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ljcostel's review against another edition
4.0
The connections between forests and fairy tales, particularly western european & the Grimm's fairy tales. Also some lovely facts and anecdotes about trees and mosses and forests
souppiggy's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
I really enjoyed this book. It felt whimsical and smart all at once. I really liked how the stories were woven into it which made it easier to digest.
tinybookwitch's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.75
storiwa's review against another edition
2.0
The copy I have is called "From the Forest." Why did they add the word "gossip?" Gross.
tomfhoward's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
3.5
beckebee's review against another edition
3.0
There were chapters of this book that I loved and found incredibly informative ,and entertaining as well. I also love the authors retellings of fairy tales. She has a great story telling voice.
But unfortunately just a bit too much of this book was a chore. Some of tge chapters I found very boring and repetitive and had to drag myself through them. I'm glad I read it but it was not an easy read.
But unfortunately just a bit too much of this book was a chore. Some of tge chapters I found very boring and repetitive and had to drag myself through them. I'm glad I read it but it was not an easy read.
slimikin's review against another edition
1.0
A book that explores how forests, the Wood, shape our lives and our stories? That delves into different types of woodlands and ties those places to faery tales that reflect them? What a remarkable, clever premise. I can only hope that someday someone does it justice, because From the Forest most assuredly did not.
I wanted very, very much to enjoy this book...and I couldn't even finish it. And it wasn't the long paragraphs of dry botany lessons. Or the intricate, detailed descriptions of twigs and buds and leaves and branches. Or the exclusive, and excluding, expression of British culture. Or the flat recital of historical events. Or the unnecessary and wholly unconvincing justification of the book's thesis. Or the sneering digs at Tolkien, Andersen, and even Wilde.
No. Though that is more than enough to have to wiggle around and slog through and clamber over, none of that was what finally made me sigh and shut the book. That is entirely due to the fact that From the Forest has no purpose. What could've been a clear, elegant expression of land and peoples and the stories that connect them is instead a cluttered jumble of repetitive, self-indulgent essays and faery tales that...somehow?...tie into them.
Maitland meanders from travelogue descriptions of the forests into memoirs of her own experiences, lapses into emphatic critiques of Things She Doesn't Like, somehow drags some history and/or botany into justifying her opinions, states (and restates and states again) that forests must mean important things for faery tales, and tosses out a story. All without ever saying anything important or insightful or thought-provoking or, come to think of it, about forests and people and faery tales.
She talks around those things quite adeptly and certainly seems to think they're important, but she never actually connects to them. Instead, she opines that beech trees are wicked step-mothers and birches are princesses and insists that Forest Law birthed tales of the heroic tailor, servant girl, and soldier, but these are very clearly her own interpretations. They do not open themselves to my own, or any other reader's, experience, and they do not, really, show what the forest might have meant to those long ago tale-spinners.
In fact, where the book does its best work is precisely in those elements which invite us to participate in experiencing the forest and the stories as those tale-spinners might have. Adam Lee's photographs are lovely and evocative, even absent all the colors Maitland mentions in her descriptions. And Maitland's faery tale retellings are frank and earnest and funny and poignant. It's unfortunate that the remainder of the book lacks the same humility and clarity of purpose.
I wanted very, very much to enjoy this book...and I couldn't even finish it. And it wasn't the long paragraphs of dry botany lessons. Or the intricate, detailed descriptions of twigs and buds and leaves and branches. Or the exclusive, and excluding, expression of British culture. Or the flat recital of historical events. Or the unnecessary and wholly unconvincing justification of the book's thesis. Or the sneering digs at Tolkien, Andersen, and even Wilde.
No. Though that is more than enough to have to wiggle around and slog through and clamber over, none of that was what finally made me sigh and shut the book. That is entirely due to the fact that From the Forest has no purpose. What could've been a clear, elegant expression of land and peoples and the stories that connect them is instead a cluttered jumble of repetitive, self-indulgent essays and faery tales that...somehow?...tie into them.
Maitland meanders from travelogue descriptions of the forests into memoirs of her own experiences, lapses into emphatic critiques of Things She Doesn't Like, somehow drags some history and/or botany into justifying her opinions, states (and restates and states again) that forests must mean important things for faery tales, and tosses out a story. All without ever saying anything important or insightful or thought-provoking or, come to think of it, about forests and people and faery tales.
She talks around those things quite adeptly and certainly seems to think they're important, but she never actually connects to them. Instead, she opines that beech trees are wicked step-mothers and birches are princesses and insists that Forest Law birthed tales of the heroic tailor, servant girl, and soldier, but these are very clearly her own interpretations. They do not open themselves to my own, or any other reader's, experience, and they do not, really, show what the forest might have meant to those long ago tale-spinners.
In fact, where the book does its best work is precisely in those elements which invite us to participate in experiencing the forest and the stories as those tale-spinners might have. Adam Lee's photographs are lovely and evocative, even absent all the colors Maitland mentions in her descriptions. And Maitland's faery tale retellings are frank and earnest and funny and poignant. It's unfortunate that the remainder of the book lacks the same humility and clarity of purpose.
audleigh's review against another edition
2.0
I again find myself with a book that I came into with high expectations and little payoff. I believe this book is best suited to people from the UK or who have very strong physical connections to the UK. I felt the author was disinterested in an international audience given her writing style. I was willing to overlook all that as I tend to have heavy fondness for most things British despite never having visited there. However, I could not get on with the authorial voice at all. I did finish the book, did read every single word in the main body of the book. I knew at about the 35 page mark that I wasn't invested but I plowed on, pausing again that 100 page mark to consider the merits of DNFing it. But that's not really my style so I pushed on.
This book is certainly for someone. I know people who have enjoyed this book which is part of what made me expect to have a better relationship with it. However, I felt the author got bogged down in specifics that didn't interest me in the non-fiction portion of most chapters. It wasn't uncommon for me to want a chapter to be shortened by several pages because I thought there was too much extra information that didn't enhance my reading experience. The other problem is that I didn't enjoy any of the author's fairytale retellings. I can't say exactly what it was that I didn't like beyond the authorial voice, something that is a matter of taste rather than something that could have been fixed in the editing process.
Another major issue for me was having the wrong expectations going in. The first chapter is set up in such a way that I thought the author would be travelling with her son and discussing fairytales before sharing a fairytale at the end of each chapter. While, there is a fairytale retelling at the end of each chapter, the main chapter body is about her considering the science and history of forests and (to a lesser degree) their relationship with the stories we've set in and around them. At no point beyond the first chapter does another person's voice seem to ring out. It's mostly the author giving us facts, figures, and history so it lacked that personal element I had so greatly wanted.
In the end, what I had hoped would be a sweet, homey chat in the woods turned out to be somewhere between popular science and popular history non-fiction. If I had known that beforehand, I would not have bought the book.
This book is certainly for someone. I know people who have enjoyed this book which is part of what made me expect to have a better relationship with it. However, I felt the author got bogged down in specifics that didn't interest me in the non-fiction portion of most chapters. It wasn't uncommon for me to want a chapter to be shortened by several pages because I thought there was too much extra information that didn't enhance my reading experience. The other problem is that I didn't enjoy any of the author's fairytale retellings. I can't say exactly what it was that I didn't like beyond the authorial voice, something that is a matter of taste rather than something that could have been fixed in the editing process.
Another major issue for me was having the wrong expectations going in. The first chapter is set up in such a way that I thought the author would be travelling with her son and discussing fairytales before sharing a fairytale at the end of each chapter. While, there is a fairytale retelling at the end of each chapter, the main chapter body is about her considering the science and history of forests and (to a lesser degree) their relationship with the stories we've set in and around them. At no point beyond the first chapter does another person's voice seem to ring out. It's mostly the author giving us facts, figures, and history so it lacked that personal element I had so greatly wanted.
In the end, what I had hoped would be a sweet, homey chat in the woods turned out to be somewhere between popular science and popular history non-fiction. If I had known that beforehand, I would not have bought the book.
wallsc's review against another edition
3.0
“I believe that the great stretches of forest in northern Europe…created the themes and ethics of the fairytales we know best.”
as someone who loves hiking/trekking/walking in the forest...this was like reading trail notes (while thinking about the basis of our fairytale fears).
as someone who loves hiking/trekking/walking in the forest...this was like reading trail notes (while thinking about the basis of our fairytale fears).
doobage's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
2.5