Holly Black’s latest book, The Darkest Part of the Forest, is out very soon from Indigo and I for one am really looking forward to it. It’s full of the dark magic we’ve come to expect – I just *wish* it was out now! In the meantime, I’ve been thinking about some of my other #bookishWISHES, and, like the fairy godmothers they are, Indigo are providing a copy of The Darkest Part of the Forest for us to give away to someone else with a fantastic bookish wish.
As is traditional, I have three wishes – and there’s no wishing for more wishes, either!
An author I’d wish to meet…
I wish I could have met JRR Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; I think he would be such a fascinating person, with so many amazing stories, however of course he’s no longer alive. Being a little more realistic, I would wish to meet Holly Black! At YALC, in the summer of 2014, I heard her talking about magic and faery in young adult novels, and was really hooked by the references she made to authors I love, like Ursula Le Guin – who is a genius but I would probably be too scared to talk to. I hope Holly and I would have lots of talk about, as I’m a huge fan of faery folk and reimagined fairy tales.
A fairy tale I wish would be retold…
As well as the traditional fairy tales that most people know – and get turned into Disney films – I really love strange and unusual tales. There are some beautiful stories that very few people have heard of, like East of the Sun, West of the Moon. I had a beautiful picture book version by Kay Nielsen and I wonder if there are any new versions around. There are also some great, really creepy Grimm fairy tales that would be great retold in a modern setting – maybe The Little Goose Girl?
A book I wish everyone would read…
I wish everyone would read Joan Aiken’s modern fairy tales. She’s such an amazing writer! There’s A Necklace of Raindrops, with stories that are quite sweet, and also The Kingdom Under the Sea and The Last Slice of Rainbow, with stories that are really quite spooky and magical. A Necklace of Raindrops also has one of my favourite ever stories, about a cat who sits in front of the fire and rises like a load of bread! Plus, they all have stunning illustrations by Jan Pienkowski.
If you would like to win a copy of The Darkest Part of the Forest, I’d love to know your #bookishWISHES! Just complete the Rafflecopter and leave a comment below telling me what your bookish wish would be… The competition will close at midnight on February 5th (publication day)!
My bookish wish would be that everyone could get a sabbatical from their jobs, studies, life in general to spend reading! I think I need a couple of years off to catch up on books!
I really need to read Joan Aiken’s books, I remember reading A Necklace of Raindrops when I was a kid and falling so in love with the title story that thinking about it made me cry!
I wish I had another wish, so I could wish your wish too! – Kate