It's finally here, and here are the options:Quest the First
Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time II criteria. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.
Quest the Second
Read at least one book from each of the four categories. In this quest you will be reading 4 books total: one fantasy, one folklore, one fairy tale, and one mythology. This proved to be one of the more difficult quests last year merely because of the need to classify each read and determine which books fit into which category. I am not a stickler, fear not, but I was fascinated watching how folks worked to find books for each category.
Quest the Third
Fulfill the requirements for Quest the First or Quest the Second AND top it off with a June reading of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Love the story, love the films, love the idea of that magical night of the year and so this is my chance to promote the reading of this farcical love story.
Three is a magical number, a number of portent in fantastical tales, and so three quests seems about right.
Last year, this genre was very new to me. Oh, I had read Harry Potter, but in general, fantasy/ folklore was new. I've been seeing other books since then, and I've been making a mental list. I'm lucky because I get to read the tip of the iceberg, the best of the genre. I'm going to try Quest First with an emphasis on Fairy Tales, with an option to change it to Quest Three if I feel so inspired. Here's my list of potential reads:
- The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
- Zel by Donna Jo Napoli
- The Complete Fairy Tales by Oscar Wilde
- Beauty, by Robin McKinley
- Stardust by Neil Gaiman
- a book I see a great review for
- whatever I feel like!
Go check out Carl's intro post, and get inspired by his writing and the lists by other great readers.
Oscar Wilde! Stardust!!! I'm getting excited just looking at your list!
ReplyDeletewow! I love your last two answers to read what you see a great review for and whatever you feel like! LOL.. I'll have to steal that quote from you someday! lol
ReplyDeletecarl - I'm much better prepared this year and looking forward to my great books.
ReplyDeletedeslily - go right ahead, steal away. It always happens, I see a good book after someone reviews it and wish I had known about it before.
I am looking forward to reading The Goose Girl for something else this year, it has had some great reviews. I really want to read Zel, Beauty and Stardust as well at some point soon. I love the fairy tales I have read by Oscar Wilde and want to read the rest. My favourite is The Happy Prince. A great list :)
ReplyDeleteOh, this is killing me! Every time I read someone's list, I want to add more and more and more to mine! What a great list you've got there!
ReplyDeleteOooh, great list! I read the Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde last year for the challenge and they were absolutely wonderful. I wish there were more of them to read! And Stardust is just phenomenal. If you can find the illustrated version, I suggest that one. Have fun!
ReplyDeleterhinoa - I feel pretty confident that my choices will be terrific.
ReplyDeletedebi - I got these titles from reviews from last years challenge, and that's why I picked my selection 'somehting that looks really good'
chris - glad to hear such good things. I think I'll go book shopping tomorrow; Stardust and Goose Girl seem like books I will want to own.
I really enjoyed Beauty, Stardust, and what I've read of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales...I hope you enjoy them too!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to find the Oscar Wilde; I love his poetry (and plays) and I didn't even know he'd written fairy tales! (The usefulness of challenges! Wahoo!... okay, too many exclamation points.)The rest I've read, and loved. Hope you enjoy them...
ReplyDeleteYou got me! I've just posted my list.....this is the second to last challenge I'm joining....I love this one so much that it was hard to limit the books on it! I deliberately chose difficult ones that I'd been meaning to read for some time, as well as some new ones. I love your list too, it is so creative -Oscar Wilde! and I just saw Stardust (I really enjoyed it) but don't own a copy yet. Neil Gaiman is one of the best, isn't he? So, see you shortly on the non-fiction challenge. And that will be it! I think we should petition the universe for more time to READ - you know, an extra hour per day just for us bookaholics.
ReplyDelete