Welcome to The Read-a-Myth Reading Challenge 2011!
The Read-a-Myth Reading Challenge is hosted by JoV of Bibliojunkie and Bina of If You Can Read This. We want you to come join us and share any stories about a mythology figure that you love or are interested in.
The names of mythological figures (especially Greek ones) are an essential part of our contemporary life. Ajax – Greek warrior in the Trojan War, who “cleaned up” in battle, is the name of a popular household cleanser. Hermes – Olympian Herald and Messenger god, is a luxury brand goods, specialise in scarf. Hyperion – Titan whose name means “he who goes before the sun”, is the name of a company that specializes in “business analytical software.” And do you know Nike – Winged goddess of Victory, who can run and fly at great speed, is a name from mythology? Olympus – Home of the Olympian gods, name of popular camera and photographic technology company. Orion – A giant hunter slain by Artemis in Greek mythology, is the name of a motion picture production company, Orion Pictures, and the list goes on and on and on…
These tales and folklores have been passed down for many generations, and we hope to bring you into the exciting world of myths and (re-)discover them in a fun way.
**Choose Your Level
Level 1 Athena: That’s a Myth!
Read any two (2) books about myths.
Level 2 Erlang Chen: Demystify the Myth!
Read any four (4) books about myths.
Level 3 Mimir: World Myth!
Read any six (6) books from the myth series must covers 2 different countries, including any one from the following list:
- non-fiction book on the study of mythology (figure), or
- Karen Armstrong’s A short history of myth, or
- The original text of myth (many to choose from the Greek Mythology)
Level 4 Ogma: The God of all Myths!
Mix and match of any eight (8) books from the myth series or any mythology books, with the following conditions:
- Must cover more than 3 countries.
- Must contain at least 1 non-fiction book on mythology study.
Rules/Guidelines
1. Cross-posting with other challenges is allowed (and encouraged!)
2. Audiobooks are fine
3. Re-reads are acceptable but books must be finished after January 1st 2011 to count for the challenge
4. Come back here to share your views and discuss. Have Fun!!
5. You do NOT need a blog to participate.
Buttons
You have no idea what to read?? Well, not to worry, don’t forget to check out the tabs above:
Suggested Reading List and other resources – The page contains some suggested lists of books on mythology. You are most welcome to suggest a few more which are not included in the list. Don’t forget to check out the Complete Family Tree and online dictionary on Greek Mythology too!
Just tell me what I need to do!
1. Sign up below using Mr. Linky. Preferably link to your list for the challenge. If you don’t have a blog, just enter your name.
2. Give a (one) suggestion what you plan to read or
3. Recommended a (one) myth book for “beginners” in the comments below
Happy Reading!
I’m excited about this challenge; it’s such a great idea! I have to peruse some titles I have lying about, and I’ll come up with a list for when I post about it. In the meantime, thanks for putting this together.
Welcome to the Read-A-Myth Challenge. It’s great to have you with us! 😉
count me in guys ,all the best stu
Happy to hear that! 🙂
This is just the challenge I was looking for to help me step out of my little reading world. 🙂
Glad to broaden your horizons, I’m excited to read lots of new-to-me works as well 🙂
Thanks for hosting this challenge! I love the buttons Count me in 🙂 I love reading mythology and books on mythology, but I am scared of challenges. But I can’t resist this one 🙂 Does ‘The Adventures of Amir Hamza’ (which is similar to ‘Tales from the Arabian Nights’) count as mythology? Also does the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan (which is a YA series about what happens when Greek gods come in modern times) count for this challenge? And what about graphic novels like ‘American Born Chinese’ (which is based on the story of the Monkey King)?
I’m excited you’re joing us, Vishy! 🙂 Yes, that one definitely counts (I had to look it up, but I’m definitely putting that one on my lit as well!). I added the Percy Jackson series to the list, it fits the challenge well and it’s exciting to see how myths are re-told and re-worked in contemporary lit. And the comic counts as well 🙂 I had no idea it was based on the Monkey King. Thanks for coming up with such great titles, Vishy!
This is just the sort of reading that I love. I’ll definitely be joining in with this.
Welcome Old English Rose, hope you have great fun exploring myth next year! 😉
This sounds like a lot of fun-count me in-plus I love the buttons!
Happy to have you on board, mel u! I love the buttons, too, Jo did a great job 🙂
Helloo! Well I think I signed up my computer had a little moment during the process lol. Great idea for a challenge folks! I can’t wait the first books that came to mind to read were Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Roirdan and also one I’ve seen mentioned quite a bit on here The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. I think my task now is to do a bit of research and decide what level to do and most importantly come up with a great list of possibles!
Hi Jessica!! It’s wonderful to have you here! 😉 Sign up to the level you are comfortable with, you could always step up when you are ready.
I’ve finally done my sign up post and have a modest possible reads lists, heres the link:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/challenges-2011/
So lovely to have you with us Jessica! Hope you have fun! 🙂
Hi JoV and Bina –
I do not remember how I found your challenge but do know Mel u, perhaps it was through a visit to his blog?
My husband and I will be both including books for this challenge so have entered the biggest level.
This being a big and new”ish” interest for me – I have a huge pile of books to pull from. I have one which I just won which is a basic recap around Greek and Roman Classics aptly named – The Classics – by Caroline Taggart.
As for a single myth book to recommend – I will have to work on that… I have a lot of speculative fiction which contains myth as well as a few with “mythic” elements, or those which are of different genres which have a myth theme running through them. Hopefully we can also include those?
Here is the link to our beginning post:
http://www.layersofthought.net/2010/11/read-myth-challenge-2011.html
Thanks for hosting!
Thanks for participating Shellie! Bina and I are happy to have you here, especially participants who have ambitious plan! I like it! 😉 Can’t wait to read your reviews!
I just signed up for the challenge and one of the books I intend to start off with Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. I didn’t enjoyed this one the first time I read it … I’m hoping the re-read will agree with me. 🙂
Yay, thanks for participating! 🙂 Hope you enjoy American Gods better this time around. I have to admit I have only read one Gaiman book and didn’t like it much either. But perhaps I’ll join you and try again 🙂
How exciting – a very unique challenge 🙂
I love reading about mythology, so this should bring me back to some old favs and new stories. Will be shooting for Level 3.
Thanks to Kah Woei for passing on the word about this challenge.
Happy to hear that you’re participating, and thanks to Kah Woei for spreading the word! Can’t wait to see what myth books you’ ll read 🙂
I have a few mythology books I want to reread, and would love to expand my horizons as well. Looking forward to this one!
Glad to have you with us, Lorren! 🙂 The Edith Hamilton book looks a lot like non-fiction to me, so I’d say that counts 😉 And it looks like a great compendium that I need to add to my list!
I love this challenge, I learned about the myth series last year, but I haven’t gotten around to reading any of them yet. This is the perfect motivation!
So happy to have you with us Rachel! Come join us, you have two very motivated hostesses (Bina and I) to spur you on next year! 😉
Love myths and legends so delighted to find this challenge and look forward to some great reading.
We`re happy to have you with us, Cat. Hope you’ll have lots of fun with our challenge! 🙂
The Classics Circuit has just announced that there next area of reading will be the ancient Greeks-this is Myth central territory!-I am signed up to read the Bachhae by Euripides for Circuit-participation supports to events-
http://classics.rebeccareid.com/2010/12/introduction-to-the-ancient-greek-classics-sign-up-for-the-january-tour
Thanks for letting us know about it! Can’t wait to find out from you about Bachhae 🙂
I love myths! I’m definitely in, although I sticking to level 1 for now. Currently have the Odyssey in my to-read-in-2011 list. And perhaps something on the Norse gods.:)
Risa
Happy to have you with us, Risa! The Odyssey is definitely a challenge in itself! 😉
This sounds very interesting! I was so excited to see that Francesca Lia Block was included in the list, I absolutely love her! Can’t wait to start!
Sam, glad you find something you like in the list. Have fun with the challenge! 😉
I found this challenge through Shellie at Layers of Thought. I can’t wait to begin! 🙂
Glad to have you with us Amanda. have fun! 😉
Signing up! I’ll be doing a lot of Indian mythology on my challenge, and there are already 3 books that I have lined up. I’ll add more as I go on. My three for now are
1. ‘The Difficulty of Being Good’ by Gurcharan Das
2. Mahabharatha: A child’s view, Parts 1 & 2. by Samhita Arni
3. Ramayana : A Critical Appraisal. Ramendra Narayan Sanyal
Those are interesting choices. Glad to have you with us 🙂
this was an interesting, erudite, fun book by Italo Calvino.
Pingback: Challenging myself : Persimmon Frost
Have posted my the review of the first book I will be including in this challenge. I couldn’t lay my hands on the book on the Ramayana that I have listed above, so here is another one.
http://arightowrite.blogspot.com/2011/04/ramayana-divine-loophole.html
Happily signed up since I’ve already read the Goddess Test and I’m half done a review. I think it would be a great book to get into the myth of Hades and Persephone for a young girl, but it doesn’t give many details. I think I might go try to find some retellings of Cassandra or Eros and Psyche, two of my favorite myths!
Glad to have you with us. Those sound like interesting reads, have a great challenge 🙂
I hope it is not too late tho it is so late in the year. I just discovered your challenge as part of my searching related to my current obsession with fable, fairy tale, folklore and myth. since I’m going to be reading in the genre anyway and this gathering looks to be a great resource I thought I might as well declare myself
my suggestion for anyone beginner or not would be Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces
I’m also finding my current read Don’t Know Much About Mythology by Kenneth C. Davis to be a nice intro for newbies or refresher course for old timers. i’m the latter since this form of storytelling was my favorite from the moment I could read until somewhere between age 9 and 11
It’s never too late, thanks for joining us! 🙂 Also, those books sound great, I’ll have to look them up. Happy reading and researching 🙂
OK, here’s my wrap-up post. I didn’t really proceed the way I decided in the beginning, and I changed books enroute. I hope that’s alright!:)
http://arightowrite.blogspot.com/2012/01/2011-reading-challenges-wrap-up.html