Saturday 22 March 2014

Once Upon a Time VIII

Spring has officially sprung and that means the return of one of my favourite reading challenges, Carl's Once Upon a Time VIII. *Eight* years, goodness that's pretty good going. Not sure how many of those I've done, possibly five or six. Anyway, without further ado, my sign-up post for this year's Once Upon a Time.


“Come away, O human child: To the waters and the wild with a fairy, hand in hand, For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.”

~William Butler Yeats

The hauntingly beautiful artwork this year is by Melissa Nucera. And I always love the verses Carl chooses to accompany his introductory challenge posts.

The idea, as always is to:

Rule #1: Have fun.

Rule #2: HAVE FUN.

Rule #3: Don’t keep the fun to yourself, share it with us, please!

Rule #4: Do not be put off by the word “challenge”.


While this event retains the word “challenge” from its earliest days, the entire goal is to read good books, watch good television shows and movies, and most importantly, visit old friends and make new ones. There are several ways to participate, and I hope you can find at least one to your liking:

As per usual I'm going to do:


Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time categories. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

These are a few of the books I want to read:


From the bottom:

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
The Mad Ship - Robin Hobb
Fyre - Angie Sage
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (A reread)
The Wood-Wife - Terri Windling
Wizard of the Pigeons - Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb)

Not in the photo but also on my list:

Death by Silver - Melissa Scott
Thirteenth Child - Patricia Wrede
Edge of the World - Kevin J. Anderson
Among Others - Jo Walton (Kindle read)
Lost Things - Melissa Scott and Jo Graham (Kindle read)
The Little Grey Men - 'BB'
At the Back of the North Wind - George MacDonald

The important thing to note for me personally is that nearly all of these are books I own. (Fyre belongs to my grand-daughter. *Virtual wave* to her as I know she sometimes reads this blog. And I don't yet own Death by Silver but plan to soon.) I really want to read from my tbr mountain this year... some of these books have been on my shelves for years and it's high time they were read. Plus some will also qualify for the Mount TBR challenge... which is good.

So that's it, thanks to Carl for once again hosting this challenge and good luck to everyone participating.

~~~oOo~~~

13 comments:

DesLily said...

wow some good ones there! I saw a few I've read long ago...

I'll join for one book and hope I can finish it... xoxoxo

My Gallery of Worlds said...

The Name of the Wind!!! I so love that book. I'm adoring the cover on fire too...and I can't even see the whole thing...lol

GeraniumCat said...

I'm listening to Good Omens at the moment. It's years since I read it so it all feels quite fresh and is great fun.

I might join for one book, then if I read any more it's a bonus. It's so hard to resist Carl's challenges :-)

TracyK said...

An interesting list there. Many I haven't heard of so I will be looking forward the reviews. All the books I listed are also from my TBR pile, but there are a couple I am considering buying for this challenge. And I may try a Terry Pratchett book, if I can fit it in.

Lynn said...

I also love the Rothfuss book! Some good choices. Looking forward to checking out your reviews.
Lynn :D

Anonymous said...

Good luck scaling Mount TBR! I love combining challenges. I'm excited for your thoughts on Good Omens, Thirteenth Child and At the Back of the North Wind...all by favorite authors of mine. :)

Cath said...

Pat: Yeah, I know you've read The Name of the Wind and The Wood Wife and liked them both, so that gives me confidence that I'll like them too.

*Fingers crossed* that you manage your one book.

Kelly: So many people love The Name of the Wind and I've been putting off reading it because of the size. Really stupid.

Fyre has a pic of a dragon on the actual front. Angie Sage's books always have great covers and this Septimus Heap series is one of my favourites.

Geranium Cat: Good Omens will definitely be read for this year's OUaT. Been wanting to reread it for ages.

It is hard to resist Carl's challenges.

Tracy: Yes, I'm trying to keep mainly to my tbr pile this year. I won't say I'm banning buying anything for it, because I'm not, and do have one or two in mind to get before the challenge ends.

Lynn: Another Rothfuss fan. :-) I left a short comment on your post but as usual Wordpress ate it. I sent you an email about it.

Marveloustales: Thank you, so do I. I hope to read all three of those, very pleased to hear they're favourites of yours, so I should be in for a good read with them.

Susan said...

I have just started reading The Wood Woman for this challenge! Finally, at long last! And really enjoying it :-) I like your list, Cath. Mad Ship is a lot of fun - I ended up reading all three of them over Christmas, I couldn't stop, they were so good! I'm thinking of reading the kind of sequel to them, for this challenge too. I love her writing so much. Enjoy the challenge, Cath. I love the picture for it this year, too, so much.

BooksPlease said...

You have an amazing list of books - and some of them are real chunksters - such big books! I like the idea of gathering them together in a pile like that - mine are spread about amongst my other books! All the books on my list are ones I already own too, but I'm tempted to get some of the ones on your list - and am looking forward to reading your reviews.

Marg said...

Nice list! I especially loved the Rothfuss!

Cath said...

Susan: Glad you're enjoying The Wood Wife, I'm determined to read it this year. Hopefully The Mad Ship too. I can't decide whether I should read The Tawny Man trilogy before I move on to the sequel trilogy to Liveship Trader. Not that I'm anywhere close yet.

Thank you, I'm sure I will enjoy it..

Margaret: Yes, there are or two big'uns there. I like lists and piles of books. Gives me something to aim at. That's one of the problems with this challenge, we're all busy covetting our neighbours' books...

Marg: Thanks. The Rothfuss has loads of fans it seems. LOL

Kailana said...

The Name of the Wind! The Name of the Wind!!

Cath said...

Kelly: OK... I can take a hint. :-D