Once Upon a Time

 It's March 20th..

It's the first day of spring..

Although I am not feeling the happiness I generally feel on this day, I am still very glad that it's the day that Carl's Once Upon a Time III begins.

Filled with Journey's and Quests that should not be ignored, Carl's reading challenge to read Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Folklore or Mythology is one that takes you into the realms of your mind that need to be nurtured and not forgotten.

I can remember my discovery of this challenge while it was in progress for the very first time.  A day didn't go by that I didn't click on all the new links to read all of the reviews!  I couldn't believe all these people reading the same kind of book "only I enjoyed" !  What a revelation to me! I was in hog heaven!

Once Upon a Time dragged me, kicking and screaming, (yeah right) into a whole new world of book review blogger's..  A fact I will always be happy about.

That year was the first time that I tried to keep track of how many books I read..heck, I never did anything like that before!  And last year I read 101 books!  And I can tell you, I never, in my 65 years read that many books in one year.. I always thought it great if anyone read 12 books a year.. I mean one book a month for busy people sounded extraordinarily good to me!  And it still does.  Anyone that takes the time to read, no matter how many books or how few, feeds your inner self.

This year I am committing to the smallest and easiest, The Journey.  But as always I will strive to also do Quest the First.

Here are my Challenge Choices:

This is really as simple as the name implies. It means you are participating, but not committing yourself to any specific number of books. All reading is a journey, perhaps none more so than reading fantastical fiction. By signing up for The Journey you are agreeing to at least read one book within one of the four categories during March 21st to June 20th period. Just one book. If you choose to read more, fantastic! If not, then we have still had the pleasure of your company during this three month reading journey and hopefully you have read a great book, met some interesting people, and enjoyed the various activities that occur during the challenge. It has always been of utmost importance to me that the challenges that I host be all about experiencing enjoyable literature and sharing it with others. I want you to participate. Hence, The Journey.

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

 

I have 21 books to choose from: (in my tbr pile.. of course more will undoubtedly get added and so the list may change somewhat!)

 

     Heroes of the Valley ... Jonathan Stroud

    The Hobbit (re-read)... J R R Tolkien

     ( 5 books)... The Dark is Rising... Susan Cooper

     East... Edith Patiou

     (3 books)  The Black Jewels Trilogy.... Anne Bishop

     Grimpow...Rafiel Abalos

     The Mysterious Benedict Society... Trenton Lee Stewart

     The Hound of Rowan.. Henry H Neff

     The Second Siege... Henry H Neff

     The Magicians and Mrs Quent...Galen Beckett

     The Farwalkers Quest... Joni Sensel

     100 Cupboards... N D Wilson

     Dandelion Fire... N D Wilson

    Name of the Wind ... Patrick Rothfuss

    Merlin ... T A Barron

As always I know my wish list will grow considerably during this challenge, and I look forward to reading many reviews that will either entice me to get a book or give me the deciding factor that the book is not for me.  Either way it's a great way to have all the information that everyone provides.

Here's too three months of Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Folklore and Mythology reading!

Let the challenge begin!

(one more thing:  Happy Birthday Mary!)

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I had to share this bit of Spring news:

This morning was beautiful!...

Yes, it is the first day of Spring, but the visual picture was saying something else.

.... snow!....

For an hour or so we had this snow coming down!.. big beautiful flakes.  The prettiest snow of the whole winter and it happened on the first day of spring.   (sadly, it's all gone already  :O(  )