fairytales – T E Shepherd

There are always woodsmen in good fairytales and legends… #TheGirlWhoSpeaksBear #amreading #fairytales @sophieandersonauthor

Thomas — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 15:37:22 +0000

There are always woodsmen in good fairytales and legends… #TheGirlWhoSpeaksBear #amreading #fairytales @sophieandersonauthor

A book of magic with twists and turns aplenty

Thomas — Sat, 01 Dec 2018 19:21:35 +0000

A Pinch of Magic by Michelle Harrison Michelle Harrison is perhaps best known for her award-winning 13 Treasures books with their dark elves and fairy magic, but beyond that world she has also gone spooky with (the maybe too-often overlooked) Unrest and her last, and delivered the spellbindingly-fantastic book, The Other Alice which blended fairy-folklore and magic with literary references (was it the inspiration for Anna James’ debut this year of Pages & Co?). I therefore had high anticipations for, but no idea what to expect, with her latest offering. A Pinch of Magic did not disappoint. It begins with echoes of a Repunzal-like tale of a girl held captive in the tower, before fast-forwarding through to time to meet three sisters, Betty, Fliss, and Charlie who live with their Grannie in the Poacher’s Pocket. It is Halloween and Betty’s 13th birthday but before then she desires to get the ferry to the mainland to experience the fair. And that, is where the magic starts. The three sisters learn of the curse that hangs over lives and the magical gifts that are bestowed upon them. Betty can’t let it be, she wants freedom, and to get freedom it means breaking the curse. This is a story with twists and turns aplenty but they are all carefully woven together in a story that unfurls before you with every page turn. Every reveal makes sense, and not every one is expected. There is good and there is evil. There are baddies who are good, and wrongs that are righted. There are curses triggered, and curses to be broken, and every character is needed. A Pinch of Magic ends with a tease that there could be more, but brilliant as it is, I can’t help thinking that it might be best if Michelle leaves the reader wanting more… A Pinch of Magic is published by Simon & Schuster on 7 February 2019.

The Story of Fairy Tales

Thomas — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 17:37:45 +0000

Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale by Marina Warner

This is a must read for anyone and everyone who loves Fairy Tale. Published as one of Oxford University Press’ brilliant and incredible Short Introduction series of books and written by one of the world’s authorities on the subject this is a book to keep with you as companion to everything you read, and everywhere you go.

It’s one of those books that makes you want to quote from it on just about every, single, page. Its incredibly insightful, and very, very readable. I’ve learnt a lot, and I’ve also added a ton of stories and books and documentaries to my To Read/Watch/Listen to pile.

The Beauty In The Book

Thomas — Tue, 30 Dec 2014 22:47:45 +0000

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell

Not many books can be described as beautiful books, but this is one that is truly stunning. From the partly printed, partly transparent dust jacket revealing further cover art beneath to the deeply richly illustrated pages you know that this, like all good editions of fairytales, is a book to treasure. It simply wouldn’t be the same in either paperback or ebook.

It’s a subtle blend of both Snow White and Sleeping Beauty with possibly a smattering of Repunzal and Rumpelstiltskin that keeps you guessing to the end as to what will happen.I attended an excellent talk with The Expert on fairytale, Jack Zipes, a year or so ago and he made the point that whilst the recent mining of fairytales into big novels and blockbuster movies might promise strong female characters, too often all they deliver is woman characters succeeding only through acting like men rather through genuine feminine characteristics.

In this book, the characters are allowed to genuinely be themselves, whether they be the young queen, the supposably wicked old crone, or the sleeping princess. It’s a delight I will not spoil to see how it unfolds…

A brilliant satire of both fairytales and Hollywood

Thomas — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 21:04:02 +0000

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Ever since I first saw The Princess Bride film I have loved it – loved it as much as a dear old friend. How come then that I have only just discovered that there is a book of the film (or should that be a film of the book?) to read. The is a modern fairytale. More than a fairytale, it is a pastiche of what fairytales are. The book goes beyond that for it is a satire not just of fairytales, but of how old stories are, are written, and of Hollywood that mines them for its films.

In the film, a grandfather reads the book to his grandson, skipping out the boring bits to the tale of high adventure that he thinks the boy will enjoy. In the book, we see this as an autobiography of either (and both) Goldman being read the book by his father and he reading the book to is son.

For a while you do actually believe that Morgenstern’s Princess Bride is a real book, and you think about trying to track it down in some secondhand bookshop somewhere. It’s a clever idea that makes you believe its an actual abridgement in which Goldman presents the ‘good parts’ version of an older story through tales of how he adapted it.

Where the book follows either the fairytale or the grandfather/grandson scenes of the film the book every bit as good, and the introduction is very entertaining. As the book progresses, I do feel that Golding gets a bit carried away with his notes on the text, none more obviously than in the concluding section that follows the main story where he satarises the Hollywood obsession with sequels. The ‘Buttercup’s Baby section doesn’t really seem to add anything much to an otherwise brilliant book.