Endicott Mythic Fiction discussion

This topic is for anyone who wants to post comments on Endicott books other than the monthly selections.

Hi I just wanted to share with everyone a book I read recently called Elfland by author Freda Warrington. It would be absolutely perfect for this group. It's a gorgeous, engrossing read steeped in faerie/pagan myth with otherworldly descriptions of an alternate dimension existing along side our own. The main characters are partly fey but very human in their behaviors and flaws. Elfland is also a wonderful love story.

Thanks Natalie, I think I might just move it up on my TBR list.

Thanks for the recommendation; I just added it to my to-read list.

I'm reading Elfland also--stumbled across it at my library. It's deep, not a light read, but worth it. Apparently Ms. Warrington is quite popular in England but this is her first novel published in the U.S.

And I'll third the recommendation! I picked it up when it was first released in hardback, and was immediately smitten.

Oh, yes—I got it from the library some months back, and I'm thinking I need to buy my own copy so I can read it again.

It's out in mass market paperback right now. And it has the same beautiful art on the cover. Kinuko Y Craft does a lot of fantasy book covers. I love her style.

Squee! Kinuko Craft! I'll have to earmark this, it sounds intriguing.

I know this is an old thread but I just found it now.
I loved Efland! It was the kind of book where about 3/4 of the way through I started dreading it being over! I loved the characters!

I am currently reading Firebird by Mercedes Lackey
It is a re-telling of the Russian fairy tale, also similar to Grimm's Golden Bird. Not sure if it is on the Endicott list. It is very well done but I don’t like it that much that I am anticipating it being over with!

If we need some more monthly reading choices, I'd like to nominate Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue

Melanti, that one sounds great! it looks a lot like The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories or the series that started with Snow White, Blood Red, both of which were fantastic.

scrolling through our bookshelf, i'd also like to have a go with Practical Magic. i've heard that Alice Hoffman's writing is amazing, and a far cry from the fluffy movie version (which i thought was plenty cute enough).

I've heard Kissing the Witch being compared to Carter's work several times, and I loved Burning Your Boats (the omnibus). It's been a long time since I read Snow White, Blood Read but I remember I liked it as well.

I'm a big fan of Alice Hoffman and Practical Magic is my favorite of hers, so far. She generally incorporates little bits of fairy tales, folklore and herbalism into her books.

She's got a really light writing style but her characters/situations are generally rather dark. I've read a dozen or so of her books, and there's been a genuinely happy ending on exactly ONE of them, and that one was for the YA market. (Her endings are hopeful, but I wouldn't call them happy...)

I enthusiastically recommend the entire Ellen Datlow/Terri Windling fairy tale anthology series to everyone in the Endicott group. The approaches to recreating traditional fairy tales are so varied that you're likely to find at least one or two stories in each book to strongly connect with (or at least be haunted by).
Snow White, Blood Red has been reissued in a hardcover edition that's available in the discount section of many Barnes & Noble stores.

Alice Hoffman is always a good read. Practical Magic was great, and I remember being delighted by how good Blackbird House was - it seemed like Hoffman's writing evolved a lot with that linked stories collection.

I read Kissing the Witch years ago. I don't remember much beyond the fact that I enjoyed it & I think the author had an interesting way of linking each story at the end. I'd definitely like to read more Donoghue sometime.

Hi Antia,
Kissing the Witch is the June 2013 choice. I have a feeling it will be a popular one.

Currently reading Mythago Wood. Quite enjoying the read so far.