Theme Nominations for Next Group Read

[Margaret]

Melanti wrote: "Margaret wrote: "They're from Austin and Dallas.

I was actually born in Fort Hood, TX, but moved before I was 1."

Yeah, I can easily see people in Austin and Dallas being adamant they're not Sout..."

Interesting!

[Leah]

Melanti wrote: "I was thinking of The Wandering Unicorn for the unicorn category myself, (it involves the Melusine myth) but I think that one has been out of print for too long. Though, I don't know. Looks like my local library has a copy. Might be doable."

I'm not going to nominate a theme this time since there's already several good noms. I'm leaning toward unicorns, and I was thinking of The Wandering Unicorn, too. I snagged a used copy about four years ago and it's been sitting on my fairy tales/folklore/legends/ myths bookcase ever since.

[Leah]

Margaret wrote: "It looks like my idea of what Southern is, subconsciously, correlates to the states that were in the confederacy. I'm not a Civil War buff--but it obviously must've been shaping my idea of what states were in the South."

In my mind's map I consider everything below TN and to the east of the MS river "the South," but then I do consider LA "the South" too.

I would think LA especially would have lots of really great folklore. I know when I lived in South Carolina I heard some pretty good (urban ?) legends that I'd never heard before as a native Ohioan. My grandparents and their family are from KY and TN so when I lived in KY for about a year, I heard good stories there too. Usually sitting around a big bonfire in the woods with coyotes calling out in the distance. :) But those tended to be mostly haunted/cursed tales.

TX to me is "out west," but not necessarily "the South." So I guess everything west of the MS river except LA is "out west" to me.

[Margaret]

It sounds like we had similar ideas, Leah. I've always considered KY and LA the South, though.

I know a few urban legends/folktales unique to my area, but I know there are more.

[Zsa Zsa]

Texas is a southern state, it was a Conderate state. It is southwest not southeast but culturally very southern and I've never known a (native)Texan who didn't think so or who would be offended by being identified as southern. Oklahoma is also a culturally southern state. The south itself is made up of more diverse groups than some people seem to realize. Mountain people, coastal people (both gulf and Atlantic, cotton belt, swampers, border states, French, Spanish, Scots Irish, African, Jewish, Italian, English.
And Austin and Dallas both seem very much southern cities to me, western to but definately southern as well.
Unicorns sound like fun to me!

[Margaret]

Zsa Zsa wrote: "Texas is a southern state, it was a Conderate state. It is southwest not southeast but culturally very southern and I've never known a (native)Texan who didn't think so or who would be offended by ..."

I'll have to interrogate my friends from TX :)

Yes, the south is incredibly diverse, I agree!

[Jalilah]

Susan wrote: "Melanti wrote: "Lacey wrote: "Jane Yolen's Snow in Summer definitely takes place in Appalacia, but I don't remember if it's in the Southern or Northern part. ..."

West Virginia?
The short story d..."


We had a group read for Snow in Summer a while back. Here are the links to the threads:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Over all I liked it, particular the setting. It was only the last chapter that kind of spoiled it for me that's why I ended up giving it only 3 stars.

[Lacey]

Wolf wrote: "Why would you do that? I've just tried to order one of the old ones. I'm nostalgic that way- it looks much more like the fantasy novels I loved as a kid and way less like Harry Dresden. :) (Not tha..."

I agree, the new cover of Ariel is not very indicative of the content. Why would you leave the unicorn out? I'd never pick up that book based on that cover alone -- the unicorn was the selling point for me!

Here is the info about the weird censorship/speed issues in the 25th Anniversary edition of "The Last Unicorn" DVD:

"Lionsgate licensed the German video masters and audio mix, and came up with a "25th Anniversary Edition" DVD which was released in North America on February 6, 2007.[10][11] It has audio and visual quality superior to the original U.S. release, and is in 16:9 widescreen format, but has several swear words edited out, and as a result of being taken from PAL masters, plays 4% faster than the original film, resulting in a slightly higher audio pitch than normal."

I watched the original SO often growing up that I noticed both those things and then looked up to confirm that I wasn't crazy.

The swears were just a couple damns. Here is one of them if you're curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=862e4...

Molly Grue lets loose a "damn" at some point, too -- either when she first meets the unicorn and is upset that she took so long to appear, or when Schmendrick first transforms her. I haven't seen the original in a long time so I don't remember which -- although luckily when I upgraded to the DVD I gave my VHS version to my younger sister, so I still have access to one of the originals. I told her to never get rid of it. :)

[Wolf]

Thank you! I think I have the "damns". But I seriously think about watching it again, just to be sure. :) - The DVD I own was the first time I ever saw it in English though, so I would probably not have noticed the speeding up.
I recently found a pretty nice graphic novel adaptation at the library, too!

[Lacey]

Wolf wrote: "Thank you! I think I have the "damns". But I seriously think about watching it again, just to be sure. :) - The DVD I own was the first time I ever saw it in English though, so I would probably not..."

Oh yes, the graphic novel version is lovely. :) I still prefer the original but it is a faithful adaptation, and I can't much complain about a comic full of unicorn pictures.

[Jalilah]

The Poll is up!
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...
Time to vote for the theme!

[Wolf]

There seem to be unicorns in Muriel Barbery's The Life of Elves, too. :)

[Melanti]

This is the closest poll I ever remember seeing in this group!

Unicorns won - but just barely. Only one vote separated the top five choices.

Keep in mind, you can always re-nominate the rest of the themes next time around. They obviously have a lot of support!

[Carole]

Jalilah wrote: "It is time already to nominate a theme for our next group read March 15-May 14!
The theme can be anything you can find appropriate books for; a particular tale, a geographical location, an idea or..."

I personally like all of them. The unicorns in all flavours interests me more. The Fairy helpers, the selkies, UK mythologies. I am not particularly interested in the Southern American Indians. Hope this helps. Carole......

[Melanti]

Carole - we've already voted on this and the unicorn theme was selected. In fact, we've already selected books and started reading them.

Our books are:
The Lore of the Unicorn (Non-fic)
A Plague of Unicorns (YA)
The Last Unicorn and Unicorn Mountain (tie, adult).

Here's the group read threads:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

[Carole]

Hi Jaliah, I just found your old message and hastened to answer it. I have been so busy the last 6 months but hopefully things will slow down for me so I am able to participate more from now on. I love reading about unicorns.. I will see if I can buy the three on kindle. I actually have The Last Unicorn, so I may need to re read it.

Thank you for letting me know.......... I'll commence with the above.

Carole