Once Upon A Time IV

Published on by Margaret

On Sunday it’s the first day of spring and already there are signs here – the daffodils are now in bud and I’m hoping the trees will burst into leaf soon. Another sign of spring in the book blogging world is the Once Upon a Time Challenge run by Carl. This too begins on Sunday and runs until 20 June.

There are several options to choose from, so there is no pressure to make me shy away from this one – I can just read one book from the four categories of fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology or I could read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within any of these categories.

I had a quick look at my books and came up with these – all books I own and haven’t read yet, so I may read one or more of these in the next three months, or I might find something else in the library – who knows. 

  • Grimm’s Fairy Tales – I fancy re-reading these tales, which I haven’t read since I was a child.
  • The Death of King Arthur – this is a translation of the 13th century French version of the Camelot legend.
  • The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier – about a place between heaven and earth where everyone ends up after they die.
  • Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell – I’ve had this ages, started reading it twice and other books took precedence. It’s a mix of science fiction, thriller and historical pastiche.
  • Firmin: Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife by Sam Savage – the tale of a literary rat who develops the ability to read.
  • The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly – another book I’ve had for a while. Twelve-year old David takes refuge in myths and fairytales.
  • The Children of Hurin by J R R Tolkien – tales of Middle-earth  from times before The Lord of the Rings, set in the country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West.
  • The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart – a tale of Merlin and King Arthur and the third book in the Merlin trilogy. I read The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills years ago and don’t think I’ve ever read this one.

8 thoughts on “Once Upon A Time IV”

  1. A nice list of books, Margaret. I liked The Book of Lost Things a lot, John Connolly writes well. I have Cloud Atlas and have not read it too; I gather it’s quite challenging. And Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy is perfect for this challenge.

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  2. Cath beat me here lol.. I loved Mary Stewart’s Merlin/ Arthur Trilogy and it has been ages since I’ve read them. The book of lost things was very “fairy talish” but enjoyable. I haven’t read Grimms but have a very large book of them i need to get to one day lol.. whatever you read I hope you enjoy it/ them !

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  3. I really loved Cloud Atlas, and I’m curious to know what you think when you read it! I haven’t read Mary Stewart in years, but read a bunch of her stuff when I was younger, but never the Merlin trilogy–must check it out. Great list!

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  4. I have The Book of Lost Things on my list too!! I like your idea of re-reading Grimm’s Fairy tales, which I might tie in with reading one to my children every night before bed too :-) I read the Merlin trilogy by Stewart when I was a teenager and loved them. I have two out of three now – I’ve been collecting them so I can re-read them again one day. Isn’t this a really wonderful challenge?

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  5. I got only as far as The Hollow Hills myself, although I’ve had people tell me The Last Enchantment is heartbreaking. Grimms would be interesting to read as an adult.

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  6. We actually have snow on the ground here! It snowed all afternoon yesterday and made me want to cry. So I will enjoy colorful flowers vicariously. I would love to read David Mitchell–I’ve heard good things about Cloud Atlas. And I’ve eyed John Connolly’s book on more than one occasion, too. You know how it is when you see something interesting but just aren’t sure you want to pick it up? I hope to read at least one book along with everyone else, but seeing all these other books makes me want to read more.

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  7. Hi Margaret – I’ve landed here from Rhapsody in Books’ review of my latest novel. I’ve just seen that you’ve started Cloud Atlas a few times. I listened to it on CDs on long car journeys and I loved it – but I might never have picked up the book itself.(I did find it hard to leave one story in mid flow, and then get into the voice of the new one, but I got used to it) It’s a book I’ve put on my to-be-read-again-one-day list.

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