Today is the last day of the Once Upon a Time VIII Challenge that Carl has been hosting every year from March 21st until June 21st on his blog over at Stainless Steel Droppings. Any books that fall into any of these categories: fairy tale, folklore, fantasy and mythology, can be included in the challenge.
I had a great time participating this year and managed to read nine books and watch one movie, and also co-host Angela Carter Week together with Caroline@Beautyisasleepingcat.
I read about djinni (in two books!), a golem, angels, fairy tale re-tellings, a quest for immortality, fairies and genies (the kind that come in a bottle) and a half woman-half bird character that traveled with a circus. The only book I didn’t finish was Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov, and that’s because there were many versions of the same tale and it got quite boring after a while so I decided this is the kind of book I would dip in now and again rather than try and read it all at once.
My favorite book was The Golem and the Djinni – most of all because I didn’t know much about these two fairy tale characters and this book brought them together in a very original and interesting way. This is also one of the best books I’ve read this year and would recommend it to everybody.
A big thank you to Carl for hosting this challenge; I can’t wait for September, when it’s time for R.I.P.
Here’s a list of my reviews and this is Carl’s review site for the event:
Frozen – movie review
The Golem and the Djinni – Helene Wecker
Poison – Sarah Pinborough
Fate – L.R. Fredericks
The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye – A.S. Byatt
Angelology – Danielle Trussoni
My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me – FORTY NEW FAIRY TALES edited by Kate Bernheimer
Dreams & Shadows – C. Robert Cargill
The Bloody Chamber – Angela Carter
Nights at the Circus – Angela Carter
Did you participate in the challenge this year? What was your favorite book?
This all sounds like a lot of fun. I’m still looking for a copy of the Helene Welker book in hardback. They’re kind of hard to find ever since the paperback (with very tiny font) was released.
I turned off Frozen after only 24 minutes. One of the songs featured the word “totally” in the lyrics three times…and that’s about two times too many. Now I’m going to follow the link and read your thoughts.
(I incorrectly spelled the author’s name Welker instead of Wecker. Maybe that’s why I’m having such a difficult time finding her book!)
There’s only one “The Golem and the Jinni” out there so maybe remembering the name of the book will help you find it faster. I hope you enjoy it, I thought it was great.
Frozen is a bit annoying in the beginning (all that singing!) but I liked it overall. This is definitely not your average fairy tale.
You really got to lots of books for this challenge!
I enjoyed reading your review.
If the event is held again next year I will really try to join in.
I had a really great time, Brian, I love fairy tales almost as much as I love horror. I hope you will join next year, but until then R.I.P. is just around the corner.
Wow you did great! I didn’t do a very good job keeping track of this challenge… but I managed to read a few books:
A Stitch in Time – Penelope Lively; Winter Rose – Patricia A McKillip; Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine;
The Golem and the Jinni was probably my favorite too!
Thanks Olduvai, I got very excited about the whole event and planned in advance which books to read. It was fun going into a bookstore and thinking “now that’s just perfect for Once Upon a Time!”
I haven’t read the books you chose for this challenge but heard a lot of good things about Ella Enchanted and A Stitch in Time. Perhaps I’ll save them for next year’s challenge.
So glad to see you liked The Golem and the Jinni, it seems to have been a popular choice among bloggers for this event.
Looks like you had a wonderful time participating in ‘Once Upon a Time’, Delia 🙂 You have read an amazing number of books for the event – so impressive! I want to read ‘The Golem and the Djinni’ and ‘The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye’ sometime. My reading went down in June, but I was happy to participate in this event this year. Loved M—–l’s comment on ‘totally’ 🙂
It was fun Vishy, and I only got through so many books because I planned my reading in advance, something I don’t usually do.
I hope you get to read those two books and like them. You’ll learn quite a few interesting things about jinni. 🙂
I did like his comment too, I never actually paid much attention to the lyrics, I just wanted the songs to be over so they could get on with the story. I did like Let It Go, though. 🙂
Yay for having a great time with the challenge this year! I’m glad to see you got to read so many books and enjoyed them. ^_^ I’m still quite curious about Poison and Angelology thanks to your reviews. I hope I’ll enjoy them too!
Hi Lynn,
I had a blast, a bit sad now that is over but looking forward to R.I.P.!
I’m glad you found some books here you’d like to read, hope you enjoy them.
I’m always sad to see OuaT end. It’s always such fun (and spells oh so much doom for my wishlist if not my TBR pile). I’m glad to hear you’re looking forward to R.I.P.! I should really check whether I’ve got anything that fits, so I can maybe (finally!) participate this year. Or, you know, just buy something that fits especially for the purpose of joining. It’s not horror-exclusive, so I should be able to find something that works for me and the challenge. *ponders*
I hope so too! They sounded pretty good from what you’ve said about them. ^_^
You read quite a lot of books for this challenge. And a good mix too. My favorite of the books I read for the challenge was 9tail Fox by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. It does mix crime fiction and fantasy, so not for everyone, but I loved it. Cried at the end and everything.
Hi Tracy,
I haven’t read anything by Grimwood but from your description 9tail Fox sounds like an interesting combination of genres. It’s great when a book is so good it makes us cry. I remember doing that with The Book Thief.