What are you reading now? > Likes and Comments
date
newest »
newest »
Tamara wrote: "I read Gilgamesh: A New Verse Translation by Simon Armitage. Simon Armitage is a professor of poetry who was appointed Poet Laureate of England in 2019.I've read ..."
Oh! I can never read too many translations, retellings or books inspired by The Epic of Gilgamesh! Thanks for letting us know!
Kristina wrote: "Spinning SilverFinally, I'm reading a book from my TBR :)))
So far so good! And it suits the Merchants and Tradespeople category of the challenge."
I loved that one! I’d a.ways hoped the author would write more books in that universe
Margaret wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "Now I am starting Cleopatra. This one might be interesting for people here because although it’s historical fiction there is a lot of Ancient Egyptian mythology and religious belief..."The writing style is a little like the author who wrote Circe, Madeline Miller in that it’s written from the pov recounting here life long after she left it. I know many people loved Circe, please don’t get mad at me everyone, but I didn’t like it much.
Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart: And Other Stories - it's... good? I can see why it got so many low ratings. Most of the stories don't seem to have a plot. All vibes.
Ozsaur wrote: "Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart: And Other Stories - it's... good? I can see why it got so many low ratings. Most of the stories don't seem to have a plot. All vibes."I have that on my TBR! Wow, I do see a lot of low ratings.
Margaret, I'm getting closer to the end, and the stories are a bit more plotty. Dear Henrietta is my favorite so far.
Margaret wrote: "Asaria wrote: "I’m slowly going through „Short Stories in French for Beginners”.Earlier, I took a break from reading books for my other hobbies :)"
Other ... hobbies?
just kidding, ha!"
I am a gamer and a traveler as well :). I know, I know, I'm betraying my beloved books, but it is what it is :)
Asaria wrote: "I am a gamer and a traveler as well :). I know, I know, I'm betraying my beloved books, but it is what it is :)...":) I hike and write, so also guilty of other hobbies!
I just finished reading The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison. I would've enjoyed it more if I could've remembered character names. But I read each book years apart. It's the last book in a series, so a good time to read them all for high fantasy readers. I might go back to reread them one day so I can pick up on all the nuance I missed with my constant confusion over who was who.
I've just finished reading Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint and again for a book published over 30 years ago I want to shout out about how good it is! I've wanted to read de Lint for years and I haven't been disappointed.One of the things that is making me feel a little whimsical is I am remembering my own younger years in the 1990s and how many creative, on the edges of society people I knew and I have imagined all of them having fey blood in them!
Barry wrote: "I've just finished reading Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint and again for a book published over 30 years ago I want to shout out about how good it is! I've wanted ..."Charles de Lint was the author who got me into reading speculative fiction! I love his entire Newford series, although I prefer his novels to his short stories ( that’s just me! I’m not a short story person) .
My favourites are Memory and Dream, Someplace to Be Flying and Forests of the Heart. They are all part of the Newford series but are standalone novels and can be read in any order
Jalilah wrote: "Barry wrote: "I've just finished reading Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint and again for a book published over 30 years ago I want to shout out about how good it is..."Those are all my favorites too, though I haven't read as many! In fact, I believe I read these three on your recommendation.
I recently read Irish Folk & Fairy Tales (William Butler Yeats, ed.). My favorite story in it, near the end of the book, is entitled "The Twelve Wild Geese." It's a variation of Snow White, with 12 brothers instead of 7 dwarves. The main character ("Snow-white-and-Rose-red") is much less passive than the subject of the Grimms' tale. Instead of being led out into the forest by a huntsman, she sneaks away from the castle, into the woods of her own accord, to find her 12 brothers (who've been turned into geese). She undoes the curse on them by completing an arduous task. Irish folk traditions in general seem to have a rather different perspective on women than continental traditions do. For instance, there's no word for "witch" in Irish (Gaelige). The closest to it is "bean feasa" (or "cailleach feasa"), meaning "woman of knowledge."
That would be "brothers as birds." The German equivalent would be "The Seven Ravens" rather than "Snow White."
T.A. wrote: "I recently read Irish Folk & Fairy Tales (William Butler Yeats, ed.). My favorite story in it, near the end of the book, is entitled "The Twelve Wild Geese." It's a variation of Snow White, with 12..."Yes, Mary's right, The Seven Ravens, which can be read here: https://sites.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm025...
You might also enjoy The Wild Swans from Hans Christian Andersen: https://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hershol...
It's definitely a favorite fairytale variant of mine!
Mary wrote: "That would be "brothers as birds." The German equivalent would be "The Seven Ravens" rather than "Snow White.""The Irish "12 Wild Geese" story has similarities to both "The Seven Ravens" and "Snow White." The girl is born after her mother wishes for a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair black as a raven. People refer to her as "Snow-white-and-Rose-red" for her beautiful complexion. When she goes into the forest, she comes upon an empty cottage with 12 beds, which turn out to be where her brothers sleep at night (in their human forms). However, the girl's role in saving her brothers from a curse does seem to make it thematically closer to "7 Ravens," so thanks for pointing that out.
The motif of red as this, white as that, black as the other thing appears very wildly and is not tied to a tale type. It appears in variants of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and also of Faithful Johannes.
Mary wrote: "The motif of red as this, white as that, black as the other thing appears very wildly and is not tied to a tale type. It appears in variants of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and also of Faithful J..."But, is it not the case that the combination of precisely those 3 similies together (blood+snow+ebony/raven) uniquely describe the character Snow White? If so, how would we account for nearly the same description of the main character in the Celtic tale, "Twelve Wild Geese"?
Unremarkable coincidence? Common origins/influences for the stories? Or, did Victorian folklorists and translators in Ireland, being familiar with the Grimms' Snow White, borrow some of the language in rendering TWG and other Celtic tales? Or else, long before that, in oral traditions all over Europe, whenever storytellers told tales they often reused formulaic expressions like "skin as white as snow" etc.
I think this last explanation is close to what Mary is suggesting. No?
Margaret wrote: "T.A. wrote: "I recently read Irish Folk & Fairy Tales (William Butler Yeats, ed.). My favorite story in it, near the end of the book, is entitled "The Twelve Wild Geese." It's a variation of Snow W..."T.A. wrote: "I recently read Irish Folk & Fairy Tales (William Butler Yeats, ed.). My favorite story in it, near the end of the book, is entitled "The Twelve Wild Geese." It's a variation of Snow White, with 12..."
Mary wrote: "That would be "brothers as birds." The German equivalent would be "The Seven Ravens" rather than "Snow White.""
T.A. wrote: "Mary wrote: "That would be "brothers as birds." The German equivalent would be "The Seven Ravens" rather than "Snow White.""
The Irish "12 Wild Geese" story has similarities to both "The Seven Rav..."
Mary wrote: "The motif of red as this, white as that, black as the other thing appears very wildly and is not tied to a tale type. It appears in variants of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and also of Faithful J..."
T.A. wrote: "Mary wrote: "The motif of red as this, white as that, black as the other thing appears very wildly and is not tied to a tale type. It appears in variants of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and also ..."
Fascinating discussion! Thank you group members for sharing all your knowledge about fairy tales!
I’m looking forward to reading The 7 Ravens and The 12 Wild Geese which I haven’t read!
Ozsaur wrote: "The Rose Bargain - Britain is ruled by a fairy queen. Intriguing!"Looks good! Let us know how you like it
T.A. wrote: But, is it not the case that the combination of precisely those 3 similies together (blood+snow+ebony/raven) uniquely describe the character Snow White?"No.
Mary wrote: "T.A. wrote: But, is it not the case that the combination of precisely those 3 similies together (blood+snow+ebony/raven) uniquely describe the character Snow White?"No."
Well then, maybe I know only enough about Grimms' tales to be dangerous. I should re-read them. I would have thought that if you showed the words "lips as red as blood, skin as white as snow, hair as black as ebony" to most people, they'd immediately think only of Snow White. Maybe that is only because it's one of the best-known tales.
Homer repeatedly uses the same formulaic descriptions ("fleet-footed Achilles," "rosy-fingered dawn") but as far as I know, only to characterize a single subject. I am surprised to hear (if I understand you correctly) that the Grimms' tales would use the same complex phrase to describe two completely different characters.
But now, I do come upon almost exactly the same description in another Irish story, one that clearly has nothing to do with _Snow White_. It appears in Thomas Kinsella's 1969 translation of _The Táin_ (sometimes dubbed "the Irish Iliad"), in a section entitled _Exile of the Sons of Uisliu_. The tragic heroine Deirdre sees a raven on snow-covered ground drinking the blood of a butchered calf. She says, "I could desire a man who had those three colours there: hair like the raven, cheeks like blood and his body like snow." I'd be curious to know how close Kinsella's language is to the original Irish. Is it an ancient/medieval formula used across Europe to describe a beautiful person, one that occurred in a wide variety of tales? Or, did Kinsella borrow it from Victorian sources (possibly rooted in Grimms' tales) to loosely translate the Irish?
I finally finished Leaving the Wild by Gavin Ehringer, and have left my official 4 star rated review - my longest GR review to date in fact; I had a lot of personal commentary to add regarding this book! Ultimately... a controversial yet bold piece of literature. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I just finished a wonderful historical novel taking place in Egypt The Oud Player of Cairo by the Egyptian American author Jasmin AttiaI just started Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods. This same author wrote After the Forest which I enjoyed very much, so I am looking forward to this one. After the Forest was a reimagining of Hansel and Gretel, after the 2 children grew up. Upon a Starlit Tide is influenced by The Little Mermaid
Today I read _As Long As Our Bones Lie Together_, by Razvan-Gabriel Popa.This story, published in 2025, features an "undead" main female character who roams the forest. The forest itself is a metaphor for the undead, with its insect-chewed bark and cambium, its seeming death during winter, and renewal in spring.
Let's just say, I had a LOT to say for such an antiquated read - Animals in Peril: How "Sustainable Use" Is Wiping Out the World's Wildlife by John A. Hoyt (may he rest in peace) is still relevant and enlightening! I gave the text a deserving 5 stars, and would recommend it to anyone interested in truly saving all from a climate chaotic future. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ozsaur wrote: "The Rose Bargain - Britain is ruled by a fairy queen. Intriguing!"This looks like something I would love!
Cassidy wrote: "Let's just say, I had a LOT to say for such an antiquated read - Animals in Peril: How "Sustainable Use" Is Wiping Out the World's Wildlife by John A. Hoyt (may he rest in peace) is still relevant ..."
I'd find this insightful. Quite often we use words like 'sustainable' to feel better about things we really should not.
As for my reading I finished The Bear and the Nightingale yesterday and it is ANOTHER book I want to rave about and tell the world to read. It's beautiful. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Since it is sweltering where I live for some reason I decided to start reading The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures and even on the first chapter I am half eyeing up buying the author's other books.
Barry, I also love reading wintery stories in summer!
Barry wrote: "As for my reading I finished The Bear and the Nightingale yesterday and it is ANOTHER book I want to rave about and tell the world to read. It's beautiful...."I love that series! I'm currently reading her newest book, The Unicorn Hunters.
Jalilah wrote: Looks good! Let us know how you like itThe Rose Bargain was a fun read. The fairies are old school, capricious and cruel, which was a nice change of pace. I'll be reading the next book.
I'm currently reading Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter, and I adore all the cats!
Ozsaur wrote: "Jalilah wrote: Looks good! Let us know how you like itThe Rose Bargain was a fun read. The fairies are old school, capricious and cruel, which was a nice change of pace. I'll be ..."
Love Agnes!!!
I just finished Upon a Starlit Tide which was marvellous. I’m now starting Lily of the Nile, which is based on the life of Cleopatra Selene, the daughter of of the infamous Cleopatra who later became a queen in her own right. The novel supposedly has fantastical elements
Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen's England by Rory Muir
Completed the over 400 page book Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals, and my review is below. Easily 5 stars and definitely re-readable; a lovely collection of ecofeminist writings.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Earlier, I took a break from reading books for my other hobbies :)"
Other ... hobbies?
just kidding, ha!