Morphy's Monthly Fantasy Read Planning for 2012

I'm going to put together a schedule for 2012 of fantasy books I'm going to read from the 1001 Fantasy Books to Read Before You Are Turned into a Newt list we created. It would be one book per month.

This is NOT an "official" GD group read. It's just something I'd like to do next year and thought it would be fun to have other people read with me.

I'd like to have people join me in a group read so I'm throwing a list together. Please tell me OF THESE BOOKS which ones are you most likely to read with me next year?

I'll mark with *'s when someone "votes" for a book.

The Illiad by Homer *
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare ****
The Borrowers by Mary Norton *
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende **
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip ****
So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny *
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner **
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang *
The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton *
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick **
Beauty by Robin McKinley ***
Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin *
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams ***
Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin *
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel *
Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist *
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
Moonheart by Charles de Lint *
Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon **
Curse of the Mist Wraith by Janny Wurts ****
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova **
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie *
Daggerspell by Katherine Kerr
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy *****
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch *****
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino *
The Magic Goes Away by Larry Niven
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn ****
The Infinity Concerto by Greg Bear
The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller **
Maia by Richard Adams
Maps in a Mirror by Orson Scott Card *
A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
City of Bones by Martha Wells *
The Misplaced Legion by Harry Turtledove
Towing Jehovah by James Morrow

Feel free to make any comments or criticisms on the books above, but I won't be taking any recommendations of additional books. (Unless, of course, you psychically know which books of the 1001 Fantasy list I haven't read and am willing to read!)

I'd be up for a reread of The Historian and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

It's been years since I read Tea with the Black Dragon and I've forgotten everything except that I loved it, so I'd be up for that one.

I keep meaning to read The Riddle-Master of Hed and Sheepfarmer's Daughter ; and The Lies of Locke Lamora and The Innocent Mage have been on my TBR pile for ages (if I can even remember which box they are in!).

I could read these, Morphy.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy

I appreciate the responses so far. Keep them coming!

Like @sqdancer, The lies of Locke Lamora and The innocent mage have been on my TBR mountain for quite a while. There are quite a few others that I might join in with or re-read along with you, but I'll commit to those two!

I'd vote for the following for sure:

The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Thomas the Rhymer
Beauty -- a re-read for me, but it's a lovely book
Haroun and the Sea of Stories
The Blue Fairy Book
The Lies of Locke Lamora

I'd be in for Thomas the Rhymer and Curse of the Mistwraith

For something new, I've been wanting to read The Invention of Hugo Cabret (have yet to purchase it though) and I would love to read Janny's book, Curse of the Mistwraith.

I would reread (or skim) Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency, The Borrowers and Midsummer's Night Dream.

I am currently reading The Illiad, but at the rate I'm going, I might still be reading it next year! Or I may decide I don't need to finish it.

Wild horses couldn't make me read Like Water for Chocolate again. :P

Have on TBR pile and could be reading along :
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn

Already read, kept and could possibly comment on :
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
Curse of the Mist Wraith by Janny Wurts
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Some others were read but no longer in my hands, so memories of them might be in varied states of clarity and fuzziness.

Many of the others are on my "definitely nab down if stumbling upon them new or used for a bargain" list, but given how serendipitous my book-acquiring is, me thinking to make any kind of schedule with those would be rather foolish.

I'd say the titles from these authors!:

Patricia McKillip
Scott Lynch
Robin McKinley (although honestly I'd be inclined to look at her work 'Rose Daughter' which is the retelling of 'beauty and the beast' she wrote 20 years later and is much more real and poignant).
Raymond E Feist

Bumping this in the hopes of getting a few more votes.

I would read along with
Riddle master
Gifts
Curse of the mistwraith
Tea with the black dragon
as these have been on my tbr list for ages! Several of the others on the list I have already read, but would enjoy joining in a discussion.

It is a good list of titles, some great books there. However few are on my re-read list, and of the ones I don't yet have, I'm unlikely to have managed to find them to read along by any set date.

Ones that I have read, and can at least comment on the threads would be:

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist
Curse of the Mist Wraith by Janny Wurts (her new book Initiate's trial is due out end of this month (I think it's a Jan release in the US. Gives plenty of time to read the intervening works!)
Lamb by Christopher Moore
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The Infinity Concerto by Greg Bear
The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller

Honestly, I'd join in with most any of 'em. :)

There's not that many on the list that I've already read or plan to read next year. Of those that I have here's what I loved:

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist (nothing like his Riftwar books and much more towards the horror end of the fantasy scale)
The Curse of the Mist Wraith by Janny Wurts (needs a big commitment timewise as this is a starter book for a truly epic series)
Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin (comic fantasy at its best but not sure that it will do it for you based on what I've seen you read in the past)
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn (quite often marketed as a young adult series set in feudal Japan)

I read the Myth books many years (decades) ago and liked them as far as I recall.

"It's PerVECT!"

I'd join in on reads of:
The Riddle Master of Hed
Tea With the Black Dragon
The Historian
If On A Winter's Night a Traveler

possible reads:
Nine Princes in Amber -- if I can get my hands on a copy
The Dying Earth -- depends on time, this book is a real chunkster

Books on the list that I've already read and highly recommend:
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Across the Nightingale Floor -- this series is one that I've passed on to more people than any other book(s), except perhaps the Abhorsen Chronicles.

Well, as I already have the Iliad, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Man Who Was Thursday, I'd happily read those along with someone. I often read The Neverending Story so I'd be with you on that as well, I guess. I love Orson Scott Card's tales of Alvin Maker, so I'd happily read Maps in a Mirror and give other works of his a try... Beyond those things, City of Bones, Tea with the Black Dragon, and Moonheart ... among anything else that gets put on the final list of things to read along with you.

Morphy, the Myth books???

By Robert Asprin. The first is Another Fine Myth.

This list looks good, I'll try to read them all with you... I've been trying to make my way through the 1001 list too

Coming back to lend support to Lian Hearn, and also Michael Ende, and Elizabeth Moon. I need to finish Moon's series.

Already read
The Illiad by Homer
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip
So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Beauty by Robin McKinley
Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
Gifts by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
Moonheart by Charles de Lint
Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie
Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy
The Magic Goes Away by Larry Niven
The Infinity Concerto by Greg Bear
The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller
A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Top rate stories, IMHO, that I would gladly chime in on would be The Riddle-Master of Hed, Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Tea with the Black Dragon, Beauty and/or Rose Daughter, and A Fistful of Sky. IMO, The Borrowers and The Innocent Mage are not as strong as the others. Gifts is not as strong as other Le Guin. I would also re-read Nine Princes in Amber and The Infinity Concerto because it has been so long. The others are all good. If only I were allowed to add a book, I'd put Godstalk by P. C. Hodgell up in that top group, but unfortunately I'm not.

Unread Those I would join in a group read are in bold.
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist
Curse of the Mist Wraith by Janny Wurts I started this once, never finished it.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
Daggerspell by Katherine Kerr
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Perfume by Patrick Suskind
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
Maia by Richard Adams
Maps in a Mirror by Orson Scott Card
The Misplaced Legion by Harry Turtledove
Towing Jehovah by James Morrow
City of Bones by Martha Wells

January - The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
SPOILER thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/129342
NO SPOILER thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/128183

February - Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
SPOILER THREAD: http://www.librarything.com/topic/131890
NO SPOILER thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/129781

March - The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip
SPOILER THREAD: http://www.librarything.com/topic/133567
NO SPOILER THREAD: http://www.librarything.com/topic/132789

April - A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
THREAD: http://www.librarything.com/topic/134732

May - Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy
SPOILER thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/136442
NO SPOILER thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/136136

June - The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
SPOILER THREAD -http://www.librarything.com/topic/137909
NO SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/137192

July - The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/139180
NO SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/138446

August - Beauty by Robin McKinley
SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/140573
NO SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/140043

September - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/141838
NO SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/140965

October - Curse of the Mist Wraith by Janny Wurts with Janny joining us!
SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/142895
NO SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/142247

November - The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/144323
NO SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/143707

December - The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller
SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/145469
NO SPOILER THREAD - http://www.librarything.com/topic/144996

Based on votes and my mood. In random order with a few books I want to read earlier in the year moved up.

Awesome, I'll be reading Neverending Story in June then. :) And I can chime in on the discussions of the ones I've read.

You're in for a brilliant read with Lynch. He's superb. He's suffered from clinical depression the last few years so his writing has slowed - the third one in his 'Gentleman Bastard' series is due out next year ('Lies' being the first).

I hope you like The Historian. It seems to be very polarizing. The amateur researcher in me loved it.

I like the organized list, Morphy. And I think you'll find the different tones are scattered fairly well throughout the calendar. After all, one doesn't want to read too many medieval fantasy heroic epics six months in a row!

I'll be with you for April, July and October, if I remember! Will you begin a dedicated thread in January?

Yep, sure will. Actually, I'll start it in December so people have a chance to get the book.

Cool! I'll try to keep up. My RL book group is also setting up a list for 2012 and the Sci Fi group already has one. So I'm committing to three books a month from "others" lists; add one (or more) I pick myself and I'll be reading a book a week, which for me will be a stretch. I'll do what I can to keep up. Great list! Morphidae!

Sounds great, I will try to do them all with you.

Maggie, which sci Fi group? I don't see in on Science Fiction Fans or the Group read science fiction threads.

I will do my best to join you on all of them! I've never read Midsummer Night's Dream and have always wanted to. :)

This sounds great - I've lapsed so far behind on my reading in the last few months my TBR pile has grown substantially! I have picked up the bad habit of not finishing books so on that basis I'd love to have a reason to pick up If on a Winter's Night a Traveller and The Historian again, but I'd be happy to pick up and try most of this list!

Lovely! This will be fun.

Sorry if my whining caused confusions. My other two groups are both Real Life groups, one I started, the other at a local Barnes & Noble.

I'd hope to join your read for January, February, and August, since those titles are all on my radar.

March, April and May are old favorites/I'll share comment where appropriate.

October: (pleased as punch at the listing) I can offer to make myself available, strictly at the wishes of Morphidae and participant readers.

Glad to have you with us, Janny!

I've read 5 of your choices, though some long ago but I'm really excited to try to join you for some of the other, especially Lies of Locke Lamora which I had out for awhile but didn't manage to get to.

Is there any interest in me continuing this on in 2013?

Should I stick with the 1001 Fantasy Books to Read Before You Are Turned Into a Newt?

Should I change to selections from 111 Science Fiction Books to Read Before a Supernova Kills Us All?

Should I make selections from ALL the lists including 1001 Fantasy Books to Read Before You Are Turned Into a Newt, 111 Science Fiction Books to Read Before a Supernova Kills Us All, 111 Nonfiction Books to Read Before Your Brain Atrophies, and 50 Mysteries to Read Before They Find the Body? If I do this I could rotate one book per month and we would have read three books from each list by the end of the year.

Or should I stop and leave the Green Dragoneers to pick their own selections for group reads in 2013?

I like the idea of switching among the lists, Morphy

I do, too. Reading the "classics" and "must reads" can sometimes put one back into an earlier era... be nice to have some variety.

A variety would be good, as left to myself I read mostly Fantasy and SF. It would be good to have an incentive to read more non-fiction and mysteries, while keeping the F & SF in there for fun.

Whatever is chosen, I will always join in if I have something relevant to contribute to the discussions.

If I've read a title before, even though I may recall it well, I don't often have time for a re-read, or the TBR pile would scrape the ceiling; but I follow the threads. (Certain authors the green dragoneers are discussing regularly, now, were all but unknown at the start of their careers; and I read so many of those, back then. It is hot stuff to see the titles being loved!)

I do like to read a variety, too, and try stuff off the well beaten trail. A list of everybody's least known/MOST LOVED favorite - those often bring incredible treasures to light.

I don't contribute much, or necessarily even read the books, because I have less reading time and energy than I used to, but I love to follow the threads.

I will join in if the book chosen for a particular month piques my interest, but I like to read the threads regardless.

I like the switching-between-the-lists idea, too.

I agree with @Sandragon

I generally only join in group reads if it's available on audiobook (or if it's very short) because I have such a large TBR pile and so little time to "physically" read...that's why I haven't been joining in. But I'll keep watching your selections and hoping that NEXT time I'll be able to squeeze it in. :)