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Annette
Unregistered User
(11/23/01 7:06:41 am)
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Some great adult and young adult fairy tale books
Number one, is Beauty by Sheri S Tepper, when I got this book from the library I spent the whole day reading it, I just couldn't put it down. It deals mainly with Sleeping Beauty (of course!) but it also deals with many other tales, as well as a glimpse of a futuristic earth.
Heart-Beast by Tanith Lee is one dealing with Little Red Riding Hood, (mind you I enjoy any of her books, so maybe I'm a little biased!)
Moon Heart and Spirit Walk by Charles De Lint.
The sevenwaters trilogy by Juliet Marillier, Daughter of the Forest, Son of the Shadows and Child of the Prophecy (I don't think child of the prophecy has been published yet.)
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones.
The immortal tales by Frances Gordon:
Changeling - Rumplestiltskin
Thorn - Sleeping Beauty
Wildwood - Red Riding Hood.
Anybody know of any more I can read?
Thanks,
Annette
homepages.which.net/~anne...sfront.htm
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Terri
Registered User
(11/23/01 7:47:31 am)
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Re: Some great adult and young adult fairy tale books
One of my very favorites is a YA book called Kindergarten by Peter Rushford, set in England and using themes from Grimms fairy tales. It's about a boy whose mother is killed in a terrorist attack, which makes it, sadly, pretty topical these days. The book is probably OP again, but copies can no doubt be found through one of the on-line used book services.
Other favorites...
Some contemporary fiction with fairy tale or folklore themes: Possession by A.S. Byatt (which makes use of the Grimms fairy tale The Glass Coffin), Reading in the Dark by Seamus Deane (an Irish coming-of-age story with lots of folklore wound through it), Memories of My Ghost Brother by Heinz Insu Fenkl (ditto, with Korean folklore), Sisters of the Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (ditto, with Indian fairy tales), Sleeping Beauty by Susanna Moore (a contemporary novel that uses both the Sleeping Beauty legend and Hawaiian folklore), The Girl Who Trod on a Loaf by Kathryn Davis (fairy tales and opera, yum!)
Fantasy fiction set in magical lands, with fairy tale and folklore themes: Winter Rose by Patricia A. McKillip (inspired by Tam Lin), Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner (inspired by the folk ballad of that name), Provencal Tales by Michael de Larrabeiti (inspired by French Provencal shepherds' tales), Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue (a delicious collection by an Irish writer), Donna Jo Napoli's various YA fairy tale novels, Margaret Mahey's The Tricksters (New Zealand folklore), Kingdoms of Elfin by Sylvia Townsend Warner....I'll stop there, though it would be easy to go on and on.
And of course books by people on this discussion board: Jane, Greg, Kate, Midori (are there other fairy tale novelists here that I've forgotten?)
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Helen
Registered User
(11/23/01 2:47:25 pm)
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Re: Some great adult and young adult fairy tale books
Dear Annette:
I second all of Terri's recommendation's enthusiastically (with the exceptions of those that I've been unable to find; _Thomas the Rhymer_ remains sadly out of my reach). I'd like to add Robin McKinley's _Deerskin_ and _Beauty_ (retelling, respectively, "Donkeyskin" and "Beauty and the Beast") Orson Scott Card's _Enchantments_ (retelling "Sleeping Beauty" with a Slavic twist) Terri's _The Armless Maiden and Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors_ as well as all of her other anthologies (on a related note, Terri, when will we be seeing _The Moon Wife_? I can't wait ...) and _The Wood Wife_, Tanith Lee's _Flat Earth_ series, more for the general aura of faerie than for any specific tales, as well as _Red as Blood: Tales From the Sister's Grimmer_ (retelling "The Pied Piper," "Sleeping Beauty," "Beauty and the Beast," "Rapunzel" and many others which I can't recall off the top of my head), Pamela Dean's _Tam Lin_ ... I'm away from my books right now, visiting my folks for Thanksgiving, so these are just the ones that pop right into my head. I think that there was a thread on a similar topic a while back that should be in the archives ... but this is definitely one of those topics that needs to re-raised again and again, both to help us remember which old favorites need to be re-read, and to introduce us to new ones! Hope that y'all had a good Thanksgiving!
Best,
Helen
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Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(11/23/01 11:40:20 pm)
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Re: Some great adult and young adult fairy tale books
Annette, I do hope you were able to find the lists of fairy tale themed books listed on SurLaLune under "Modern Interpretations." I recently updated them somewhat and will be adding more in the coming weeks as I find them and review them. I highly recommend Napoli and McKinley if you are looking at YA. Adele Geras' books are interesting in their setting, but they didn't light any fires under me the way so many other authors have. Start with Napoli's "The Magic Circle" and "Zel." They are my favorites by her. Of course, reading Robin McKinley's "Beauty" many years ago is one of the reasons why I am here. I first realized fairy tales were still acceptable reading for me when I discovered that book in my teens. Not that I had quit reading them; I just hadn't read them openly.
Don't miss the short story collections either. Terri has edited several for adults and one for YA with Ellen Datlow. They are all listed on my site, too.
Heidi
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(11/24/01 5:20:34 am)
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Horn blowing
Here I am blowing my own horn again (with apologies to all) but hope you get to read my collection SISTER EMILY'S LIGHTSHIP which has a lot (though not all) fairy tale redactions.
I must add that I found Tepper's BEAUTY annoying and have never figured out why. But the recent McKillips are astopnishingly beautiful. And McKinley's latest--SPINDLE'S END--nbroke all sorts of rules because it unfolds slowly and gracefully instead of in a rush. And works wonderfully.
JaneY
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erzebet
Registered User
(11/24/01 9:12:15 am)
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McKillip
I'm very impatiently waiting for her next - Ombria in Shadow. She outdoes herself every time, IMO.
But why, to use her as an example, are those not literary tales? Is it the label under which she publishes? I'm driving my friend crazy with questions that he can't answer about what makes one thing "literary" and another not. What kind of class can I take to help me understand these "whys"?
Erz
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Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(11/24/01 10:42:50 pm)
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Sister Emily
Jane,
I will sheepishly admit that "Sister Emily" is sitting in my "to be read" pile instead of the "already read" one. Are there any short stories that need to be included in my fairy tale bibliographies as related to certain tales? I would hate to miss them while I am rebuilding my lists right now. It takes me a while to return to updating them, so I better ask now instead of waiting until after I have read the book.
Heidi
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Laura
McCaffrey
Registered User
(11/25/01 12:03:37 pm)
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re fairy tales in YA and adult
I second and third and fourth all of the above -
For slightly younger readers, but still in the YA realm, I love The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw - a changeling tale - as well as The Folk Keeper by Frannie Billingsley(I think?!) - a selchie tale - and Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher - an Arabian Nights retelling. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen is, I'm sure, fabulous though I'm embarassed to admit I haven't read it yet. Working in children's, rather than YA, libraries has it's disadvantages.
Am reading A.S. Byatt's Possession now and considered starting a thread just on that book. Is anyone up for it, or perhaps it's been done on the board before? I'm finding it so rich and fabulous. Besides the Glass Coffin, it has various other fairy tale themes weaving throughout - Rapunzel and All Furs to name a few. (I loved the peering through the keyhole scene and how that gets turned on its head.)
Jane: Just finished Spindle's End. I enjoyed that it took it's time too, but also felt so eager for Rosie to grow up and for her adventure's to start. I really loved the ending.
As to the literary vs. genre issue - I don't think there is a clear answer to this. It depends on publishing houses marketing, librarians, reviewers, etc. In the largest library close to me, I have to go all over, the fantasy section, the fiction section, the YA section to find the authors I read the most by. Some of McKinnley's work and McKillip's work is in the children's room, some in the YA section, some in the fantasy section, some in the fiction. Byatt and Atwood are reliably found in the fiction section. But others, like Windling, Datlow, Snyder, etc. are found all over - fantasy, fiction, etc.
Laura Mc
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Laura
McCaffrey
Registered User
(11/25/01 12:16:12 pm)
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re- typos
Apologies all for the typos and poor grammar and spelling in that last post. And in all my posts! Ugh. Though I'm a registered user, the board won't let me edit once I post anymore. I know. I know. I'll try harder in my pre-posting phase to edit properly! Laura Mc
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Gail
Unregistered User
(11/25/01 2:58:36 pm)
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reference material
Just a reminder that both of my latest reference books are annotated bibliographies of reworkings of fairy tales in novels, short stories, poetry etc. available for the young adult reader. I have a section on updates for the tales covered in New Tales for Old in Tales, Then and Now as well as an appendix of other tales and ballads reworked in the various formats. I have covered most of the titles already mentioned in this discussion already but there are plenty more. Gail
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Annette
Unregistered User
(11/26/01 6:06:22 am)
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Books
Thanks everyone, I see I have quite a bit of reading to catch up on there! Our library here is very limited, they can only get hold of books if other libraries have them.
Jane, what is it about Beauty by Tepper that you don't like? Is it because some if it takes place in the future, although I thought that was quite an interesting contrast to the old world of the fairy tales.
I don't know if it is considered a fairy tale as such, but I thought there were quite a few elements of them in Magaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, even though again it's set in the future.
Annette
homepages.which.net/~anne...sfront.htm
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Helen
Registered User
(11/26/01 7:27:05 am)
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Sister Emily's Lightship ...
Dear Heidi:
Some of the tales from _Sister Emily's Lightship_ would definitely be relevant to your bibliographies; in particular, I think that "The Thirteenth Fey" ( a very funny retelling of Sleeping Beauty's acquisition of her curse - from the faerie's point of view) "Granny Rumple" (Rumplestiltskin) and "Allerleirauh" (same) could provide readers with new perspectives. Many - I would say most - of the other stories ("Grandmother Death" etc.) also use fairy tale/folkloric themes; those are just my personal favorites. By the way, Jane, if you're reading this, I absolutely *loved* that collection ... and used "Allerleirauh" in an essay on modern retellings of 510B that was submitted to Realms of Fantasy via Terri. I hope that you don't mind?
Best,
Helen
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(11/26/01 4:20:25 pm)
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Minding?
Mind? Mind? I am honored.
Re the Tepper--I just didn't think it was well written. And fairy tale redactions that are poorly written get up my nose.
Jane
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