Once Upon a Time IV (March 21st - June 21st)

The time has come again for my favourite challenge, Carl's Once Upon a Time IV Challenge has been announced for another year running, and I'll be going into it full tilt.
As with previous years the challenge has multiple quests, and I'll be taking part in multiple quests :D
I'll be taking part in:

For this quest I have to read 5 books which are either linked to fairytales, folklore, mythology or fantasy. These books are what I could see at a glance and that I'd like to read, obviously I'm not going to get through all of these but I'll have a choice of:
Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien* (part way through already)
The Princess Bride, William Goldman*
The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
Magician, Raymond Feist
Lirael, Garth Nix
Perdido Street Station, China Mielville
The Brair King, Greg Keyes
Tales of Innocence and Experience, Eva Figes
The Court in the Air, Stephen Hunt*
The City of Dreaming Books, Walter Moers
The Water Babies, Charles Kingsley*
Justin Thyme, Panama Oxridge
Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter*
The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
I've starred the ones which I should read as they have either been on the pile a very long time or are bookcrossing books.


I'm interested in reading a couple of non-fiction works, I have seen lots of books about fairytales and feminism which I'd love to read and I'd like to learn about Greek mythology. I'm on a book buying ban so I'll be seeing what the local library has to offer when their online service in working again.


I love short stories, especially when they are set in a fantastical world, I have Angela Carter's Book of Fairy Tales and a Grimm Brother's collection to search through, I think after that I'll be seeking out some stories on the net.

Luckily the Easter holidays start in a few weeks and there is the 24 hour read-a-thon coming up so I shall have plenty of time to get stuck into this pile.

My reads
Fiction:
Non-Fiction:
Short-Stories:
1. 'Glass, Snow, Apples' by Neil Gaiman

My Thoughts: The Virago Book of Wicked Verse edited by Jill Dawson

I picked up this poetry collection a few months ago from a charity shop meaning to get started on it straight away, but, typically of my relationship with poetry, this got popped onto the shelf doomed for dust and years of unlove. The Colver, Bee and Reverie poetry challenge prompted me to make a grab for this collection and I've managed to read a handful each evening. I've found that by making it part of my routine, I read it each night in the bath, I managed to sustain my interest and get through the whole collection.
The poems in this collection are written by women from all corners of the world and centuries gone by. The poems themes simply had to be considered 'wicked' in some way. There is plenty of feminism, jibes at men, tales of parenthood, friendship, religion and sex. I found that many of the poems had a comic edge to them, and I certainly was made to smile in many places. I'll admit, of course, there were some I skipped after a few lines and some which I was baffled by - generally the ancient chinese proverbs.
I've finished the collection and now have a handful of female poets to check out in more depth, these poets may be being read and reviewed soon:Sylvia Kantaris, Ann French, Ann Ziety and Mary Elizabeth Coleridge.

The Sunday Salon

Today I'm supposed to be marking, coursework deadlines are very close so I have teenagers (some nervous some indifferent) shoving pieces of coursework at me from every angle, expecting it to be marked in no time at all so they can edit it. Its sunny and gorgeous outside, and every inch of me wants to wander, but I'm forcing myself to stay in. And after this post is written I'll be forcing myself to mark :C

So just a quick note on my readings.
Earlier in the week I finished Magpie by Jill Dawson and somehow forgot to talk about it. After finishing the momouth A Suitable Boy I decided something quick and easy was needed and a friend wanted to borrow this so I rushed through it, and it was better than I expected.
The novel centres around a young single mother and her son, they are trying to start new life after a fire at their old house and the 'loss' of the father. Moving to a rough estate in London, miles from the quaint Yorkshire of their past, they have a lot to get used to. Money struggles, hearing their neighbors getting up to all sorts, being one of the few white families around and the sons sudden bad behaviour.
The novel was a quick and easy read, although I guessed the revelation at the end of the book very early on. If you're tempted to try this author, this book is worth a read, but I would recommend her novel Wild Boy first.

Then this morning I finished the short story Amok by Stefsn Zweig. Zweig is the year long author over at a librarything group which I belong to, I hadn't really heard of him before and was reluctant to start so I grabbed Amok and Other Stories as my first foray into the author.
Amok is one of those stories where the narrator recalls a conversation with another person as a means of telling the story. In this case the narrator meets a man at midnight on the voyage home from India to Germany. The man, a doctor, is a mystery as he is never to be seen during the day and he has asked the narrator not to reveal that he is on the ship. His story centres around his guilt and obssession over a female patient. I can't reveal more than that without giving away to much.
The confession is fast paced and the man's distress and need to confess spill out across the page at a pace which matches his sense of urgency. I'd recommend lovers of short stories to give this a read. I can't wait to read the other stories in the collection now.

My Thoughts: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Over the summer Hush, Hush seemed to feature on a stack of book blogs but then everything seemed to go quiet. When this arrived through the post I wasn't sure if I was in the mood for YA fiction and it has taken me weeks to pick this up. But the gorgeous cover kept staring at me and I had to give it a go.
Nora Gray is a typical American high school student (for a book that is), she has just one parent who is rarely home and seems to have the run of a car, enough money to go for dinner and shopping all the time and a best friend to who she shares everything with (including clothes, despite one apparently being very curvy and the other very thin - yes this novel has a lot of holes in it!).
When she is suddenly assigned to her new lab partner Patch, the new boy in school who seems to know rather too much about her life, she is nervous and yet attracted to his mysterious side. Suddenly things in her life quickly change, she runs someone down, crashes from the top of a rollercoaster and has her house trashed, yet when she comes around each time every evidence of what has happened is completely wiped away. When another new guy, Elliot, arrives in school he soon develops a possessive crush on her and her best friend starts dating his sulky mate; Nora suddenly has two guys who may be the person causing her frights, or who may be the one to save her.
The story develops in a Twilight style, many unbelievable things happen, but school and family life carry on as normal. Like Twilight the pace is good and the slow revelation of what Patch really is mirrors Bella's reaction to Edward. But the attraction, the fear and the recognition of a teenage girls desire for the dangerous just doesn't quite feel right here.
The book was a good read if you're looking for a few hours of escapism, but don't look to hard into it as it needs a really good edit, and is lusting to recreate Meyer's following but clearly falling several feet short.

The Little Things in Life: A story, and some poetry and fables.

This week I've read a few bits and pieces which aren't big enough to have a post each but I thought I'd like to share them with you.



The Star Above the Forest by Stefan Zweig this has to be the most wonderfully written short story that I have ever read. Zweig depicts the moment that a waiter falls passionatly in love with a lady who he can never tell of his love let alone have. Knowing that she will soon leave and he won't get sight of her again he sets out to commit suicide.
Zweig's language is stunning, the suicide is wonderfully and subtly portrayed showing the mans deep desire to die for love of another rather than the love of himself. I have copied part of a paragraph
so you can see how beautiful the language is:

"... it was one of those seconds in which thousands of hours and days of rejoicing and torment are held spellbound, just as all the wild force of a forest of tall, dark, rustling oak trees, with their rocking branches and swaying crowns, is contained in a single tiny acorn dropping through the air."

This story is to be found in Amok and Other Stories, published by Pushkin Press.



Whilst browsing poetry in the Oxfam bookshop I came across this miniscule book of poems, and had to have it for its size and the little sketches and poems contained within. The 'Parson and Poet' is a tiny, both in size and page numbers, collection by Robert Herrick, a seventeenth century British poet. This tiny 18 page book is filled with verse, epitaphs and odd lines of poetry. The main themes seem to center around the idea that life is short so enjoy it while you can.
An example of the poetry contained:
To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time



Polish Fables: Bilingual Edition by Ignacy Krasicki (trans. Greard T. Kapolka). I grabbed this from the library the other day when I was searching out poery. The fables are similar to Aesop's Fables in many ways, although apparently many can be read as a response to the first partition of Poland (about which I know nothing). Despite this it is clear to say that the messages often focus on the strong taking advantages of the weak.
Ignacy Krasicki published these poems in their original form in 1779, yet it is interesting to see how many of them still relate to the modern world.
Here's a taster:

The Flattering Mirror
When she looked in the mirror at her reflection
The girl was pleased that it lightened her complexion
When her friend came by, much plainer than she,
She saw that it made her less ugly.
That the neighbor was pleased just gave the girl fits,
So she shattered the flattering mirror to bits.

Lord of the Rings Readalong: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien

I'm surprising myself today and found enough time (ok, I confess I didn't do any marking, and I know I'll regret i when I'll have to do it tomorrow evening) to finish off two books, A Suitable Boy (which I reviewed earlier) and then The Fellowship of the Ring which I had just over 100 pages left.

I'm guessing your all clear on the story so I won't rewrite a version of it here, I'm just going to answer these questions instead:

Since we’re dealing with a third of a novel, instead of the first novel in a series, do you find anything different?
The main diffference is that the book clearly leads on to something else, I think you'd be extremely disappointed if you wasn't wanting to read the next part.
Who’s your favorite character so far into the novel?
Sam. He was when I saw the film and he is again in the book. He is so simple and loyal to Frodo, I guess everyone likes him because they want a friend like him.
What surprised you the most?
What was most surprising was that I got through it this time. I've started this twice before and always given up when they leave the Shire and enter the Old Forest, this had always seemed to drag at this point whilst this time I read through it easily enjoying each page.
What was your favorite scene?
My favorite scene was probably the last scene as Frodo and Sam swim off together. I also loved everything with Tom Bombadil, from his rescuing them from the tree to his house.

My Thoughts: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

A Suitable Boy has sat glaring at me on my shelves for a good 8 years. On at least 2 or 3 occasions I have started it and given up quickly. I'm one of those people who love the sense of satisfaction of finishing a book, so a 1500 page book is always a struggle. Determined to finally read it I organised a read-a-long on bookcrosing.com where we read a section a week (sections are on average 70-100 pages long. I'm not only excited that I finished the book but that I also managed to host it on time each week.

A Suitable Boy is set primarily in the fictional city of Brahmpur, but travels across Delhi, Calcutta and various other parts of India along the way. The novel's central core is the search for a suitable husband for Lata, the youngest member of the Mehra family. Yet Lata's search is just a segment of the rich tapestry of this novel. The novel reaches out and tells us the stories of her family members and friends, her suitors and also of those who they know. In this way the book becomes more than just a love story, but also a tale entwined with politics, society, relgion and life in the various castes.

There is far too much in this book even to try and explain the plot line(s). But, I have to say that I loved it. Each section managed to vary, to keep you wondering what would happen next, and how else all the characters would be related to each others lives in someway. Some characters I loved from the very beginning such as Malati, her outspoken bestfriend and Kabir, the man she loves but who is of the wrong religion for her family to consider a marriage. There were some characters I grew to love and some who I continued to dislike until the very end. The writing was fresh and poetical (in places) ensuring that things never became dry.
I'll certainly be looking out for more of Vikram Seth's work in the future, I've read that he is a poet so I'll be searching out some of his poetry as well as his novels.