Into the Forest discussion

Since we have a unanimous decision to read about Fae/Faeries for our next group read, we'll skip that poll and open up book nominations.

Everyone can nominate 3 books:
One adult novel retelling or influenced by myths, fairy or folktales
One young retelling or influenced by myths,fairy or folktales
One original tale or short collection of tales.

This thread will stay open one week, then the polls will go up!
So nominate away!

Adult: Except the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder
YA: The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long
Original: Kate Crackernuts. collected by Joseph Jacobs

Adult: Possession by A.S. Byatt
YA: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
Original: ?

As I have not read any of these book, I'm going by the book description to try and fit the theme -- if not let me know!

Of course if someone knows of a book similar to Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier then that would be my vote!

Mary wrote: "Adult: Except the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder..."

One of my favorite books!

Kathy wrote: "Adult: Possession by A.S. Byatt
YA: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
Original: ?

The Darkest Part of the Forest is soooo good! I'd re-read it!

As I have not read any of these book, I'm..."

Mary wrote: "Adult: Except the Queen by Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder
YA: The Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long
Origi..."

Except the Queen has been on my to read list for a while now. If I am not mistaken it's YA and everyone can just nominate one book of each category. If that's the case then I'll nominate it for my choice of YA
For adult I nominate Roses and Rot
For original I will have to think about it.

I think we are going to find several good books for this theme.

There's nothing nominated yet that hasn't been on my mental TBR for months.

Adult: Borderline by Mishell Baker (while the book description doesn't mention the fae or fairies, most reviews do)
YA: Tithe by Holly Black
Classic: The Chapter "Celts and Cymry" in the book The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and Other Little People edited by Thomas Keightley (about 80 pages. let me know if this is too long.)

I've read and enjoyed a lot of the nominations so far!

This theme is kind of like the animal transformations theme, where I'm realizing I have a lot of unread books that match the theme.

Margaret wrote: ".Classic: The Chapter "Celts and Cymry" in the book The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and Other Little People edited by Thomas Keightley (about 80 pages. let me know if this is too long.."

Margaret, this looks really good, but I couldn't find a copy of this...is there an online source for a public domain version (1880)? I did find The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries by the same author in the public domain:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/41006

Monica wrote: " I did find The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries by the same author in the public domain:.."

I just glanced at the copyright page of The World Guide to... and it's just a re-titled edition of The Fairy Mythology.

Melanti wrote: "I just glanced at the copyright page of The World Guide to... and it's just a re-titled edition of The Fairy Mythology.

Thanks, Melanti! I didn't read far enough down the table of contents to find the chapter Margaret referenced..duh!

It's still good to know!
I've corrected the Goodreads record, so now it's more self-evident

Good to know! I assumed it was easy to get hold of because I see it often at the bookstore I work at, but I had not checked otherwise.

Up to now we have:
Adult:
Possession
Borderline
Roses and Rot
Mortal Love
YA:
The Treachery of Beautiful Things
Except the Queen
The Darkest Part of the Forest
Tithe
Original tale/s:
Kate Crackernuts
Celts and Cymry
Tam Lin

Anything else?
I do hope people are seeing this thread. With the new changes in the Goodreads page some people might be missing.

Kathy wrote: ".Of course if someone knows of a book similar to Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier then that would be my vote!"

Have you read Wildwood Dancing? It's also by Juliet Marillier, is a re-telling of 12 Dancing Princesses and has Faeries in it.

Another book about Fae is Mortal Love
I've already made my nominations, so I am not nominating it, but if anyone else wants to, it fits the theme and is also on the Endicott list.

Oh! Right!

I've had Mortal Love on my to-read list for years!

I'll go ahead and nominate it, but there's so many great books here that I really have no clue which one I'll vote for.

For YA, I'll nominate Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones which is another Endicott book. (YA retelling of Tam Lin.)

I'd like to nominate The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker for the adult read. I don't have suggestions for YA or original, sorry!

Jalilah, it looks like you left Tithe off the YA list.

Melanti wrote: "Jalilah, it looks like you left Tithe off the YA list."

Oh sorry! I didn't see it! I've added it along with Mortal Love.

Lacey wrote: "I'd like to nominate The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker for the adult read. I don't have suggestions for YA or original, sorry!"

Does it have Faeries in it Lacey. It does look good, but I see no mention of them although it indeed seems fairy tale like.

Polls should go up tomorrow

Jalilah wrote: "I do hope people are seeing this thread. With the new changes in the Goodreads page some people might be missing"

I'm not going to nominate anything this time around since two of the above nominations are for books I'd already requested from the library that just came in two days ago: Roses and Rot and The Darkest Part of the Forest. So I'm hoping one of those wins :)

Jalilah wrote: "Does it have Faeries in it Lacey. It does look good, but I see no mention of them although it indeed seems fairy tale like.."

Yup, lots and lots of faeries, especially in the first quarter of the book, although the fey play a role throughout. I think they often go unmentioned in blurbs about the book in an attempt to market it to a "literary" set. (It was published by a literary publisher focusing on debut fiction rather than a fantasy imprint.)

Melanti wrote: "Oh! Right!

I've had Mortal Love on my to-read list for years!

I'll go ahead and nominate it, but there's so many great books here that I really have no clue which one I'll vote for.

For YA, I'l..."

I'll add Fire and Hemlock


Lacey wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "Does it have Faeries in it Lacey. It does look good, but I see no mention of them although it indeed seems fairy tale like.."

Yup, lots and lots of faeries, especially in the first..."

Great! I'll add both books and put up the polls later today!

Sorry I could not create them until this morning!
The polls to vote for the books are now open!
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/3...
Please let me know if I left anything out!

Thanks & hoping we read a few more of those nominated! I'd like to vote for more than one in each category.

Kathy wrote: "Thanks & hoping we read a few more of those nominated! I'd like to vote for more than one in each category."

We can definitely create extra buddy read threads in addition to the books that won!

We have our winners! And there was a last minute tie for YA.

Our next group read is:
Original: The chapter "Celts and the Cymry" from The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and Other Little People
Adult: Roses and Rot.
YA: Except the Queen and The Darkest Part of the Forest

They should make for some great group reads!

Though I've already read 2 of them, I'm looking forward to discussing them. I would reread them, but I've lent my copies out!

My library has Except the Queen shelved in the Adult Fiction not in the YA section. I wonder why?

Interesting, mine puts it in adult as well.

Leah wrote: "My library has Except the Queen shelved in the Adult Fiction not in the YA section. I wonder why?"


Actually when Mary nominated it, it was for the adult category. I was the one who put it as YA because that's how it was tagged most of the time on Goodreads. I did mention this in this thread in message #5.
My mistake! Sorry everyone!

Well, it doesn't really matter! It's a double either way. :)

Jalilah wrote: "I was the one who put it as YA because that's how it was tagged most of the time on Goodreads."

No worries! Now I'm even more curious why libraries have it as Adult but GR readers are tagging it YA.

Jalilah wrote: "I was the one who put it as YA because that's how it was tagged most of the time on Goodreads. "

Most?

It is shelved 161 times as fantasy. It is shelved 29 times as YA.

Mary wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "I was the one who put it as YA because that's how it was tagged most of the time on Goodreads. "
Most?
It is shelved 161 times as fantasy. It is shelved 29 times as YA."

Well, I did say it my post " If I am not mistaken it's YA". No one said anything.

If ever we moderators make a mistake labelling a book, we don't mind if it's pointed out to us at the time.

In any case, regardless what type if book it is, I am happy we are finally having a group read for Except the Queen !

Jalilah wrote: "Well, I did say it my post " If I am not mistaken it's YA". No one said anything. "

I would have if you had given your criterion then.

I loved Except the Queen and loved it! I would shelf it as YA personally -- but as an adult totally enjoyed it as it didn't fit the paranormal romance that seems to be a prerequisite for YA so often.

I totally love Except the Queen, but I think women and people of a certain age may like it more than the typical YA audience.

Julia wrote: "I totally love Except the Queen, but I think women and people of a certain age may like it more than the typical YA audience."

I totally agree with you.

Yolen's primarily a MG/YA writer and the only book I've read by Snyder was YA. Based off that, the shelvings as YA and the apparent age of the woman on the cover art, I thought it was a YA book too. Sometimes it's hard to tell the intended age range without reading the book.


I'm glad we have a tie, though, that way have a unambiguous winner for both adult and YA. They're all books I'm really looking forward to.

Melanti wrote: "They're all books I'm really looking forward to."

Me, too! Matter of fact, I'm having a hard time picking which of the four I want to read first.

I will start with Roses and Rot because I have a library copy with a waiting list. Then I'll read Except the Queen. I recently read The Darkest Part of the Forest and loved it. I may or may not re-read it this time. I had to do an interview-library loan for the book that has the original tale, so that will be later on.

Jalilah wrote: "I will start with Roses and Rot because I have a library copy with a waiting list. Then I'll read Except the Queen. I recently read The Darkest Part of the Forest and loved it. I may or may not re-..."

I have access to all the books for this theme's reads. I'll start with whatever the most people decide to start reading first. So Roses and Rot would be fine with me.

I will join in on all discussions, but will only be reading Except the Queen and Celts and Cymry. It will be a while before I can read Celts and Cymry. My TBR print book pile is huge right now. However, I should get to Except the Queen in a week or so.