Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Once Upon a Time Challenge


Okay, my lovelies. Your esteemed nerd has been invited to join a challenge. I'm so excited! The Once Upon a Time challenge is to read books that of the following genres: fantasy, fairy tales, mythology and folklore. And, of course, since the challenge ends in June ( the 21, in fact, this bloggers' birthday - coincidentally) Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Well, this girl loves a challenge, and this girl loves her fantasy, so: I'm totally in.
Here's some of the books I plan on reading for the challenge, but of course, I am open to suggestions:
In no particular order:
Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino
Strange Happenings by Avi
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Subtle Knife/Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
and of course:
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
knowing me, I will come up with others. I'm going to start tucking into these after I finish some of the Dresden Files books.
For more info on my nice new friends check out the the Once Upon a Time Challenge and Stainless Steel Droppings.

15 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

GREAT list! Loved American Gods, of course. Tale of Despereaux is a wonderful, wonderful book. I read and really liked Strange Happenings for the R.I.P. Challenge, must first Avi. I've heard alot about Calvino as well.

So glad you're joining in.

On a side note, I work in the town (Independence, MO) where Jim Butcher lives...just learned that recently...and have sadly never read any of his books. A fact that I have to remedy soon.

SQT said...

How nice to see another nerd in the blogoshpere.

SQT said...

Oh, and my list has totally changed since I started reading. I've read two books off the list already. But they're fantasy, so I guess that's okay....

chrisa511 said...

Welcome to the challenge! Great list. American Gods is one of my favorite books ever. You'll love it (I hope). So far for the challenge, I've read Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card and Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn. Both were great. Now, instead of reading the books I've planned I keep adding bonus books. Just finished Colleen Gleason's The Rest Falls Away and bought Tolkien's The Children of Hurin today....geesh, I need to stop buying books!

darkorpheus said...

I'm reading Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" this June too. Then I thought of reading Gaiman's "Dream Country" - to tie-in with the Midsummer Night's theme.

Calvino has always been a hit-or-miss with me. Not in love with all his works though. Not sure about his "Italian Folktales" either. Interested to see what you have to say.

I keep hearing about the Dresden Files - Amazon keep throwing it up as recommendations for my searches and purchases. Just that I don't know many people who have read the books, so have not actually pick them up.

SQT said...

The Dresden Files are okay IMO. They're fast paced, easy reading. Not totally engrossing, but for a light read you might enjoy them.

bee said...

so far so good with the dresden files - though i haven't gotten that far yet. a pal lent me all of them - so i have a mountain of books looking at me wearily when i am doing homework instead of reading them.

Anonymous said...

Hey there, Carl sent me over here!

Fab list. I'm reading Strange Happenings for the challenge too, my first Avi.

I read Tale of Desperaux not long ago - lovely book, Kat DiCamillo is proving to be a big hit.

American Gods is a favourite of mine - I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan.

Love Philip Pullman too.

Look forward to reading your thoughts on the books! Enjoy the challenge :-)

Kailana said...

Tale of Despereaux was a very cute book. I read it last year. I still haven't made my way through American Gods, but Gaiman is a good author. :)

Ana S. said...

Very good list. American Gods and His Dark Materials are among my all-time favourites. I'll be looking forward to reading your thoughts on them.

burlapwax said...

Your birthday is on the Solstice? Very cool, Bee!

Booklogged said...

I have Italian Folktales on my shelf - it's huge! Despereaux is one of my hereos.

Bellezza said...

Oh, I love the Tale of Despereaux! And every year I read it to my class it seems it's their favorite book I read all year. (Perhaps it's the French accent I use, no, it's Kate's beautiful writing.) I am very intrigued by your mention of Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino. Being of Italian descent, I must pick that one up as well!

Marina said...

Looking forward to your review of Italian Folktales! It's been on my read list for a while.

Petunia said...

You list looks good. I'm working through my first Gaiman book, Stardust, and loving it. Good luck with your reading.