Top 10 Books: 2019 Edition

This year was a year of fairytale retellings for me. Not only did I publish one of my own (shameless advertising: link to Spindle Dreams on Amazon), but I read about 30 retellings in twelve months. Many of those were related to being a reviewer for Fairy Tale Central, but most were purely for pleasure's sake.

Now let's see if I can make a Top-Ten list for the books I read this year. New books, new-to-me books, re-reads, all the books; we're just grouping everything together. If you ask me tomorrow what my top 10 books were for last year, the list may not look exactly like the list below.

Interested in reading more about some of these books? I'll be including links to my full reviews on KiriBeth and FTC when available.

#10: The Curse of Gold

I don't typically read short stories, but I picked up quite a few of A.G. Marshall's shorter works as they became free throughout the year and I finally made the plunge before Christmas to read all the ones I'd picked up. Wow. They're all tiny, golden nuggets of the most unique fairytale retellings you'll ever read. I LOVED how twisted this Rumpelstiltskin story was -- easily my favorite out of the ones I read. Definitely recommend for a snowy afternoon when you're looking for something different to read alongside of your hot chocolate.

#9: The Princess and the Pea

Full review on Fairy Tale Central.

This was my very first K.M. Shea book. And it did not disappoint. I loved the twist on the original fairytale, and that the pea was such a big part of the book! If you want to retell the Princess and the Pea, YOU MUST INCLUDE THE PEA.

#8: The Warrior Maiden

Full review on KiriBeth.

It's been a while since I've read a Melanie Dickerson book that I actually really loved. Not since Huntress, anyway. A lot of her books got into the same rut -- hero and heroine fall in love, heroine gets kidnapped, happily ever after. BUT. Mulan was so different! And she acted like Mulan. SHE FOUGHT. And she didn't get the cliched kidnapped. I think this book right here has restored my hopes in Dickerson's retellings.

#7: Only a Novel

A re-read for this year! Ahhh, still sooooo good! For anyone who wants their lives to look like a Jane Austen novel, THIS is the book to read. Sweet, well-paced, humorous, chock-full of Austen references. The best. Really.

#6: The Dragon's Flower

Full review on KiriBeth. 

I said in my original review that this was probably the closest to the original fairytale retelling I've ever read. I'm not always big on Oriental-style stuff in general, but I think this book changed my mind about that. Long, but a well-worth-the-read Rapunzel story.

#5: Mechanical Heart

Full review on KiriBeth.

How shall I describe the ways I loved this book? I'm still a little speechless thinking about it. It was amazing. Rapunzel in steampunk like you've never seen her before. EPIC.

#4: King's Blood

Full review on KiriBeth.

This was a long-awaited read. There's just something Dickens-esque about this trilogy (like if you mixed it with Arabian Nights and Tolkien), and I love it to pieces. Definitely would recommend for a more mature reader, though.

#3: Bitter Winter

Full review on KiriBeth.

These last three books really are competing for top place. It's so hard to put them in a permanent line-up. Urgh. The latest book in the Ilyon Chronicles was everything I wanted it to be. And now I'm DYING for book six, Daican's Heir.

#2: The City Beyond the Glass

Full review on Fairy Tale Central.

I LOVED THIS SO MUCH! One of my reads for FTC, and it just blew me away. Not quite twelve princesses in this 12DP retelling, but SO WORTH IT. It was super unique and ahhh!! All the lovely things. *heart eyes*

#1: Elantris

Full review on KiriBeth.

When I step back and force myself to think, I really think this was my top book for 2019. My first ever Brandon Sanderson. AND I LOVED IT. It was an epic fantasy that broke every cliche fantasy ever succumbed to. MARVELOUS. I can't wait to get my hands on more Sanderson. BECAUSE WE NEEDS MORE SANDERSON, PRECIOUS.

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And that's it, folks! What were your top reads last year? Have you read any of the ten I've listed above? Let me know in the comments!

Ready to get onto finding my top ten books for 2020!

God bless!

December 2019 Book Haul

Well, here we are, folks! It's the end of the year already, and I'm absolutely flabbergasted that 2019 is OVER. Where have the last twelve months gone?? Somehow, it just feels like we were celebrating New Years' and Easter, and now we're about ready to welcome 2020. SO MUCH has happened this year, and it's nuts, but I'm not going to harp on all that right now. 

Because right now is Book Haul time. Believe it or not, I only got one book for Christmas: C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy in one volume (from my awesome hubby -- I've been wanting to read that for so long!!). And sadly, I don't have a picture of it. All of the pictured books below were ones that I collected before Christmas. Enjoy!

Emily of New Moon // Emily Climbs // Emily's Quest // L.M. Montgomery -- The last few years have re-awoken my interest in Montgomery's novels. It was super exciting to find a box set of the Emily trilogy since I've yet to read any of the Emily books. 

Minuk: Ashes in the Pathway (Girls of Many Lands) // Kirkpatrick Hill -- I remember reading a few of these books growing up. Girls of Many Lands was a spin-off historical series that American Girls put out way back in the day. I seriously cannot remember if I've ever read Minuk or not, though.

Unlocking the Spell (Wide-Awake Princess, #2) // E.D. Baker -- The first fairytale retelling in this giant pile! I'm a bit disappointed I didn't find the first book in this series, but maybe I'll read them out of order. Don't judge. I believe this book is based on Snow White and Rose Red. 

Bella at Midnight // Diane Stanley -- Another fairytale retelling! This is a Cinderella one that I've yet to read. 

Enchanted (Woodcutter Sisters, #1) // Alethea Kontis -- Fairytale retelling #3 which is based on the Frog Prince. I haven't read this one yet, either. *le gasp* So many retellings, and so little time. 

Fairest Son // H.S.J. Williams -- AT LAST! I've been looking forward to this gender-swapped Snow White story since FOREVER. I can't believe I haven't gotten my hands on it until now. 

With Blossoms Gold // Hayden Wand -- Fairytale retelling #5 and probably one of THE BEST Rapunzel stories you'll ever read. IT IS AMAZING.

The Healer's Apprentice // The Captive Maiden (Haigenheim, #1 and #4) // Melanie Dickerson -- Sensing a theme here? Retelling count up to seven now for this month. I read both of these forever ago, but I don't remember them all that well. And I actually have very few Dickerson retellings, so I was happy to include these to Huntress and Fairest Beauty to make my Dickerson collection add up to four books total. 

Landon Snow and the Auctor's Riddle (Landon Snow, #1) // R.K. Mortenson -- This book looked so fun. Landon gets swallowed by a book. LITERALLY. HOW COOL IS THAT?

Once On This Island (Mackinac Island Trilogy, #1) // Gloria Whelan -- I loved this trilogy growing up!! I'm a Michigan girl at heart. 

Because colorful books -- why not a rainbow?

The Siege (Guardians of Ga'Hoole, #4) // Kathryn Lasky -- Slowly adding to my Ga'Hoole books. Some day I'll actually read this series. 

Pippi Longstocking // Astrid Lindgren -- Another childhood favorite. I can't believe I hadn't picked up a copy of this until now. 

The Family Under the Bridge // Natalie Savage Carlson -- I haven't read this, but it looked like such a cute story! It's about an older man who makes a family with a bunch of homeless kids. 

Shakespeare's Scribe (The Shakespeare Stealer, #2) // Gary L. Blackwood -- I really enjoyed the first book, so of course I'd jump on the second when I found it! 

Wishing Well (The Misadventures of Benjamin Bartholomew Piff, #3) // Jason Lethcoe -- This is another series that I'd never heard of, but the books just looked fun. Yeah, so now I have book #3, but not #1 or #2. #bookproblems

North by Northanger: Or the Shades of Pemberley (Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries, #3) // Carrie Bebris -- I don't think I've read any Austen fanfiction/other authors' continuations. But this one looked interesting, so I thought I'd give it a go. 

Shield: A Prequel to Medallion // Dawn L. Watkins -- Super excited about this one! A childhood favorite by one of my college professors! 

Mik-Shrok (Adventures of an Arctic Missionary, #1) // Gloria Repp -- Ever since I first read this trilogy, I've loved huskies and wanted so badly to visit Alaska. I love these books SO MUCH. 

King's War // Jill Williamson -- I CAN FINALLY FINISH THIS SERIES! I've been dying since this summer to know how it ended once I read King's Blood. 

Bitter Winter // Jaye L. Knight -- When one makes a Christmas order and needs some extra $$ to get the free shipping from Amazon (yes, I don't have Prime), you get the next Ilyon Chronicles book. #noregrets I seriously cannot wait for the final book in this series to come out, Daican's Heir. 

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What books did you add to your shelves this month? Any literary Christmas gifts? I'd love to know! Share in the comments below! 

God bless!

On the Topic of Fairytale Retellings

One thing fairytale retelling enthusiasts fight over more than anything else is adherence to the original fairytale. What makes this retelling good? What makes this one bad? Were enough of the original elements included to really classify the story as a retelling?

I am a self-declared fairytale retelling snob. And unashamed of that. The fantastical stories of the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christen Anderson and Charles Perrault and Andrew Lang and others have captured our attention since they first began appearing in print. Tales of beautiful princesses, brave knights and princes, mythical creatures, and magical beings enchant us just as much now as they did then.

Today's readers, however, are clamoring for more. More than just the well-known, well-loved fairytale. They want clever twists and fantastical elements and great characters to fall in love with all over again.

But why? Why are retellings growing so popular in today's modern age? It's because we're curious and demanding and unsatisfied. Many of the original fairytales included unrealistic, mind-bending characters and plot twists -- things that went beyond just a simple suspension of disbelief. There are also enough holes in the plot to make a golf course jealous. Fairytales, in their current state, are ripe for retelling.

And so we retell them. But we don't always retell them WELL. Or retell them at all, really.

(Ahead, some spoilers for the books and films I bring up. You have been warned.)

For example, I do not consider Melanie Dickerson's The Orphan's Wish to be a great Aladdin retelling. It was a fun story, pretty cliche IMHO for Dickerson (and thus predictable), but it failed in many of the original Aladdin elements.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp is probably the most famous story from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights or The Arabian Nights. In one version of the tale, Aladdin is a poor, boy from the streets who lives with his mother. His sorcerer "uncle" shows up to ask Aladdin to help him get the genie's lamp from the magical cave -- which throws Aladdin into his own adventures with the lamp and winning the hand of the princess.

Melanie Dickerson's Aladdin, however, seems to resemble that story merely only in name. Aladdin is a poor boy who meets and falls in love with the duke's daughter at a young age. Then he goes off to make a name and fortune for himself, to become someone worthy of marrying the daughter. He finds employment for a friendly man and soon becomes a King Midas of sorts when his business ventures earn him the reputation of being able to turn whatever he touches into gold. The daughter, meanwhile, gets kidnapped (*sarcastic* surprise, surprise) and turns into a Swan Princess character where everyone believes her dead except her knight in shining armor.

Since Dickerson's retellings are mainly historical, I completely understand why she doesn't have the magical lamp and genie. However, I think she really didn't try to incorporate any of the original tale's elements in her story -- except the very obvious theft of Abu from Disney's 1992 film retelling. There's no lamp, no single object that anyone fights over, no struggle for political power, no main antagonist to stand against Aladdin as the sorcerer did, etc. Other than the names, there's very little in Dickerson's story for me to label it a true retelling of Aladdin.

On the contrary, Ella Enchanted has long been upheld as a wonderful Cinderella retelling. Why? Because Gail Carson Levine kept many of the wonderful elements that we all love about Cinderella -- more than just the main character's name. Her father falls on hard times and, after the death of his beloved wife, marries again. Ella gets two horrid stepsisters. However, she has a fairy godmother who steps in to help when everything seems bleak. Ella goes to the ball, falls in love with the prince, loses her shoe, and then lives happily ever after.

Ella Enchanted mixes some of those elements up, as in when they happen in the story, or how they happen. And Levine adds a delicious twist -- Ella has the curse of obedience. This presents a powerful ending to the tale when she must choose whether or not to marry her beloved prince and subject the both of them to someone else's controlling the throne through her.

That, my friends, is what a good fairytale retelling does. It retells the story. The description is literally in the name. It doesn't bleed everything we love about the original tale out of the story, but finds a new way to present things, to retell things.

And while I'm on the topic, I have a soap box I need to stand on. The Disney film adaptations, however classic, are also retellings. They're adapted from the original tale. They're not the original tale itself. So, please, please, please do NOT take Disney as the standard. Disney does a good job with including many of the original fairytale elements while still including a twist on the story. For example, Rapunzel has a REASON for having her long hair (it has magical healing powers that vanish when it's cut). The Little Mermaid actually gets a happy ending after a showdown with the sea witch.

Disney is not the original. Disney is a reteller. I'm not against Disney elements in a fairytale retelling (anyone who's read The Rose and the Balloon knows I've made my own nods to Disney), but Disney should not be the only thing from which you draw inspiration as you're crafting a retelling. Don't do what too many people do and just give us a watered-down version of Disney's retelling. Because those stories are out there. I've read a good number of them and have been sorely disappointed.

Aladdin has a lamp. Cinderella goes to the ball. The Little Mermaid loses her voice in exchange for legs. Beauty is trapped in the Beast's castle after trading places with her father. The Goose Girl is forced to switch identities with a servant. Snow White "dies" while eating an apple. Little Red Riding Hood wears a red cape and encounters a wolf. These elements alone do not create the fairytale. They are just the beginning of the fairytale, an element that introduces us to the rest of the story. If the original elements cease to be there, that story then ceases to be a retelling. 

A retelling RETELLS. If it doesn't retell, then it's just another story. If it steals everything from Disney, that's plagiarism.

I realize there will be people who disagree with me on this. And I'm okay with that. But I will stand firm on my belief that a good fairytale retelling MUST adhere to the original tale in more than just the main character's name. A good retelling takes the original elements and finds a new way to interpret and present them.

God bless!

March 2019 Book Haul

Time for another book haul post!

This month actually turned out to be quite kleptomaniac-ish for me, since my husband and I were able to hit a couple of thrift stores on the weekends and I managed to save up my Amazon giftcards enough for a book order. I was so excited about that order, and kept track of each package as it shipped. My darling hubby went out in the rain to collect one of the packages from the mail box for me, just to make sure my book didn't get wet. Have I mentioned how much I absolutely love him? Because I do.

Anyway, let's get on to the books!

The Masterharper of Pern // Anne McCaffrey 

My husband has been a long-time fan of Anne McCaffrey, so we're on a quest right now to find all of her Pern books. I've only read the Harper Hall Trilogy at this point, but I'm looking forward to reading more about that world.

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The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone // Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

Not having full series really bugs me, but that's the biggest danger you face when you're addicted to second-hand books. I'm slowly fleshing out my Spiderwick Chronicles, but so far, I've only got the first two books. #oneday They're fun to read, though.

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The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook // Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht

Not fiction, but this is a really fun one! I mean, with a title like that, how could you NOT get it?? Some of the scenarios are absolutely hilarious!

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Little House in the Big Woods // Laura Ingalls Wilder

Would you believe my Little House collection has all but the first book? Not anymore. These were some of my favorite books growing up, and I'm looking forward to sharing this with my daughter one day. 

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Bridge to Terabithia // Katherine Paterson

I remember watching the film version of this story years ago. I've never read the book. Figured it was as good a time as any. 

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How to Train Your Dragon: How to Be a Pirate // Cressida Cowell 

I believe that this is a small example of when the movies were actually better than the books, but I've yet to actually read the books to solidify my belief. Besides, it's dragons. And what could be better than dragons? 

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Medallion // Dawn L. Watkins

Another favorite childhood book. I actually had the great honor of having the author as my teacher for two classes while I was in college, and THAT was pretty amazing. I felt like I met a celebrity. IT WAS PRETTY COOL. 

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Marlow and Shakespeare 

More Shakespeare collecting. And this is a book that will look really good just sitting out for display. You know what I mean. You collect those books, too. Don't deny it. 

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Realm Walkers: One Realm Beyond // Donita K. Paul

And thus finishes my collection of all Mrs. Paul's published dragon novels. I'm still really bummed that she was never able to get the third book in this trilogy published. *sniff* But I'm going to enjoy all of this since it's out. 

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The Kingdom Series: Kingdom's Call // Chuck Black

Another favorite! And that completes my Kingdom series! I won books 1-3 in a giveaway, and then found 5 & 6 at a local bookstore. Thus, ordering book 4 on Amazon was necessary to my book OCD. Definitely recommend this series, as well as the second series, The Knight of Arrethtrae.

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The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest // Melanie Dickerson

Although I've read almost all of Melanie Dickerson's fairytale retellings, I actually don't own any in paperback save for The Fairest Beauty (which really wasn't my favorite, but was better than The Orphan's Wish). Huntress is by far my favorite of her books, and I'm looking forward to reading it again. 

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Kinsman Chronicles: King's Blood // Jill Williamson

I read King's Folly like 4 years ago, so finally getting this book last month and READING it was both a chore and amazing. Definitely got some dark tones, so it's for a more mature reader, but it blew me away. I hope it doesn't take me another 4 years to get King's War. Full review here on KiriBeth. 

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The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

My husband found this in the TRASH at work. Like, SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO THROW THIS BEAUTIFUL BOOK AWAY! *le gasp* He brought it home for me and I have not stopped being in awe since. I told you he was a great guy. The book was in like new condition, and I feel very fairytale-expert-snobbish right now with this on my shelf. I won't lie. 

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Well, that's it for March, guys! What books did you add to your shelves this month? Let me know below! 

God bless!