Into the Forest discussion

It's time to nominate books for our next group read, September 15-November 14!
This read will be one retelling of either a fairy tale or myth and one original tale or collection of tales.
Please nominate one novel and either one tale if it is a long one or one collection of original tales. The novel can be either adult or YA and can be either an exact retelling or inspired by several Fairy tales or myths.
Please nominate something that you would like to read and discuss and make sure your books are available.

I would like to nominate Beastkeeper by Cat Hellison as our novel, and Beauty and the Beast as our original story.

I'll nominate The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris for the retelling.

Let me think about hte original tale/collection fora bit.

For something on the fun side (not that what we usually read isn't fun), I'll nominate The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines for the novel, and Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England edited by Jack Zipes for original collection. It's a shorter collection.

This is a hoot!
My review is here. It is the first of a series of "Transplanted Tales" http://tinyurl.com/na8wlb8

For original I nominate The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long. A young woman goes into the forest of the fairies in search of her brother who vanished seven years ago. References a lot of the folklore.

For collection I nominate Grandfather Tales: American-English Folk Tales by Richard Chase. American fairy tales. It is, BTW, much shorter than Calvino collection.

Melanti wrote: "I'll nominate The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris for the retelling."

Oh, I do want to read that.

I nominate by Rosamund Hodge, a retelling of beauty and the beast

I would like to nominate as a collection of tales The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (this is a relatively new publication).

I'm liking all the nominations this time around.



Margaret wrote: "... and Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England edited by Jack Zipes for original collection. It's a shorter collection. "

I have Don't Bet on the Prince on my TBR too. I noticed this was a group read quite a few years ago. It looks like Chris was the only currently active member that participated in that conversation so I think we'd be fine to re-read it as long as it's okay with her.


Kirsten wrote: "I would like to nominate as a collection of tales The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (this is a relatively new publication)."

I've read a handful of the stories in this and the changes between 1st Edition and 7th Edition were significant. I keep meaning to check it out again and finish comparing the two versions.

WE did have a buddy read thread of this book so if it doesn't win and you still want to read it, you can post anything you like there.

Margaret wrote: "For something on the fun side (not that what we usually read isn't fun), I'll nominate The Stepsister Scheme by ..."

I didn't realize that! I'm fine either way; I can always come up with something else to nominate:)

WE did have a buddy read thread of this book so if it doesn't win and you still want to read it, you can post anything you like there.

I completely forgot I meant to join that buddy read! Well, if it doesn't win this round I may join it.

Kirsten wrote: "I would like to nominate as a collection of tales The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (this is a relatively new publication)."

Melanti wrote:WE did have a buddy read thread of this book so if it doesn't win and you still want to read it, you can post anything you like there .."

I thought it seemed familiar. How many of you read it and how long a was it?

Did we read Don't bet on the Prince in this group or was it the Endicott group?

Up to now we have six novels and four tales.

I still have not decided. Many of the nominations look good.

For The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, it was March/April, and I think I was really the only one talking about the book. And I only read about 10%? 20%? Not a lot - just a couple dozen stories.

Don't Bet on the Prince was for this group in late 2011. And Chris is really the only currently active member that I see in the thread. https://www.goodreads.com/topic/list_...

Melanti wrote: "For The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, it was March/April, and I think I was really the only one talking about the book. And I only read about 10%? 20%? Not..."

Good to know! I think I must have just joined the group when Don't Bet on the Prince was the group read and I did not participate.
So if there are people who want to read it or the Grimms we should definitely keep it in. I would read either of them.

I will nominate a collection of hispanic New Mexican folktales by Rudolfo Anaya Serafina's Stories so we have a few more original tales to choose from!

So, the nominations so far are:

Novel length Retellings:
Beastkeeper by Cat Hellison
The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long.
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Red by Kate SeRine

Long Original Tale/Collection:
Beauty and the Beast by de Beaumont
Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England edited by Jack Zipes
Grandfather Tales: American-English Folk Tales by Richard Chase.
The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (The newest edition).
Serafina's Stories by Rudolfo Anaya

All I can say is yummmmm.

(How to vote, how to vote?)

We should put the polls up either late tonight or tomorrow, and you should be able to vote anytime between now and the end of the month.

We'll put a link to the poll in this thread, or if you're viewing the full website, there's a link to polls in the upper right hand corner of most of the group's discussion threads.

If you're on the mobile app, I don't think there's a way to get to the polls outside of a direct link.

The polls are up!
Here is the link: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/3...
Thanks for setting them up Melanti!

I've voted for Don't Bet on the Prince but i will be bending my 2015 female authors only rule if i manage to read. Quite odd that a male editor was picked...

Zanna wrote: "I've voted for Don't Bet on the Prince but i will be bending my 2015 female authors only rule if i manage to read. Quite odd that a male editor was picked..."

I actually thought about how you might not be able to read it when I nominated it! It was probably Zipes' idea to put together the collection. However, the authors collected in it are female...

Indeed, hence... Arguably permissible. Nobody except me is policing me so I can make the rules haha

Margaret wrote: "It was probably Zipes' idea to put together the collection. However, the authors collected in it are female... ..."

Almost all female...

Out of 20 items, there's two essays by Zipes, two by other male authors, and one by a collective.

I'm sure the collection was Zipes's idea. I assume if a publisher had thought of a project like this they would have picked a female author. It just makes more sense that way.

Zanna wrote: "I've voted for Don't Bet on the Prince but i will be bending my 2015 female authors only rule if i manage to read. Quite odd that a male editor was picked..."

I hadn't really thought about it, but the only female author in the tales/collections section is Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont of Beauty and the Beast.
I actually was considering voting for it, but added my nomination when it looked like there were more novels. I still not would mind having it be our tale. There certainly is always a lot to discuss re B&B!

Jalilah wrote: " There certainly is always a lot to discuss re B&B! ..."

I agree! I was thinking about nominating Perrault since he's one of the few major authors we haven't had as a group read lately, but then I realized that my copy of Perrault is in the same volume as my translations of B&B, so (for me) it's still the same book, so no point on doubling up on nominations.

But I promise to re-read and summarize the original version of B&B by Villenueve (sp?) if Beaumont's version gets selected. I have a copy, but it's hard to find in English. Not even all editions of Zipes's French collection include it.

Indeed Jalilah, in From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers there's so much about versions of this tale and its changing meanings to hearers and tellers over time

Ha ha, I just corrected my typo from " I would still mind to having it be our tale" to "I would NOT mind". I am glad you all seemed to understand what I meant in spite of my typo!

Yes, even if B&B does not win this time ( looks like don't bet on the prince is leading), we can always select it as a theme another time.

I would like to add The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

Carole wrote: "I would like to add The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm"

The polls are already up Carole https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/3... There is a Grimms Collection on it.

That's one of the choices on the polls, Carole.

Don't Bet on the Prince does seem to be winning at the moment though.

The Gospel of Loki is one of today's daily deals on Amazon in the US. $2.

It has a very slight lead at the moment - just a single vote - so if anyone wants to stock up in case it wins or even if it doesn't, the link is here:
http://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Loki-Joa...

The price should be good for the next 20 hours or so.

Well spotted :-)

Our books are selected!

Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England was the clear winner for the collection and Joanne Harris's The Gospel of Loki won the retelling category by just 1 vote.

Wayelp, my library actually has The Gospel of Loki, and multiple copies, even.

But when I asked its online catalog for Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales in North America and England, guess what it offered instead?



This is another book by Marina Warner, which includes a chapter entitled Don't Bet on the Prince.

Can't get away from her.

In the original thread, Chris gave some links to a few of the stories online for those who couldn't get the book itself.

Susan wrote: "Wayelp, my library actually has The Gospel of Loki, and multiple copies, even.

But when I asked its online catalog for [book:Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Ta..."

Luckily my library has both books! I've ordered them.
Melanti already posted the link to the previous group read that we had here a few years ago, but I am posting again so you'll have the links to the Don't Bet on the Prince stories that are on-line as well as the other anthologies where the stories can be found:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...