“The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy.”
~Anonymous
Could a quote be any more perfect for the wrap up post of the Once Upon a Time IV Challenge, an event that ended more than a week ago? I didn’t think so either. “Untidy”, when it comes to blog-related timeliness, is me to a “t”.
That being dispensed with, let me begin the wrap up for the 4th annual Once Upon a Time Challenge with the most important part of the proceedings: thanking all of you wonderful fellow bloggers for signing up, for spreading the word, and most importantly for taking journeys into fantastical, mythological, fairy tale places and sharing those journeys with the rest of us. I tip my hat to you and offer sincere thanks for being such an encouragement to me, and to each other, in your love of the literature which this challenge encompasses and in your willingness each year to allow me to be your host for a few months out of the year. It is a real pleasure.
Before summarizing my own personal experiences with this year’s challenge, I wanted to make an announcement. I quite literally had my head buried in a book throughout much of this challenge. When work wasn’t interfering with my reading (*wink*) I also did some science fiction journeying through Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 2 on the XBox. Which means that this challenge was uncharacteristically devoid of regular giveaways and artist profiles. With apologies to our artist host, Melissa Nucera, I will be posting an interview and giveaway with her soon. To make up for this derth of challenge goodies, I have included some prizes at the end of this post.
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”
~Dr. Seuss
Not surprisingly, I only got to 5 books out of my 30 listed on the Yes, I’m Dreaming list, and I completed 8 Challenge-related books all together. With my selections I completed:
The Journey
Quest the First
and, I believe for the first time ever read a book that fit into each of the 4 categories thus completing:
Quest the Second
Quest the Fourth
and
Short Story Weekends.
Hooray for loosely defined ‘challenges’ where books count for multiple categories. 🙂
My completed books were (scroll over for links for those with reviews):
1. Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess ~Charles Vess
2. Red Ted and the Lost Things ~Michael Rosen, illustrated by Joel Stewart
3. Enchanted Night: a novella ~Steven Millhauser (which I read twice, once aloud to Mary)
4. The Ivory and the Horn ~Charles de Lint
5. A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects ~Catherynne M. Valente
6. More About Boy ~Roald Dahl
7. A Game of Thrones ~George R.R. Martin
8. Defending Middle-earth, Tolkien: Myth and Modernity ~Patrick Curry
and, if I was cheating, I read completed this just before the challenge began:
Muse and Reverie ~Charles deLint
As last year’s Once Upon a Time Challenge was a failure for me as a reader, I was very pleased with my modest success this year. I was able to indulge in a great deal of non-challenge-related reading material over the course of the past three months and honor the spirit of the challenge as well.
“Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable.”
~Carl Gustav Jung
Before the wrap up post ends I will include a Mr. Linky where you can link to your own wrap up posts, should you choose to do one. Until then, let’s look behind door number one and see what prizes await those readers who have the most influence over the hand of fate!
The first prize is a handmade journal from my friend Nicky over at Blackthorn Workshops. Unfortunately her site is under-redevelopment right now so you cannot see her marvelous journals, but I would strongly encourage you to take a quick detour over to the artist profile I did, which also includes pics of the lovely journal I purchased from her a few years ago (link here).
Nicky does EXCELLENT work. I love the metal edges on the corners, they are a really nice touch. The journal has its own attached bookmark, pictured below, and the leather smells delicious! This is a high quality item and I thank Nicky for being so generous as to donate it for the challenge.
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I bought the above brooch for my wife as part of her anniversary present because (I must confess) I wanted to take the bow off and make it into a pendant for her. The image, art from the talented Julianna Swaney (link here) gave me an Angela Carter vibe, and as my wife has enjoyed the stories of hers that I read to her AND is an avid book lover (who works at a library to boot), it just felt right. I have been keeping an eye on Julianna’s site and she has recently released these journals.
The girl riding on the fox could not be more perfect for a Once Upon a Time prize, could she? And the book journal below, made for book blogging old school style, is something I plan to get for myself at some point.
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Artist Anne-Julie Aubry makes some amazing stuff. The above image is of my wife’s other anniversary gift, a bracelet with Aubry’s ‘once upon a time’ image in it. Forgive the self-indulgence, but I really enjoy these creator’s work and want to showcase it to promote them. Anne-Julie is always very generous when people buy things and she sent me a bunch of postcards for me to give away. I’m sorry about the poor picture quality, my camera has been acting up a bit.
This pack, including postcards, a couple of small prints, and stickers, is the third Once Upon a Time IV giveaway prize:
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And finally, Tor Books donated a copy of the Hugo Award Winning story, The Word for World is Forest. From the looks of it, the story was quite ahead of its time.
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And what, pray tell, must one do to get qualified for said prizes?
Nothing could be simpler, just leave a comment about your experience with this year’s challenge. Could be about anything. What was your favorite book? What disappointed you? What are your thoughts on fantasy, fairy tales, mythology or folklore. Whatever!
Drawing for prizes will take place on Wednesday, July 7th. All comments left by Tuesday July 6th at 11:59 p.m. CST will be included in the drawing.
Best of luck to all.
I know that several of you have already posted links to your wrap up posts on the Mr. Linky on the original Once Upon a Time IV Challenge post, but I wanted to put one up here as well and hope that you would also post a link here so that we can all travel around the internet to see you.
It is amazing that spring, and the past 3 months, has flown by so quickly. With the end of the Once Upon a Time IV Challenge, summer has begun. Whether you are continuing with other challenges or are in the midst of your own summer reading programs, I wish everyone a summer filled with great reads. I thank you all again for your participation. You are what the challenge is all about. I hope you’ll join us again next year, and if you are so inclined, come back for the 5th annual R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge, otherwise known as R.I.P. V, beginning September 1st and running through October 31st.
“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”
~T.S. Eliot
I keep meaning to do my wrap up post, but I have yet to get around to it 🙂 But I really enjoyed the challenge, read some great books and have a new author to add to my favourites, I loved the Books of Bayern series by Shannon Hale.
And I managed to get at least one book that comes under every topic. So yay!
As you will see from my challenge page, I read just 7 books for this one, but then that’s just one less than our hero and host, Carl. The results of the earlier SF challenge are also on the page, as well as my progress in the short story challenge.
As for summer reading, it’s not a challenge, and that’s good because I’ve changed my list at least twice and bailed out of one book which made it a DNF. Just finishing THE FOREVER WAR, a classic I never had gotten to. No comment yet, as I have another 30 pages or so.
I’m eager to see the lists of the other participants!
As always, Carl, a fun challenge. Here’s my wrap up post.
Carl! You read A Game of Thrones! Did you not love it? I got so excited about it, reading it last year for your challenge, that I went ahead and bought the rest of the series. Sadly, I didn’t get to them this year as I’d way overcommitted to reviews for publishers…boy, did I learn my lesson! Anyway, as always your challenges inspire me to get outside of my box and find something new to enjoy. This year I only read Merlin’s Harp and Tender Morsels, both of which I would classify as YA. While they were fun, they weren’t up to the caliber of George R. R. Martin, nor even in his own way, Murakami. (Would you consider Haruki a Once Upon A Time writer? In many ways, I would.)
Your wife is lucky to have you bestow such charms upon her, both in pendant and bracelet, not to mention your love. A fine challenge host you are, Carl, and I’m sure an even finer husband.
Thank you for once again reminding us of the beauty of fairy tales with your own special style.
I had a great time with the challenge this year! I didn’t read everything on my list. But I was happy with what I did read.
I am obstinately refusing to do a wrap-up post because I don’t want the challenge to end. Fantasy is my favorite genre, and the challenge posts worked like a huge suggestion list for me. Thanks for hosting this challenge!
Trisha: Well good for you! I’m with you there. I’m in the process of reading A Clash of Kings and listening to a short story collection on audio that both are very Once Upon a Time appropriate, so the challenge lives on with me.
Becky: I was as well. And the nice thing about our lists is we can go revisit them again.
Bellezza: Yes, I did love it. You should check out my review. I went straight into A Clash of Kings right after finishing, though I’ve been reading other things along with it. And yes, Murakami is definitely a fantasy writer in my book. I was beyond thrilled to find stuff on Etsy that was so perfect for her anniversary presents this year. And I struck gold because she loves them. And thank you! 🙂
Melissa: Thanks for joining in, glad you were a part of it this year. I’ll be checking out your wrap up post.
Richard: Not much of a hero, I know several of the participants made me look like a rank amateur. But it isn’t about quantity anyway, just about having fun. I’m really glad you joined in with us this year. I’m looking forward to your Forever War review. It is a book that has been on my list for a long time.
Fence: The Shannon Hale books are really fun. I haven’t read the whole series but I’ve liked what I’ve read. And she is an absolute dear. Her blog is a lot of fun, need to get over there again.
I know I only did a link to the list on my challenges page, not a “real” post, sorry. No prizes for me, thanks, pass them along to more worthy folk.
It was another great challenge, Carl!! I’ll have my wrap up post up soon but I think I read 11 books this year! I think what will stand out most is discovering Angela Carter through The Bloody Chamber…absolutely amazing stuff there. Can’t wait to read your interview with Melissa Nucera! Always enjoy your artist interviews 🙂 And the prizes here are amazing as always. I always just enjoy seeing them just to discover the art that’s out there. I have to check out Ms. Swaney’s stuff!
Well I certainly read plenty of books for the challenge, although I only ended up linking three, but considering that pretty much all I read is Fantasy anyways it felt a little bit like cheating. Oh well, it was fun anyways to finally actually complete one of the many challenges I joined. And the prizes are beautiful.
No, I don’t qualify either,having only read one book (and I so wanted to do more this year) during the challenge. You are a most gracious and generous host, and I enjoy learning about the different categories even more than I do reading them. Thank you once again for the opportunity, even for one who did not take full advantage of it!
I am LITERALLY the worst at finishing challenges – I usually pick one to fail at per year – but I sailed through this one AND managed to read A Midsummer Night’s Dream (due to it being both a. short and b. a hoot). So, back pats, me. And thanks for hosting, Carl.
Raych: Definitely pat yourself on the back. Congrats! And very cool that you got to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
ds: In a good natured way let me give you a hard time…perhaps you don’t remember that there is a one book only option with my challenge called The Journey? 🙂 Plus I never said anywhere in the comments that a person had to complete the challenge to be eligible for the prizes! 🙂 And you are welcome.
Simcha: Nothing wrong with cheating when it comes to reading, as long as a person is reading and enjoying themselves then that is all that matters.
Chris: I knew you’d love The Bloody Chamber. Great, wasn’t it? I wish I had taken some time to get to some of her other short stories during the challenge.
Richard: Let me know if you change your mind, you qualify for the prizes as much as everyone else.
Thank you once again for a fabulous challenge! This was my first Once Upon a Time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I can’t wait to participate in my second RIP this fall.
Amy
That Wolf reading a red book reminds me of a photo I took of my dog, Wolf, recently, where it looks as if he’s reading my Nook (which has a red cover) 🙂
Not my genre, but I LOVED Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, probably because I am a huge lover of all things Wicked. Plan to read several more Maguire works . . . I love his writing style. Thanks for allowing me to be part of the Challenge, even though I only read 1 book!
JHS: you are welcome, I’m glad you participated.
Janet: I will need to check out that picture, is it on your site?
Amy: Thanks for joining in Once Upon a Time this year, I’m happy to know that you had a good time. I am also thrilled to know that you are coming back for your second R.I.P. Challenge. It is months away and already it is dominating my thoughts.
I haven’t posted my wrapup post yet. It’s still in draft mode. I have to say I really enjoyed this challenge. This was my first time and I can’t believe I waited so long to participate. I thoroughly enjoyed the books I read. I look forward to joining in the fun again next year.
I was pretty excited that even though I only planned to read one book for the challenge I read four. I also got to read my first book by Charles de Lint, and a second by Ursula le Guin. Still need to work on a wrap up post, and am looking forward to RIP!
It’ll be ages yet before I post my wrap-up, since moving put me seriously behind on my reviews, but I had a wonderful time with the challenge! (Yet again. Your challenges are the best). I reread some of my favourite ooks, tackled a number of new ones, and just generally enjoyed my spring/fall reading. (I’ve gone from the northern hemisphere to the southern, so I had an odd seasonal change in there). I read thirty-six books, overall, and I enjoyed almost all of them. Only one failed to capitvate me at all.
Thanks for runningthe challenge! I’m already looking forward to R.I.P. 🙂
Did not participate, but did last year… this is a good challenge as others have already mentioned.
Anyway, Since I did not participate, I am truly commenting to say…
I love those quotes that you posted, I think I am going to add them to list of quotes that I like.
Also…love, love the challenge photo! Each time I look at it…well, it certainly fits the challenge theme, and I find it inspiring. Where did come with it? Actually, many…many times I find the photos you use in your posts to be fabulous, and it is another reason why I like reading your blog.
Very cool gifts for your participants, somebody’s day is going to be made.
Anne-Julie Aubry stuff is fantastic! I could look at her stuff over and over again. How lovely to be able to send a note off to someone with one her postcards.
The book journal looks very neat.
Seriously, your participants are fortunate indeed to have the chance to win of these prizes. How fun.
Oh … more than likely I’ll forget to do a wrap-up post, but I did – accidentally – complete the challenge. I read Monsters of Men, and possibly Catching Fire, within the challenge dates. I do love Once Upon a Time – it’s one of my favourite places to go <3
Maree: Now worries. I’m glad you completed the challenge, even if it wasn’t planned. 🙂 Haven’t heard of Monsters of Men, I’ll have to go look it up.
Ibeeg: I’m very fortunate in having been able to make friends with some amazing artists who are very generous with their work. Many of them I’ve discovered through Etsy, which is where I found the image I wanted to use for this challenge and was thrilled that the artist agreed. I am a collector of quotes myself and seriously need to start actually writing them down in just one book vs. having them all over the place.
Memory: 36 books and you moved! Amazing!!! I hope the move went well for you, as the act of packing, etc. is never the most fun. What a big change, weather-wise, with your move. I need to pop over to your site to see if you’ve talked about it.
Shelley: It’s great to hear that you checked out Charles de Lint during the challenge. He is the quintessential Once Upon a Time author, in my book. I was pleased to get so much de Lint reading in during my participation in the challenge.
Jehara: Thanks for joining in this year. I’m happy that you enjoyed your first time through and will be thrilled to see you back again next year. I hope, when the time comes, you consider joining us for the R.I.P. Challenge. (It is hard to believe that it is only a little over a month and I’ll be posting the sign up post for that challenge. Wow, time flies!!!)
Much fun – fairy tales and folklore have been favorites of mine since I first learned to read (back when dinosaurs walked the earth) so I love anything that supports this habit!
I’m glad you got so much reading done this time around, Carl! It was fun to see you participating in your own challenge. I, as always, love this challenge. This year was no exception, I discovered some really good books and finally read Transformations by Anne Sexton, which I ended up loving. I have to do my final wrap-up post, but for now, please enter me into your draw. The draw is spectacular, as always, too. Thank you!
This challenge started out a little slow for me, with some books I did not much care for, and then I read Megan Whalen Turner’s amazing King’s Thief books which were SO AMAZING. So I’m really glad I decided to participate! Turner’s books are among my favorite reads of this year.
I will definitely be back for R.I.P. I had such a blast with that last year. I agree with Memory. Your challenges are the best.
Thanks for letting me know this was posted – I’m very behind on my google reader! Technically I just linked to the same post as my original, since I keep all my challenge stuff on the same post as the initial signup.
I loved participating in my first Once Upon a Time Challenge! When I quit all my challenges, it was one of the very small handful that I kept going. I was also very happy that I managed to find a book to fit in each category, and there wasn’t a single book I disliked (quite an achievement for me, since fairy tales and fantasy are not my favorite genres in general)!
Thanks again for hosting!
Once again, thanks for hosting, Carl. The party was lovely! I did complete my challenge of one book – not too hard to accomplish. I listened to Neverwhere on disk in the car; read by the man himself! I could often be found sitting in the garage with the lights out, not wishing to turn Neil off and go in the house. And I just learned he lives in Wisconsin!!! Who would’ve thunk!?
I did check Drawing Down The Moon from the library and spent a few dreamy evenings with that.
No book reviews for me this time. Time……..
Looking forward to R.I.P. though! 🙂
Qugrainne: You are welcome. I’m excited, that means that you have heard the ‘author’s preferred edition’, which I also have on audio, but haven’t listened to. I recently got the collector’s edition of the same text and it is part of my summer reading list. In fact I just looked at it this morning and was tempted to pull it down and start despite being in the midst of a couple of terrific books. If you have time, shoot me an email to tell me what you thought of the book. Glad you got to look through Drawing Down the Moon as well. It is a lovely book.
Amanda: Thank you for joining in. I am truly convinced that there are books in every genre that would appeal to anyone, even those who aren’t particularly drawn to said genre, and it makes me smile to know that you found stuff to read that you enjoyed. It isn’t a ‘challenge’ at that point, it is an ‘experience’ which is really what I want people to have when they do these ‘challenges’.
Jehara: Great!!! I’m really excited about it this year. Since it is the 5th one I want to make it extra special.
Jenny: Yay! Its great that you found some books to turn things around for you. It is a bummer when you are excited about something but the reading that you are doing throws a wet blanket on things. Thanks for participating.
Susan: You are in! I am really glad I was able to participate actively this year. I don’t exactly remember what was all going on last year but I do know that there were work issues, layoffs I believe, that made that time extra stressful. There are going to be some pretty big work related things going on during R.I.P. too so I need to use the summer to get prepared for that so that it doesn’t interrupt R.I.P. for me.
Caitlin: please send me pics of those dinosaurs. 🙂 Thank you so much for participating, glad you had fun.
Oh, goodness! I was doing so well with the challenge, but I kind of fell off the bandwagon in May. I will probably still do a wrap-up post eventually…
I joined this challenge as sort of a ‘why not?’ venture. I was already planning on reading 20 books this year that fit the fairy tale theme. So I was quite surprised at how many straight fantasies I read instead. I just couldn’t get enough of them. But it worked, you know? It’s what I needed this spring, and I just happened to be able to complete the challenge as well (always a bonus). Thanks for hosting it – I read some new favorite books!
Oddly enough, this year I had a hard time finding straight fantasy I felt like reading and instead read quite a bit of mythology. I definitely liked everything I read, though, so that’s definitely a plus. Thanks for hosting yet again!
Monsters of Men is the third book in the Chaos Walking series. Start with The Knife of Never Letting Go 🙂
I know the contest is closed but I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the challenge this year and I completed it. My favourite read is so hard to pick because they were all good. Thanks so much for continuing to run it and have a wonderful summer.
Just dropped in to ask if everything is okay with you, Carl. Haven’t seen a new post or comments on other blogs lately. Hope all is well.