency on a so-called Prince Charming to rescue her from her humdrum life. My students used to tell me they would never look at fairy tales in quite the same way again!

I was in academia for 26 years—first as a professor of English and Women’s Studies, then as the Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts, and finally as the VP for Academic Affairs. I retired in 2013.

I have published three books: Demeter and Persephone: Lessons from a Myth (McFarland 2002), a feminist interpretation of the Demeter/Persephone myth; Women and Goddesses in Myth and Sacred Text (Pearson 2005), an anthology for women in religion courses; and A Pomegranate and the Maiden (Anaphora 2015), a novel based on the Demeter/Persephone myth in which each of the speakers interprets the events from his/her gendered perspective. I have just made the novel available on Amazon Kindle.

I have a bookshelf on Goodreads on myths and fairy tales. And I write a blog on my website www.tamaraaghajaffar.com about the lessons in life we can learn from interpreting myths.

I love exploring myths and fairy tales from a subversive angle by giving voice to the otherwise voiceless females who appear in them and by re-imaging the story from their perspective.

I have a fairly eclectic taste in reading—love anything to do with ancient cultures, ancient myths, retellings and/or analysis of fairy tales and myths, Homer, the classics, novels by women of color, and all things feminist. I could go on, but won’t. I recently read Lavinia by Ursula LeGuin which re-tells the story of Virgil’s The Aeneid through the voice of Lavinia. I loved it and posted my review of it on Goodreads.

Sorry if I’m sounding too gushy but I’m excited to be here.
Thanks and all best,
tamara

Tamara wrote: "Hello All,

I’m Tamara, am relatively new to Goodreads, and have just joined this group. I’m glad I found a group that shares my passion for mythology and fairy tales.

I used to teach a segment o..."

Welcome! With your fantastic academic background, I look forward to reading your thoughts in this group!

Thank you, Margaret.

Hi Tamara -- welcome to the group, it is a fun one and I love learning more about folklore and fairytales

Welcome! Glad to have you in the group, Tamara!

Thank you, Kathy and Leann. I'm excited to be here.

Welcome to this group Tamara! It's great to have you here!
I am looking forward to reading your comments!

Hi Jalilah,
Thanks for the welcome. You've all been so welcoming and kind. I appreciate it.

Chris wrote: "Since we have some new members, I've started this topic in case anyone wants to introduce him or herself.

If you're new, feel free to add books or start a topic."

Chris wrote: "Since we have some new members, I've started this topic in case anyone wants to introduce him or herself.

If you're new, feel free to add books or start a topic."

Yes I am new to this group. I am both an author and trained psychologist. I write fairy tales blending the wisdom of the fairy tale retelling with the tools of Positive Psychology. I look forward to the group reads.

Jennifer wrote: "Chris wrote: "Since we have some new members, I've started this topic in case anyone wants to introduce him or herself.

If you're new, feel free to add books or start a topic."

Chris wrote: "Sin..."

Hi Jennifer,
Welcome to the group--coming from someone who is relatively new to the group herself.
I'm very interestd in your topic of blending fairy tale wisdom with the tools of Positive Psychology. Do you use only fairy tales or do you use mythology, as well? I ask because several months ago I presented a paper at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Women in Mythology. Several of the speakers discussed how they used certain myths--specifically, The Hymn to Inanna and the Demeter/Persephone myth in their therapy sessions with patients. Do you use mythology in any of your work? And, at the risk of sounding very ignorant, what is Positive Psychology? Is it something designed to facilitate an increase in self-esteem?
Thanks and all best.

Welcome, Jennifer! Your books sound good. My masters is in Art Therapy and Counseling Psychology. I'm taking an online class just for fun in Positive Psychology. It's beginner's level, but interesting and doing its job of being uplifting. https://www.coursera.org/learn/positi...

Welcome Jennifer!

I was just reading academic articles yesterday about how fairy tales can be used in therapy.

Welcome Jennifer! Yes, I too would love to know more about how you combine fairy tales with psychology! I know that C.G. Jung did this too.

Leann, I did not know you were an art therapist!

I definitely believe art, fairy tales, myths, music and dance can be very healing!

Hi I'm Portia. I'm an avid reader and I especially love reading anything related to myths or fairy tales so I'm very excited to have discovered this group. I'm really looking forward to being a part of this group.

Portia wrote: "Hi I'm Portia. I'm an avid reader and I especially love reading anything related to myths or fairy tales so I'm very excited to have discovered this group. I'm really looking forward to being a par..."

We are excited to have you as part of our group. Welcome Portia!

Portia wrote: "Hi I'm Portia. I'm an avid reader and I especially love reading anything related to myths or fairy tales so I'm very excited to have discovered this group. I'm really looking forward to being a par..."

Welcome Portia!
Feel free to browse around and leave comments. All our older threads stay open. If you click on "Discussions" you can find all the threads.
The theme for our current September 15-November 14 group read is The Fae or Faeries can you can find all the threads here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
There is also have a Samhain-Halloween read.
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
We are currently selecting the theme for our next group read. You can check it out here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Welcome Portia and Robyn!

I loved From the Beast to the Blonde. Whenever I read a fairy tale now, I think about it from a historical/cultural perspective.

Robyn wrote: "Hello, everyone! I found this group when I was looking at reviews of From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers, and I'm excited to join you all with your group re..."

Welcome Robyn!
We will definitely have another challenge for 2017! All the group members are invited to make suggestions for it closer to the end of the year. Anyone remember what time we started last year?

Lila (formerly Jalilah) wrote: "Anyone remember what time we started last year?"

Hi,
I'm sorry, but I've not participated in a group read before. Can someone explain how it works? Do we vote on a theme and then each person selects his/her own book to suit the theme? Or do we all read the same books and have to finish each book within a certain time to discuss it?

For the group reads, we vote on a theme, then nominate and vote on books to fit that theme. One YA book, one adult book, and one short classic original fairy tale/myth/folklore. So there's generally two novels and one short story selected Discussion lasts for two months, officially - but threads are never locked.

There's no "have to" about it though - if the books don't interest you that month, you can just skip the discussion. Or if you end up getting the book too late (ILL can take a while sometimes), you can comment whenever.

Melanti wrote: "For the group reads, we vote on a theme, then nominate and vote on books to fit that theme. One YA book, one adult book, and one short classic original fairy tale/myth/folklore. So there's generall..."

Got it. Thanks.

Lila (formerly Jalilah) wrote: "We will definitely have another challenge for 2017! All the group members are invited to make suggestions for it closer to the end of the year. Anyone remember what time we started last year?"

We started talking about 2016's challenge in December. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

But for 2015's we started up discussions in November. Personally I vote we start getting suggestions in November. That way we all have time to put in ideas and discuss before year's end.

Leah wrote: " But for 2015's we started up discussions in November. Personally I vote we start getting suggestions in November. That way we all have time to put in ideas and discuss before year's end.


I think that's a good idea Leah. This year we can start in November.

For everyone who has not get voted for the books for our Yule-tide themed group read here Is the link!
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/3...

Hello everyone.

My name is Holly and I am new to the group. I have a 10 year old daughter, some dogs, cats, assorted ducks and horses. I am a bloodstock agent by trade. My hobbies include gardening, preservation and restoration of historic houses and I do a little writing for my own pleasure. Celtic mythology is an area of special interest.

I am not much of a group reader, but I look forward to following the discussion threads and getting recommendations.

Hi everyone,
I've been shadowing this group for a while, checking in on threads every once in a while, but as the group reads this quarter sound awesome, I figured I'd finally introduce myself!

Although I never really grew up reading or watching many fairytales, I've grown to deeply appreciate them over the years, especially after I took a mythology class last semester at uni. I promptly fell in love with all the different types of fairy tale analysis there is!
I've always been more of a mythology person, although my immediate knowledge is just of Greek and Norse myths, nothing too far reaching just yet unfortunately.

I'm looking forward to reading a few of the Yuletide reads (The Nutcracker, and Santa Claus), and I may actually even participate in the discussions (that's be a big social jump for me though, so we'll see)!

Looking forward to gaining some more knowledge and recommendations from the group :)

Welcome Holly and Nostalgia Reader!

I lurked about a year before I joined in on discussions, but I do enjoy the experience more as a participant! :)

Nostalgia Reader wrote: "Hi everyone,
I've been shadowing this group for a while, checking in on threads every once in a while, but as the group reads this quarter sound awesome, I figured I'd finally introduce myself!

Al..."

Holly wrote: "Hello everyone.

My name is Holly and I am new to the group. I have a 10 year old daughter, some dogs, cats, assorted ducks and horses. I am a bloodstock agent by trade. My hobbies include gardeni..."

Welcome Holly! Welcome Nostalgia Reader!

Hi all! I'm Bronwen, and I'm a writer and reader of (principally) YA LGBT fantasy. My books are inspired largely from Irish myths and fairy tales, but I love mythologies and fairy tales from all over the world. I even teach mythology at a small college when I'm not writing!

Hi Bronwen,
Welcome to the group.
I love mythology and taught a college level course on mythology for a number of years. I especially loved the myths of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Sumer, Greece, and Rome.
If I can be of help on any of these, don't hesitate to ask.
Enjoy your class.

Tamara wrote: "Hi Bronwen,
Welcome to the group.
I love mythology and taught a college level course on mythology for a number of years. I especially loved the myths of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Sumer, Greece, a..."

Thanks so much- I appreciate it! Ancient Egyptian myths were always my favorite. The goddess Isis is such a powerful figure- she's like the original take-charge woman.

Bronwen wrote: "Hi all! I'm Bronwen, and I'm a writer and reader of (principally) YA LGBT fantasy. My books are inspired largely from Irish myths and fairy tales, but I love mythologies and fairy tales from all ov..."

Welcome Bronwen!
There a number of writers, teachers professors in this group and of course all of us here are Aficionados.
I am happy to have you join us. As I always say, all our discussions stay open, so feel free to comment where ever you like. If you want to see all the threads just click in "discussions" on the right hand side of our homepage!

Hello, I am new to this group and wanted to introduce myself. I'm a reader, teacher, and writer. I thought this group would be nice match since I just published a fairy tale retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin story called Twisted: The Girl Who Uncovered Rumpelstiltskin's Name. It is a dark tale filled with family drama, romance, and mystery. Check out my Goodreads page or my website if you want more information www.bonniemhennessy.com. I am currently giving away some book boxes with fun goodies in them. Check out my website for more details on how to tweet, instagram, and post your way to a book box. I hope it is ok to post this here. Just thought this group might be interested.

Welcome to Into the Forest Bonnie!
You can promote you books in this folder:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this group, and also kind of new to how this group stuff works on Goodreads. I'm an American (and British national) living in France, and so feeling a little isolated in regards to my interests. I recently finished my MA in creative writing, which involved a lot of research into folklore, and the interest just continues to grow. I had a collection of Aesop's fables when I was a child, and I think it left a deep impact -I still remember the stories and illustrations fondly. My current interest in folklore stemmed from my fascination in how language travels and evolves, which spurred me on into considering how stories travel and evolve- especially in multicultural communities where different folkloric traditions may come in contact with one another. Looking forward to meeting you all.

Athenia wrote: "My current interest in folklore stemmed from my fascination in how language travels and evolves, which spurred me on into considering how stories travel and evolve- especially in multicultural communities where different folkloric traditions may come in contact with one another.."

So interesting! I hope you share some of research!

Hi all. I'm terrible at introductions, but I just wanted to pop in and say hello. This looks like a cool group. Fairy and folktales and mythology are all right up my alley.

Angie wrote: "Hi all. I'm terrible at introductions, but I just wanted to pop in and say hello. This looks like a cool group. Fairy and folktales and mythology are all right up my alley."

Athenia wrote: "Hello everyone,

I'm new to this group, and also kind of new to how this group stuff works on Goodreads. I'm an American (and British national) living in France, and so feeling a little isolated in..."


Welcome Athenia and Angie!
Make yourself at home here and check out all of discussion threads!
It's never too late to leave comments on any of them!

Hi guys,

My name is Robbie and I am new to goodreads and love mythology so wanted to check in and say hi.

I am a reader and an author so thought this group would be a perfect place to start. I will go over to the promotion section to talk about the books I have available but for anyone interested I write non-fiction work on mythology and have three books up on Amazon. You can read about them on my blog at www.liberhistoriae.com

Talk to you all soon,

Robbie

Robert wrote: "Hi guys,

My name is Robbie and I am new to goodreads and love mythology so wanted to check in and say hi.

I am a reader and an author so thought this group would be a perfect place to start. I wi..."


Welcome Robert! I see you already found our goodreads author promotion folder! Your book looks interesting!

Hello friends,

I jumped in with an A.S. Byatt rec over on the discussion page about books with a djinn theme and realized I haven't introduced myself. My name is Rose and have just discovered this fab group. It wasn't till I finished The Golem and the Jinni a few years ago that I discovered there was a name for my favorite reading genre, magical realism. All those years of looking for books where the magical and the mundane intersect without knowing that intersection had a name and context. So happy to have found a tribe of similarly-inclined folks. Looking forward to the reading challenge and discussions that might ensue.

wild~rose wrote: "Hello friends,

I jumped in with an A.S. Byatt rec over on the discussion page about books with a djinn theme and realized I haven't introduced myself. My name is Rose and have just discovered thi..."

Welcome Rose, it sounds like you are going to be at home here in this group! In addition to original folk and fairy tales and Mythology, we read all kinds of books that are inspired or influenced by these things: fantasy inspired by myths and fairy tales, retellings, mythic fiction, magical realism , even realistic fiction that has been inspired by or contains myths or tale.
We read The Golem and the Jinni here a few years ago. I loved it although I don't know if I'd call it magical realism.