Into the Forest discussion

Magical Shakespeare won for the theme of the May 15-July 14 Group Read!
Now it is time to nominate books!
Everyone can nominate 3 books:
One longer original tale or a collection of shorter original tales
One Young Adult novel and
One Adult Novel
Polls for the books will go up next Thursday, May 4th

Yay! (Sorry, I know some of you guys weren't too enthusiastic, but I am!)

For adult, I'm nominating Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood. It's part of the new Hogarth Shakespeare series that I've heard good things about.

Young adult is a bit trickier, but I think I'll nominate Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev. It's got iffy reviews but this first book was nominated for a Mythopoeic award in 2010, and the series as a whole was nominated in 2012. I've found many of the award winners to be at least worth while.


For original, I was going to nominate an excerpt of Il Pecorone by Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, or sections of The Decameron. The first is the source of The Merchant of Venice, and the second is the source of All's Well That Ends Well, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Cymbeline, and a minor subplot in The Merchant of Venice. BUT...

Though at least the first is very folkloric in feel, neither it or the play it is magical, so it doesn't quite fit the theme. I'm really not sure about The Decameron either.

Hm. Let me think the original tale about it for a bit.

This is a harder one for me, but here are my nominations:

Adult Retelling: Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams: The Tempest (Or Brave New World by Aldous Huxley -- which has references to The Tempest )

YA: The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig: Hamlet

Original: The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot (Minor source by Shakespeare for Macbeth )

Adult: Mama Day by Gloria Naylor (The Tempest). I realize this is an older book, but my library had it, so I'm hoping others' will too.

YA: Enter Three Witches by Caroline B. Cooney (Macbeth)

I have nothing to nominate for Original.

P.S. Just a heads up to mods, it looks like this topic/thread wasn't connected to a folder or filed under our main General folder.

Thanks! It is now.

For YA, I like Meltanti's pick. Eyes Like Stars caught my eye, despite some of the bad ratings.

For Original, I'm leaning towards The Tempest . I haven't read many of Shakespeare's magical plays, so I'd be happy with any of the originals (Midsummer is also tops on the list), but Tempest is right up my alley.

I don't know of any books to nominate for the Magical Shakespeare theme.

But for an original work, I'd like to nominate A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's my favorite of his plays.

Okay, while I'd love to read The Decameron sometime and I really think the group would like that excerpt from Il Pecorone, it just doesn't fit the theme.

I'll go with some Shakespeare too. One of his narrative poems: Venus and Adonis

Melanti wrote: "Okay, while I'd love to read The Decameron sometime ."

Me too --

Melanti wrote: "...I'll go with some Shakespeare too. One of his narrative poems: Venus and Adonis ..."

Oh I love your nomination! That would make such a good discussion.

Leah wrote: "...YA: Enter Three Witches .."

I almost nominated that one! It does sound good.

Nostalgia Reader wrote: "For Original, I'm leaning towards The Tempest. I haven't read many of Shakespeare's magical plays, so I'd be happy with any of the originals (Midsummer is also tops on the list), but Tempest is right up my alley. "

I haven't either but The Tempest was the one that spoke to me. So I'll second your nom.

Since Tempest and Midsummer are already nominated, I'll bite and nominate Macbeth for an original. I think those are the big three in terms of Shakespeare plays with magic, though there are supernatural elements in a number of others as well. I'd be super interested in reading Venus and Adonis!

For an adult novel, I'll nominate Miranda and Caliban, which is a new release. I don't have any ideas for YA at the moment, though I remember reading Enter Three Witches when I was in high school!

Prospero Lost by L. Jagi Lamplighter for Adult

All the books I was going to nominate have already been nominated, so I will await the vote. Good nominations!

Margaret wrote: "All the books I was going to nominate have already been nominated, so I will await the vote. Good nominations!"

Ditto.



I like Shakespeare a lot and I like retellings of his ideas, too.

Which are adult and which are YA I don't know anymore. It's a long time since I read some of these. Pamela Dean wrote a book set in a modern-ish university with a twist Tam Lin. It's an early urban fantasy novel.

Ill Met by Moonlight by Sarah A. Hoyt I remember liking a lot, but it was at least 9 years ago that I read it, since I didn't write a review. It's about Shakespeare as a young man, plus faeries.

I'm listing Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel because it's about a troupe of actors and musicians who play symphonic music and do Shakespeare plays on a regular tour of villages and outposts after a flu has killed many people, because "Survival is insufficient."

Julia wrote: "I like Shakespeare a lot and I like retellings of his ideas, too.

Which are adult and which are YA I don't know anymore. It's a long time since I read some of these. Pamela Dean wro..."

Were any of those nominations?

I've had my eye on Ill Met by Moonlight for awhile now. It's another Mythopoeic nominee.

I'm not sure Tam Lin would qualify for nomination, though. It's been a while since I read it, but though I remember them quoting Shakespeare a lot, I don't remember any retelling aspect of his work to it?

I didn't like Bright Smoke, Cold Fire all that much, so I'm not going to nominate it for YA myself, but someone else could if they were looking for options in that category. It's a fantasy book based on a non-fantasy play.

I already nominated in adult, but Wyrd Sisters and Monstrous Little Voices: New Tales from Shakespeare's Fantasy World also come to mind.

Julia wrote: "I like Shakespeare a lot and I like retellings of his ideas, too.
Which are adult and which are YA I don't know anymore. It's a long time since I read some of these. Pamela Dean wro..."

Melanti wrote: "I'm not sure Tam Lin would qualify for nomination, though. It's been a while since I read it, but though I remember them quoting Shakespeare a lot, I don't remember any retelling aspect of his work to it?

Whether or not Tam Lin qualifies for this group read depends on how strict we want to be. Shakespeare's plays definitely feature in this book, but not as a main theme, as the novel is a modern day Tam Lin retelling.
Personally I'm okay with it!
I remember the protagonist going to two plays. One in town with her friends and the other is put on at her college by some of her friends. Later on (view spoiler)[It is revealed that the lead characters ex-boyfriend had been one of Shakespeare's original actors and had spent all the centuries inbetween living "under the hill" before surfacing at her college in the Mid-West (hide spoiler)]

Leah wrote: "Adult: Mama Day by Gloria Naylor (The Tempest). I realize this is an older book, but my library had it, so I'm hoping others' will too.

YA: Enter Three Witches by by C..."

They both look great, in particular Mama Day!

I second both of your nominations Leah.
For original I will also third the nomination of The Tempest, as I've never read it.

Book Riot recommended YA novels based on Shakespeare a few days ago. I haven't read any of them, but the plot of each of these did seam to have a woo- woo element. They included:

Saving Hamlet by Molly Booth,
Dreamers Often Lie by Jacqueline West
Kissing Shakespeare by Pamela Mingle

Julia wrote: "Book Riot recommended YA novels based on Shakespeare a few days ago. I haven't read any of them, but the plot of each of these did seam to have a woo- woo element. They included:

[book:Saving Haml..."

Good to know about Julia!
Are you going to nominate any of them?

For original tale "Like Meat Loves Salt" from Richard Chase's Grandfather Tales: American-English Folk Tales.

Julia wrote: "Book Riot recommended YA novels based on Shakespeare a few days ago. I haven't read any of them, but the plot of each of these did seam to have a woo- woo element. They included:

[book:Saving Haml..."

Ooh, I hadn't heard of any of these before! I'll nominate Dreamers Often Lie if no one else is going to, since that one catches my interest.

Okay, just a day or so left. Here's our list so far:
(I hope everyone likes The Tempest!)

Original:
The Discoverie of Witchcraft by Reginald Scot (Minor source for Macbeth)
Metamorphoses by Ovid (Midsummer Night's Dream, but MANY of his plays & poems contain references)
The Tempest
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Macbeth
Venus and Adonis
"Like Meat Loves Salt" from Grandfather Tales: American-English Folk Tales by Richard Chase (King Lear)


Adult:
Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood (Tempest)
Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams (Tempest)
Mama Day by Gloria Naylor (Tempest)
Miranda and Caliban by Jacqueline Carey (Tempest)
The Great Night by Chris Adrian (Midsummer Night's Dream)
Prospero Lost by L. Jagi Lamplighter (Tempest)


Young Adult:
Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (Primarily Midsummer Nights Dream, but a mix)
The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig (Hamlet)
Enter Three Witches by Caroline B. Cooney (Macbeth)
Dreamers Often Lie by Jacqueline West (Mix)

Another honorable mention goes to Elizabeth Hand's Illyria. It's not really a retelling, but a Theater oriented book that pulls in elements from Twelfth Night.

I attempted to nominate Macbeth in original and Dreamers Often Lie in YA. Apologies if that wasn't clear!

Sorry about that Kelsey!
You were clear, but somehow I missed it.

Okay, polls are up!

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/3...