(Image by James Jean)
…otherwise known as my Once Upon a Time IV Challenge Reading Pool. These are but a handful of books that have flitted across my mind as I have been savoring spring fever. I have no illusions, or delusions, that I will somehow get through this list.
And so, in alphabetical order by author last name:
Allen, Sarah Addison ~The Sugar Queen
Allen, Sarah Addison ~The Girl Who Chased the Moon
Aristophanes ~Lysistrata
Carter, Angela ~Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories
Clarke, Susanna ~The Ladies of Grace Adieu (short story collection, Re-read)
Dahl, Roald ~More About Boy
de Lint, Charles ~Dreams Underfoot (short story collection)
de Lint, Charles ~The Ivory and the Horn (short story collection) (finished 4/17/2010)
de Lint, Charles ~Someplace to be Flying
Gaiman, Neil ~Neverwhere (audio or novel, Re-read)
Gaiman, Neil ~Smoke and Mirrors (short story collection, Re-read)
Gaiman, Neil ~Stardust (audio or novel, Re-read)
Gianni, Gary ~The Prince Valiant Page (partially read)
Howard, Robert E. ~The Conquering Sword of Conan
Maitland, Karen ~A Company of Liars (partially read)
Martin, George R.R. ~A Game of Thrones (finished June 2010)
McKillip, Patricia A. ~The Bell at Sealey Head
McKillip, Patricia A. ~Od Magic
Petersen, David ~Mouseguard: Winter 1152
Pratchett, Terry ~Thud!
Smith, Jeff ~Bone (Re-read, planned read-a-long with my wife)
Swanwick, Michael ~The Dragons of Babel
Tolkien, J.R.R. ~The Two Towers (Re-read)
Tolkien, J.R.R. ~The Return of the King (Re-read)
Tolkien, J.R.R. ~Tales from the Perilous Realm (short story collection)
Valente, Catherynne M. ~A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects (finished 4/29/10)
Vess, Charles ~Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess (finished 3/21/10)
Wilde, Oscar ~A House of Pomegranates (short story collection)
Windling, Terri ~Various nonfiction articles on myth/fairy tales from Journal of Mythic Arts
Windling, Terri, Datlow, Ellen (ed.) ~The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest (short story collection)
Willingham, Bill ~Fables (30+ single issues as yet unread)
So that’s the list for now. It is a forgone conclusion that this is subject to change. 🙂 But, I do so love making lists.
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And now, for the winner of our first giveaway for the Once Upon a Time IV Challenge!!!
Congrats Darla! Shoot me your snail mail address (to poegeek at gmail dot com) and I’ll pass it on to Melissa. The cards are already packaged and ready to ship.
If you only read two from that list it’s Someplace to Be Flying and A Game of Thrones – not that I’m opinionated or anything. Also, Neverwhere and Lysistrata rock. *grins*
Caitlin: Neverwhere does rock, I’ve read it MANY times. I even like the poorly produced BBC series that he wrote which was the springboard for the novelization. I picked up a really cheap copy of Lysistrata a couple of years ago on a vacation trip and have yet to read it and I really want to remedy that this year. And I’ve heard nothing but good things about Flying and Thrones.
Why am I guessing you showed great restraint in putting that list together? 😉
I love that you and Mary are going to read Bone together. 🙂 Has she read it before, too? I just read it for the first time last summer, and I swear I’m already ready to read it again.
Oh my, and I just had to say how much I love that image at the top of your post…so gorgeous!!! (As, of course, is Melissa Nucera’s.)
Debi: James Jean is an amazing artist!!! I hate that he is no longer doing Fables covers.
I did show some restraint, yes. 🙂 Mary has not read Bone, and I got a free copy awhile back and thought it would be fun for us to joint read it during this challenge.
Great list Carl, I read the MouseGuard book a couple of weeks ago. It’s just as good as the first one. 🙂
Neverwhere, is one of my all time favourite books, of any author. 😀
Interesting list, Carl. We have only one book in common on our lists: Game of Thrones.
Reading Fables hadn’t occurred to me, but I have all the collections and could easily read one or more of them as they are favorites. I also just noticed I have a non-fiction book, TOTEM POLES OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST which I bought to read before we went to Alaska and didn’t have time. I think it qualifies under the mythology and folklore parts of the challenge, and will certainly be something different!
Missed the Mouseguard book. I love them! Both are excellent, I have both in hardcover, as well as the hardcover role-playing game volume (though I’m not a gamer, it had a lot of interesting Mouseguard information in it.)
Richard: I can see the appeal of having the gaming book just for the art and the info in it. Your non-fiction book definitely works. I don’t have much traditional fantasy on my list, but I don’t really read a lot of traditional fantasy normally anyway.
Darren: I feel the same way about Neverwhere. And I’m glad to hear the high praise for Mouseguard.
Your list has reminded me that I haven’t yet read anything by Charles de Lint, and it’s about time that I do so. Otherwise, I’m rather embarrassed that I haven’t heard of many of these titles. While I have enjoyed a number of books by Patricia McKillip, I don’t think I’ve heard of the ones you mentioned.
Richard: I bought the Mouseguard Roleplaying book just for the information as well. The kids and I just love Mouseguard.
Jeff, that is very cool. Not being a gamer, not all of the stuff in that book made perfect sense to me, but I understand enough of the process that it was very enjoyable, and there is all that artwork he did for it, too.
That is one serious list of books! And I think I may have to use it as a reading list 🙂
Woohoo! Thanks so much, Carl. You made my day! 🙂
Great list. Boy is one of my favorite autobiographies, and I have recommended it to many kids with the dreaded biography assignment, to very positive feedback!
I’m having problems leaving my comment here! 🙁 I’ve tried twice now, Carl!
great, that one works! Figures (what’s that they say about three times lucky???…..)! Anyway, congratulations to Darla! Those postcards are lovely!
I really like your list of books, too, Carl. I could dream over a few too! I love the George RR Martin, and have read all the de Lints and 2 of the Gaimans…..some wonderful titles there! Have fun reading whichever ones you choose!
Such a great list. I’ve been having the hardest time making my list out of books I already own, but duh I can add Sarah Addisson Allen of course! Thanks for the tip.
Jodie: You’re welcome. I’m about a third of the way through The Sugar Queen and am enjoying it thus far.
Susan: Sorry for the problems, I’m glad it took the last time. Glad you like the list, I’m hoping to get through at least some of them, knowing that other books will cross my path, especially from what everyone else is reading.
Darla: You’re welcome, Congratulations! I’ve been wanting to read Boy ever since the first time I saw You’ve Got Mail. The part where Meg Ryan is reading the story to kids in her shop makes it sound so fun. Now if only I could get Meg to come and read it to me… 🙂
Trisha: Thanks!
Simcha: You really should try de Lint, he is very good. I would stay away from his earliest stuff and away from Mystery of Grace. Anything else would be great. His latest short story collection, Muse and Reverie, was fantastic. The McKillip books are her two latest. I’ve had them both forever and am ashamed I haven’t read them yet.
I read The Sugar Queen last year and LOVED it (my review is here if you’d like to read it: http://www.stephanieswrittenword.com/?p=1150)
and just got finished with Garden Spells and found it to be just as wonderful as The Sugar Queen. Having just picked up her newest from the library I’m all about Sarah Addison Allen right now!!
Stephanie: As soon as I’m finished I will check out your review. Not sure why I started with Sugar Queen, other than that the paperback cover really appealed to me.
it’s a real shame you have no books to choose from Carl! *cough *cough
deslily: *chuckles* yes, it is truly a sorrow from which I am unsure I will recover.
I agree with desilly, Carl. I, on the other hand, looked for something and couldn’t find a thing! Well, okay, I found one or two things…
the mr linky book reviews seems to be not working???
You pushed me over the edge, Carl. I am going to reread, or better yet, listen to, NEVERWHERE. One of my all time favorites.
And your list… holy smokes! If only there were that many hours in the day to read.
I’ve picked up a couple YA books at the library book sale. One is Once Upon a More Enlightened Time which is pretty hysterical and a quick read. I also followed someone’s trail (cannot now remember who) from SSD and was inspired to pick up The Chronicles of Deryni by Katherine Kurtz. Will report back! Also checked out Interworld and Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, neither of which I have read.
I love love love Once Upon a Time!
I just finished my first two books for the challenge:
1. THE BONE HANDBOOK by Jeff Smith [has been posted on my blog]
2. THE DERNYI ARCHIVES by Katherine Kurtz which will be posted in a few days.
Qugrainne – I believe the best place to start with the Dernyi books is with the Legends of Camber series: Camber of Culdi is the first of those. It’s not the order the books were published but it;’s the first in the chronology.
Richard: Two books already? That’s great!
Deslily: Mr. Linky was up on the book review site for me when I checked and others have posted. Have you tried again? Anyone else having a problem?
Qugrainne: Fun! Got to tell you, I’m not a fan at all of Interworld. Not that you won’t be, but it was a real disappointment to me. Love Fragile Things though. Great to listen to on audio.
*incredible* painting!
Good to see you, JP. Just popped over to your blog last night to see if anything was new. We miss you!
I’m afraid. Very afraid. Reading The Dernyi Archives by Katherine Kurtz reminded me what an excellent writer she is and how much I enjoyed the first series or two when I read them long ago. I realize “long ago” is a relative term, but my books I’ve read list was wiped out in a computer disaster – the one that convinced me once and for all to B*A*C*K U*P E*V*E*R*T*H*I*N*G all the time, but that another story – so I can’t nail down the date. But the point here is this: after finishing the book, which has appendices with series background, timelines and other good stuff, and after thinking about this reading campaign, I went to the high shelves and found, (amazingly right where they belong) the first three Dernyi books. I had a lot of other things I’d planned to read, and suddenly this could turn into a Kurtz-Dernyi fest. there are 14 or more books in this series. I’m afraid…
Richard: Sounds like you’ve encountered the typical challenge conundrum, do I stick with my list or follow my whims. Personally, I’m all about the whims. I love *making* lists, not a big fan of sticking to them. If that is the direction you choose to go I hope you find them as magical as the first time!
*waves* I feel like a stranger this year! Would you like to attempt reviewing a book together this year since the one from last year didn’t work out? I have a few of the books you plan to read for the OUAT challenge in mind for myself, but then there is always something else… You know where to find me if you are interested! 🙂
Wow, that’s quite a list! I hope you’ll post about the Bone read-along you plan to do with your wife. Bone is one of my favourite comic books.
Memory: I will definitely post about Bone. Cannot wait to read it again.
Kailiana: I need to check out your list, I would love to try again!