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Louise has graciously allowed me to choose March's book club theme, and the theme that caught my eye is: Mythology/Folklore/Retellings

Nominations are now open and will close whenever Louise says they will at the end of the week for books that fit within this theme and are written by a female author.

Please use the "add book/add author" link to avoid any confusion, but if you absolutely can't use the link then make sure to include the author's name. Remember, you are allowed one nomination.

Nominations so far:
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
Athena the Brain by Joan Holub
A Pomegranate and the Maiden by Tamara Agha-Jaffar
Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault
Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino
The Letters of Mina Harker by Dodie Bellamy
The Girl in the Glass Box by Andi Adams

I nominate Deathless, which is a retelling of the tale of Ivan the Terrible and deals with Russian folklore. I absolutely love this bok and want to reread it.

I would suggest The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood or alternatively Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

I'd like to suggest Athena the Brain by Joan Holub. (An old favorite when I was in middle school. Let's see how it holds up.)

I nominate "A Pomegranate and The Maiden" by Tamara Agha-Jaffar. It is the story of Persepone and Demeter, a very interesting part of Greec myth. Told as being part of the story ... It is aviable on Kindle. Enjoy it!

I nominate Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith, a retelling of the myth of Iphis (Ovid).

Clizia wrote: "I would suggest The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood or alternatively Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys."

Hi Clizia,

We are limited to one nomination each, as there are many members nominating books. But anyways, we read Wide Sargasso Sea in May of last year. You can find the discussion thread here if you are interested in joining the conversation surrounding that book.
It doesn't matter that it has been done, you are welcome to jot your thoughts down to share with us for any of our previous reads!

I would like to suggest The Snow Child by Eowin Ivey


/book/show/1...

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I have been wanting to read more from Mary Renault and I nominate: The Last of the Wine Mary Renault

Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin.

From the GR description: In The Aeneid, Vergil’s hero fights to claim the king’s daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found an empire. Lavinia herself never speaks a word. Now, Ursula K. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills.

Hi Anita, thank you for your answer :)

El wrote: "Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin.

From the GR description: In The Aeneid, Vergil’s hero fights to claim the king’s daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found a..."

I read it a few months ago. I thought it was great and gave it 4 stars. My review on goodreads: /review/show...

I'm going to go ahead and nominate The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino. It's marked as a reimagining of the Japanese creation myth of Izanami and Izanaki, which I understand as essentially balance or good and evil or yin and yang, etc.

Anita wrote: "I'm going to go ahead and nominate The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino. It's marked as a reimagining of the Japanese creation myth of Izanami and Izanaki, which I ..."

Wow, never heard of that one. I read something else by Kirino a while back and it was alright, but this looks really interesting.

El wrote: "Anita wrote: "I'm going to go ahead and nominate The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino. It's marked as a reimagining of the Japanese creation myth of Izanami and Iza..."

Yes, it did sound interesting, but I found it dark and depressing, and couldn't finish it.

El wrote: "Wow, never heard of that one. I read something else by Kirino a while back and it was alright, but this looks really interesting..."

hey it's all because of my 2017 goal to read more women of color that I even went looking for different folklores lol.

The Goddess Chronicle by Natsuo Kirino. I did a research on Iza-na-me (woman: -me) and Iza-na-gi (gi is meant as phallus). It is really interesting!

The story of Izaname and Izanagi is found in the Kojiki , completed around 712 C.E. It is the oldest extant book in Japanese. The title means "the Record of Ancient Things" and consists of myths, legends, folk etymologies, songs, anecdotes, and genealogies, all of which are interspersed with historical and pseudo-historical narratives.
Amaterasu, the supreme kami of Shintoism, is born when Izanagi washes his left eye. Her brother, Susanowo, is born when Izanagi washes his nose.
I included a chapter on Amaterasu and Japanese Shintoism in my book, Women and Goddesses in Myth and Sacred Text. (This is just an FYI and not a promotion of one of my books.)

Oh...I'm loving already the March topic! So many great suggestions that will go on to my to-read list since we can only choose one...

My nomination is for The Letters of Mina Harker by Dodie Bellamy

I hope Dracula counts as something between mythology and folklore...

Nick wrote: "I've always been interested in "The Firebrand" by Marion Zimmer Bradley, a retelling of Homer's "Iliad" from the perspective of Cassandra; for those unfamiliar or rusty with Greek mythology, she wa..."

Wow, I actually have this book on my bookshelf and didn't know it? lol, ahh #bibliophileproblems

The Girl in the Glass Box

The story was inspired by the Snow White tale.

Anita wrote: "Wow, I actually have this book on my bookshelf and didn't know it? lol, ahh #bibliophileproblems"

Hahaha!

Okay everyone, the March nominations are CLOSED and the poll will go up shortly. Thanks for all of the great nominations and recommendations! ;)

Ok guys, I am putting the poll together now. just as a note: The Last of the Wine is not included in the poll as it appears to be straight up historical fiction set in the Peloponnesian War, and not based on myth, legend, or folklore.

It has not been removed from the group bookshelves however, and all books are free to be nominated again for future group reads.

Edit: correction The Goddess Chronicle was initially excluded from the poll by mistake. It has now been added back in.

And poll is up. This month I am experimenting with hiding results until end of the poll to see if that makes a difference in voting patterns (we had so many books nominated last month that those that didn't get many early votes never gained any more as the top three books battled for position).

Voting ends 30 Jan.

And the winner is:

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey