Tales of the Norse Gods by Barbara Leonie Picard, Rosamund Fowler (Illustrator)

This is a charming little book that takes you through the stories of the Norse Gods. There is an over-arching story that runs through the series of shorter tales hich could each be read, if you liked, individually.

Each story is headed up with a small woodcut which really does add to the appeal of this book. I think my favourite story in this collection is The Lady of the Vanir which features Loki, Freyia and the Brisen-gamen. I feel having read it that I should have read this years ago before tackling Alan Garner’s The Weirdstone of Brisengamen as I think I might finally be understanding Susan’s story in that.

But that’s the joy of a book like this. It tells the tales in a simple way, almost like fairy tale, or fable, or even as a kind of ‘Just So Story’. It’s a collection not to just entertain but to inspire. I am getting ideas of my own for a follow-up to The End Of All Worlds! But then this book invites sequels and retellings…

one day, out of the sea that had engulfed it, and out of the ruins, the world would grow again, fresh and green and beautiful; with fair people dwelling on it, born from Lifthrasir and Lif, the only man and woman to escape the fire

Religious fiction is not really my usual bag, but urban fantasy (for want of a better word, and I think there probably is…) is. When I came across this book with its clear Christian allegories, but also its promise of involving Christian, Greek, Roman and Norse gods and mythology I had little idea of how that was going to work. Rightly or wrongly, in my head I had these religious beliefs partitioned off as separate belief systems and so couldn’t get my head around anything that joined them all up into one world.

After a slightly slow start which saw our hero Ben Stanford investigating what he thinks to be just the usual homicide, the pace really gets going and I found myself loving the way that Angella Graff did mix up the apparently separate religions. As an atheist myself I also loved some of the things that Mark (he who wrote The Bible) said about what his ‘actual’ intentions were.

My only criticism of this (if this can be counted as criticism), the first in a series of books, would be that at times the pace of the novel can be a little too breakneck. At times I wanted Angella to just slow down, show us a bit more of the scene, and let us enjoy being with this truly fascinating and disparate cast of characters. Not less dialogue, just a bit more description…

Magical Tales: Myth, Legend, and Enchantment in Children’s Books edited by Diane Purkiss and Carolyne Larrington

This was the accompanying catalogue to the brilliant Magical Books exhibition that has been running this year at Oxford’s Bodleian Library and has been every bit as enjoyable and interesting. It’s a book that celebrates all that I love about my favourite stories, but it also details so many other stories that I am aware of but have not read, but worse, it also reveals a whole host of stories that I have been shamefully been unaware of.

This book should come with a health warning though. I defy you to read a single chapter – or essay – without asking already half a dozen books to your To Read Pile.

This is the follow-up to  Runemarks and picks up the story three years on from the conclusion of that story.

It’s a big book, and a big story with a large cat of characters made all the larger by them having several different names each depending on which of the nine worlds they are currently in and which Aspect they are inhabiting. This can at times make the story a little hard to keep track of but it’s worth sticking with.

For myself, some of the best parts are those that are set in World Above, in Malbry or Worlds End, but the rollercoaster rides of Dream are also fun. If there is one thing that makes me come back to this story time after time, then that is the way that Joanne Harris paints and plays with the Norse mythology. I simply love the bickering Gods each with their own motives and secrets. It’s wonderful.

Like the first book, this story is complete but there are stands of story left at the end of this, each of which are another story waiting to be told.

Edited to add: In a fine example of auto-correct fail on my tablet, I originally, inadvertently type “worth drinking with”. I only noticed this when Joanne Harris tweeted me herself to tell me so and that “may be the best compliment I’ve EVER had… :-)”. I’ve corrected it now, but it should be worth noting that Maddie, Loki, One-Eye and the rest would definitely be worth drinking with!

This is the follow-up to  Runemarks and picks up the story three years on from the conclusion of that story.

It’s a big book, and a big story with a large cat of characters made all the larger by them having several different names each depending on which of the nine worlds they are currently in and which Aspect they are inhabiting. This can at times make the story a little hard to keep track of but it’s worth sticking with.

For myself, some of the best parts are those that are set in World Above, in Malbry or Worlds End, but the rollercoaster rides of Dream are also fun. If there is one thing that makes me come back to this story time after time, then that is the way that Joanne Harris paints and plays with the Norse mythology. I simply love the bickering Gods each with their own motives and secrets. It’s wonderful.

Like the first book, this story is complete but there are stands of story left at the end of this, each of which are another story waiting to be told.

Edited to add: In a fine example of auto-correct fail on my tablet, I originally, inadvertently type “worth drinking with”. I only noticed this when Joanne Harris tweeted me herself to tell me so and that “may be the best compliment I’ve EVER had… ”. I’ve corrected it now, but it should be worth noting that Maddie, Loki, One-Eye and the rest would definitely be worth drinking with!