2015 Challenge Progress

[Margaret]

I realized today that the book I'm reading now, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, could count since it's Arabian Nights based, but everyone's given me so many good suggestions I'm not going to use it as #8.

[Katy]

I've got three books left, so maybe I can finish this challenge yet: Monsters, TV or Movie, Villain POV.

[Leah]

Kathy wrote: "I've got three books left, so maybe I can finish this challenge yet: Monsters, TV or Movie, Villain POV."

You can do it! :)

[Jalilah]

I only have one more book to read and the only reason I haven't is I've been waiting for a library for a couple of months. Could you all believe there was a cue for Alice and Wonderland?! There were only 2 people ahead of me but I think both people kept it longer. It's for a book that inspired my favourite movie. Actually it only influenced Celine and Julie Go Boating.

[Susan]

I'm reading my penultimate book: Alice Hoffman's The Ice Queen, my adult Endicott list choice. Not my favorite Hoffman book, so I'm not exactly racing to turn the pages.

I must confess that I gave up on my first choice for the Endicott entry (Haroun and the Sea of Stories), because Rushdie is always a slow and concentrated read for me, and I knew I could not do it justice right now. (But I read Joseph Anton: A Memoir earlier this year, so I wasn't exactly avoiding Rushdie in 2015.)

This was my first reading challenge evah, and it lived up to its name, nudging me to read a number of types of stories and authors I don't usually gravitate towards. I fondly imagined myself as reading widely. But it turns out that not even in one of my favorite genres do I actually do that!

[Melanti]

Susan wrote: "I'm reading my penultimate book: Alice Hoffman's The Ice Queen, my adult Endicott list choice. Not my favorite Hoffman book, so I'm not exactly racing to turn the pages. ..."

Does your edition have the cover blurb about it being "An electrifying novel"? I thought that blurb was in poor taste, personally. (For those of you who haven't read it, it's about a couple of lightning strike survivors...)


Huh. I just had a thought. Does a mermaid count as a "mythological creature"? That's too humanoid to really be a "creature", isn't it?

[Leah]

Melanti wrote: "Susan wrote: "I'm reading my penultimate book: Alice Hoffman's The Ice Queen, my adult Endicott list choice. Not my favorite Hoffman book, so I'm not exactly racing to turn the pages...."

I've always thought of mermaids as creatures because I used to have a recurring nightmare about them when I was 10.

[Melanti]

nightmares? About Mermaids? Did they pull you under?

[Leah]

Yes, and they were hideous, with teeth like needles and these really long pointed claws on bony, scaly hands. And their eyes... *shivers* I can't remember what I'd read or watched that set off the nightmares, but it took almost a year for that one to go away. Not until Disney's Little Mermaid lol was I able to even entertain the idea that mermaids weren't evil.

[Margaret]

I would count mermaids as creatures.

There are some pretty frightening images and stories of mermaids! I've definitely read horror stories with mermaids.

[Melanti]

lol. Okay then! I just read a little-mermaid based book so if you guys say they count as creatures, then I guess I only have 2 categories left.

Book that inspired favorite movie - which I STILL have no clue on. (Not enough time to read the second Arabian Nights anthology, so that's out)
And an Adult Endicott Fairy Tale book.

This is a good excuse to spring for that copy of Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer: Expanded Edition that I've been wanting.

[Susan]

Melanti said "Book that inspired favorite movie - which I STILL have no clue on. (Not enough time to read the second Arabian Nights anthology, so that's out)"

My biggest challenge, too. I can't think of a favorite film for which I haven't already read the source book, if there is one. I was really pushing the concept when I chose Ovid's Metamorphoses, a source for the Pyramis/Thisbe story in A Midsummer Night's Dream. And I don't know whether I will have time to tackle that. First I have to find a tolerable translation. . . .

[Melanti]

Susan wrote: "First I have to find a tolerable translation..."

I recommend the Mandelbaum translation of that, personally. If you can get it before the end of the year, that is.
The Metamorphoses of Ovid

If you wanted, you could read just that story (~6 pages in my edition) or that chapter/book (~30 pgs)


And yes, that's sort of my dilemma. I've read most of the traditional fairy tales already, and the majority of books that the movies I enjoyed when I was younger were based on. These days, if I'm interested in a movie that I know was based off a book, I try to read the book before seeing the movie.

I'm going to go ahead with a random Disney movie source for that category - The 101 Dalmatians. I chose it over The Adventures of Pinnochio for the simple reason that I remember the film better. It's really cute so far.


And I found out that they (finally) released a Kindle version of Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer: Expanded Edition by Tanith Lee which everyone around here seems to have read and loved, so that'll be my Endicott book. I've been wanting to read it anyway, and having it in e-book is just icing on the cake.

If I manage to finish both of these by the end of the year, I'll technically be done - though I still want something other than a mermaid as a creature.

[Margaret]

I kind of cheated on the film and just went with a book based on a film (I went with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). I'd also already read books based on my favorite movies.

For creatures, I read A Cup of Salt Tears, a short story with a kappa in it. I didn't really know what a kappa was, so I decided to read it. It was good.

I just went brainstormed some creature books I could think of, and you (Melanti) had already read them! But one on your TBR list is The Wee Free Men, and it's quite good. The wee free men referred to in the title are Nac Mac Feegles, which are like pixies. But they are fantasy versions of pixies, so I'm not sure if you would want to count them as creatures or not. This morning I finished reading the 3rd in the series, Wintersmith.

[Melanti]

Margaret wrote: "I just went brainstormed some creature books I could think of, and you (Melanti) had already read them! But one on your TBR list is The Wee Free Men, and it's quite good...."

Huh. So it is! Actually, I don't like Pratchett very much (Blasphemy, I know), so I don't know why they're on my TBR list. I enjoyed Wyrd Sisters only because of the Macbeth connections.

I have The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur sitting here on the couch beside me, and a Darker Than You Think on the bookshelf in the other room, so it's more a matter of making time for them. The Helmet of Horror takes place in an internet chatroom. I'm rather dubious, but if nothing else all the empty space in the text should make it a fast read!

But I always try to finish off the year with fewer unread books than I started off the year with and I'm in danger of failing that this year so I really need to stick with books I own the next couple of weeks.

[Melanti]

Margaret wrote: "I kind of cheated on the film and just went with a book based on a film (I went with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz). ..."

Oh, I did find something fun... In googling random movies I've enjoyed, I found out that "Office Space" was inspired by a series of short cartoons!

Take a look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxnVe...

They did a fantastic job of casting, didn't they?

[Susan]

Melanti wrote: "Susan wrote: "First I have to find a tolerable translation..."


Thanks! Will try to find that tranlation, post haste.

I note in another of your comments that you already have a couple of Minotaur books in your Maybe stack, but I'll mention a creature book for middle graders that I enjoyed a few years ago: The Boggart by the author of The Dark is Rising Sequence. If you consider it too slight a read, there's at least one sequel, so you could read the series. Cooper books are usually easy to find in libraries.

[Susan]

Finished The Ice Queen and it . . . sort of left me cold.

Melanti asked, "Does your edition have the cover blurb about it being "An electrifying novel"? I thought that blurb was in poor taste, personally. (For those of you who haven't read it, it's about a couple of lightning strike survivors...)"

No! I read a library edition, which is probably the original hardback cover. I agree that that blurb is caddish, to say the least. A sales writer being clever without thinking about who will read the words.

[Lacey]

I'm going to go ahead with a random Disney movie source for that category - The 101 Dalmatians. I chose it over The Adventures of Pinnochio for the simple reason that I remember the film better. It's really cute so far.

Good choice. I've read both and did not find Pinocchio to be enjoyable.

[Jalilah]

Well, I must admit that I just cheated by eliminating #7. For starts my favourite movies are either not based on books or not fairy tales. I choose Alice in Wonderland because it influenced one of my favorite movies, the French film Celine and Julie Go Boating. However for some reason there have been delays and even though I ordered it months ago and there was not a large cue it still has not arrived. In the meantime there are too many other books I want to read! Maybe another time.
I am looking forward to the 2016 Challenge!

[Melanti]

I've done a lot of reading the last couple of days...

I read The 101 Dalmatians for the favorite movie.
The Helmet of Horror: The Myth of Theseus and the Minotaur for the creature category.

And I started Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer for the Adult Endicott retelling category.

See the "What are you reading now?" thread for reviews and comments...

So, I'm half a book from being officially done - which surprises me.

I did want to read a more fairy tale specific non-fiction book than the one I read at the start of the year (A Short History of Myth) so maybe I'll work on that next.

[Katy]

Just started Troll's Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales for my villain book. That will give me 10 out 12 and will finish my challenge.

[Susan]

Melanti said, "I recommend the Mandelbaum translation of that, personally. If you can get it before the end of the year, that is."

My county library didn't have that edition. I found it available online, but didn't relish having to read a longish book on my computer (I dislike backlighting). So yesterday I sampled all the versions available on Kindle, and found that the Melville translation for the Oxford edition Metamorphoses reads quite pleasantly to one who used to read Tennyson a lot as a tween. I'm about to see Phaeton crash and burn . . . . hope I don't do the same: this is my first reading challenge evah, and I want to make goal.

[Melanti]

Good luck!

I hate reading on something long with back lighting too, so I completely understand. I always hate when my library only has an epub version of something and doesn't offer a Kindle version. I love my e-ink Kindle but hate reading on my phone or tablet.

[Susan]

I love my etch-a-sketch version of Kindle, too. (That's what the screen reminds me of.)

[Leah]

Well, my reading list for December was hijacked by work and holidays. So I'm only now starting The Golem (for #4) which I'd planned to start on 12/14. Eek! I should have that finished today then I'll be reading The House of the Spirits (for #1). Once that one's finished I'll have completed my 2015 challenge: 18 out of 18.

[Margaret]

I have one more left, retelling of a favorite, and I started The Fox Woman to meet that number. Though I've been having trouble finding the time to read for long periods, I should still finish in time. Might be my last book of the year, but it's great so far. That will bring me to 12/12.

[Susan]

Still reading Metamorphoses--about 100 Kindle pages to go . . . will I succeed by tomorrow at midnight? (Will I metamorphose into a pumpkin if I don't?)

I should not have left this book to the last. It's fun, but so dense, with story upon story and stories nested within other stories. And so many names! I thought I was well versed in the gods and demigods. Has anybody done a family tree of this book? There must be one somewhere. . . .

[Melanti]

There's several if you google "ovid metamorphosis family tree"

You're flying through that book! It took me a couple of months to finish it.

[Margaret]

Susan wrote: "I should not have left this book to the last. It's fun, but so dense, with story upon story and stories nested within other stories"

I did the same thing last year, and I'm doing it this year too! Last year, I picked up a Scottish mythology book for the challenge a few days before the end of the year, and ended up finishing it Jan. 2nd, if I remember correctly.

This year, I started The Fox Wife this past weekend. I still have 150 pages left. However, it's much less dense than The Metamorphoses and the mythology book I read last year, so I'm still hoping to finish on time.

Good luck!

[Susan]

Fortunately, Edith Hamilton's Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, which was read as a textbook in my high school, became one of my life's *Read to Shreds* books, and she covers all the major Ovid stories, so a lot of this is familiar ground.

And yesterday I got to the incest-and-gender-bending section, which Ms Hamilton did *not* cover in depth, but which does keep one turning the pages.

But at some point I'll want to read at least parts of it again, with annotations at my side. And maps!

Also, now I'm curious about which of the legends and characters are used in the stage adaptation of the book, which played on Broadway about 10 years ago. (I know that the staging requires a functional pond of water onstage, so it's not produced too often!)

[Margaret]

Susan wrote: "Also, now I'm curious about which of the legends and characters are used in the stage adaptation of the book, which played on Broadway about 10 years ago. (I know that the staging requires a functional pond of water onstage, so it's not produced too often!) "

That sounds awesome.

[Susan]

The script was adapted and the first productions directed by Mary Zimmerman.

And here I am to announce that I finished the Ovid at 6:30, and then celebrated with a New Year's Eve buffet of leftovers. (Toasted Ovid with leftover eggnog, too!)

[Margaret]

I finished at 8:00 last night :)

[Katy]

Margaret wrote: "I finished at 8:00 last night :)"

Congrats!

[Margaret]

Kathy wrote: "Margaret wrote: "I finished at 8:00 last night :)"

Congrats!"

It was a close one!

[Julia]

Susan wrote: Also, now I'm curious about which of the legends and characters are used in the stage adaptation of the book, which played on Broadway about 10 years ago. (I know that the staging requires a functional pond of water onstage, so it's not produced too often!)

Off the top of my head I can think of one play and one musical that require a pool of water onstage. Jon Robin Baitz's Three Hotels Other Desert Cities and Singin' in the Rain. I wouldn't know how to do it, but the production of Singin' in the Rain I saw was done quite well by a suburban high school.

[Melanti]

Congrats Susan and Margaret! Just in time to start all over!

[Susan]

Melanti wrote: "Congrats Susan and Margaret! Just in time to start all over!"

Yep. Spent a little while last night perusing the Endicott lists. . . .

(Congratulations, fellow deadline-pusher Margaret!)

[Margaret]

I probably need to start looking for the 2016 challenge as well.

Congrats to everyone! Looks like quite a few of us finished, or almost finished. What was everyone's favorite read for the challenge? Mine would be a tie between The Hearing Trumpet, and The Girl Who Married the Moon: Tales from Native North America.

[Margaret]

Maybe we should get a 2016 challenge progress topic going, so we can exchange lists/ideas? Or maybe we should just use the 2016 challenge topic?

[Susan]

Margaret wrote: "Congrats to everyone! Looks like quite a few of us finished, or almost finished. What was everyone's favorite read for the challenge?"

I greatly enjoyed Bound and Bird Girl & the Man Who Followed the Sun: An Athabaskan Indian Legend from Alaska, both of which I was led to by group reads; and our own Lacey's Rumpled which I discovered on my own but found fit neatly into the *villain POV* slot.

And for top faves by a hair I would name Metamorphoses and The Game--which amuses me because both of these turned out in large part to involve the mythological characters behind the constellations. In a way, The Game is a retelling of parts of the Ovid. And this has never been a theme that I was ever even particularly aware of.

There were three books that I finished only because they were part of the challenge, though--not a good percentage! This year I will allow myself to toss such books aside and substitute fresh titles.

[Melanti]

Here;s a 2016 thread!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Margaret]

Susan wrote: "nd our own Lacey's Rumpled which I discovered on my own but found fit neatly into the *villain POV* slot. "

I bought that one for my kindle, but have yet to read it. I'm looking forward to it; I've heard nothing but good things.

Melanti wrote: "Here;s a 2016 thread!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/..."

Thanks! When I get a chance, I'll have to do some research so I can get a possible list started :)

[Melanti]

My favorite of the challenge for 2015 would have been The Boy Who Lost Fairyland with the runner up being Yume No Hon: The Book of Dreams. What can I say? I love Valente.

The strangest, by far, was The Helmet of Horror which is a post-modern book that sets the story of Theseus and the Minotaur in an internet chatroom. I'm still scratching my head over this one.

[Margaret]

Love Valente, but I haven't had a chance yet to read Boy who lost fairyland.

I didn't have any 'strange' ones, but I was surprised I didn't much like Little, Big, and I want to reread it at some point. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it. I also didn't enjoy The Gospel of Loki. Both of these I went into expecting to enjoy them.

[Susan]

I actually gave up on The Gospel of Loki because I don't have enough familiarity with the background mythology. I felt sure I was missing too much. I figured this book would wait for me to be worthy.

I have looked around for, but have not located, a really readable book that does for the Norse myths what Edith Hamilton does for the Greek/Roman ones. Is there anything comparable? A popular survey, rather than an encyclopedia type. Anybody?

[Margaret]

I read Myths of the Norsemen: From the Eddas and Sagas, and it's very similar to Hamilton's take on the Greek myths.

[Leah]

I also completed the last two books of my challenge last week, but with work I haven't had a chance to add them (rate/review) on GR yet.

My top two 2015 challenge reads - both of which I rated 5 stars - were American Gods and The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly. The latter I told my sister she had to read; she did and loved it. Then she surprised me with a copy of my own for Christmas.

I'd say the strangest book I read for the challenge was The Coachman Rat, but I rather enjoyed its dark reimagining / mashup of Cinderella and Pied Piper.

[Lacey]

My favorite books that I read for the challenge were Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories and Bambi.