Wrapping Up Once Upon A Time X

This summer is racing by so fast! Hard to believe it's nearly the middle of July already. I really meant to do a wrap-up post for this year's Once Upon a Time reading event when it ended back in June — but as usual, the moment came and went before I could get anything posted. So I'm doing it now. Better late than never. I guess.

I didn't do as well as I'd hoped with this year's OUAT challenge. Signed up for Quest the First (read five books), and only managed to get one read. But I don't feel too bad about that, since the book was a long one. Inkheart (by Cornelia Funke) is quite a chunkster (almost 600 pages), and took me a couple of months to get through.

It's been on my to-read list for quite a few years now, and I'm glad Once Upon a Time gave me the nudge I needed to tackle it at last. Unfortunately, it wasn't the scintillating reading experience I was hoping for (see my review), but I'm still glad to have read it.

I did a little better with the Quest on the Screen feature. The last couple of years, I've completely wiped out on this part of the challenge, but this year I watched two movies that qualify:

• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005).
  Thoughts: Beautiful movie, and much less tedious than the book.
  ...
• Maleficent (2014).
  Thoughts: Disney does it again. Such a gorgeous fantasy film! Interesting take on the Sleeping Beauty tale, with Maleficent more victim than villain. Surprised I enjoyed it so much, since I generally find Angelina Jolie hard to watch. Not that she's not great to look at (duh!) — she just never seems very believable. But she makes an excellent mythic being!

Once again, I want to thank Carl for hosting this annual ritual. It's always one of my favorite reading events, and such a great way to welcome the spring/summer season.