Into the Forest discussion

Hello! A Goodreads friend was kind enough to suggest this group to me. I have always loved fairy tales and fantasy, and am looking forward to participating in the 2017 challenge.

I also read in Danish, although I still have to look up a lot of words.

Jayne wrote: "Hello! A Goodreads friend was kind enough to suggest this group to me. I have always loved fairy tales and fantasy, and am looking forward to participating in the 2017 challenge.

I also read in D..."

Welcome Jayne!
Have a look around and feel free to leave comments. All our threads remain open.

Hello! This thread reminds me I haven't introduced myself either. I joined the group to find other lovers of fairy tales. (I read and write them.) It might be a British-American thing, but over here in wet and windy Britain, if you say you've written a fairy tale, people assume it's either for kids or in the Angela Carter line, yet there are lots of stories in between those two stools. It's good to see there are plenty of people who know and enjoy that! I also love mythology and legends.

Lynden wrote: ", but over here in wet and windy Britain, if you say you've written a fairy tale, people assume it's either for kids or in the Angela Carter line."

Everyone thinks I write YA. Even when I tell them I don't, they forget. I have nothing against YA, I do plan to eventually write something along those lines, but only one piece of mine so far could be YA. Even after people have read my work, they'll forget. It's weird.

Margaret wrote: "Lynden wrote: ", but over here in wet and windy Britain, if you say you've written a fairy tale, people assume it's either for kids or in the Angela Carter line."

Everyone thinks I write YA. Even ..."

Lynden wrote: "Hello! This thread reminds me I haven't introduced myself either. I joined the group to find other lovers of fairy tales. (I read and write them.) It might be a British-American thing, but over her..."

Welcome Lyndon! You've landed in the right group!
Yeah, although it's obvious from all the adult books coming out as well as intererest here on GRs that adults like Fairy tales, there is still that misconception that they are only for children.

Lila wrote: "Margaret wrote: "Lynden wrote: ", but over here in wet and windy Britain, if you say you've written a fairy tale, people assume it's either for kids or in the Angela Carter line."

Everyone thinks ..."
Thank you for the welcome! Lots of threads I want to follow in this group!

Margaret wrote: "Lynden wrote: ", but over here in wet and windy Britain, if you say you've written a fairy tale, people assume it's either for kids or in the Angela Carter line."

Everyone thinks I write YA. Even ..."
It is weird, isn't it?

Amazing how many people still think fairy tales are only for children!

I was looking at some Arabian Nights stuff earlier today and one of the questions was asking if it was just the kiddie tales or if it was turned into an adult book a la Angela Carter...

It just made me laugh cause we did a buddy read of the original a few years back, and it doesn't need anyone's help to become racy! It's been racy for the last thousand years.

Melanti wrote: "Amazing how many people still think fairy tales are only for children!

I was looking at some Arabian Nights stuff earlier today and one of the questions was asking if it was just the kiddie tale..."


Yes the original Arabian Nights are very racy! Not every tale, but many of them.

Interestingly, I read a few kids books from the late 1800's recently and I am not sure if they would be at all appropriate for modern children. Perhaps we are censoring more as well.

I would hope so! Some of the Grimms' tales, for instance, have awful punishments for the villains, and it seems that when they had a choice of endings, the Grimms chose the ones where the villains got the nastiest punishments. And this after it turned out their stories were being read to children!

Grimms is kind of interesting in that they were publishing their editions as fairy tales were starting to be known as kids' books.


Zipes recently released a new complete translation of the first edition of Grimms - The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm and it differs a fair amount from their 7th edition (the most common edition translated to English) - The Complete Fairy Tales.

So you can look and compare one edition to another and see how much fairy tales were being cleaned up and sanitized for kids, just within a couple of decades.

Even the 7th edition is a bit gruesome for a modern children's audience, but the first edition contains some more risque elements like extra-marital sex.

I've got Zipes' Third Edition, with the 210 tales that are in other complete tales, then 32 omitted tales, some selected tales from the annotations of 1856, some "published tales", altogether totalling 279. I remember when I first read it how the later tales have less sex and more violence. One that struck me is The Long Nose (omitted tale) vs Donkey Cabbages (final version). The Long Nose is a much kinder tale, and I like the way it has a princess in it who is grasping - not evil, not soppy.
I hope this doesn't count as spamming, but I think lots of people in this group would do well at the fairy tale quiz that's part of a book launch FB party that I'm going to mention in the appropriate thread.

One of these years, I'm going to finish off that project of comparing the two versions side by side.

The handful of tales I did that for was really interesting. (Unfortunately, I lost my notes on that project when I moved, and can't find them anywhere!)

Melanti wrote: "One of these years, I'm going to finish off that project of comparing the two versions side by side.

The handful of tales I did that for was really interesting. (Unfortunately, I lost my notes on ..."

Have you read "One Fairy Tale Too Many: the Brothers Grimm and their Tales by John M. Ellis? He gets quite angry about how the Grimms changed their originals!

Lynden wrote: "Have you read "One Fairy Tale Too Many: the Brothers Grimm and their Tales by John M. Ellis? He gets quite angry about how the Grimms changed their originals! ..."

Not yet, though it sounds interesting and is on my list of boos to get from the library someday.

I'm Elsa. Or, at least that's what I call myself here. I am a huge fan of fantasy, particularly fairy tales, mythology, etc. I hope to find out about more of these types of stories through here!

❄Elsa Frost❄ wrote: "I'm Elsa. Or, at least that's what I call myself here. I am a huge fan of fantasy, particularly fairy tales, mythology, etc. I hope to find out about more of these types of stories through here!"

Welcome, Elsa! I think you'll find plenty to enjoy on this list.

❄Elsa Frost❄ wrote: "I'm Elsa. Or, at least that's what I call myself here. I am a huge fan of fantasy, particularly fairy tales, mythology, etc. I hope to find out about more of these types of stories through here!"

Welcome!

❄Elsa Frost❄ wrote: "I'm Elsa. Or, at least that's what I call myself here. I am a huge fan of fantasy, particularly fairy tales, mythology, etc. I hope to find out about more of these types of stories through here!"

Welcome Elsa! Yes, like the others said, you will discover lots of great books in this group! Also all our discussions stay open, so feel free to browse around and comment on any thread, even the older ones!

Hi everyone! I'm Anca and I love fairy tales. I'm currently reading The The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen by Maria Tatar. I also love Angela Carter, Kate Bernheimer, and Rikki Ducornet, among other contemporary writers playing with fairy tale. My forthcoming debut novel, Daughters of the Air, draws on Andersen's Little Mermaid as well as other myth and folklore. Happy to join the group!

Anca wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm Anca and I love fairy tales. I'm currently reading The The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen by Maria Tatar. I also love Angela Carter, Kate Bernheimer, and Rikki Duc..."

Haven't heard of Ducornet; I'll have to check her out. Congrats on the book!

Hello, I love those Irish/Gaelic fairy tales and also some of the Bros. Grimm. Also Japanese tales, which I read sometimes in a mother-and-kids-kurhaus.
My beloved home is in Georgia, US, but now I am living in Germany. I have some pets (dog, horses, sheep, kois), I love to cook (and to eat of course!).
I found this group while searching, and I love it!
Have a wonderful time, y'all!

Hello, I'm Elyssia, and I came here because I have an interest in traditional fairy and folk tales. Oh, and urban legends.

I like to focus on stories told from women's perspectives/authors as I feel that they differ in characterization. At least historically. Like I will compare 1001 Arabian nights (the captain's tale), to Basile's or Perrault's version of sleeping beauty. I not only like studying the impact of gender and power-play, in fairy tales. But, I love studying the psychology behind urban legends and it's spread.

Currently, I will start reading Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and I hope to move onto Hans Christian Anderson.

I look forward to taking part in this group as it looks interesting.

Elysia wrote: "Hello, I'm Elyssia, and I came here because I have an interest in traditional fairy and folk tales. Oh, and urban legends.

I like to focus on stories told from women's perspectives/authors as I f..."

Suzanne wrote: "Hello, I love those Irish/Gaelic fairy tales and also some of the Bros. Grimm. Also Japanese tales, which I read sometimes in a mother-and-kids-kurhaus.
My beloved home is in Georgia, US, but now ..."

Welcome Suzanne and Elysia!

Hi everyone, I'm Kiki. I love fairytales, mythology, folklore, and everything adjacent. I have a particular interest in diverse stories about marginalised characters from underrepresented creators. I'm also interested in learning more about the history surrounding and the psychology behind fairytales.

My favourite fairytales are The Snow Queen, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, and Bluebeard. My favourite retelling of all time is a straight-up tie between The Goose Girl and The Raven and the Reindeer, my favourite retelling I've read so far in 2017 is The Star-Touched Queen, and I can't wait to get started on Peter Darling.

Currently I'm reading The Jumbies, a book based off Haitian folklore.

skadoosh wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Kiki. I love fairytales, mythology, folklore, and everything adjacent. I have a particular interest in diverse stories about marginalised characters from underrepresented creators...."

Welcome! I'll have to read The Raven and the Reindeer. T. Kingfisher is a great fairy tale writer, and I keep meaning to read more by her.

Welcome to the group, Skadoosh.

Hi everyone! Reviewing some of my past favourite books, I realized that many of them were classed as magical realism. Did a search of Groups for magical realism and here I am. Love myth, folklore and fairy tales so I look forward to discovering new reads here!

Lisa wrote: "Hi everyone! Reviewing some of my past favourite books, I realized that many of them were classed as magical realism. Did a search of Groups for magical realism and here I am. Love myth, folklore a..."

Hi and welcome!

Welcome to the group, Kiki and Lisa!

Hi! I see I am probably the only Pole here. Traveler at heart and hidden dreamer. I adore fairy tales, myths and folklore, but I also read different genres like fantasy, science fiction or historical fiction etc.

Oh, and Asaria isn't my true name.

Welcome, Asaria!

Asaria wrote: "Hi! I see I am probably the only Pole here. Traveler at heart and hidden dreamer. I adore fairy tales, myths and folklore, but I also read different genres like fantasy, science fiction or historic..."

Welcome!

Welcome Asaria!

Asaria wrote: "Hi! I see I am probably the only Pole here. Traveler at heart and hidden dreamer. I adore fairy tales, myths and folklore, but I also read different genres like fantasy, science fiction or historic..."

Welcome to this group Asaria!

Welcome, Asaria! We have fun here!

Thank you :). I've found way too many books to read here than the lifetime allows.

Asaria wrote: "Thank you :). I've found way too many books to read here than the lifetime allows."

That happens here! :) Just reading the "What are you reading now?" thread will keep you busy!

This group sounds amazing and right up my alley...

Hi! I'm Holly and I love mythology, folklore and fairy tale-ness. My favorite fairy tales are Beauty & the Beast and King Thrushbeard. I wonder if you can tell that I'm a die-hard romantic?

I love to read mainly Urban Fantasy, but if it's got any kind of fairy tale slant or features a shifter, my interest is a bit more piqued.

Holly wrote: "This group sounds amazing and right up my alley...

Hi! I'm Holly and I love mythology, folklore and fairy tale-ness. My favorite fairy tales are Beauty & the Beast and King Thrushbeard. I wonder i..."

Welcome to the group!

Holly wrote: "This group sounds amazing and right up my alley...

Hi! I'm Holly and I love mythology, folklore and fairy tale-ness. My favorite fairy tales are Beauty & the Beast and King Thrushbeard. I wonder i..."

Welcome :)

Welcome to the group, Holly!

Holly wrote: "This group sounds amazing and right up my alley...

Hi! I'm Holly and I love mythology, folklore and fairy tale-ness. My favorite fairy tales are Beauty & the Beast and King Thrushbeard. I wonder i..."

Welcome to the group Holly!
Please feel free to check out and common on all the discussion threads, even the older threads. They all stay open.

I was thrilled to find this group on Goodreads earlier this year and joined the Into the Forest 2017 Challenge. I have also managed to read at least a part of each of the Group Reads since then so thought that I really should stop lurking and introduce myself. I’ll read just about anything but I have always enjoyed fairy tales. As a child, I reread Lang’s The Red Fairy Book and The Blue Fairy Book many times and those two volumes remain among my favorites.

Annette wrote: "I was thrilled to find this group on Goodreads earlier this year and joined the Into the Forest 2017 Challenge. I have also managed to read at least a part of each of the Group Reads since then so ..."

Welcome! I lurked for a while too. :)

Annette wrote: "I was thrilled to find this group on Goodreads earlier this year and joined the Into the Forest 2017 Challenge. I have also managed to read at least a part of each of the Group Reads since then so ..."

Welcome Annette! Yes, I think a lot of people "lurk" . It's nice to meet you!
I remember you nominated Tapping the Dream Tree. I am a huge De Lint fan! We're are having a buddy read for his newest book The Wind in His Heart. Have you read it yet?

Hi,
This seems like a fun group to join so I did. I love what past and present fairy tales can tell us. As people on this thread know, they are surprisingly deep and a great genre to explore many different topics. Glad to be here.

Hi! I'm Jeanna! I've been lurking here for years under my non-author guise, but I've never actually posted much. Always a lurker. Anyway, I'm trying to actually maybe talk with people once in a while. ;) We'll see how long that plan lasts.

I do love to see all the amazing suggestions here. It's overwhelming sometimes. My to-read list doesn't love me. Or it really really really does, depending on how you look at things.

Jeanna wrote: "Hi! I'm Jeanna! I've been lurking here for years under my non-author guise, but I've never actually posted much. Always a lurker. Anyway, I'm trying to actually maybe talk with people once in a whi..."

Jim wrote: "Hi,
This seems like a fun group to join so I did. I love what past and present fairy tales can tell us. As people on this thread know, they are surprisingly deep and a great genre to explore many d..."

Welcome to the group Jim and Jeanna!
Yes, it is a fun group with lots of resources!
By all means check out all the discussion threads and feel free to leave your comments, even on the older threads.
All our threads stay open.