Happy Tuesday, Bookworms!
There are very few things I love more than a good list. I’m extra super excited today as the folks at The Broke and the Bookish have asked us to list our favorite fairy tale retellings. Buckle up your “once upon a times,” bookworms, we’re heading toward a “happily ever after.” It’s TOP TEN TUESDAY TIME!
1. The Girls at the Kingfisher Club
by Genevieve Valentine: I just finished this last week and what fun! It takes the classic The Twelve Dancing Princesses
and places it in 1920s New York City. I wasn’t super familiar with The Twelve Dancing Princesses as it managed to escape my childhood collection of books, Disney movies, and Faerie Tale Theatre
episodes. I think that made The Girls at the Kingfisher Club an extra fun experience for me.
2. The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories
by Angela Carter: This book is a fabulous collection of short stories based on fairy tales with a feminist twist. I highly recommend it for those of you craving empowered heroines.
3. Cinder
by Marissa Meyer (review): I couldn’t possibly make this list without including The Lunar Chronicles. Cyborg Cinderella
is simply too much fun to be missed!
4. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
by Gregory Maguire: From the dude who gave the Wicked Witch of the West some depth, the “ugly” stepsisters are finally getting to tell their side of the story. It had some unexpected twists I was rather fond of. A great departure from your standard Cinderella.
5. Scarlet
by Marissa Meyer (review): Little Red Riding Hood
is one of my favorite fairy tales ever. Girl had style, you know? That cape! Marissa Meyer’s crazy Lunar Chronicles continue with Scarlet, driven from the obscurity of her farm in the French countryside and into the arms of the big bad wolf. Rawr.
6. Cress
by Marissa Meyer (review): Rapunzel
, Rapunzel, let down your hair! From your satellite where you’ve been imprisoned doing computer things. Muahahahaha! This series is so darn fun. The Lunar Chronicles, FTW! Unfortunately, I haven’t yet tackled the latest installment on the series, but don’t worry. I will get there!
7. Bitter Greens
by Kate Forsyth (review): Historical fiction mixed with another retelling of Rapunzel? A winning combination. I love when authors dig down into a fairy tale’s origin story. Delicious.
8. While Beauty Slept
by Elizabeth Blackwell (review): Sleeping Beauty
, represent! Another historical fiction meets fairy tale. I was kind of hard on this book when I initially reviewed it because I have such low tolerance for insta-love, but you sort of have to expect such things in fairy tales, right?
9. Mirror Mirror
by Gregory Maguire (review): In this retelling of Snow White
, Gregory Maguire not only delved into historical fiction, but he also used an ACTUAL historical figure in the novel. Though I think he was probably pretty unfair to Lucrezia Borgia, it was a rather innovative interweaving of real 
history, magic, and general craziness.
10. Once Upon a Crime
by PJ Brackston (review): Ever wondered what happened to Hansel and Gretel
after they escaped the witch in the gingerbread house? Well. Gretel is a private detective solving fairy tale crimes, naturally. Hansel is kind of a drunk, but a lovable one. You can’t expect to be imprisoned and threatened with being eaten and come out of it without some psychological damage.
Talk to me, Bookworms! What are some of your favorite Fairy Tales? And do any of y’all have a recommendation for a fractured or historical fiction or generally fun version of Beauty and the Beast
? I’ve got a hankering for MORE FAIRY TALES!
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Joules (from Pocketful of Joules)
Hmm… I think my comment was eaten! Anywhoo, I love me some fairy tale lit and recently read “Cinder and Ella” and LOVED it! =)
Words For Worms
Well that sounds like good fun. Did you read The Lunar Chronicles yet?
Megan M.
The best re-telling of Beauty and the Beast is Beauty by Robyn McKinley. I’ve been wanting to read The Bloody Chamber forever, but the price always stops me. Anything over $4.99 gives me the I’m-not-sures.
Words For Worms
I have a copy of The Bloody Chamber from college- it was required reading for a Women in Literature class. It’s good but I hear you. Tough to spend the cash when you’re not sure. Libraries, am I right?!
Charleen
I wasn’t a huge fan of Mirror, Mirror, but I did think it was really cool the way he integrated the Borgias into the story. I’d love to read more retellings that feature historical figures in key roles.
Words For Worms
It is a fun twist on things.
lissa
beauty and the beast is my favorite fairytale, so I would recommend Robin McKinley’s ‘Beauty’ and also her second take on the beauty & beast story, ‘Rose Daughter’ – both great reads.
there’s also the YA version called ‘Beastly’ by Alex Flinn – a more modern take. there really are a lot of beauty & the beast books out there but I can only recommend the ones that I read and liked.
have a lovely day.
Words For Worms
I’ve heard from several people that Robin McKinley’s Beauty is the way to go!
Jenny @ Reading the End
I do, I do, I have a Beauty and the Beast one to recommend! I recommend Robin McKinley’s book Beauty. It’s her first novel, and you can kind of tell, but it’s still such a dear of a book. My mum wrathfully rages against the Disney B&theB for stealing the library from Robin McKinley, but eh, I am fine with it, and I love both the book and the Disney movie.
Words For Worms
Oooooooh! I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed to read it now because the LIBRARY. I loved Disney’s version, too. Darnit, Belle is the best!
Quirky Chrissy
The Bloody Chamber…wasn’t that one of the books you read for our women’s lit class that I faked my way through?
Words For Worms
I always read the book. That was WHY I took those electives, so I’d get to read cool books and not textbooks. I can’t remember which class it was for but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were a shared class that you managed to scam your way through.